Feeling This...

Twenty pounds of oxygen pushed into my lungs, fast, to fast. I could feel every muscle in my chest stretch, it took everything I had not to scream from the pain.

“You were always trying to be tough,” my eyes shot open only to meet a hazy scene, “I allowed them to do this to you princess,”

“Dad?” I sat up, my clothes that had been previously torn apart were in one piece and clean of my blood; but no one else was around me, just his voice drifting through the air.

“Charlotte, I should of killed them, right when I found out what they were, who they were,”

“Dad it's not your fault,” I continued to search for him.

“Yes, they are wolves Charlie, I allowed my child to have a pull towards evil,” my heart flew up into my throat. “My family, we tried our best to help you!”

“Your family tried to kill me!” I yelled to the ghost voice, of course he wasn't making amends for what his father had done to me.

“There is no trying to kill you, if they wanted you dead you would have been a long time ago!”

“Your FATHER cut me open, forced me to shift, kidnapped my mom,” tears burned a path down my cheeks, how could my father be saying these things.

“Never forget Charlie, YOU are the monster, you are unholy, unnatural; for that you will have to pay in time,”

His voice was fading out, my eyes became heavier by the second.

“What is happening to me?” I questioned the haze in the room thickening.

“You're waking up,”

“Charlie? Come on Princess, wake up,” Uncle Joe's voice faded into the room.
-----

“Charlie?”

I took every ounce of strength I had to smile up at my Uncle, my favorite person in the world, who unfortunately was covered in my blood.

“That's my girl,” he smiled back, tears welded up in his eyes.

“Mom?” I asked, my throat felt like it was full of razor blades, probably from all the screaming I had done over the past few hours.
“We'll find her Charlie,”

I'm sure I looked crazy when one eye completely gave up slamming shut, it felt like my whole body was shutting down, like a bear going into hibernation.

“Good night,” Seemed like the only appropriate thing to say.
---
Brian's POV
“Goodnight Princess,” Joe pushed Charlie's hair out of her face; It took everything in me to not shift and attack him for touching her.

“There is no sign of anything here, it's like they were never here,” Johnny and Zacky came back into the room, after being sent to examine the warehouse.

“Magic,” Matt sputtered pulling out his cell phone, probably calling Val, checking in with his loved one, something I was being robbed of.

“We need to get out of here before they come back,” Jack's spoke, reminding us all threat they were still out there.

“How does she look?” Josie came running into the room after her guard of watching the door when we first came in.

“She's almost healed herself, it just looks like light scars now, she should be fine tomorrow,” Jack spoke to the younger were.

“So she's still one of us then, she can still heal herself,”

“They can't take it out of her, they can just put a cap on it,” Matt spoke hanging up the phone.

How could they talk like this? Like everything was over, like we had won; when I had just lost everything. Nothing would ever change the fact that Charlie would never be the mate I needed her to be, never run behind me wild, never continue the Haner line of wolves; and worst of all it wouldn't matter to me because the second she shifted I was stuck, attached, mated.

“Brian, you drive her and her car back, we'll go back how we came,” I nodded at my directions, like I had a choice. I made my way up to the table where Charlie laid, I hadn't looked at her since the Witches disappeared. Chills ran up my arm at the sight of her, she looked dead, her usually pale skin was even lighter, her lips were so light they almost faded into her skin, the darkest part of her were the dark circles around her eyes, that looked like bruises, and of course the splatters of blood on all over her, her once white t shirt now mostly red and torn wide oven in the middle, a black lace bra which would usually get my going was nothing but a piece of cloth to me, seeing her like this made vomit rise in my throat.

Bending over to lift her body an electric shock ran through me, the wolf in me howled, the hair on my neck stood at end, her weight in my arms was...perfect, she wasn't to heavy but she wasn't a feather either, what else did I expect, everything about her was perfectly designed, that I had agreed on before I even spoke words to her, when I was just harmlessly watching her across the bar, before I even knew who or what she was.

“Meet you in Huntington,” I spoke to the group while making my way to the door.

“We'll figure this out man,” Matt's thick hand slapped my back. “We'll find a way,”

I had no response.

------
When I finally opened my eyes I felt weak, but safe... something was calming about the situation I woke up into, my head was leaned up against the window of my car, and Iron Maiden was playing quietly in the background escaping out the drivers side window of the car. Brian was driving my car, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel along with the music, emotionless staring out the window into the setting sun. His dark hair was a mess pushed not all different directions, dirt was all over the parts of skin that showed, making his monster tattoo on his arms a darker shade of color, the smell of outside was thick in the air, the salt water and his scent, whatever it was exactly I couldn't put my finger on, but it was the best most relaxing thing I had ever smelt.

“ I didn't think you would ever wake up,” his voice caused me to jump, I didn't think he had looked over at me to see that I was awake.

“Please tell me you have a license?” he still didn't look over but a smile spread across his face.

“Yeah, I stole one a few years ago”

“Something tells me that is the truth,” I smirked over at him; he still didn't look over.

“Where are we?” I questioned, in California all of the beaches looked alike you usually couldn't tell where on PCH you were at.

“About two hours out from home, go back to sleep,”

“I'm not tired,” I informed the guitarist; reaching out changing the song.

“Hey, I'm driving here,” he tried reaching out for the radio before I slapped his hand.

“It's my car!” I continued smirking over at him, scanning radio stations. “Do you know how many shitty people I have to wait on every month to pay for this?”

“How are you feeling?” Brian asked losing his smile, and for the first time his brown eyes met mine.

“Like a train hit me, backed up over me, drove forward again only to be followed by a bus, but I’d hate to be to descriptive.”

“Yeah, I don't know about the being cut open part, but I know when I first shifted, I hurt the next day,”

“That was freaky, and the being cut in half part kind of sucked to,”

“You'll get used to it,” he paused running one hand through his hair, “I mean the shifting part,”

“Didn't you hear? I'll never do it again?” I didn't know why I felt upset about that part, I should have been thrilled, I was back to being regular old me, but I knew that was a lie, being a werewolf, even for that minute had changed me.

“Every kind of magic can be undone,” he assured me, reaching his arm out, like he was going to touch mine before tugging it back, he thought better of it.

“Did you find me?” I needed to know, if what that man was talking about only my mate could find me.

Instantly he shot his face back forward out the front window again, like he was looking for a clue in the road ahead.

“Yes,” he gave the one word answer; my heart began chugging, Brian found me, he really was my mate.

“I'm named after him,” I was letting him off the hook, “That man's name was Charles, I'm Charlie,” I told Brian staring out the window too.

“It will be a nice name across his grave stone,” Brian snarled.

“Thank you, for finding me,”

“No problem,”

“No really, thank you, I should have never left, but I didn't , couldn't, believe my family was behind this, but I heard her; my mom, she knew they had me.” Tears swelled in my eyes for the millionth time that day. “She didn't even help me,”

“You're a wolf Charlie, you have a different family, a real family,” he kept staring out the window, showing no change in emotion. “A family that will track you in the woods, bust into an abandoned building against unknown magic for you,”

“He said he's coming back for me,” I remembered that much from right before I passed out.

“That, will never happen,” he finally turned his attention away from the road, gripping my bare arm with his calloused hand, and for longer than we both realized we both stared into each others eyes, his dark chocolate eyes, I realized were the same color as the first wolf that busted into the room earlier, I knew it had to be him.

His cell phone ringing ended out staring match as he quickly answered and I went back to staring out the window, feeling sleep slip over me again.