Broken Souls

Alpha Aaron’s POV

I can’t even begin to understand what happened. At first, I feel everything through the bound I have with Kay. I feel her happiness and her excitement. Then everything is suddenly changed to horror, fear, rage, and sadness. I feel all of this in just a matter of moments. It hits me like a train, and then I feel nothing. No connection. I try and try, but she is so far away.

I am about to go to her when Willow grabs my arm and pulls me to the hall, closing the door.

“What the hell Willow? What is going on, and what happened to her?”

“We both had a vision. A memory really. Did Kay tell you about the mind tricks Hadeon subjected her to while she was in Seth’s captivity?” Willow asks looking even more concerned.

“Yes, but I’m sure she didn’t tell me all of it. You know how she can be about talking about all of that, and I didn’t want to push her too fast.” Now I’m wishing I had pushed her to tell me more.

“Well, we had the same vision at the same time, and I don’t think it was one of Hadeon’s tricks. I think we saw in by mistake, or he wanted her to see it. I do believe it was the truth. It makes too much sense not to be the truth.”

“Will you just tell me?!” I finally growl at the woman.

“Hadeon was possessing Seth when they raped her mother. I believe Hadeon did it with the purpose of creating Kay. She has some of Hadeon’s power and some of him inside her, which gives him that much more hold to this realm. She is his key and door. To leave the underworld, he needs her.”

To say that I’m shocked would be an understatement for sure.

“But why can’t I feel anything from Kay? I felt all of her emotion and then nothing.”

“I think she’s in shock and doesn’t know what to feel. It was a shock for her to see what she did, and I think she is questioning what is real. Hadeon showed her a lot of horrible things. I didn’t want to rush her and have her react badly, so I never pushed her magically. She has a lot of magic, Aaron. More than I thought she had originally. Her actions the past couple of days prove that. I don’t know why it’s growing so quickly. It may have been that when she was so close to Hadeon, it awoke her powers more. Maybe he funneled more into her. I am not sure. She has a link to him, so it is possible,” Willow says. “Just go to her and see if you can reach her, but be careful. We don’t want to have anything drastic happen.”

“Like what exactly might happen?” I have to ask.

“I don’t think we want to find out what she could be capable of right now.” I don’t miss the concern in her voice. “I just need you to reach her. I think you are the only one that can right now. I don’t think she can even hear her wolf. She has blocked out everything.”

I open the door and step back into the room. Kay hasn’t moved. As I walk over to her, I can see her watching me, but for the first time, I can’t read her face. She’s just a blank mask of nothing and that is frightening. I wish she would get mad or cry. Anything is better than nothing. I kneel down in front of her. Her blue sapphire eyes are just watching me.

“Kay, my love, talk to me. Please let me know what to do for you,” I plead reaching out to touch her cheek, but she pulls back from me. I try to hide how much that hurts. I’ve never seen her like this. She has always been strong. Even when she was nervous, she still stood up for herself. She still fought.

“Kay, please?” I don’t even know what I’m trying to ask her. I just want to hold her, and I want her to be okay.

“I don’t know who I am or what I am. I was made so that Hadeon had a way back here. I don’t know how to stop him from using me to do that. All I am is a doorway for his evil,” Kay finally responds looking at the floor now.

“I know who you are. You are the brave and strong woman that stood up to a stupid Alpha when he tried to hide from his feelings. You are the women that had an entire pack fall in love with her just from being kind. You are stronger than most who have lived through what you have. You are the only reason that we escaped Seth and Hadeon. You saved us; you saved me. You revived me the first day I saw you, and you had my heart the first time I found you climbing the counters in the kitchen. You have rescued me more times than you can possibly know. You are my heart, Kay. Please believe that!” I say reaching out my hand to touch her cheek again. This time, Kay leans her face into my hand. I can feel the tears running into my hand faster than I can wipe them away. I finally feel her through our bond again, and my heart breaks more. She has so much pain and sadness, it hurts.

I can’t stand it. I have to hold her. I can hear Griffin howling in heart ache, so I move to the bed and scoop her up with me. She just buries her face in my shirt to cry. In just a short time, she has had to come to terms with so much. I don’t know how she has dealt with it all. This is the most broken I have seen her. Even the day we found her, she was physically broken, but she was still strong and ready to escape the clinic if she had to.

When I look around the room, Willow is nowhere to be seen. I don’t know when she left, but all I can really think of is Kay. When she finally stops crying, my shirt is wet, but I don’t care. She looks up at me. Her eyes are puffy and red. I wipe the last of the tears off her cheeks.

“How about we go back to our room for the rest of the day? I can run you a bath, okay?” I just want to comfort her. “Kay you know that no matter what I love you and you are everything to me? No matter what happens, you are still you, and I love you.” She gives me a small smile, but I know she needs more time to process ever thing. I also know that I will be there with her every step of the way.

