We're not in Settersfield anymore...

Sara POV

Blurry objects I do not recognise are all around me, blinking a few times to help the room come into focus. Sitting up, I take in my surroundings. The room has four cream walls, with a circular window opposite the door and to the left of the bed. The bed sits with its high headboard against the wall on the left of the door, the headboard has been created with branches from the trees and sanded smooth. Under the headboard, in the bed where I'm sat, lays two powder blue pillows and a matching quilt. A circular, cream-coloured crocheted rug lies on the floor going under the base of the wooden bed and ending just before the dressing table that sits opposite the bed. To my left, under the large, round window lives a bench, with a long, off-white, rectangle cushion. Staring around the room I do not recognise where I am, completely disorientated, I head cautiously towards the window to try to make sense of it all.

Outside is empty with not a soul in sight. A creeping feeling is travelling through me - I know I am missing something but I cannot quite put my finger on what it is I'm missing. Outside, much like at home, there is a thick forest in the distance, although I am quite sure this is not the home I grew up in. The ground is dry mud, with plenty of plants scattered - it is quite a beautiful place. I am unable to see what time it is but the sun has definitely risen, the light beams in and the air is warm, cuddling my body. An earthy scent coats the air, similar to the scent around the forest edge in the height of Summer. As I move, a sharp pain moves through my body leaving a throbbing ache behind. A willow, woven side table situates the right of the bed, on top sits a glass of water beads of condensation dripping down the side and a small, corked potion bottle filled with a sage green liquid. A note left with them simply read "Drink me." I furrow my brow reading this, surely I am not going to drink this - I do not even know who left this.

I turn my back on the drinks, and my reflection from the mirror sat atop the dressing table grabbing my attention. I head over, sucking in breath sharply when a sharp pain shoots through me when moving in the wrong way. To get a better look at myself I lean over the dressing table stool. Disbelief fills my body when I see my reflection, a white crunchy paste on my forehead is wrinkling and cranking as I furrow my brow in confusion. Peeping out from beneath the white is a bruise of deep blue and purple, yellow circling the outside. My hand reached up to touch the area, then came down to a stroke a small slit on my bottom lip, the slit was already mostly healed and itched as I touched it. My long auburn hair hung loosely over my shoulders, familiar citrus and floral notes hitting my nose. On my top, I am dressed in a white cotton t-shirt and my bottoms are thin grey cotton joggers, I know these clothes do not belong to me yet I vaguely remember dressing. It's clouded like a dream you know you had but can't quite recall. I lift the hem of the top to investigate the aches I keep feeling. Bruises and scrapes in various stages of healing, sadness fills me not understanding what happened. The door to the bedroom opens and in peeks a man staring over to the bed, worry turning to shock clear in his expression when he doesn't see me in the bed but standing in the middle of the room t-shirt still raised showing my bruised abdomen. As I lower the hem of the t-shirt to cover myself once more, I wrap my arms around my body hugging myself. "You're awake." He stated shocked, a hint of joy in his voice. "Yes..." The words come out more horse than I expected, and suddenly I realise just how dry my mouth and throat were. I open and close my mouth a few times adjusting to the feeling. "Where are we?" Noticing the hoarseness in my voice the attractive man in front of me leads me over to the water on the side table, as I reach and take a drink he answers my question "We are in my family home. How are you feeling, you gave us quite a scare?" Taking a big gulp of the water before answering, "Sore. Everything is a little fuzzy..." The young man in front of me is in his early 20s I'd say, he has dark brown, straight, messy mid short hair, a couple of strands falling just over his eyebrow. He has dressed in black shorts and a grey vest top, simple and relaxed. I look deeply at him, I remember him. A memory suddenly floods my mind of being carried in his arms, a feeling of being utterly safe. My eyes look down to the left while I relive the event. "Drew." The words were barely a whisper of a breath. I raise my eyes to meet his, happiness at my recollection of him written on his face. "Sara." He states louder than me as if he had greeted me one thousand times before. We say nothing while looking at each for a small time, the silence interrupted by a loud gurgling from my stomach sharing with him my hunger. Laughing he tells me to come, leading me through the house to the front porch an extra long picnic table filled with bowls of food. Drew pats a seat for me to use, to the right of his own at the head of the table. We were alone leading me to ask where everyone else was, I hadn't seen another person except Drew since waking. He explained it was very early for the wolves as dawn has not long broken, as most wolves prefer the night they often sleep longer with a select number waking early to run the perimeters and ensure camp safety. On the table were bowls filled with slices of an orange-type fruit known as tangelos, which are mouth-wateringly juicy and the trees grow in abundance here. Another bowl was filled with a type of cake local to Domilia, Drew explained this was where we are. We both reached into this bowl to grab one at the same time, our fingers gently brushing but neither of us moved them away. Butterflies swirled in my tummy, being around him was so easy. A man and 2 young ladies walk out to join us for breakfast taking in the scene playing out. "She's awake!" The smallest of the two females exclaims. I hadn't realised our hands were still touching until the man coughed slightly raising his brows up with a smirk at Drew. I grab a cake from the bowl swiftly and place it in front of me. I turn quickly to smile at the new additions to the table, hissing due to the unexpected pain as I turned to them. Drew jumped up, giving me a reassuring squeeze and ran back into the house offering no explanation and leaving me alone with our new table guests.

