ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Notes: Caleb's POV

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- 'Before we lose everything we have tomorrow, can we forget what went wrong yesterday?' -

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. . ."It's sunrise," I noted, acknowledging the fact that even though my world felt like it was crumbling, the earth was still continuing to spin. "You know what that means?" Seated by her side on the bed and still holding on tightly to Ava-Rain's hand hours later, I lifted it to my lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers.

     Call me crazy. Call it lack of sleep or physical, mental and emotional exhaustion finally catching up to me, but I smiled imagining what type of response Ava-Rain would have given me had she been awake. Something along the lines of, 'That it's way too early for you to be asking me to form any coherent thoughts let alone answer questions?'.

     In reality, it may have been a one sided conversation, but I carried on as if she had actually spoken. "No. It means that, minus this one, there are exactly eight sunrises left until the next full moon. And do you know what that means? It means that the ninth could be the first one we share as true, true mates," I smirked. "What do you think of that?"

     Again, I imagined her response. Imagined her looking away in embarrassment. 'You said that mating on a full moon is tradition, but that it doesn't have to apply to us.'

     "I know I said that tradition doesn't matter; that you and I will make our own rules to live by, but. . .I want forever with you. I want a million more sunrises with you by my side, Ava-Rain. I'm not ready to give you up, so you need to come back to me, okay?"

     The sunlight began to slither into the room, crawling in from the window onto the floor, then up the bed to spread itself over both Ava-Rain and I. Even if I did not want its particular source of warmth, it offered it anyway, almost as if it had known how hard I was refusing to acknowledge that Ava-Rain's body temperature was on the cooler side.

     "Wake up and tell me you want forever with me, too. Tell me that you won't ever leave my side." My eyes drifted over her face, then travelled down her body to settle on the rise and fall of her chest. "Show me that you're not ready to stop living because I can't live without you, Ava-Rain. If you die, I die, remember?"

     I had meant that wholeheartedly. It was not an exaggeration, nor was it an overdramatic statement made to guilt her into waking up if she could even hear me. It was a fact. A promise we made to each other in a moment when we both truly realized just how much we meant to each other.

     Of course, I had seven reasons to live. Seven reasons why giving in to death could never be an option. But if something were to happen to Ava-Rain, there was no doubt in my mind that I would die right along with her. Maybe not literally, but, in some way, shape or form, Caleb Brandt would no longer exist because Caleb Brandt could not exist in a world in which Ava-Rain Tolbert did not.

     "I don't know what's going on inside, or what battle you're fighting. But what I do know is that this is not the end. Not for you. Not for us. This is not how we end. I refuse to let you go, so I really need you to wake up, Ava-Rain. I need you to open your eyes because I'm not done loving you anymore than you're done loving me. I love you, Ava-Rain, and I really, really need to hear you say it back. So, please open your eyes and say it. Tell me."

     She didn't move. Didn't stir in the slightest. But I continued to hold onto her hand and went back to my imagination and imagined what she could not give me.