You Are Here

The connection was instant. Even though time had worn his mind now, the moment Syrana's flesh touched his it was like a light-switch going on. It was real - everything was real. She wasn't a vision to tease him, she wasn't a dream he had to wake up from - it was really her.

"Syrana..." he spoke more solidly.

She had forgotten he had a beautiful accent that made her skin tingle in delight (we humans would call it southern British accent). His voice was deep, and yet so soft. It felt like home.

"I'm sorry, Veltar - I am so sorry. I thought you were dead," Syrana cried softly into his shoulder.

He felt as frail as she did. The large muscles she had remembered had withered away from being chained down for so long. His hair had grown so long, and was so rough that she hardly recognized its texture.

"You don't need to apologize, Rana. I knew what they were doing to you. Silas taunted me often about it. I tried to free you a long time ago, but they made sure I would behave by limiting my movement. I failed you, and I am so sorry," he replied warmly and squeezed her into him hungrily.

"You didn't fail me, my shooting star," Syrana replied in desperation and sank her nails into his skin as though she were about to be ripped away.

All that mattered to the two of them was each other - so much so that the didn't hear Lara leave and tell them she would be back with help. They hadn't even noticed that the door had closed again.

"What helped you find me?" Veltar asked and kissed her forehead. "How - how did you make it here?"

"Metas. He told me you were more than likely alive. He and his friends talked me into looking for you. They gave me hope. I wouldn't have found you without their help - or without finding out Silas found another wolf to be with. I think its why I'm so sick..." she answered and leaned into his weight, that still supported her despite the loss of mass from his muscles.

"I owe him, then" Veltar vowed into the darkness and continued to take in deep inhales of Syrana's hair as though it were a drug.

"I love you, Veltar. I've missed you so much it hurts," Syrana had no problem confessing her love to the mate she had bonded with so long ago - a mate she almost got to accept and blend with.

"You are my everything still, Rana. I think somewhere in my broken mind I knew you would find me again - or that I would find you."

"I don't understand why he would do all of this and then just throw me away..." Syrana lamented.

"He's as dull and dumb as a man, of course he'd have no sense to keep you. He could have found his mate - or maybe he has too much human blood in his veins to bond with the only perfect female in our entire colony," he said in order to comfort her, but he also meant his words, too.

Syrana had always been perfect for him, and he for her. If all of this was a dream, he'd rather die than wake up again. If his eyes opened to utter darkness again, he'd find some way to end it all. This would be his breaking point.

Veltar could smell Silas' 'mark' on her neck and it angered him deeply. Normally that would cause a mate to reject another - but he knew it was nothing but a false bite from a fake man. He still wanted her, and no one else.

He would fix Silas' destruction, and make her his once and for all - forever.

"Is it true you had a daughter with him?" Veltar asked suddenly.

Syrana sucked in a panicked breath, but she easily answered. Syri was no mistake, and she would never be.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I understand if you can't accept me due to that, but I promise it was more for me than for him. I thought she'd take away all the pain Silas put on me, but really I put a child into a poor position. I'm awful,"

"No, no - stop. I didn't ask because I wanted an excuse to back out. I asked so I could make some room in my heart for her, too. She's a part of you, and therefor important to me," Veltar spoke as though he had practiced all of these words for a lifetime. They felt so real and reassuring.

It was completely opposite to how Silas made her feel. Their relationship had never been more than a veneer. With just one touch alone, she remembered how whole she felt with Veltar.

"I can die happy now," she said with fatigue.

"I could as well - but let's save that for when we are both asleep in a warm bed after we catch up on all the time we've lost. Plus, I want to meet your little girl" Veltar.

"I'm trying. I just feel so sick and so weak. I'm sorry," Syrana answered and relaxed fully into his arms as her muscles started to ache and tense.

Silas must have been poisoning her the past few days. That's all that made sense in her mind. He was trying to get her out of the way early so that he could introduce whoever that girl was as his Luna. There was no doubt that Silas loved Syri - but a step mother wouldn't, especially one who obviously felt like they deserved a high position, and a terrible mate.

"My stomach is burning," she complained as her eyes grew heavy.

"It's okay, Rana. If it hurts too much, you can let go. I'll be right behind you, and we can meet in the fields together. Without you, there is no me" Veltar assured her and adjusted her so that her head could rest on his chest instead of his bony shoulder.

"I'm just a little tired. I'll wake up, I promise" Syrana lied. She wasn't sure she would wake up again, and while she wanted to live for her daughter and now for Veltar - nothing cured poison if it had seeped too far into one's blood.

"Rana, I love you endlessly. To be here in the moment with you, even in the dark - is the brightest spot I've had in my pathetic life. Now that you are here, I can die happy as well. Just wait for me in the grasslands, and I'll find you," Veltar said in hopes it would comfort her, and make her feel as though she wasn't tied to this life. If she wanted to go, he'd let her - and then follow her into the sweet grass of the afterlife.

One way or another, they wouldn't be parted again.