“What will you do?” I asked. I couldn’t see us getting out of this one.
“That’s not your concern. Go back to your mates,” she ordered, and I low-key respected the way she walked over to Zania and knelt down.
It was kind of hard to look at Zania. Triumph soared through me as soon as her neck cracked. I’d imagined killing her so many times, but seeing her mangled body on the cold concrete floor of the fridge was just sad. Like, all of that, all those fucking years of hell where I had to hide myself and be beaten down and live day after day knowing that she could come after me at any moment, and that was it? A broken body, her face and chest caved in, arms at awkward angles, and still as the pool slowly grew. That was what she amounted to?
I clicked my teeth as I turned back and left the fridge. I knew for sure now that we’d never see her again, but that didn’t mean I could relax.
By that point, Sin was already next to Cas and Brandy, and was easing Brandy away so he could pick up our mate.
“You’ll have to take care of her again,” he said to me as he grabbed Cas and heaved him up. Cas weighed a ton on a good day, and Sin’s muscles creaked at the strain.
I could hear Vivian’s voice echoing from the refrigerator room, but it was minor compared to getting us all to safety.
“You must be exhausted,” I murmured to Brandy, sighing in relief as I held her again. I was never letting her go, not after all that.
She was limp in my arms, and I needed to get her to the car so I could just love her without any drama. “When we get back to my nest, I’ll make sure that everything is perfect, okay? I can get us some new paints, and there’s a glittery purple fabric I want to try out that will go great with your ass. I think we should go shopping to buy new bedsheets as well. I mean, that’s if you want to use my bed. We can bring another bed to my nest and—-” I kept blabbering as we walked, hoping that it would fill up theheavy silence of what had just happened. I didn’t have time to process the fact I almost lost her. Because the sheer anguish of holding Brandy as she faded in front of my eyes was so terrifying that I wanted to chain myself to her, so I made sure she could never leave me.
“We can set up my nest just how you like it. Or we can run you a bath and get you soaked. I’ve got these amazing bubbles that smell just like Sin. Or we can watch a movie, or I can read to you. There’s even some audiobooks you might like.”
She twitched at that, so I thought that was the answer, but her gaze stayed fixed on Cas in front of us as Sin dragged him towards the back door.
The last thing we heard as we left the restaurant was a high-pitched scream that tore through the place, and I took a breath, praying that Lily and Vivian knew what the hell they were doing.
Sin
Iblew out a slow breath, trying to time mine with the gentle rise and fall of Caspian and Melanie’s chests. They had been in perfect sync since we brought them to Kai’s nest three days ago, but not once had they opened their eyes.
With my legs spread, my elbows on my knees, my hands twisted together as if rubbing them like a magic spell could bring them back, I sat there with my head bowed forward. I rarely prayed; there was no place for it in a world like ours. But after days of pouring energy into Caspian and Melanie, of blanketing them with my aura, of giving them so much of myself through the bond that I was weak, I would try anything.
It wasn’t unusual for Caspian to spend a day unconscious after going rogue, but his usual method when he awoke was to struggle, shout, and attack anyone who came near him as his state wore off. Hence, the handcuffs, which bolted his wrists to the bars of Kai’s bedframe. Yet there had been nothing from either of them since Melanie passed out from exhaustion.
With the Selection Ceremony next week, so soon after Caspian's parent's deaths, we couldn't afford to look weak and divided. If Caspian appeared with obvious signs of his lingering rouge state and Melanie couldn't walk because of her injuries, it would raise even more suspicion. And that was only if we could actually attend.
Caspian lay on his back, his biceps pressed against his ears, with Melanie curled up next to him. With one arm wrapped around his stomach while she used his chest as a pillow, as if she needed to hear his heart under her ear to stay sane. It was the only reason I hadn’t taken the place myself.
They were both far-off presences in the bond, but I could still feel them in my body, and that was all that mattered.
I had barely moved from my small chair at their bedside since I took the place five hours ago. I couldn’t bear the thought that they would wake up alone. Kai’s disgust whenever he looked atme was so potent that he had opted to take shifts rather than be anywhere near me. I could only hope that would change when our mates returned to us.
Every attempted conversation with him led to an argument. No matter how deeply Kai resented me for not biting Melanie, I could only apologise that I did not make the decision he wanted me to make. But I would not apologise for making it.
It was a shock to learn that Kai had the ability to sever his connection to us. We could hide ourselves in the bond, yes, but that was far different from reaching out for my omega and finding a dead space. The first time it happened, unbearable terror ripped through me, and I ran to find him, believing he was either dead or he had cleaved, and he was simply working in his studio. Even reaching for him now, there was a gaping hole that reeked of desolation. Unfortunately, he was unable to sense us when he shut us out, so I couldn’t alert him should they awake.
My mates were the most lively people I knew, so to see Caspian lying there with skin paler than Camille’s, his breathing so light that I kept having to place my hand on his chest to make sure he still moved, and even the muscles on his face completely relaxed—it was all so unnatural that I could barely contain myself. Melanie herself was the opposite. Peace radiated from her, and even though she was barely a speck in the grand landscape of our bond, her contentedness flowed through us. But who knew if it would remain when she awoke.
While Lily and I tried to handle the consequences of that day, Kai allowed doctors to examine them both. Caspian’s eyes remained soaked in blood red, and there was no permanent damage to Melanie’s stomach from the fight. All it would take was rest, and she would naturally heal. Her psyche, on the other hand…
I wanted to keep them both on the lower floor, but Kai insisted they remain in his nest. It was no small feat to carry themboth up three floors and scale the ladder to bring them here. Melanie had still been conscious at that point, and Caspian was deadweight. But Kai hissedYou nearly fucking murdered her; it’s the least you can do, so I gave in.
My brief wonderings about the state of our pack had spiralled since I’d had days to wallow, and I was beginning to understand the full breadth of our relationship. Not just with Kai and the permanent damage we had caused him, but Caspian’s brokenness and my inability to be compassionate when they needed it most. I didn’t know how we could mend the fracture between us. My love was no longer enough for them, and I did not know how to remove the burden from Melanie. Even asleep, she still naturally calmed Caspian, and I suspected that her carrying the weight of the aftereffects of Caspian’s rogue state was another reason they had not moved.
The pure rage that beat from Kai when he removed the barrier was a mild punishment compared to losing Melanie.
I was unfamiliar with a resting state of panic, but it had grown on me since I first took my place in the chair beside them. Discomfort was my constant companion, but I could not look away from my mates. I had to acknowledge what I did, and repeatedly confirm that my refusal to bite Melanie was correct, no matter how passionately Kai despised me for it.
Every hour that passed, I sank deeper into despair. Until a light groan echoed from the bed, and my heart plunged as Caspian shifted his hips. Time slowed, pain screamed through my body as Caspian exploded to life inside me. My lips parted as I straightened in the chair, forcing my hope not to flourish. I couldn’t bear to have it shattered again.
He could simply be moving in his sleep.
