Karizma: Reborn
Chapter 9: Ryleigh

Ryleigh was curled up in bed beside her sister. After Kristopher’s departure yesterday, Ryleigh could not leave Bailey’s side. While the pack was accepting and understanding of Ryleigh, she felt like the outsider; the newborn wolf that has magical powers. Kristopher made her feel welcomed, and her sister made her feel at home. Lukas made her feel like she was the newborn wolf that she was. It was as if every move that she made was the wrong one, that every feeling that she felt was irrelevant. She fought against tears after Kristopher left; not just for missing him, but for missing his touch. She still felt nothing whenever he kissed her or held her, and it hurt her beyond words. It was as if her heart detached itself completely from her body, and denied her -the satisfaction of enjoying Kristopher’s company.

Ryleigh stared at Bailey as she traced her fingers over her sister’s cheek. The only time that Ryleigh felt anything was whenever Lukas became physical with her. Twice she attacked him, and both instances made her feel more alive than she had since she came back. She felt like this cold, calloused corpse walking around with magic keeping her alive, and a wolf that demanded freedom. She felt like the shell of the woman that she once was. She put her sister into a coma, and she could not feel the physical touch from her love; all of it made her feel like an inconvenience to those around her. “Everything would be better if you had let me go,” Ryleigh whispered to her sister. “You would be here. Kristopher would be safe. Lukas and the Lycans would be free from this.”

“That’s not true,” Lukas whispered softly. Ryleigh’s eyes shot up and found Lukas leaning against the doorframe. He was wearing a black muscle shirt with a pair of jeans, his large arms tense as he crossed them over his chest. “We would never be free from this.”

“You’d be free from me,” Ryleigh answered softly. Her eyes shifted back to Bailey. Ryleigh inhaled deeply to calm herself. She was still irate for their conversation with Kristopher, and she refused to let the beast out. Her wolf was enraged for her, but this was not the place to react to him. This house is only for Bailey, not for us. Ryleigh inhaled shakily as she felt her emotions threaten to burst the concrete wall that her corpse had built since her resurrection. She could not allow herself to feel the weight of it all, the truth behind everything; all she wanted to do was cry and end her own life, and she knew that neither solved anything. This war was happening, whether she was dead or alive. At least alive, mankind has a chance.

Ryleigh kissed Bailey’s cheek softly and carefully slid out of the bed. She walked toward the front door and past Lukas. She felt her heart rate spike as she heard his footsteps behind her. She dipped into her magic instinctively. Her magic caressed her fingers and gently stroked along her arm. Her magic was attempting to calm her before she reacted with it. Her wolf whined softly, and Ryleigh stopped in her tracks. I am hurting her. She heard Lukas stop directly behind her, and she snapped.

“Why are you here?” Ryleigh barked.

“I needed to see you.”

“Why? To tell me how much of a screw up I am? That my resurrection put Bailey into a coma?”

“Ryleigh—”

“Why would you say that?” Ryleigh choked out. Lukas’ eyes widened in surprise. Ryleigh noticed pack members watching her and she quickly sprinted farther away from the pack. Lukas followed close behind her, but she continued to run. She was on the verge of a breakdown, and she needed to get as far away from her people before it happened. She wanted to believe that her magic and her wolf would remain tame during it, but she could not be sure.

Ryleigh stopped running when she could no longer hear the other Lycans. She heard Lukas slow behind her, and she turned around. His blue eyes were bright with concern and light perspiration matted his hair matted to his forehead. “Ryleigh,” he said softly.

“Why would you say that to me?” She repeated as her voice cracked.

“Because I feared that Kristopher would, and I worried about what would happen to him.”

“You thought I would attack him?”

“You attacked me.”

“Because you had no fucking right to say that to me!” She snapped. “No fucking right. He has been there with me through everything. I wouldn’t have hurt him.”

“Maybe not you, but your wolf might have. I can sense her pain.”

Ryleigh collapsed to her knees. Her magic lashed out in response to her emotional turmoil, yet Lukas knelt beside her. Tears clouded her vision as she glared at him. “What is it?” he asked softly.

“Everything,” she whispered. “I died, Lukas. Do you understand that?”

“Of course I do. I...” he inhaled sharply. “I saw your corpse.”

“I died because the man that I love killed me. Snapped my neck, to save me from my ancestor who wanted to use me as an indefinite siphon of power since she could no longer produce children herself to feed off.”

Ryleigh shuddered as she continued. “And I came back. But what did it cost? Everything. Bailey is in a coma. Kristopher will be executed on the spot once the vampires realize I’m alive, and your pack is in danger. All that my resurrection has done is endangered everyone. You even said that you pissed me off because you were worried that I would hurt Kristopher.”

“Because I know how you feel about her,” Lukas said.

“You could not possibly know how I feel about her,” Ryleigh said. “I put her into a coma. My little sister. I spent my entire life protecting her, and it damn near fucking killed her.”