Kay’s POV

When I get back to the room with Aaron, he draws a bath for me. I slip into the hot water trying to ease my body and my mind. I don’t know how long I cried in his arms, but I feel completely drained and overwhelmed with everything. I thought I was okay with everything that had taken place over the last few months, but this latest revelation seems to have been more than I can take. Aaron is the only thing that brings me out of the numbness I have slipped into, but I don’t see how I can protect everyone. If Hadeon made me just so he can be free again to return to our realm, how will I stop him? Am I strong enough for that?

I sink down in the water holding my breath and letting the water block everything out; I just want a moment of peace. I hold my breath as long as I can ’til my lungs scream for air. When I come up, I clear the water from my face and gasp for air. I know I need to get myself together. If I break now, I let the darkness win.

As the bathwater is turning cold, my thoughts drift to my mother. I close my eyes not caring that the water is beginning to make me shiver. I can feel Diana curled up in my mind, almost like she’s sleeping. I can feel the magic all the time now, and it’s easy to take hold of. So, I follow it. I follow it into that void that Grandma told me to be careful of. I can feel something there, and it’s pulling me willing me to go deeper into the nothingness. It doesn’t feel like the dark coldness of Hadeon. It’s warm and comforting. It even smells like warm honey, and I can hear her. I can hear mother singing and laughing. If I just go a little further, I know I can see her. I know Grandma said not to go too far into this place, but now I can’t seem to stop it. I don’t want to stop: I have to see her.

The white nothingness of the void begins to clear, and I can see it: I can see my home and hear my mother’s voice clearly singing her favorite song. I can feel the grass under my feet and the warm breeze on my skin ruffling the skirt of the plain white dress I’m somehow wearing. My feet are moving to the house before I even think about what I’m doing. The front door is wide open, and my mother rushes from the house wrapping me in the warmest hug so full of love. It is a hug I have been aching for, for eight long years.

“Mama,” I whisper. I can feel her, smell her, and hold her.

“Oh, my sweet Kay, I have missed you so much,” my mother says pulling back from our tight embrace to look at my face.

“We don’t have long. You know you can’t stay here, but I’m so glad you came,” she says hugging me again.

“Come inside with me. We can’t let him hear us,” Mama tells me, pulling out of our hug and taking my hand. Before I can ask her who she means. I see the shadow block out the sun for a moment. I know it is Hadeon.

“Mom, where is this place exactly? Why are you here? What is happening?” I rapidly ask her as she keeps pulling me further into the kitchen. I can hear the radio playing like it always did It feels like home still, but it is empty too. As she pulls me to the kitchen table and takes a seat, I’m lost looking at everything. It is just as I remember it.

“Kay, sit with me. We don’t have much time. He will know you are here soon, and then you will have to go. This is the place between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. I know you have so many questions, and I’m so sorry the vision I sent you and Willow was so hard for you. I didn’t want it to hurt you. I just wanted you to know,” Mama explains with a sad look.

“You sent that?” I ask not hiding my shock.

“Yes, I thought you had to know. I have been stuck here in this limbo for so long waiting for you to find that power in you, so I could show you who you are. You are my daughter, and I love you, Kay. Hadeon thought he was creating a way to escape back to the land of the living, but he was wrong.” Mama smiles warmly at me.

“But … I don’t know what to do. How do I stop him?” I feel shocked, and I don’t even know what questions to ask in my confusion.

“Oh, my girl, he thought he could use you, but you have shown him he can’t. You blocked him, and you protected the ones you love in the clearing. That was you. The love you have and the warmth in you is all you need. Hadeon is nothing but cold, hate, and death. You, my love, are warmth and love and life. After everything that has happened, you still love. You forgave and loved people that you could have chosen to hate. You have used your magic to protect and save people not destroy them. You are the door and the key, and you can lock him away forever destroying him.” Mama says getting up and kissing my forehead.

“Kay, I love you, and I have watched over you even when you couldn’t see me or feel me. I promise I was there. I sent the visions to Willow, and I will still do all I can from here, but you have to be the one to face Seth and then Hadeon. If Hadeon loses enough power, he can be killed.” Mama suddenly stops talking and looks out the window as the sky darkens.

“Kay, you have to go and go now!” Mama has panic in her voice.

“But I….” Mama cuts me off before I can finish.

“GO KAY! I love you, and I will be with you. Willow will help you. NOW GO! Please.”

I let go of the warm magic, and I expect to be plunged into the freezing water of the bath, but I’m not. I’m wrapped in a warm blanket and strong arms.

“Kay, what happened?” The concern is clear in Aaron’s voice and his eyes when he feels me stir.

“I saw my mom.”