He’s Coming For Me

KAMARI

The first thing I notice is the warmth.

The next is that the air around me is clean—nothing like the thick rot of ant infested mud.

For a moment, I almost allow myself to believe that I’m safe…until my eyes flutter open.

Soft light spills across the room before me, too bright to belong to the dungeon. A strong wind hammers against the window beside me, rattling the locked glass in its frame.

I stare at it, confused.

Then the memories come rushing back like a tidal wave—Viktor, Reyah, the chains, Elias…

Oh dear.

Elias.

I bolt up in bed, panic surging through me as my eyes dart to the door.

Where is he? And where am I?

I move to get off the bed, wincing at a sharp sting behind my neck. I try to touch it, but withdraw my fingers.

My head feels like something is sitting on it, and no matter how hard I try, the memories only come in broken pieces—mud beneath my palms, my forehead crashing into his face, then a tree…

Come on, Kamari, think.

I try, but the memory slips further from my grasp.

Frustrated, I throw off the covers and climb off the bed.

If Elias was with me, then he must be somewhere around. It’s only a matter of time before he walks through that door with my demons in his wake.

I have to get out of here before he—

That window. I can climb out of it. I near the glass, tilting my neck to look out the other side.

A narrow pathway cuts through a dense bush, leading to a place I don’t know, but anything has to be better than sitting here waiting.

I’m fumbling with the latch when I hear footsteps approaching the door.

Hurry, my wolf curses, but my trembling hands betray me.

I feel myself freeze as the door behind me falls open, but I don’t step away from the window.

“Kamari.” His voice twists a knife in my chest.

Don’t turn around. Don’t look him in the eyes.

I bite down on my bottom lip, hearing him scoff.

“Even now, you’re choosing silence?” He takes a step towards me.

His cedar and rain soaked scent fills the room, violating my lungs.

I let out a slow breath.

“What do you want me to say? You found me. Big surprise.” My grip on the window latch tightens.

Go away. Just go away and let me leave.

“Can you turn around, please?” He draws closer.

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t be here long.”

“You’re still running?”

I tug hard at the latch, but it doesn’t budge.

“What does it look like?”

“Step away from the window, Kamari.”

“No.”

“Kamari—“

I whip around, heat flaring in my chest.

“Just stop! Stop calling my name like that!”

His green eyes pin me where I stand.

“I’ve always called your name like this.”

“Well, stop.” I snap, tearing my gaze from him and returning to the window.

“What happened to you?” His voice is low now, and I feel his gaze raking over my hair, my skin, my hands…

I want to claw myself open and slip through a hole in the windowsill, but I’m stuck here with him.

“Leave me alone, Elias.”

“You remember my name.”

“Of course I remember. Was I ever supposed to forget?” I ask, as if I didn’t ever try.

He starts saying something, but I’m not listening anymore. The latch falls apart.

The window slides open, and I blink into the sunlight warming my face.

“Why are you so hell bent on running? Where are you going?”

“I think it’s best you stay away from me, Elias.” I say, but I hear his footsteps closing in on me.

I stick a leg outside and hoist myself up onto the frame.

His face blooms red, green eyes flashing as he stops two feet from me.

“Kamari, I don’t understand you. First you’re running off playing rogue wolf, and now you’re jumping out of a window?”

“What can I say?” I look down at the ground below, “time changes people.”

“And Viktor…” his eyes narrow, “ that wolf from FreeHide. That’s your mate?”

“Not anymore.” The words catch in my throat.

His jaw tightens.

“You left home…for HIM?”

His words hit me like a whip, and I feel my grip tighten on the window frame.

“Well, Elias, I loved that bastard. You wouldn’t know anything about that when you’re stuck here playing patrol guard.”

“I am the patrol guard, Kamari,” he says, voice calm, “it’s not an act.”

All this time, I’ve found it almost impossible to believe that the Elias I grew up eating sticks and swimming across lakes with will become this…confident in himself.

