Even when they taste bitter on my tongue.
Jax pads in, his arms already held out for Sienna. Logan gives her up without complaint, and we watch as he sinks down against the opposite wall, murmuring something too soft to hear. Occasionally, we’ll hear a note, a handful of scattered words. Our vigil has been silent, for the most part, Logan and I lost in our regret.
But Jax hasn’t stopped singing.
The low thrum of his voice cuts off abruptly, and I look up.
Sienna stirs weakly in Jax’s arms, and Logan and I both scramble across the room, dropping to our knees beside Jax. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, my mouth dry as her eyes crack open.
“Shortcake,” Jax murmurs, smoothing her hair back. “It’s alright.”
Those blue eyes open a little wider, her pupils expanding to swallow up the blue depths with darkness. She rolls her head to the side, her body convulsing as she dry-heaves.
“Get the water,” I snap to Logan. Jax rubs her back as I push the hair back from her face, keeping it out of the way of the bile she expels. There’s nothing in her stomach to bring up, the retching contractions of her body painful to watch. She’s even thinner now than she was a week ago, a wraith compared to the vibrant omega we saw at our Bonding Ceremony.
Her hands reach up, weakly pushing at my arm, so I scoot back to give her space. My fingers itch to take her back from Jax, to curl her into me now that she’s so familiar in my arms, but I clench my fists.
Logan wordlessly passes her a bottle of water as she struggles to sit up. My heart cracks when she hesitates, her eyes flicking between the bottle and us.
“Here,” I say carefully, leaning forward. I show her the unbroken seal before I crack the bottle open and hand it back. She glugs it down with both hands in greedy gulps until the plastic crackles under her grip.
“What day is it?” Her quiet whisper echoes in the room.
“Thursday. It’s been three days.” Jax lifts his hand, but she flinches away from him, looking around her. Her breathing quickens as she pushes off Jax’s lap, backing away from us. Her knees pull up in front of her as she wraps her arms around them, her back to the wall.
The shaking grows, slowly building until she’s nearly vibrating.
“Sienna.” Jax’s growl is tortured. When he moves towards her, she holds up a shaking hand.
“Stop.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “We’re sorry, Sienna. We’re so sorry. Tristan… we didn’t agree with it.”
Her eyes fix on me, unwavering and filled with so much fucking sorrow. “But you didn’t do anything to stop it.”
My throat feels thick. “No. We didn’t.”
She’s still shaking, but her eyes are dry as she looks past us. “And here we are.”
Logan leans towards her, like he can’t help himself. “What can we get you? Do you want some more water? You’ll be hungry, we can—,”
“Nothing.” Sienna’s voice is full of emotion as she picks herself up from the ground, her shaking limbs agonizingly slow as she uses the wall to pull herself up. “I wantnothingfrom you.”
She takes a single, wobbling step before her legs collapse underneath her. We dive forward, all of us freezing at her pained whine.
“Get away,” she whispers, her face white. “Getaway!”
The ache in my chest flares to a burning pain as she struggles to her hands and knees.
“Sienna,” Jax pleads. “Let us help you.”
She looks up at him. “Like you helped me? Ibeggedyou, Jax. When I needed you, I begged you. And you walked away from me like I was nothing.”
She stays on her hands and knees, heartbreakingly fragile as she makes her way to the door before she pauses.
“I would rather crawl,” she says quietly, not looking back, “than trust you to help me ever again.”
I swear my heart caves in. Collapses in on itself like a building coming down, as I watch the girl we were supposed to protect crawl on her hands and knees to get away from us.