"It's good to see you're up Sara, you look better." The youngest of the 3 tells me while grabbing an omelette from the table. I stare at her trying to recall her name... "Thank you. It's Kate right?"

"Oh gosh, yes Katerina but you can call me Katie." she smiles at me shoving another bite of the egg dish in her mouth.

"Right Katie, sorry - everything is still a bit fuzzy, I haven't quite pieced it all together yet."

"That makes sense, the state you were in - you all but collapsed. You've been out for 3 days." The other girl chimes in nonchalantly. I choke when she says this, eyes growing wide. "3 days?" I query, unsure if I heard correctly, taking a drink to wash down the cake I just choked on. She nods letting me know I heard correctly "I'm Isabella, by the way, and this is our father Edward" tilting her head towards the older man who sat at the other end of the table completely opposite to Drew's seat.

"Thank you for your hospitality sir, I am most grateful for all you have done for me," I tell him sincerely.

Drew returns from inside the home "Here, drink this it will help." He instructs while handing the small glass bottle filled with the sage liquid.

"What is it?" I quiz taking the bottle from him. Getting comfortable back in his seat beside me, he shuffles the seat back in before responding. "It's a healing potion, it will speed up your healing and help with the pain too." He says matter-of-factly, grabbing a glass of freshly squeezed tangelo juice. Potion? What a strange word for medicine, I thought. Nevertheless, I uncork the bottle, taking a slight sip, reluctant to drink something unknown in one go. After realising from the first sip that the medicine was in fact sweet and not a foul-tasting liquid I am used to consuming at home, I finished the rest with ease. Almost instantly, I feel the pain leaving me, like water evaporating from a kettle floating away. Drew gives me a fleeting smile and then continues chatting with his sisters. His father, Edward, however, has turned his attention to me. "Drew tells me you know what we are and following from what you saw the other night, I see no point in hiding the truth. I assured the pack all is well and that they are safe. Of course, you are welcome here for as long as you wish Sara. However, I must hear from you. Am I true when I say this, can we trust you with our truths?" I furrowed my brow trying to comprehend what he was saying. The pack? Minutes pass while I sat silently staring at Edward, my brow still furrowed. My lack of reply brought the eyes of everyone at the table to me, sending the occasional glance at each other trying to gauge what was happening. Whatever does he mean, the pack? Like crows, or dogs, or... or... or... wolves? Wolves. Again the memories start hitting me, like being hit by a freight train... Drew and I were in the bedroom. "What are you?" "Wolves." Another one hit me just as quickly as the last, being held in Drew's arms, my skin sticky and the smell of metal and smoke in the air - I looked around as if I was back in that moment, people everywhere chatting and laughing, then they spot us. Chaos. The land is shaking. Men and women shredding, becoming animals - wolves. I jumped out of my seat abruptly, overcome by the memories. Eyes wide, I muttered, "Excuse me." Walking back inside into the first room on the right, before collapsing to the floor unable to breathe. I felt as though I was submerged, unable to reach the surface. It's impossible, it's all impossible - yet I saw it. Crouched on my knees, eyes closed and fingers in my hair. My breath quickened, shallow and fast, making the room feel like it was dancing out of control. Strong hands grip my shoulders, causing my eyes to spring open and be met by calming, hazel-amber eyes. I see his lips moving but hear nothing at first. "Sara, it's going to be alright." I nod and he helps me to stand. Unable to control the well of emotions inside me, I find the waters fill my eyes, to which Drew pulls me into a hug, my head on his chest. "Is this ok Sara, can I hold you?" He genuinely wants to know. At his kindness, I sobbed. "Yes." I continued to sob into his chest, he just held me close, saying nothing. Once I finally feel I have let enough out to pull myself together, I wipe my nose on my sleeve. Then I pulled back to look up at Drew, not breaking his hold around me. "Thank you."

He loosens his hold on me and wipes away a stray tear with his thumb. "You're welcome." I cannot help but stare into his beautiful eyes, molten amber tones swirling, captivating me. "How about we take you for a tour of the kingdom? First, you can get washed up and into a fresh set of clothes?" He asked, giving me the option to decline. I reach up and feel the white, crunchy paste still on my forehead and decided to bathe would be nice. I nodded but asked him to excuse me for a moment. Taking a deep breath, I headed back outside to the porch where his family still sat eating. Conscious of how I must look, I stand up tall willing myself to appear pulled together. I let out a small cough to announce my presence and all eyes turned to me once more. Edward looks at me but says nothing, waiting for me to speak. "Your majesty..." I see him almost smile at this but he kept his face emotionless. So I continue "I apologise for my outburst, it has been an emotional morning." Mind-boggling would have been more appropriate though I felt the need to choose my words carefully. "I assure you, there is no danger to your pack or family from me. I can only thank you for your kindness, please be assured I will do nothing to hurt you or yours." He nods but does not speak to me, so after a brief moment, I turned back to the house and meet Drew, looking over my shoulder once to see Edward smiling while digging into his breakfast. This helped rest the storm brewing inside me while I followed Drew to get washed and ready for our day ahead.