It’s like the world moved on like nothing happened when I left, and I’m stuck here.

“Good for you, really. But I can’t stay.”

“You have to.”

I glare at him.

“I don’t have to do—wait…what is that?” I point to the bandage wound tightly over his left shoulder. In my tirade, I had barely noticed, but I know for sure that thing wasn’t there back at FreeHide.

He takes a small step back, angling the wound away from me.

“It’s just a scratch.”

My pulse crashes to a stop.

“Did-did I…do that?”

He hesitates.

“Kamari—“

“I…attacked you?”

“It’ll heal.” His voice shakes, like even he doesn’t believe his words.

“How long since…since I did that?”

“Kamari—“

“Has it been up to two days?”

He releases a sigh and says nothing, but his silence is all the answer I need.

Look what you made me do, my wolf snarls, this is why you should have run. This place is bad for us.

Jump.

I lift my other foot, ready to swing it over the side, but Elias drifts to my side before I can move and rests a hand on the windowsill, too close for comfort.

“I can’t let you leave.”

I look up into his eyes, daring myself not to look away.

“You can’t keep me here.”

“You have nowhere else to go.”

“Anywhere else is better than here.”

“Not if your father is already on his way.”

That stops me.

“You called…MY father?” After what I did?

“He’s been looking for you. We all have.”

I can’t help but hear the judgement buried in his tone, like this is all my fault for running in the first place.

But something in me died that day, and if I had stayed, maybe I would have been gone… or worse.

“I can’t go back.” I shake my head, feeling my chest swell.

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“But he—“

“I killed her, for goodness sake!” My voice cuts through the air, giving way to the images I thought I had locked away.

My wolf goes very still.

“I took away the love of my fathers life, Elias,” my head feels heavy now, “you can tell me that he doesn’t hate me, and…and you can tell me that it’s been years, or whatever compensation you think that you can give, but I KILLED HER.”

His eyes grow dim. His jaw moves, but no words come out.

Of course he has nothing to say, yet his grip on the window frame stays strong, and I feel goosebumps spread up my arm when he leans closer.

“I don’t have all the answers, and I’ll be lying if I say I ever will, but here’s what I believe in—fate. Now I know that you’re angry. I can see it. You didn’t deserve what happened to you at FreeHide, and you sure as hell didn’t deserve what happened to your mother…”

I open my mouth to speak, but his hand covers mine, and my lips snap shut.

“But fate has brought you back here to make things right, so you can finally stop running.”

Fate? Fate has done nothing but make my life a horror story. I’ll pass on that belief.

“You’re just saying this so I’ll get off the window.”

“I’m saying this because I want you to stay just one more day to talk to your father,” he puts up his hands and takes a small step back, “all you have to do is to talk to him. And after that, if you still want to leave—“

“I’m not falling for this trick, Elias. If I stay one more day, it'll be two, then three, then—“

“How about this then,” his voice hardens, hands dropping to his sides, “if you jump out that window, you’ll break both your legs, and my men will bring you back up here anyway. You’ll have just enough time to heal before your father gets here.”

And yet, you’re not healing.

My eyes drop to the bandage on his shoulder.

Don’t fall for this, my wolf finds her voice again.

“Just one day, Kamari,” Elias holds out his right hand, “you don’t have to feel any more pain.”

Liar, my wolf hisses, sinking her claws deep in my chest.

I glance down at the ground, suddenly feeling nauseous.

You can’t set eyes on your father. Not after what you did.

But Elias said—

Damn Elias and his pillowy words.

“Kamari—“

The door suddenly bursts open, cutting through my haze.

I turn my neck to find a warrior standing in the doorway, eyes shifting from me to Elias.

“What is it?” Elias asks, voice gruff.

“Alpha Griffin has arrived.” He declares, and I feel my blood run cold before Elias even turns to me.

“Kamari…your father is here.” He repeats as if hearing it once isn’t enough.

Father.

I spent a hundred moons dreaming of this moment, but now I spend every passing second dreading it.