Saving Him

Harlyn

I looked between my father and the queen, wondering just what she was hinting at.

“I agree, darling; we can’t risk Harlyn for a chance of saving him,” the former king says. “If he can’t bring himself out of it, the pups need her, and we can’t sacrifice her on the off chance of it working.”

The queen deflates, and I watch as they take out Stefan and I move to catch up with the queen.

“Your Grace,” I say as we walk into the palace, she peers at me.

“Harlyn, the maids took the pups in and showed them to their rooms,” she smiles at me.

“How do you think I could help him?” I ask, wanting to know if there is a way. She glances around us to ensure no one is listening.

“From the stories, in the past, people have tried various techniques, some successful, others not so. One was using someone’s mate. If the mate’s wolf can, it connects with the wolf of the person infected,” she explains.

I nod at her quickly. “So how do I do it?” I ask.

“You would get pulled into it Harlyn, then try and manipulate the memory to make him realise it’s merely that, which will force him to wake up. However, there are risks,” she says.

“I’m not bothered about the risks. Can we do it?” I ask, wanting to try at least.

“The risks include you dying, Harlyn. You can get stuck in the same thing as him, if he failed, and you can’t pull yourself out, you die as well,” she says before sighing. “It was a foolish idea, and we can’t risk your life.”

It is worth a try. It’s something I can at least try to do and help with, considering I caused it.

“Harlyn, you can’t do it. I apologise, but think of the pups.” She smiles and walks away. As I walk through the palace, I see Samuel and the king in a room with soldiers and guards clearly planning an attack.

Moving, I walk around the palace and go into Stefan’s room and see him in the bed. The maid smiles at me.

“I will give you space, Miss Harlyn,” she nods at me and leaves. I’ve no idea how to do this, and is that what happened before? When I saw him rejecting me.

All I did was focus on my wolf while I was cuddled against him. Moving, I climb into the bed and wrap my arms around him, my eyes falling on his arm.

What was about the size of a peach is now covering half of his arm. It’s spreading fast. Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I close my eyes and try to focus on my wolf.

I should be able to, but the more I try, the harder it is, and it’s like my wolf has gone. His heart. Before I focused on his breathing and heart.

Closing my eyes again, I focus on the sound of his breathing and the feel of his heart, and slowly, I begin to feel my wolf. I fight to stay calm as I focus on my wolf and try to feel his.

It happens quickly. One minute, I’m conscious of where I am, and then the same icy feeling spreads through my body, and I’m back where I was before.

This time, the pain, guilt and everything else seems far more intense, and I want to break free but remind myself I can’t. I watch the scene play out and try to work out how to make him see.

I watch as the door is closed in my own face and it’s an unusual feeling seeing myself through his eyes. I look entirely different, and while there is a feeling of guilt and pain. There’s also a feeling of love when he looks at me.

Once the door is closed, his forehead rests against it, and the word sorry is whispered from his lips, I fight to find a way to control the situation and struggle to.

I watch as it goes dark, just for it to start again, the same routine on repeat. He hears me knock and calls out to me. I walk in and speak. He shouts at me, pushes me out, and rejects me, then falls apart behind the door while apologising.

The more it happens, the worse the feeling of guilt, self-hate and everything else intensifies, and the harder it becomes for me to remember that this isn’t real. I’m now beginning to wonder if I should have got more information from the queen before doing this.

I begin trying to restrict his movements. It’s only a memory. Surely, I can pause his steps and make him realise it’s not real. But it fails. No matter how much I try to stop him from moving or speaking, it fails.

Next, I begin trying to focus on his wolf in the hopes that his wolf will realise I am real and here. However, I fail at that as well. The longer it goes on, the more I become tired.

So now, I’m just chanting his name, trying to make him hear me. As soon as that door closes and his head presses against it, I call out his name more.

As I am about to think it isn’t working, I feel something, and this time, he doesn’t say sorry. I say his name again.

“Harlyn?” His words seem to be coming from his mind, not the memory.

“Wake up, it’s not life, Stefan, it’s a memory, wake up!” the words are shouted, and I hear the word sorry escape his lips and panic. “Wake up, remember Stefan, this isn’t real, the pups, remember them.” My words are panicked, and I repeat them again. Everything goes black, and I prepare myself for the nightmare to continue.

It doesn’t, instead, i feel myself drifting to sleep my mind too exhausted to wake up to check if it worked.