Two Halves Equal a Whole

Ch. 7 Arlet:

Ch. 7 Arlet:

I felt warm. I felt safe. My chest hurt. I groggily opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital bed. A man was sitting next to me in a chair, his head resting on my bed clearly asleep.

"They say that he hasn't left your side since he got here," my older brother (27) Drew's voice sounded across the room.

My eyes dart to him sitting in a chair next to the door, his face was calm, but his puffy eyes gave him away. The last time I had seen him was when he had to leave the party early, because his babysitter had told him that is daughter Loretta (she was named after her mother, and we called her Lori for short) had started throwing up. Why was I here? Why did Drew look like he had been crying?

"He's your mate Ar," Noah said.

The events of the day came rushing back to me..., the inn, the diner, the accident... my breathing hitched as it became shallow and fast. Wren. Wren. Wren.

"You need to wake him up and mark him Ar, the witch said it would be okay," Drew said, and I heard his voice crack in that sentence.

One small part of my brain said: witch, but the rest was caught up in a panic, Wren's name repeating itself over and over. My heart started beating rapidly making the beeping from my heart monitor start to speed up, which, in turn, made the sleeping form next to me stir. As soon as the man realized that I was awake he jumped up, dropping my right hand which he had been holding. Once the connection was lost, I started feeling stabbing pains in my chest, and, from the looks of it, the man was feeling it too. I cried out and as fast as it had left, his hand zoomed back into mine.

He spoke, "Baby, we need to mark each other, or this pain is just going to get worse," his voice was like velvet.

As I started to become more lucid, a small part of me was able to appreciate how handsome he was; dark black hair, blue eyes, he looked muscular, and I had a feeling he was very tall. He smelled like somebody went inside my brain and made my perfect version of what cologne should smell like. Upon second glance I noticed more things like how bloodshot his eyes were, and how tired he looked. Apart from that, and the lingering question left from Drew's witch comment, the rest of my brain was dedicated to freaking out. I could feel a scream building in my lungs, but no sound came out, the only thing I felt was a minute burn in my throat.

"Love, please calm down," his velvet voice was soothing, but I could tell that he was pleading, that seeing me panic was physically hurting him.

My breathing only slowed when I felt his other hand stroke my face. I looked him in the eye, feeling calmed by it.

"I'm just going to leave you two alone for a bit to go tell everybody that you are awake," Drew said, and before leaving he walked up to the man, my mate, who seemed a little tense and jealous of Drew, held out his hand and said, "I am Drew, Arlet's older brother."

My mate took his hand, visibly relaxing.

"I'll be back soon Ar," he said walking out.

I felt a throb in my chest and knew my mate was right; we needed to mark each other. He looked into my eyes, and when I nodded, he leaned forward, his right hand not letting go of mine until his left hand was cupped around my face. He went first, sinking his teeth into my neck, causing immediate pleasure, and I went next, shakily sinking my canines into the place where his shoulder and neck meet. As soon as we had both fully marked each other, the pain in my chest went away, but it was fleeting because as soon as he was no longer touching me, an empty vacuum appeared inside of my heart, and I felt hollow. He must have noticed too because he quickly scooped up my hand again.