The Hunting
Chapter 20

A few hours later Kia was ready to leave the infirmary. Most of her wounds had healed enough for her to be sent home, the rest would heal as Niri got her strength back.

Kia sat on the bed, in training shorts and a sports bra, her shirt forgotten next to her. She gazed down at her stomach, shivers running through her as the sight of Thomas' name brought back all the unwanted memories. She slowly traced her fingers over the half healed wound, thinking that his name would forever be etched onto her skin, his face forever featured in her nightmares.

"We can always get you a nice tattoo..."

Kia gasped as her head snapped up to lock eyes with Tobias, she hadn't realized he was standing there watching her.

"I was just..." she fumbled, grabbing her shirt to put it on.

Tobias walked closer and stopped her, his eyes softening as he stared into her eyes.

"Don't.." he whispered. "I'm not mad about it. It's not your fault."

Kia looked down to the ground, tears streaming down her face.

"He marked me." she whispered slowly. "Not in the traditional way, but still." Kia said, looking up at Tobias' gentle face again.

"I don't care Kia, and neither should you." he said, giving her a soft smile. He sat down on the bed next to her, his hand tracing lazy circles on her neck. "My mark will be here, and everyone will know who you belong to. No one will care about the marks on your stomach, but if it really bothers you, we can have it covered up?" Tobias says, taking her hands in his.

Kia sighs, "Yeah, it does. But let's figure it out later."

She put on her shirt and grabbed his hand, allowing him to help her walk out the room. Her whole body hurt, every movement sent pain shuddering through her, but she ignored it all. She hated the infirmary, she wanted to be at home in her own room.

"Hey sweetie, they let you go already?" Elaina asked.

"No not really, but I wanted to leave." Kia said, sitting down with a sigh.

Tobias gave her mother a wry look before sitting down next to Kia.

"Well, we're happy to have you home." Elaina said, giving her a genuine smile full of love.

"Yeah.." Kia said, her voice trailing off. She looked out the window, completely consumed by her thoughts.

*Flashback*

"We will break you Kia." Darion said as he slowly circled her.

She had been in Blood Moon for two days, they had pretty much left her alone the first day. Leaving her to freeze as she stood naked and bound to the wall. Niri was still absent and Kia came to the conclusion that they had probably injected her with wolfsbane.

"You can go ahead and try.." Kia said, glaring at the brothers. She had a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that they were Tobias' family, he was nothing like them.

Thomas and Darion had laughed at her before they started hurting her, little by little, increasing the pain more every day.

*End of Flashback*

"Kia!" Elaina yelled, snapping her fingers in front of Kia's face.

She snapped from her thoughts and gave her mother a sheepish grin. "Sorry..."

"I was just asking about the full moon?" Elaina said, "We missed it, are we going to resume the ceremony on the next one?"

"Uh..." Kia said, nervousness flushing through her.

"Let's just postpone it for now." Tobias said, scooting closer to Kia to soothe her nervousness, he gave Elaina a gentle but stern look and she nodded in response.

"How about a nap?" Tobias said, glancing at Kia.

"What am I, four?" Kia asked, eying Tobias.

"No, you are however, recovering from serious injuries and you need the rest." Tobias said, mimicking her look.

Kia sighed, "Okay, fine."

Tobias helped her stand up and lead her slowly towards her room, she stopped at his room however and opened the door. Letting his scent wash over her.

She walked over to the bed slowly, Tobias close behind.

"Can you help me, please..." Kia said, blushing bright red.

Tobias looked over and saw her pointing to the bed, he realized she had difficulty picking up her legs higher than a few inches. He picked her up, smiling at her gasp of surprise, holding her with one hand he turned down the comforter and laid her down on the soft bed, tucking her in. It wasn't cold but he knew she liked to be snuggled up no matter what the weather was.

"Comfortable?" he asked, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Stay with me?" she asked, looking up into his bright blue eyes.

"Sure." he said as he walked around the bed, going to lie down behind her.

She moved closer to him, leaning her head back against his chest, making him groan.

"I thought I was going to lose you forever." Tobias whispered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You almost did." Kia said back softly, almost incoherently.

Tobias sighed deeply, "Yeah.."

Kia closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Come on, just one little scream..." Thomas said as he wrapped his hand around Kia's throat.

Kia clamped her jaw shut, swallowing her pain as Darion slowly drove a knife through her hand.

Thomas sighed, shaking his head. "Such a pity..." he said, running his finger down her cheek slowly.

Kia lurched forward, head-budding him, causing his nose to bleed. Thomas growled loudly, slapping Kia.

He pushed Darion aside, tired of his toying around.

"Time to make her scream." he said in a threatening voice, grabbing his hammer.

Kia tried moving out of the way, but she had little room to move chained to the wall. Thomas locked eyes with her and swung the hammer, it came crashing down against her thigh. The impact sent Kia flying backwards into the solid wall behind her, a scream ripping through her before she could even try to stop it.

"Music to my ears..." Thomas said laughing as he swung the hammer again.

"No, no.." Kia mumbled in her sleep. "NO!" she screamed bolting upwards.

She sat there shivering, her breathing fast and erratic.

"Kia, calm down.." Tobias said, touching her shoulders.

Kia jumped, stumbling away from him. He froze in his spot, pain surging through him at the look his mate gave him.

"Just leave, please..." Kia said, unable to look at him.

He slowly got up and walked around the bed to kneel in front of her. He grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to his.

"Kia, I'm not my family..." he said, slowly, his voice breaking.

Kia still refused to look at him, afraid of the memories those blue eyes brought to her. Tears slowly made their way down her face before Tobias reached out and caught them.

He wrapped his arms around her carefully, not wanting to freak her out even more. He hated that his family had done this to her, he hated that he reminded her of what she had to go through.

He breathed in her orange blossom scent, trailing his hands through her soft red locks as she cried in his arms.

"Kia..." he said, pushing her back so he could look at her. "You know I would never hurt you, right?" he asked.

A moment of dount flashed across her face, making Tobias' heart twist.

Kia breathed out and closed her eyes, gripping onto his hands tightly. "Yes..." she whispered, looking back up at him.

He sighed and his body relaxed. Leaning forward he planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Tobias." Kia whispered as she held onto him tightly.

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