Uninvited guest

The dark screen of the phone stared back at me, the constant silence inside the room was a constant reminder of my loneliness....I could never be a part of this pack.

I bit the inside of my cheeks as I tried calling Eleanor once again.

"Hi...I am so sorry I could not answer earlier," this time Eleanor's voice came from the other side, instantly bringing a smile to my face.

"What's happening in the palace?"

"Well, let's see. Everything is almost a mess. We still have to get married and as the date is approaching my stress is increasing too and don't get me started about Mr. King of the werewolves, he is always busy."

I did not have the heart to stop El and tell her anything about my problems when she had all of those troubles.

"You will be fine, just remember how much you both love each other," I smiled, "this time will pass, he needs to take care of his people as well."

I heard some shuffling from Eleanor's side, I assumed she must be doing something else too.

I cleared my throat, "How is Luca?"

The same uneasy feeling returned as I thought about him. The man who was kind to me when everyone else saw me as an easy target in the palace, he tried to defend me.

"You don't know?" the shuffling sound stopped immediately.

"Uhh..." I did not know what to say.

"Orion talked to some witches and managed to get some medicines for Luca, he might wake up soon."

I stood up from the bed, "Are you serious? This is great."

Eleanor ignored my response.

"Ruhee," El said in a warning tone, "is everything fine there?" 

I licked my lips nervously and put on a fake smile, "Yes, he might have forgotten about telling me about this."

"Ruhee, are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes," I said confidently, "he is just busy and I did not get enough time to talk to him, I am just here in the room."

There was a pause, "Remember I am here for you. You need to get out and explore the place, maybe this is the new life you always wanted and I know you are a hopeless romantic about soulmate stuff so maybe this will work in your favor. I tried to get away from Damien and look at us now."

I bit my lip, it was not the right moment to tell her anything. How could I tell her my soulmate had not said a word to me ever since I stepped inside the pack? My hopeless romantic part died a long time ago. I knew I was an uninvited guest for him who would leave soon and he would get married to Chelsea.

"Are you there?"

I was brought back by Eleanor's voice.

"Yes, sorry there might be some network issues here in this room."

"I said I have to go and don't just stay inside the room, meet new people. Get to know them, you are an amazing person and it is nearly impossible not to like you."

"I will talk to you soon," just with this the call ended.

I put the phone inside a plastic bag and hid it inside the soil of a large flower pot that was sitting ideally in the corner of the room.

Maybe El was right, I had to get out of the room. The silence and the loneliness were driving me insane.

I opened the door but paused after I took one step outside. It would be wrong to just leave and where was I supposed to go?

Bernadette was busy with her responsibilities and I didn't want to bother her. I could not think of anyone else. I kept walking and soon I was outside the mansion.

My feet paused, what was I doing?

The sense of right and wrong went away as soon as the cold wind touched my skin making me realize I was trapped inside for too long to notice what it felt like to be outside. 

Without any worries, I kept walking and surprisingly the path was clear. Maybe there weren't too many people around during this time of the day or they all had some important things to do other than sitting in a room.

I walked across the garden that had a fountain in the center with colorful plants and trees of different shapes on the corners, except for these it was pretty empty with just green grass covering every inch of the ground.

Instead of walking toward the huge black gate, I walked away from it.

The trees kept increasing as I continued making my way farther away from the mansion. Soon, I found myself standing in front of a forest. It was not uncommon for werewolves to live near a forest and maybe Alpha Orion used the forest whenever he needed time away from everyone. 

I gulped and took a step inside the forest without thinking much, there was nothing worst that could happen. There was no one who would worry about me or be bothered by my absence.  The forest had the fresh scent of freshly bloomed red flowers that were present in large numbers. The trees were tall and covered the sky with their leaves. 

For someone else, this might be scary but there was something calm about the forest, my feet kept taking me in an unknown direction. I made sure to remember the path by making crosses with a stick on the ground. 

There was just the sound of insects and birds around me, even though I was alone once again I was not feeling lonely. 

I lost the track of time and just when I was ready to turn around the sound of flowing water fell into my ears. I could not resist my curiosity and decided to check the source of the sound. 

The decision of leaving the room and coming here turned out to work in my favor, in front of my eyes was water flowing from the clouds. I could not see the origin of the waterfall because of the fog that surrounded it but the sound of water provided the serenity that I was searching for. The stream of water had divided the place into two parts, one where I was standing and the other one appearing to be a forest just like the one I crossed to be here.

I wanted to leave but my feet would not move.

Inhaling a deep breath to gather as much fresh air as I could I closed my eyes to feel the cold air on my face with the sound of nature enveloping me in a hug. I was too busy with my surrounding that I failed to notice everything else around me until a voice entered my ears.

"Well, this is new."