Chapter 20: Will

Chapter 20: Will

I did not know where I was, for this was no place to be. This was a space within my mind. It took me a short time to realize that I was deeply unconscious and was wandering about the uncharted lands of my subconscious. Right in front of me was my old home, the one I had grown up in. The German farmlands spread beyond in the background. Cows mooed, and roosters crowed. The grass blades blew with the wind. I stared at my reflection and found a boy staring back. I had forgotten what I had looked like when I was a kid—Meek little Wilhelm Grimm with muddy brown hair and freckles across his nose. I was wearing shorts and a plaid shirt with suspenders and a little bow. My boots were black, and so were my socks that went up to my knees. I was crying. Ah. This was a memory I had hidden deep within my mind. It was not a pleasant memory. I only had to turn around to be reminded why. Behind me, the village burned. All the cottages were smoldering wreckages, the dirt paths charred by the bombs that had fallen from above.

There were no people around.

“Mama!” I called out. It was twice as painful, knowing the fate that had befallen my parents at the end of the First World War. Even still, I could not weather the sorrow that befell my dream child self as I walked up to my cottage, hoping to find my mother inside. On Sundays, she baked the most perfect pies and served them with cream and syrup. Today was a Sunday. It did not matter that our village had been bombed. She’d make the pies, and I’d eat them with Fred and dad.

I opened the door, and instead of stepping into my childhood home, I stepped into the basement where I had been imprisoned for decades without ever seeing sunlight. Yet another glimpse at my reflection in a mirror surface showed me that this time around, I was not a child anymore but a grown man in his late twenties. I bore on my face and my body the signs of the torture that Edward had inflicted. The second I thought of the man, he appeared from the shadows, sneering at me, holding a syringe in his hand.

“How fares your life now that you’ve escaped from me, Will? Are you any better off than when you were when I found you?” He asked.

Enraged, I reached out to attack him, but the moment my fist touched his body, his body turned into smoke, causing me to topple and lose my balance.

I fell face-first and landed in a pool of water that had accumulated on the deck of my ship. I saw my face in the water. It was the face of a young man who was fleeing war. Around me were my pack members, all of them tending to the ship as we traveled across the sea to America. I was soaking wet. I had to get below deck and dry myself, naturally.

When I went below deck, Ariana sat there calmly, completely unperturbed by the fact that there was a storm in the sea and the ship was on the verge of sinking.

“Ariana,” I said, realizing that this was more than just a vision this time around. It was a revelation. In real life, when we had traveled from Germany to America, Ariana had hidden in the cupboard under the deck when the storm had come. She had been way too young back then too.

This Ariana, the one in my vision, was a middle-aged woman who looked quite tranquil and at peace with the life she had lived. I blinked, and suddenly we were not under the deck of the ship but standing in the afterlife plain, in pristine whiteness, just her and I.

“You look well, Will,” she said.

“And you look happy. Is that how you were after I disappeared?” I asked.

“The entire pack mourned and thought you dead,” Ariana said. “But after a while, all of us went back to living our lives, including me. I bonded with my actual mate, Will. I lived a life of love and plenty. We had a child. I was satisfied. And you know what I wasn’t? Do not take this the wrong way, but I was never in love with you, just as you were never in love with me. It was circumstantial infatuation on your end, an illusion, nothing more.”

“I see that now. Every day, I realize it more so. I fell in love with Alexis, and the things that I have felt with her, I never felt for you or anyone else. She is my true love, the woman I desire, my fated mate. You and I were never in love, and it took me a long time to understand that. And that is okay. I was young, ambitious, and foolish. The man that I am now is not the man I was back then,” I said.

“You talk with maturity now, Will. There is depth to your words and your perception. Know that all of us, your pack members, loved you like a family member. What you felt for me was not love but kinship. It was a different sort of bond, a familial bond. And I will always cherish you for it. But your true place lies with Alexis. Treat her well. She is my family, after all,” she said.

“As she is mine,” I said, and let the scene dissolve all around me, not knowing what was happening. Ariana disappeared from view, as did the afterlife plain, and now I was just standing in total darkness, thrashing against the blind waves that bound my body.

“Alexis!” I called out loudly. Now, I was not in any vision any longer. I was on the brink of life and death. In front of me, there was the light at the end of the tunnel, beckoning. Behind me, there was the world that I was going to leave.

If I left now, I would never be able to forgive myself.

I blinked, and there I was back again, in front of my childhood home, calling out for my mama, a little boy once again.

