Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future novel Chapter 25

The first few days, I let myself wallow in my own misery, moping around the apartment. I don't even shower. I spend a lot of time on the balcony, letting cigarette butts pile up in the ashtray. When I can't stand the silence anymore, I throw myself into work. I get to the office by seven in the morning and leave after eleven at night every day. After three days, I realize Carly is working the same hours to try to keep up and looks exhausted. I let her know she doesn't need to stay the long hours I do, she can work her regular hours. She seems relieved and grateful. Milo and Lenora distract me over the weekend with movies and shopping. I don't need anything for myself but I picked up some kitchen gadgets for Kas as winter solstice gifts. On day eleven, I woke up ready to train. Saint has the itch to spar, which is bad news for my sparring partners. * I get to the training grounds and let the trainers know to queue warriors up so I can burn some energy. They already know what to do when I'm in a mood like this. They pair up experienced warriors and triple up new trainees to spar against me.

 

I burn through all the pairs until I get to Milo and Reggie. They're the only warriors that are an actual challenge for me, the others are just warm-ups.

 

"Ready or not, here we come!" Milo teases. They lunge at me simultaneously. Milo to my upper body, Reggie to my lower body. I lean back and roll, bringing both of them with meas I fall. [hop up from the roll, facing them. They pop up ready to lunge again.

 

Ding.

 

[hear a little bell. No one around me seems to acknowledge the sound. I stand up from my defensive stance, looking around confused, just as Milo throws a vicious right hook.

 

I fall to the ground like a ton of bricks. I can hear gasps around the ring.

 

"Bronx, are you okay, man? You didn't even defend yourself!" Milo runs over, picking me u p off the ground.

 

"I-I got distracted," I say, more to myself than Milo.

 

"Saint, did you hear a bell?"

 

"Yeah, but where did it come from?" he sounds a bit dazed.

 

Ding.

 

The sound chimes again but this time it feels like it vibrates my bones making me feel dizzy. The smell of fresh rain and lilacs fills my nose.

 

"Kas?" A sharp pain rips through my head. I press my palms to my temples and grimace, " Kas is that you, Baby?"

 

“Bronx, Kas isn't here, she's in France," Reggie's face appears in front of me looking worried.

 

Ding.

 

The bell is so loud that I can't concentrate on anything else. I start to feel disoriented and nauseous. Oh Goddess, I'm gonna puke. I lean forward as my stomach churns, dry heaving from the sensation.

 

Ding.

 

The sound shakes me so hard that I fall to my knees.

 

"You guys don't hear that bell?"

 

"There's no bell, Alpha," the trainer is looking into my eye now, "follow my fingers."

 

Ding.

 

My vision is spinning wildly now. I fall forward onto my hands before my vision fades and I black out.

 

2 kK

 

I wake up in the middle of the night in the hospital wing. My head is throbbing. Nothing a little aspirin won't fix. Otherwise, I feel fine. Milo is in a chair on the other side of the room with Lenora in his lap. They're both sound asleep. The clock on the wall says one- thirty. Damn, I was out all day?

 

"Saint what happened?"

 

"That bell sound did something to us."

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah. Just a little confused. We've been through worse. Time to get up, buddy. You know the drill."

 

Saint and I have an agreement. When either of us is injured, we get up as soon as we are able. Staying down is dangerous. That's when you're most vulnerable. That's when body parts disappear. We need to assess the treatment we need and keep moving. Right now, I need a running faucet, enough water to hydrate an elephant, and aspirin. I could also go for a cigarette. «