Filed to story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Axel shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve been getting headaches a lot lately.”
“Has there been a change in your diet or routine?”
“Well, I became Alpha,” Axel smiled.
“Haha,” Peter sighed. “Stress could explain increased headaches, though I thought you were taking the new role slowly?”
“I am,” Axel replied, “honestly, I don’t think that has anything to do with this.”
“Then what do you think is going on?” Peter asked.
Axel took a deep breath.
“Could this be a side effect of a poison?” he asked.
“What?!” Peter asked, jumping up from his chair.
“It’s been a while since it happened. It was the night after the ceremony,” Axel said. “I ate a small amount of something, but Bell couldn’t identify what it was. I didn’t eat much of it, it left me feeling awful for about a day.”
“I don’t see how this could be related to that. It was too long ago,” Peter said. “But you’re saying the headaches started then?”
Axel nodded.
“Is there anything that makes them worse?” he asked.
Alice’s chocolate eyes flashed in his mind, followed immediately by a sharp pain. Axel hissed.
“Yep,” Peter said. “That, what was that?”
“Just thinking about something,” Axel replied, rubbing his temple. “Actually… yea… whenever I think about it, the pain comes back.”
“Is this a bad memory? Or a stressful event?”
“More like a mystery that’s driving me crazy,” Axel said. “It’s a person, someone I don’t really know, but I keep thinking about them.”
“When you think about a person, it gives you a headache?” Peter said.
“Not exactly,” Axel laughed. “I can think about her, about the things she said. But when I feel like there is something familiar about her… it hurts.”
Peter sat up.
“You mean,” he said. “When you try to remember her, it hurts?”
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” Axel laughed. “I just met her the night of the ceremony, we didn’t even talk that much. But her eyes… they just seem… familiar.”
He took a deep breath.
“Axel,” Peter said. “Have you ever heard of a ‘treatment’? Something to help you forget, or to keep information secure?”
Axel furrowed his brows.
“It’s a ridiculous practice that I am strongly opposed to,” Peter said, “but it is fairly common.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a memory suppression. Voluntary, usually. The point is to hide information from oneself, but sometimes it is used to keep information from others. So the point is that these treatments don’t remove memories. They just hide them.”
“Ok…”
“Well, memories have a way of finding their way back. And if you have already poisoned your mind to believe that the memory is bad. Your mind fights it resurfacing.”
“So, you’re saying I am trying to remember something?” Axel said. He sat up suddenly, intrigued. “Something about her?”
“It seems likely,” Peter nodded. “Usually, when someone has a proper ‘treatment’, they are guided through the process. This prevents memories resurfacing on their own because the guide works new roadmaps into the mind to avoid it.”
“If I have memories of Alice that I don’t know about, you need to help me remember!” Axel shouted.
Peter raised an eyebrow.
“I was afraid you would say that,” he sighed. “Look, we can do it, but I need to sedate you and keep you sedated, so you don’t overload yourself. After that, I will give you something else to help the memory, and then it should play out like a dream.”
Axel nodded.
“You’re going to experience the memory again. After that, you will feel like you have been drinking for three days straight without any food or water. It won’t be a nice process.”
“I don’t care,” Axel said. “I need to remember.”
Axel was lost.
He had only been to the Blood Moon once before, and he had been by his mother’s side the entire time. But he was ten years old now, too old to be tucked behind his mother’s skirt.
He had left her side not long after they had arrived, she had gone off with the other Lunas, first asking him if he was alright on his own.
Of course, he was alright on his own! He was the future Alpha of Winter!
But that was at least three hours ago, now, he was just Axel, the ten-year-old wolf lost in the forest.
He sat down with a heavy sigh.
His parents would be busy during the events, they wouldn’t notice he was missing for a long time. There was no point wandering around and getting even more lost.
Axel lay back in the cool grass and stared up at the moon.
It was strange to see it in this red glow. Scary, yet also calming.
He closed his eyes, crossing his hands over his chest; he breathed in the sweet scent of the night air.
It was sweeter here than at home. Something other than the trees. It was warm and rich. With his eyes still closed, he sat up; following the scent. He breathed it in deeply and let it roll around his senses.
What was it?
He heard something, a gasp. Axel opened his eyes and was surprised to see someone staring back at him.
“It was you…” the small girl before him whispered. She giggled and moved closer.
Axel crawled back until he hit a tree and had nowhere else to go. The small girl with curly brown hair didn’t stop. She came closer, smiling brightly at him as she sniffed the air.
“You have that sweet smell!” she laughed. Sniffing the air around him and clapping her hands together.
Axel furrowed his brows, he sniffed the air, the sweetness he had been following had gotten stronger, but it wasn’t coming from him..
He leaned forward, moving just slightly closer to her. He sniffed just beside her ear. There it was.
“It’s you…” he whispered.
The girl giggled again.
“We smell sweet!” she laughed.
He liked her laugh. Axel found himself smiling at her.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“I’m eight,” she smiled. “How old are you?”
“Ten,” Axel replied proudly.
The girl leaned forward, getting close to his ear.
“Did you get your fur yet?” she whispered.
“You mean my wolf?” he asked.
She nodded with another giggle.
“Of course!” he replied. “You can’t attend the Blood Moon without having shifted yet.”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone that I got my wolf yet,” she said sadly. “It’s a secret.”
“Why?” Axel asked.
“I don’t know,” she laughed. “I have lots of secrets that I don’t know why.”
“You’re very strange,” Axel said.
“Is that bad?” the small girl asked, looking away sadly.
“Not to me,” Axel said with a smile. “I like it.”
He felt a blush settle over his cheeks. He was thankful for the darkness of the evening.
“I like you!” she smiled.
Axel couldn’t help the laugh that fell from his lips.
The two children played together until the moon was high into the sky, and already leaving them.
“I should go,” the girl said sadly. “If he sees that I left, he’ll get mad at me.”
“Who?” Axel asked.
The girl got a look on her face that he didn’t understand. She looked confused and scared.
“I’m not supposed to say,” she finally answered.
“Can we play again tomorrow?” Axel asked, not wanting to let her go.
“I don’t know,” she said, “but I hope so!”
She laughed again before she ran away too quickly for Axel to follow. He sighed when she was gone, already feeling lonely without her.
It took him a long time, but he finally made his way back to the festivities, and soon after, his mother found him and gave him a long talk about running off.
Axel had a hard time sleeping that night. He kept thinking of the small girl with the curly brown hair. He realized only as he lay his head down on his pillow that he never asked her name.
The next day he spent a good part of the morning looking for her.
He was beginning to feel like he would never see her again, when he was suddenly struck by that same sweet smell he had encountered in the forest. His heart quickened, and he followed the scent excitedly.
Axel ran between people and tables, hunting down the enticing aroma.
He finally found it in a room off the dining hall. He went in and looked around, but he didn’t see her.