Page 27

The clinic was just a small room, with a simple bed beside a sink, and cabinets filled with medical supplies lining the walls.

The air was thick with the sharp, sterile smell of ozone, a metallic tang that prickled my nostrils.

A few pieces of medical equipment sat in the dimly lit room; an ultrasound machine dominated one corner, while other unfamiliar devices cluttered the space.

I didn’t go to doctors' offices often, only to manage my pain. Even then, we paid cash. I held onto paper records, which was easy in Venezuela at the time, to keep myself out of any electronic system.

Not that it didn’t help with their club hacker.

Nadia flipped through the paperwork that Abuela had already given her. Abuela needed a good scolding for just giving up information about ourselves. While I did believe these people were good at heart, mostly, you just don’t give everyone your private medical records.

“You’ve had this awhile, and it says you have had to use a cane for several years. Some days you need a wheelchair?”

Anaki was outside. He wanted to come into the room, but Nadia saw the hesitation before I could even answer.

Bear appeared out of nowhere in the hallway and pulled him to the side, saying he needed to talk to him, thankfully.

I didn’t want to reject Anaki, but I didn’t want Anaki to feel like I was more fragile than I already was.

I still needed that good dicking later.

“I do have relapses. I have constant pain, but with the medications I am on, it keeps the pain down to a minimum. I’m not sure how much you know about it. After I had Luis, it progressed more, and with the way it’s going, I thought I might be in a wheelchair sooner.”

Not going to school functions, such as sports, would be heartbreaking when the time came. I didn’t want Luis to grow up without a mother being present in his life. Abuela was getting older, so who was going to look after him?

“And now?” Nadia asked as she looked up from the clipboard.

I folded my arms over my lap. “To be honest, the past couple of days, I haven’t hurt.”

Nadia raised an eyebrow. “You don’t hurt? Like, at all?”

I tilted my head in thought. “A few times I did. It wasn’t horrible, but I noticed… and this might sound crazy, but when Anaki is around, I don’t feel pain. It may be because of adrenaline or something, you know? Just the excitement.”

Nadia flipped a few pages and took notes. “I don’t find that crazy at all, actually. Did you notice any pain if he left your side?”

I tapped my fingers on my lap. “He left for an afternoon to go get some clothes, and my pain returned, but when he came back”—my eyes widened just a bit—“it went back to a dull ache, then faded when I was by his side later that night.”

Nadia pressed her lips together as she tried to hide a smile.

“Does Anaki have magic? Is that why I am feeling better around him?”

Nadia bobbed her head back and forth. “Not the magic you are thinking. It has something to do with Anaki, though.” She put her pen down.

“Then, what is it? If he is making me better, then I need to know how he’s doing it. I don’t want to hurt him in the process. It doesn’t hurt him, does it? I’m not sucking his energy or whatever, am I?”

Nadia scrunched up her nose and let out a burst of laughter.

“No, no. It isn’t anything like that. Anaki’s dragon is helping you, that’s all.

Both he and his dragon care for you very much.

He claimed you in front of the entire bar last night when he took off with you.

It was even more obvious when you walked in this afternoon with his scent all over you. ”

I opened and closed my mouth. “Wait, his scent? His body scent?”

“Amongst other things.” Nadia smiled.

I groaned and placed my face in my hands. So much for being like Emm and not having any embarrassment about her sexuality. I was nothing like her. She would have laughed and told her man to take her in a closet, to make other men jealous.

I heard Nadia’s wheels on her chair scoot across the room until she was next to me. Her small hand patted my back. “Hey, are you okay? I know this has to be a lot.”

I sighed and kept my face buried. “I don’t know, honestly.” I sat up straight. “I’m finally accepting things for what they are, and I’m scared. I am supposed to be mean and tough, not believe in happiness, because that’s just not what happens in life.”

Nadia scoffed. “You are not your sister at all. We love your sister to pieces, but that isn’t the vibe I get.

You are like an orange. Soft but durable on the outside and bright, sweet and tangy inside.

But Emm’s like a pineapple. Tough and prickly on the outside, slightly acidic and a sweet tartness on the inside. ”

I covered my mouth to laugh.

“I know I’m not her, but I try to be more like her. Stronger, better for everyone. I feel weak because of my illness, of my past, of what I fell for then. I feel like I have to be tough up here.” I pointed to my head .

“Yeah, and how is that going for you?” Nadia crossed her arms. “You’ve been fighting since you got here. Not in the physical sense, but here.” She laid her hand on her heart.

I huffed. “Everything is going so perfectly. I’m just worried something terrible is going to happen. It just all seems too good.” I sniffed and felt the sting of tears filling my eyes.

Nadia reached over to the counter and pulled out some tissues for me to take.

“Elena, you’ve had it rough so far. Everyone who has ended up here has been kicked when they were down, their hearts shattered, their life permanently altered by someone else.

Each member is here looking for something, and that is usually a someone. You are meant to be here, with us.”

A guttural sob escaped my throat, catching me off guard.

My eyes welled up with tears, blurring my vision as I struggled to hold back the emotions that threatened to consume me.

I tried to remind myself that I am strong, that I have always been strong.

But in that moment, the facade of toughness crumbled, and all that was left was a fragile shell, shattered by overwhelming pain and vulnerability.

I didn’t even know Nadia, and here I was, bare and raw, just as Anaki was this morning.

“I don’t know if I’m good enough for him. What if I have a relapse? What if I can’t be strong enough? I’m only human. He doesn’t want someone who might end up in a wheelchair.”

What if all of this was temporary? What if the pain comes back full force?

Nadia stood up and wrapped her arms around me. “Anaki knows you are human, and you two are so perfect for each other. It’s almost gross.” She giggled into my hair.

“What do you mean?” I sniffed.

“Because he thinks he isn’t worthy of you.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “You are his sun to take him out of the darkness that he lives in. All that happiness he shows on the outside is just a front, but you knew that already, didn’t you?”

I did. I could look into his eyes and see it.

“It's because you can see his soul, Elena. You can feel his pain, you can feel the suffering. You don’t pity him, you want to take it away. I do the same with Bear.”

“You do?” I whispered.

Nadia nodded. “Of course. When you are soulmates, you want to carry each other’s burdens.”