I started to come to and put the thought away, snuggling closer into the oh so soft bed I laid in. Man, that felt good. I had had a terrible nightmare that everything had just fallen apart and I'd been kidnapped and there was this nut job called Morgause and Nimueh had died and ugh. I felt like I hardly slept. Hell, I even felt sore!
I laughed quietly to myself. Worst fucking dream ever. Finding my own sentinel and getting caught? Fire and explosions? Seriously? My life was never that exciting, what in the hell had I eaten last night?! I sniggered again, my imagination surprised even me sometimes.
I frowned, what had I eaten last night?
…
Oh fuck me.
I sat up with a jolt, looking around wildly. This was not my room. My bed was not this big and to make it worse… I really had to pee. Really, body? Really?!
I took a deep breath and took in my surroundings. The room I was in was really… extravagant and ginormous. I was sure it cost more than my house and everything in there put together. Where was I?
I saw three doors in the room. A set of French doors to my front and two smaller ones to either side of the bed. I crawled out of the bed and went towards the smaller one to my right. Ugh, I was really getting sick of this routine. I held my breath and opened it and holy hell, that was one massive walk-in closet. I was impressed. I could fit my entire bedroom in there, I shook the stupid thought away and scolded myself. This was really not the time to be admiring some stupid room.
I backed up and went to the second smaller door and Bingo! Bathroom! Just like everything else, it was clearly way, way, way more money spent in here than I'd probably ever hope to make in my life. I sighed going about my business, eying up the fancy tub, wishing so badly to wash the dirt, blood, and whatever else off my body. Letting the water soothe my far too sore of a body, but I had to prioritize and prioritizing meant finding out where the hell I was in the first place.
I stepped out of the bathroom, with my body far too cruddy for my taste and made my way to the French doors and pulled them open without delay, startling the two guards (Ugh more guards? Really?) at the door.
"Hello?" I asked.
They tensed for a second before the one responded, "Hello, sir."
"Oh good, you speak," I smiled, "May I ask, where I am?"
"You're in mistress Bastet's manor," the same guard answered.
I furrowed my brow in confusion, "I'm sorry, who? How did I get here? Why am I here?"
The guards eyed each other before answering me, "Perhaps it is best if the mistress speaks to you herself. For now feel free to clean yourself up, so you may look presentable to her."
"Hmm," I said looking down at my clothes and pretending to contemplate their suggestion, "And when is this mistress whoever planning on speaking to me?"
"We will tell her you awoke, I'm sure she will be here shortly."
"Where is she now?"
"I believe she is eating now as it is noon."
"Oh it's noon," I nodded, "Makes sense, well why don't I just join her now?" I took off, leaving them stunned behind me, making my way almost half way down the hallway before they caught up to me.
"Sir, please, it'd be best if you clean yourself up first, the mistress is very sensitive."
"I am in a random strangers house, I have every right to know why I'm here. Now you guys can either help me or you can be the enemy, but one thing you're not doing is stopping me," I answered calmly, "Help me find her. I don't want to have to fight you, plus I'm starved. I have no idea when the last time I ate was. What's the saying with the birds and the stones or something?"
"Fine, but sir, you're heading the wrong way."
I stopped dead on my tracks, I hadn't been expecting them to help me, maybe I really was safe now. I bit my lip, probably not. Would they really take me to her? "Firstly, can you guys not call me sir? It's kind of weird and, secondly, please lead the way."
We turned around and this time went left instead of right from the room, I followed them quietly, trying to remember the way, but after several turns and long hallways, the place seemed like a maze to me, it was so big, almost cold in its splendor. Did whoever live here realize how many mouths they could feed with the money they poured into this place?
I was a normal guy, undoubtedly not used to this kind of lifestyle. I had no right to judge, unless maybe this mistress turns out be an arsehole, then I could be a judgmental dick and not feel guilty about it.
It was, I'd say, at least ten minutes? Before we finally reached the dining room, another gigantic room with opulence coming out of its pores… If rooms had pores, that is. Maybe they do? If I were home I'd be calling Lance and telling him to use the inter-web to look that up for me. I snickered at the thought of him reacting to the weird question and telling me that I was the oddest nerd he'd ever met.
