Chapter 30: Seek Help

Now is the time to throw childish tantrums. “Zarion, I am not going back!”

“You have to.” He held my shoulders. And for a second, I felt his fingers trembling. “Okay. Listen to me, Cassidy. Brandon will kill you. He wants you gone, as far as I know, he wants you gone the first time you step on Madfur Claws Pack. The thing he told you back there?” he pointed to the door of the cabin, pertaining to what happened in the woods. “He’s not going to undergo the process of rejection because, for him, it’s a waste of time!”

“But—”

“And you are his mate.” Zarion managed to speak first. “Your scent is strong and addictive and irresistible in his system. He will always find you. Even though his body doesn’t want it, his soul is aching for a piece of you. He may loathe it so much, but he couldn’t do anything because that’s just his fate. You are his fate. Do you understand what this means?” He shook my shoulders once more. All I did was stare at him, at his lips….

I shook my head. “It means you have to go and find a place far away from him, ” it was Elliot’s turn to speak. “Even if it means living in a corner of the world, where Zarion’s voice is but a whisper Brandon’s name is but a memory slowly fading into nothing.”

“Why am I the one who’s going to hide?” I smacked Zarion’s hands away. “Just because he doesn’t want me as his mate and because I am the vulnerable one?!”

I brushed a hand to my hair. “It doesn’t mean I’m the one, I’m the one who’s going to suffer the most. How is this fair to me? I don’t even want him in the first place. Why would I be the one who’s going to run away?” Every word I release, my voice becomes crooked, as if my voice is broken itself, refusing to be heard any longer.

Zarion stopped doing his thing and finally met my gaze. “It’s for your own safety, Cassidy. Please understand.” He reached for my hand and held into it tightly. “Let’s go now.”

“No!” I thrashed against his grip. “I am not going to let him ruin my life! It’s just so unfair he could do anything and I’m the one who needs to be hiding!”

“He’s stronger than you, Cassidy. He’s going to crush you like a mere mouse!”

“I don’t fucking care!” I folded my arms across my chest. “Let him try, then. I’m not a coward. I never will. I will face him, Zarion. With all my might and human-ness.”

“Damn it, Elliot! Explain this to her or else I’m gonna—I’m going to…” Zarion’s face was no longer hard. It softened at my stare. He looked away and willed all his strength for calm to fill his soul. Elliot lurched forward between us. Grabbing my arms in an attempt to calm me. But his eyes fluttered close, taking a step back like he was electrified by my touch—by my presence.

“Elliot, are you okay?” I asked worriedly when he suddenly collapsed on the floor. “Elliot!” My shriek ringed the place, rushing towards him as I held his arms. After a couple of seconds of hyperventilating on the floor,  Elliot’s eyes opened. “Zarion! Come, help me!”

But Zarion was too busy trying to calm himself down. He was growling and punching the wall, massaging his forehead, and trying to even double his breathing. Anxiety swept through me when Elliot’s dilated eyes appeared to be more serious than I'd thought. “Elliot! Elliot! Hey, are you okay?” His eyes opened sooner than I expected, grabbing me by the shoulders. “God, you scared me for a second! Are you okay?”  He returned to his normal state and nodded. He rested both of his palms on his chest as if he, too, was summoning the spirit of calmness to pour onto him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay…”

“Shit!” I heard Zarion cursing behind us. Looking up, I saw him pushing all the things on the table while he was still trying to calm himself down. “Zarion!” I ran to him, but he snarled at the sight of me. “Hey, it’s me, Cassidy. “

“Cassy?” I was surprised by the way his voice sounded so demonic that it left goosebumps in my presence. “Zarion… w-what’s happening t-to you—”

Elliot stands up and grabs my wrist. “He’s been like this for a couple of weeks. Get out of the room, Cass.”

“What?!” I stumbled backward.

“I said get out. You will only make things worse when you’re in his sight.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere.” I shifted on my heel. “Zarion!” I went back to him, but Elliot is far stronger than me, leaving me just a breath away from him. “Cassidy, you’re just making things worse! Damn it, why do you always disobey?!”

“Why do both of you want me gone? Just tell me what to do, Elliot! I can help with anything!”

“Argh! Fine! Go get the syringe on the kitchen cabinet.” Elliot said in a frustrated tone and tread towards the kitchen. Though he was still weak, he barely managed to reach the kitchen without falling backwards. “Elliot…” Unknowingly, I whispered. His hands were shaking as he pushed Zarion back on the kitchen table, like what we did to him the last time he went crazy and acted like an aggressive monster. No, he was indeed a ferocious and aggressive monster at that time.

“Cassidy, go!” Elliot snapped me back to reality. I did what he summoned me. Zarion was not in his normal state and panic won’t help me return him to normal state either. He looked like he was being controlled by—by something.

Oh God, why does this happen to him?  Someone or something was indeed controlling Zarion.

“H-Here.” I hand the syringe over to him. He flicked the barrel using his finger and gestured to me. “Hold this for a while.” Using a rope, Elliot tied Zarion’s body to the table in order to restrain him.

“Now, what?!” I demanded, licking my teeth. For a second, I looked at Elliot with hopeful eyes. “He is in pain, Elliot. What’s wrong… What’s wrong with him? Why aren’t you doing anything?”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Cassidy! I am doing the best I can do so just follow what I tell you to.” Despite his shaking hands, Elliot’s voice echoed in my ears with calmness somehow.

And soon, too soon, my hands started quivering as well. The syringe still in my grasp while glancing down at Zarion’s closed mouth, a duct tape hindering his lips. I didn’t even notice Elliot tied his mouth until now. “Now, it’s going to be painful, man,” he whispered, beads of sweat threatening to cloud his vision. “Just try to endure it, okay?”

Zarion was still growling in a muffled voice. Elliot waved his hand at me again, and I handed him the syringe. “On a count of three, Cassidy, do it.” I swallowed, staring incredulously at Zarion’s skin. “One, two, three—”

Gently, I pinch Zarion’s skin around his arm and insert the needle at a right angle. Once it was inserted, Elliot told me to let go of the skin. I did what he told me to. Zarion finally calmed down. His eyes opened and they shot up straight at me. I wipe away the sweat around his forehead and comb his wet hair with the bareness of my hand. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” I repeated the words until it sank deeper in his mind. “It’s okay now.”

Zarion nodded and reached for my sweating and still-trembling hands. He brings it to his lips and showers it with kisses. His eyes swiftly turned to look at Elliot. “What happened?”

Both of us looked at him. He heaved a deep sigh, “It happened again?”

“It happened again.” It was Elliot who answered for me. “It happened twice in one day, Zarion. And when I tell you how fuck up it’s going to be, it’s alarming already, man. You have to seek help.”

With the healer’s words, it’s my turn to shower Zarion with genuine kisses straight from the numbness of my lips.