“Mama!”

This time, however, my mother came out of the house, wearing her apron, smiling at me, and holding a pie in her hand.

“Wilhelm, my darling boy. Oh, how you have grown,” she said, smiling at me, placing her hand on my cheek and squeezing me. “Not a day goes by that I do not miss you. Me and your papa. We look over you from above, know this. Even though we are not with you, we are always in your heart, my son.”

I spoke as my normal self, “Mother, I have missed your voice.”

“And I have missed your presence around me, my child. Your laughter, your innocence, and your brightness. You were the best thing that happened to us, even in that time of war and despair. You helped us see the light. And now, I will help you too. Understand that there is someone in your midst who seeks to harm you, someone whom you think is close to you. When you moved from Germany, some of the pack members were against you moving. That ill will is still harbored against you in the hearts of those who live on. Some of them mean to harm you, my son. Some of them have already harmed you,” she said.

“Maurice, you mean? I killed him,” I said. “He tried to end my life with Wolf’s Bane, but I…”

“Shh, my son. We have little time. One day, you and I will sit side by side in these plains with nothing but time on our side when you will have lived your life. Here, we will talk and reflect on our lives and continue living our afterlives. But right now, I have to warn you about staying cautious. You aren’t out of the woods yet,” she said, then kissed me on the forehead. “My darling boy. I love you.”

“Mama!” I yelled in despair as she disappeared, taking the cottage, the countryside, the apron, and the pie with her, leaving me in the darkness once more.

“What do you want from me?!” I yelled in the darkness.

A giant wolf came into view, its spectral eyes red, its mouth big enough to swallow the sun. I knew then that I was not staring at some ordinary wolf but the god-child Fenrir himself, the spawn of Loki.

Immediately, I bent my knee and bowed in reverence to the god of the werewolves, and my head stooped low in awe.

Fenrir touched the tip of my head with the tip of his nose and nudged me. I looked up and saw that he was pointing at the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Now is not my time, Fenrir,” I said. “Please send me back.”

The wolf shook his head and pointed again.

“Please, Lord. There is much that I have to do. I do not want to die in vain. When my time comes, I want to die in an honorable way so that I can join my ancestors in the great halls. Let me live so I can serve a greater purpose.”

Fenrir snorted through his nose, then pushed me. I fell back and kept falling and screaming.

***

Until I stopped falling and came out on the other side, alive, awake, drenched in sweat, my body burning.

“Will?” It was Alexis calling out my name, holding me in her lap.

“Am I dead?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“No, my love. You’re okay. You’re going to be all right,” she said.

My mouth felt bitter and hot. The taste of some effervescent liquid still lingered on my lips and tongue. I tried to swallow it, but the bitterness was too much.

“What happened?” I asked, staring around. In one corner of the room, Dr. Morris stood looking completely stunned. Alexis sat beside me in bed, holding an empty vial. She looked exhausted, with dark rings under her eyes and lines all over her otherwise smooth face.

“I just cannot believe it,” Dr. Morris said. “I refuse to accept this. Not until I’ve done a few tests of my own, at least.”

“Test all you want, Dr. Morris. I wanted you to witness the power of belief, and tonight you saw it with your own eyes,” Alexis said.

“Will you tell me what’s happening?” I asked Alexis, sitting up in bed. Surprisingly, moving did not hurt me any longer. I could feel my old strength returning to me gradually.

“You told me before passing out that I should seek the wisdom of the books you’d brought with you. I did exactly that. For the first time in my life, I made a potion. A potion to save your life,” she said, smiling at me, waving the empty vial in front of me.

“Which one did you make?” I asked.

“The Full Moon,” she said, catching me by surprise. I had never expected her to devise such a concoction, at least not all by herself.

“How…how did you manage to make it?” I asked in disbelief, my mouth hanging open.

And then, I was told a tale that I had just as hard a time believing as Dr. Morris, who kept shaking his head while Alexis recounted how she hiked up the mountain to get the ingredients, then spent the entire night making the potion relentlessly, and then finally administered it to me.

“You were talking in your sleep,” she said.

“Oh no. I didn’t say something terrible this time around, did I?” I asked, worriedly.

Alexis laughed and shook her head, and hugged me.

“Nothing terrible. Just that you loved me and a whole lot of other cute stuff, too,” she said, holding my head in her embrace.

Dr. Morris coughed loudly from behind. I shot him a look and asked, “Why are you here, doctor?”