How many countless hours did I waste making him google stuff for me and laughing at his responses? Joking around for hours and him egging me on to ask the next weirdest question I could come up with so we could joke some more. Man, did I badly miss those days now. So, so much. Almost enough to be wracked with sadness, but I sucked it up. No time, no time. Story of my life lately, huh?
I forced myself to take in my surroundings and quickly found a young, pretty girl with penetrating eyes watching me. She was sitting on a seat at a table that had no business being that ridiculously long, but technically fit the I'm-too-rich-for-my-own-face theme the rest of the house had going on. "Hello," I said quietly, then eyed the food on the table, "That's some fine looking food you got there."
The girl stood up too fast, toppling her chair over, "Join me!" she commanded.
I frowned and crossed my arms, "I don't take orders," I said stubbornly.
"Please?" she said imploringly.
I consented, because really, I was too hungry to make much of a fuss and made my over to the chair next to her.
Her maid quickly picked up the chair and another prepared to have me join the table, disappearing and reappearing within moments with a plate. I sat down, mumbling a thanks, taking a sip of my orange juice as she took her seat again, "So your name is mistress-"
"Freya, please, you may call me Freya," she interrupted.
"Yeah, ok. So um," I said taking a bite from the scrambled eggs and, was this salmon? It was delicious and glorious (Glorious!) food. To be honest, I didn't care what it was, at this point I'd eat roadkill and cry tears of joy. I swallowed the bite and because, manners? What is such a thing? I shoved the food in my mouth finishing the plate in minutes, but whatever. What did I have to lose at this point? I chugged the orange juice and then leaned back on my chair to bask in my post feast haze for a few minutes. Mistress Freya or whatever had watched me the entire time, "Sorry," I blushed, "I don't know when the last time I ate was, but I'm starved."
She gave me a small smile, "I understand. Would you like some more?"
I gave her a sheepish smile before nodding, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"Not at all," she waved her hand at her maids, a clear silent command that seemed very natural to her. I took a moment to sense her with my empathy and found myself relaxing. She felt so sincere and right, it made me trust her in some way, "Freya, you're a sentinel?"
She smiled, "Yes."
"Why am I here?"
She blinked, confusion marring her face, "Did they not tell you?"
"Who? And tell me what?"
"Edwin."
"Who the hell is Edwin?"
"Surely, you must've met him? He brought you here."
"Uh no, I did not meet him."
"Well what about Morgause and Cedred? Have you met them?" as I heard the name, I felt dread hit me. Fuck. Fuck! Hadn't I gotten away? The last thing I remember was being placed in an ambulance. I was home free. The battle had been won. We won. Everything was good. "You're here to be my guide," she continued, unware of my current internal drama, "I was told there'd been an accident and that's why you arrived in such a terrible state, but as soon as I saw you, I knew you were the one for me. Perhaps the accident caused some memory loss? I'll contact a doctor, Edwin assured me other than some bruises you were fine."
I had gotten away! I shouldn't be here! I should be home! Or at the very least a hospital! I paled, "I'm not supposed to be here and I have way more than just some bruises."
"What?" she asked surprised.
"I'm not supposed to be here! I can't be your guide, Freya," I shook my head, "I'm promised to another, we've already initiated a bond, I'm sure you can sense it."
"Only platonically, within a few months and the distance, it will be broken. Merlin, I'm certain that you and I were meant to be, can't you see that?"
"No," I disagreed, "No, I love my sentinel. I was stolen from him and brought here by force, that's why I'm in the state I'm in. I'm sorry, but I can't bond with you. I can't and I won't."
She reached over and patted my hand calmly, "You're only saying that because of the bond. It's instinct, but once it's broken you will understand."
"No!" I said jerking my hand away from her and standing up, "I've got to get out of here! I'm going home! I started heading towards the door.
"Stop, Merlin, please! You don't understand, I need you. No other guide can handle my senses. I need a strong guide, before I completely fall apart," she said following me, "Everything hurts! Everything! Even silk feels like sand paper! My ears burn in the quietest of rooms!"
"Don't push yourself on me just because you can't control your senses!" I shouted without stopping, but she reached me and threw her hands around me pressing herself onto my back.
"I'm an alpha prime! You have to listen to me!" she choked out.
"I have an alpha," I answered, "And it's not you."
