A month has passed,and I’ve finally stopped having nightmares every time I close my eyes, but then, we were all having them. At night, Khaos wakes from his with tears in his eyes and walks the castle as if he’s seeking the comfort of ghosts.
We’re drowning here.
I get up and force myself to shower and pull on some clothes. After they rescued me, I think I spent almost two weeks just eating and sleeping, crying and staring into the memories that I can’t escape. I don’t even feel human anymore.
Casey, who lived on that mountain, is gone, a distant memory.
But I woke up this morning with the conviction that if I didn’t try to fix things, then I would lose the pack. So, I leave the room for the first time and, to my surprise, there is a woman waiting for me.
She’s startled, her mouth dropping open before she remembers herself and smiles widely.
“Omega.”
She bows her head with deep respect, the kind of respect you only give an alpha.
“Can you take me to see…”
“Yes, follow me.”
She’s got brown hair in a long plait and is wearing tight jeans and a loose white top. She’s a wolf; I can smell that much.
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, sorry,” her cheeks turn tomato red. “Hannah.”
“Hi, Hannah.”
She smiles shyly and then gestures for me to follow her.
She leads me through several corridors. It’s not ostentatious, but it’s nice, clean, warm, like a home. But it doesn’t feel like a home; it feels hollow and empty.
I don’t ask any questions, even when she leads me into a hall. Khaos is standing in front of a window staring out of it.
Riot, Wrath, Hazard, and Angel are sitting at the table with some other people.
Khaos turns and smiles. “Casey.”
Everyone in the room turns; most bow their heads.
Omega is whispered in deference, in awe, in appreciation. For one second, I’m caught between shifting shapes and launching at them and running, but I force myself to see them, to remember who they all are.
Everyone who hurt me is dead.
I don’t need to fear anyone anymore.
When Riot holds out his hand, I take it, forcing myself to step into the crowd of people.
Soft touches on my arms and back. The pack marking me as theirs, as precious. A part of me loves it, but a part of me is terrified.
I allow them to touch me as Riot guides me to Khaos. His face is lined, tense, stressed. There are dark shadows in his eyes.
As soon as I get close, I wrap my arms around him and hold on. Maybe if I hold him tight enough, I can keep us all together, but we feel like ash in the wind, breaking apart, losing each other, losing ourselves.
No.
I lost them once, I won’t lose them again.
I pull back and look up at him, I can already see he’s a million miles away. Draw him back, save the pack.