Ryleigh’s eyes widened suddenly, and her eyes flared gold. She jumped to her feet and Lukas slowly rose in front of her. Ryleigh’s canines descended as her magic twitched beneath her skin. “Easy,” Lukas said softly. “She is alive. She will get better.” Ryleigh stared at him curiously. The most important secret that Ryleigh had vowed to die with, and he had no visible reaction to it. She took a step towards him and felt her canines retreat. Her magic settled beneath her skin, and her emerald eyes crept through her gold ones. “Why?” she asked quietly.

Lukas smiled lightly and nodded at her. “Because she is strong, just like her teacher. She will recover and be back to normal.”

“I am the farthest from recovered and back to normal,” Ryleigh whispered, her eyes focused on Lukas’ in an attempt to locate deception. His eyes shifted suddenly from assurance to concern. “I haven’t felt like myself since I came back,” she continued.

“What do you mean?”

“I feel empty, angry, selfish. Bailey is in a coma, and I just want her to wake up so I can ask her to help me figure everything out.”

“Empty?”

“Yeah,” Ryleigh sighed. She ran a hand through her hair nervously. “Kristopher…welcomed me after I recovered—”

“I’ve heard,” Lukas interrupted tersely.

“—And it felt like nothing,” Ryleigh finished. “I mean, I felt his skin, his touch—”

“Enough,” Lukas growled.

“Whatever. The point is, I felt it, but I didn’t really feel it. I felt skin, but not…”

“Attraction. Connection,” Lukas murmured.

“Exactly,” Ryleigh said as she looked at Lukas curiously. Lukas exhaled through his nostrils. She heard a slight snarl from him, and she felt that urge to touch his face again. Something was wrong, different with him, and she wanted to aid it. “The only time I’ve truly felt alive, when I’ve felt any semblance of peace, is when I’ve fought you. When I’m not hitting you, my wolf is in agony, my magic is constantly on alert, and the heart that I once possessed remains devoured by my ancestor. I feel so much clashing internally that I feel like I am going to explode.”

“So, let it out,” Lukas said after a moment. “You made sure to bring us far enough away from the pack that, if you did, you would not harm anyone.”

“Except you.”

“Apparently hurting me is the only relief that you feel,” Lukas shrugged. “I can handle some pain for your pleasure. You need to have some release that you can control. Let it go, love.”

Ryleigh closed her eyes and screamed suddenly. Her magic exploded amongst the trees with a loud crack. She heard Lukas’ breath hitch as her magic stripped the leaves from the trees. Her wolf growled darkly in approval, and claws and canines joined her magic’s victory. Her scream became a roar, and a laugh mingled within it. Everything seemed to seep out of her pores; her frustration, her depression, her hollow excuse of a heart. All of it vanished in that moment. She heard a loud hiss suddenly and her eyes shot open.

Lukas’ face had been eaten by the acidic intensity of Ryleigh’s magic. Her magic immediately returned to her, and she slid her claws and canines away. She pushed herself on her tiptoes and cupped his face gently. His skin began to heal as he stared down at her. “Are you okay?”

“I will heal. How do you feel?” Lukas asked.

“Fantastic,” Ryleigh grinned. “I needed that. Are you sure that you’re okay?”

“Absolutely,” he whispered as his hand cupped one of hers. “To see that look in your eyes, I would gladly experience this pain as often as you need it. This pain is nothing compared to what you are going through.”

Ryleigh felt her heart flutter at Lukas’ words. She destroyed his face, inflicted harm upon him, and he gladly welcomed it for her moment of relief. She watched his skin heal beneath her grasp, but his eyes never left hers. She saw fascination and adoration in his eyes, but concern dominated him. She was drowning so deeply in her own despair that she did not see how she was affecting everyone else. Not everyone else, she realized. If Kristopher had felt her pain, he did not show it. Somehow, Lukas understood what she was going through, and he gave her the tools to conquer it. Her wolf purred gently, and Lukas closed his eyes. He turned his face into her palm gently, and the gesture caused her heart to skip a beat. Even after transferring my pain to him, he is nothing but kind.

Lukas opened his eyes, and a new emotion clouded them that Ryleigh could not interpret. His skin was fully healed, but there was something beneath the surface that beckoned for her continued touch. Ryleigh pulled herself closer to him. Her chest collided with his as her balance on her toes wavered. Lukas immediately wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her against him. Her gold eyes searched deeply into his blue ones, as if the answer to his underlying pain would be brought to the surface. “Ryleigh,” Lukas whispered softly. He gently lowered her to stand on the balls of her feet, his arms anchored around her. He lowered his head and rested his forehead against hers.

“This pain is nothing compared to what you are going through,” Ryleigh repeated his words back to him as her thumbs stroked against his cheeks. Whatever he was experiencing beneath the surface, it was weighing him down. She was drawn to him, wanting to help lift him above this weight, but she could not understand why. Just that he needed her, and she needed him. “We both have our own battles right now,” Lukas said quietly. “Neither of us can show our weaknesses.”

“Then we will fight our battles together, side by side, until we are victorious and can smile again.”

“I would not want it any other way,” Lukas replied.

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