“You may not call me a doctor anymore, Will. I have just lost a bet, it seems, and I shall now be hanging up my coat. It is time I go back to being a healer and not turn my back on the wisdom of our ancestors,” he said, trying to muster up a smile.

“What is happening here?” I asked Alexis.

“The doctor was being super cynical about how the potion could not save your life, so I made a bet with him. If I won, he’d hang up his coat and revert to being a healer, using our methods of healing. If I lost, well…I didn’t lose, so it doesn’t matter,” she said. “Thank you, Healer Morris, for staying by my mate’s side all night. It truly means the world to us.”

“I shall be taking my leave now,” he said, then went out the door, whispering to himself. I caught just a bit of it. He was saying, “Potions work, and medicine doesn’t. What a world I live in.”

I looked back at Alexis, who was beaming at me. I held her hand in my hand, staring at her with love, affection, and appreciation. “How can I ever repay what you have done for me?”

“You can start thanking me by promising me you’re not going to die ever again. At least not in my lifetime,” she said. “Also, I forbid you from ever falling ill ever again!”

I pulled her in my arms and hugged her once more. “For as long as I live, I shall live in full health as your mate. That is a promise. I shall my life in your name and cherish the relationship we have.”

Alexis kissed me on my lips, then said, “I love you.”

“I love you so much, too,” I responded in kind, kissing her back.

“Uh…look at me, hogging you all to myself when you’ve just come back from illness. I’m going to go and get you something to eat. You must be starving,” she said. As she was about to leave, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, making her fall on me.

“I am starving, but not for food,” I whispered in her ear and pulled her under the sheet.

She panted as I inclined upon her, kissing her neck, licking away at her cheek, and pressing my lips to hers. Whatever the contents of the potion were, they had imbued me with much vigor. I held onto Alexis tightly, feeling her tongue in my mouth as I took off her shirt.

I held on to her soft, supple breasts, squeezing them lightly as I worked on getting her out of her pants. My cock throbbed stiffly in my pants, yearning for release.

“Is it safe? Are you sure? You just recovered….” Alexis protested, but I would tell her that I was okay by way of moving love, not with my words.

Gently, I slipped inside her as I stared into her eyes and felt the warm, tight wetness envelop my dick as I thrust deep into her. Such intense pleasure coursed through the entirety of my body that I could not hold myself back. I grabbed her by the back and lifted her in my arms, her breasts touching my chest, her lips smothering my mouth, and her pussy straddling my penis.

She moaned as she felt my hardness going deep inside her. Alexis dug her nails into my back as she rode me, both of us moving in unison, moving towards that revered crest of climax. I could feel myself becoming even harder inside of her, something that I had thought impossible.

Now, I was lying on my back, and she was on top of me, moving her hips smoothly, letting me feel sensuality all along the length of my dick as she rose and fell. Her breasts lobbed against my face, soft, juicy, and warm. I took them in my mouth and sucked on her nipples, making her moan even louder.

The sight of her stretched above me in all her raw nakedness, moving her body, moaning, her face covered by her hair, her body drenching in sweat, it was enough to make me cum. But I held on. I had to make my woman cum with me.

I moved her and made her lie on her back as I climbed on top of her, parting her legs and thrusting deep inside of her. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth hung open as I made love to her, reaching deep into her.

“I love you,” I whispered, knowing that saying it at the right time, at the end of the right stroke, would make her come for me. “I love you.”

“Oh, Will,” Alexis moaned, holding me in her arms as I came inside her, “Oh, I love you too.” I could feel her pulsating down there as she orgasmed with me, and together, the two of us rode that wave of pleasure until it was blinding.

My head spun from the sheer gratification. I fell by her side, panting heavily, and then hugged her from the side as I stared at her sexy, naked body.

“Where did that come from?” she asked me surprised.

“I don’t know; you tell me,” I said, pulling her hair off her forehead and tucking them behind her ear. “Did you add some secret ingredient, perhaps an aphrodisiac, in the potion?”

“Just all the love that I had for you,” she said, smiling at me and kissing me on my shoulder.

“Well, that explains it. Now, your love courses in my veins,” I said, rubbing my hand on her naked torso. “I do not doubt this potion will bring me to full health.”

“I should hope so too, Will,” Alexis said. I turned to look at her and found her sleeping in my arms. I kissed her on the forehead one last time before falling asleep with her, feeling safe, healthy, and happy.