When Albert enters the living room, he gives me a smile as he hugs me. The warmth from his hug almost makes me forget about the tension in the room. After pulling away from the hug, he greets Lance with a friendly handshake.
After the greetings are done, Albert senses the tense atmosphere and asks, “Did I come at the wrong time?”
“No. In fact, you came at the right time. Elizabeth was eagerly waiting for you,” Lance comments.2
Albert turns to look at me, “Really?”
“Yeah,” I say while giving him a small smile.
“I was eager to see you too,” he returns. He extends his hand and says, “Let’s go.”
“Where?” I ask while taking his hand nonetheless.
“You’ll come to know.”
He intertwines his fingers with mine. He takes the first step towards the front door but I hold him back. He looks at me questionably.
“Lancelot wants to tell you something,” I say in a calm tone. I should let Lance tell him about Roslyn because I won’t be able to tell him myself.5
Albert looks at Lance.
“Keep her safe,” Lance decides to say after a while.2
“Of course,” Albert nods.
I watch Lance’s back as he heads to his office. I know the meaning behind his cryptic words. He wants Albert to keep me safe from Roslyn.
Albert and I bid Steve goodbye before leaving the pack house.
“Where are you taking me?” I question in an attempt to cheer up as we continue to walk deep into the forest.
“You’ll know when you get there.”
“So, it’s a surprise?”
“It’s far from a surprise,” he says. By the tone of his voice, he seems bothered. But why? I want to ask him but I decide to let him be. Let me be patient with him. He will tell me if he wants to.1
We continue to walk in silence. The path we are on seems way too familiar for my liking. The surroundings are known to me even though I’ve been here once.
“Where are we going, Albert?” I ask with a tense tone.
Albert doesn’t respond. He continues to lead me until we are standing in front of a familiar cave. This cave is the same cave where Fiona was held captive. This is the same cave where Alexander injected me with wolvesbane.
“Why are we here?” I ask but Albert keeps quiet and leads me inside the cave. He pushes the webs aside to make way and takes me to the same exact spot where Fiona was struggling to free herself the last time she was here against her will.
Albert leaves my hand and faces me. “I want to get something off my chest.”
“What is it?” I ask, concerned for him.
“The last time I was here, you were in coma and the person responsible for your condition was roaming around freely. I told Fiona to take me where she was held so that I could track Alexander through his smell. And she brought me here. When I had entered this cave, I was surrounded by a sense of familiarity and my conscience was telling me that I’d been here before. And then the realization hit me. This is the same place that Mom and I were brought to when we were abducted.”6
I gasp in horror.
Albert continues with blurry eyes, “I lived my nightmares all over again. But I had to push them at the back of my mind just so that I could focus on finding Alexander.” He blinks away his tears. “I’ve kept this buried inside me from that day and have been having nightmares ever since. I wanted to tell someone about my pain but I wasn’t able to. As days passed, the burden on my chest increased. It became heavier and heavier. And today when I woke up, I just couldn’t take it. I needed to tell someone that I was miserable. I want to erase what happened to Mom.”
He falls on his knees, buries his face in his hands and sobs. Seeing him like this breaks my heart. I kneel beside him and embrace him. I let him cry. Sometimes it’s okay to not be okay.18
When he calms down, I grab his face and wipe away his tears as I say, “Thank you for telling me. Thank you for sharing your sorrow with me.”1
I kiss and embrace him. When Albert collects his emotions, we get up on our feet and leave the cave.
“You should go for counseling,” I suggest.6
“I’ve been thinking for a while about going to the counselor. But I don’t want to recall that horrible memory.”
“I know you are emotionally strong. I know, Albert.” I finish.
“I want to give you a passionate kiss,” he utters suddenly.51
I smile to myself. “You can if you want to. No one’s here to stop you.”2
He chuckles and kisses me.4
“You sure you don’t want me to accompany you?” Albert asks as I head towards my own pack.
“No, I’ll be fine,” I smile. I grab his arm, “Just take care of yourself and let me know if you need anything.”
He nods.
“See you later,” I kiss his cheek.
“If you keep kissing me then I won’t let you return to your pack,” he says in mirth.1
“Okay,” I put my hands in the air in surrender. “I’ll keep my lips to myself.”1
He laughs.
“You should laugh often. It suits you,” I say genuinely.
“I’ll try to.”
“So, see you later.”
“Yeah.”
I turn around to leave but his voice stops me.
“I hope the matter gets sorted between you and Lancelot,” he says.1
“Let’s hope for the best,” I say and return to my pack territory.1
When I knock at the front door of the pack house, Steve answers.
“Where’s Lance?” I ask while getting inside.
“He’s still in his office,” Steve replies as he shuts the door.
I head to Lance’s office and open the door.
“Why didn’t you tell Albert about Roslyn?” I question him.