She growled in my ear, "You will not deny me!" she gripped me harder, almost bone crushing, I gasped in pain, "You're hurting me!"
"I am your alpha!" she continued, ignoring me.
"You are not my alpha!" I shouted and let my magic burst out of me in a wave, throwing her several feet away from me, "I already told you before, I don't follow orders." I continued towards the doors flinging the guards away with a wave of my hand.
I was angry and tired and hurt and I'd be damned if I was gonna let any of these jerkoffs get in my way of getting back to Arthur. I was fucking sick of this game, I was going back home if it fucking killed me and I was doing it right now, even if it took burning this entire maze of a house down to do it. I didn't care. I was done! No more Mr. Nice guy.
Every single body that stood in my way was going down one way or another. I stalked down the hall, not a clue where I was heading and when I got lost, I looked at the wall in front of me and blasted right through it and kept at it. Wall after wall. Freya or mistress pathetic followed me, but kept her distance as I literally destroyed her house and after far too long I finally made it out to the front of it. I was being reckless and damn it if it didn't feel good. I'd been keeping myself bottled up for years and after this past week I was definitely overdue for a deranged emotional outburst.
I looked outside of the mansion or castle or whatever to find that I was, yet again, in the middle of nowhere. A vast amount of steps made me pause on my rampage, so I took a deep breath and focused all of my empathy into my connection with Arthur and I felt him and grinned, he was somewhere close, than I expanded my empathy as far as I could reach.
Anyone could feel it far and wide. It was like a pulse, a calling. I felt like a beacon, sending a message out to the world and within minutes, I felt responses. Guides were calling back to me. They felt my pain and they were responding and I was in so much pain right now. I felt like I could be consumed by it. I needed them and I knew, I knew, they were coming. All of them. Every one of them were repeating my message. Spreading it further and further out to the world. And, my message, despite it only being emotions being sent out, was clear:
Find Me.
All of you find me. I stood there watching the road that came in, waiting for it, for them. For everybody and anybody and I wasn't disappointed.
Within minutes multiple black cars started pulling into the road, ramming right through the iron gate without hesitation, stopping right in front of the steps. Numerous people climbing out. I heard a shriek behind me, but ignored it in favor of keeping my eyes to the incoming vehicles. I noticed people with guns and I felt myself getting confused. What did I just get myself into?
But then it all fell away when I saw him.
The him.
"A-Arthur?" I whispered, not being positive that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
I watched him run towards the front of the growing hoard, "Merlin!"
Just the sight of him almost brought me to my knees and froze me all at once. Every emotion bubbling to the surface, "Run," I told myself, "Run!" but I'd let my guard down. As I made to take my first step, Freya grabbed me and shoved me to the ground, "No!" she cried, wrapping her hands around my neck, "No! You are mine!" I felt her hands tightening, as I struggled against her grip, the pressure on my throat making my mind blank out in fear. I tried pushing her off of me, but to no avail.
She overpowered me, my eyesight was getting spotty. I was sure that this was it. It's what it all came down to, after everything I was going to die at a hands of someone I'd pissed off. Kind of fitting, I'd admit.
A second later, I saw something smash into her side, forcing her to let me go, as the force knocked her away. I took in sharp breaths, trying to regain my composure as a fight began in front of me. Slowly, I sat myself up and watched as Arthur slammed her to the ground, snarling like a wild animal. So close to him I could almost cry. I coughed as I took in air too quickly. Trying to keep them in my sight, but they both moved so fast, they were blurs to my eyes.
Then I heard a crunch and Arthur was holding her head above the ground as blood dribbled from her face, snarling at her. I whimpered at him and fell back onto my back. A moment later, I felt him next to me, "I'm here, Merlin, I'm here."
"Arthur," I gasped, as I felt him carefully cradle me in his arms, "Don't leave me again," I whispered, "Please."
"I won't," he promised, "I swear I won't."
I felt his lips gently on mine for a brief moment, before he picked me up and carried me down the stairs. I closed my eyes, occasionally groaning as hints of all the pain I had ignored made their way into the surface. Arthur didn't take me into an ambulance this time. Instead he waited for a helicopter to land and laid me gently onto a gurney and allowed them to secure it in there. He didn't leave my side once, holding my hand as we flew and landed.
I hardly cared where he took me. So long as he was with me.