No author's note, just getting straight to the story.
Well after the:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Host. All rights go to the well-deserving Stephenie Meyer.
I was only aware of the blood pulsing through my veins, echoing in my ears and my chest thumping wildly out of control. My strides were surprisingly fluid as I made my way through the caves in search of the object that prompted this feeling. This anger which coursed through me in a way that I have never experienced before. With each step, I came closer and closer to the confrontation that I had not allowed myself to think through. I was only aware of the blood pulsing through my veins.
The looks I received as I adamantly paced through the halls of the cave had no effect on my current state of mind. I paid no attention to what could possibly be going through the minds of my fellow cave family members and instead kept my focus on releasing all of this anger. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going but I knew that if I continued to walk I would either; come across what I was looking for or walk off all this steam that was building in me. I felt like I was going to explode if I did not deal with this right now.
Somehow, I ended up in the pitch black game room that at first sight seemed empty, but I felt the shift in the air as I walked in. That almost supernatural feeling that someone was here, in the room with me. And that person was just the person I was looking for.
With an angry huff of my breath, I made my way over to the corner of the big opening, the darkness making it hard to navigate, but I was already seeing red so that clouded my vision too. As I drew closer I could feel my hands curling in on themselves into fists, shaking with the pent up anger that I just wanted to get out of my system. The blood pulsed faster and thumped louder in my ears.
"What do you want?" His rough voice broke the silence.
The first thing I noticed was how his voice was coarse from either screaming or crying, maybe even both. I could hear him rustling with himself and the ground as he stood up from where he was sitting to face me. The defensive mood radiated off of him like the sun and its rays. The air was suddenly thick and hot with both of our heaving breaths.
The only response I could manage was a quick swing of my arm, my fist making contact with the side of his face. I heard his body fall to the ground from the impact and it took every ounce of self-control I had in me to not kick him while he was down.
"What the hell?" He shouted through clenched teeth.
The last bit of self-control was a waste of energy; I threw my fist again, this time punching him the stomach. He hunched over and I heard him spit onto the cave floor a couple of times.
"IAN!"
The shriek pierced the darkness like a gunshot.
"Ian, stop!"
The next moment, I felt her cool, small hands wrap around the arm that was raised for another attack. Her shaky, rapid breath blew across my skin and I instantly recoiled from myself. Once I dropped my arm to my side, her arms wrapped themselves around my torso and she tried with all of her strength to drag me away from Jared. I allowed myself to stumble away from him, confused with all of the emotions rolling through me right now.
"Ian, please stop." I heard the cries she was trying to suppress and the emotion that stood at the front of my mind was desperation.
I was desperate to comfort her, to tell her everything was okay. I was desperate for her to leave so I could finish what I started. I was desperate to sweep her up into my arms, return to our room and just sleep this out of our memory. I was desperate to forget this ever happened.
By hurting Jared, I was hurting Wanda too. The fear was easily recognized through her shaking body and erratic heartbeat. I enclosed her in my arms as she gasped into my chest and starting rubbing circles down her back in an effort to calm her. Eventually, her heartbeat slowed to a normal rhythm and the only hitch in her breathing was from running after me all the way here. Her small body was not used to that much exertion.
But I don't necessarily regret what I did. Jared was hurting Melanie so he kind of had this coming to him.
"Karma's a bitch." That was the last and only thing I said to Jared before I grabbed Wanda's hand and dragged her away to our room.
Once we reached our room I flopped down onto the bed and closed my eyes. Wanda had yet to lie down on the bed so I opened one eye to see what was holding her up. She stood there; one hip jutted out, arms crossed across her small frame, glaring at me. Wanda? Glaring? Impossible.
But it was extremely, surprisingly possible. Almost terrifying seeing as I have never seen her angry before. Her big grey eyes were narrowed down until I could barely see the silver glint around her pupils. The pink of her lips formed a straight line, her face still as if I was staring at a statue of Wanda.
"What you did to Jared was not nice, Ian." You could see the effort she put into keeping her voice stern and steady written on her face, almost like it was painful.
"Wanda, what Jared did to Melanie was not nice." I retorted angrily. I shouldn't have to defend myself, Jared is the one at fault here.
Even though I was lost in thought, I still manage to witness Wanda flinch at my tone. Great, I didn't mean to yell.
"You didn't have to attack him. Yes, Jared was mean to Mel but he is probably afraid. He has a right to his emotions too." She very clearly was choking back a cry, "How would you react?"
I quickly stood up from the bed and walked over to where she was glued to the floor. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into my chest and just holding onto her tightly. The tears were inevitable; I felt them soak into my shirt before I felt her body jerking from the sobs. My grasp on her tightened, if that was possible, but her cries intensified.
Pulling her gently, I guided her to the bed where I rested her on my lap, continuing to hold her to my chest. Trying to comfort her was a challenge in itself, she was in hysterics.
"Wanda, please, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Please don't cry, love."
She hiccupped a couple of times, trying to get her breathing under control while she slowed down her heartbeat—which I could feel pounding through her chest—and finally looked up at me. Her cheeks glistened with the moisture and her eyes looked more like a muddled pool of grey, silver and black. I brought my hands to both sides of her face and dried her cheeks with my thumbs.
"Even if I wasn't expecting it, I still would have pulled you into me and made sure you were okay instead of running away from that responsibility."
She sniffled a few times before she answered me, "And you call me selfless?"
I couldn't help but let out a light chuckle at her newly acquired sarcasm. But that quickly subsided when she looked at me with her bright eyes. There was a strange bit of happiness in her eyes, replacing the sadness that was present just moments ago.
"Wanda, love," I lifted her chin so she couldn't look anywhere but my eyes and see how serious I was being, "there is nothing in this world—or any other world out there—that I want more than to have a family with you."
A tear traced its way down her freckled cheek. My face instantly contorted to concern, wondering why she was crying again. But this time it was only that one tear, nothing else escaped her beautiful eyes. Then a smile erupted onto her face, the biggest smile I have ever seen.
"That's what I want too, Ian." She giggled a little with the excitement she was visibly holding back, "And that's exactly what we're going to get."
I narrowed my eyes in confusion.
"Ian, I'm pregnant."
My eyes widened in surprise, astonishment and happiness. Without even thinking, I smashed my lips onto hers with maybe too much force. She was knocked back a little bit but my hands immediately grabbed her face to keep her trapped in our lip lock. I couldn't even successfully kiss her because my lips were pulled back in a huge grin. I felt her lips stretch into that smile once again also. Oh, how I love her.
"I love you, Ian." She must have been reading my thoughts.
"I love you too, Wanderer."
I was only aware of the blood pulsing through my veins, echoing in my ears and my chest thumping wildly out of control. In this moment, this brief moment of our short lives together, I have never been happier. We were going to have a family. We were going to add another member to our cave family. Half me, half Wanda.
I was only aware of the blood that would be pulsing through my beautiful child's veins.
Yes! How many of you thought Wanda punched Jared? How awesome would that have been?! Anyway, I hope you liked the O'Wanda fluff and it all being from Ian's POV. And Ian going all macho man, protector of the pregnant women. Haha! I just love me some O'Shea knight-ness.
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