“Melanie, come here,” I said, holding out a hand. I knew she would be reluctant, but a heavy brush of my aura had her pulling her arms from around Caspian’s neck. “We won’t leave him; I just want to make sure you are held as we talk about this. Do you understand?” I sounded even more robotic than usual, but I had to force my words out to ensure I didn’t break down again.
Melanie nodded softly, gently climbing over Caspian as I changed my position.
With my legs spread, she nestled between them, and I rested my cheek against her hair, wrapped my arms around her, and softly caressed her stomach while she trembled.
If I had bitten her, I could soothe her more effectively. But I preferred her suffering through conscious pain than being trapped in a physical state of agony that we could never pull her from.
“It’s my fault,” she choked out, close enough to clutch Caspian’s arm, stroke his face, her tears decorating his chest as she maintained contact. “I should never have asked you to bite me. I was just so angry, I couldn’t take being treated like that anymore. I just wanted her to… I didn’t think she would…” Another sob fell from her as she trailed off. I held her closer and let her cry. Her horror seeped into her scent, and her deep grief was a sour tang that disturbed us both.
“You are not to blame for this,” I murmured, sweeping her loose hair away from her cheek with one finger so I could kiss it. Even just rubbing my scent against her tear-stained skin was enough to ease us.
Caspian didn’t struggle against the cuffs like he normally would, and I was thankful he recognised we had to hold ourselves together for Melanie, despite the swirling rage he tried to hide.
The root of our problem was gone, taken care of by Caspian himself, but there were still other issues we needed to address.
“Sin, Mel. Just tell me what the fuck happened.”
Caspian
Lights flashed behind my eyes, but I was stuck. Screaming, yelling, bursts of pain as I was dragged away from them through the restaurant. I couldn’t catch up; everything was mangled and all I knew was pure red rage as my dads pulled and pulled. My vision tunnelled. One punch to the stomach, another to my fucking face. My ears rang, arms nearly popped from their sockets as I snarled, but it was no use. My dads wouldn’t stop.
Pulling me as I fought and kicked and called out for my omegas. But they faded away as something slammed against my face, harsh fumes filled my senses, and my eyes rolled as I went slack.
I heard my family’s voices, but it was too fucked up. With Camille, biting Mel, how I watched them grab them, I couldn’t keep my head on straight, and pain tore through my body so intense I thought I’d never move again.
I couldn’t tell where I was. I didn’t know what was happening through the pain suffocating me.
There was just the floor under my ass and the stretch of my arms as they kept pulling.
Until the creak of a door. And a crash. And sudden darkness as I was plunged into freezing cold.
I reached for them. I kept reaching and fucking reaching for my mates through the darkness. But nothing was there. She was gone. They were gone. And there was no reason for me to hold on.
It cracked through me like glass breaking into a million shards, digging deep into my body, ripping through my mind as red pulled me under with a scream, and I sunk into it.
I groaned, arching my neck, shifting my hips, but the weight was different. Even though something was so deeply wrong inside me, I could never gouge it out. I could still feel the impact, not just their fists, but the pure brutal fury of my rogue state as I forced my eyes open.
I gasped as I jolted, meeting a white ceiling, brandy, amaretto, and sweet vanilla flooding my senses. I lifted my head, looking around wildly, instantly recognising Kai’s nest.
It didn’t do shit to stop the pain screaming through every fucking vein in my body, but at least I knew I was safe.
I could tell deep down I had gone rogue, but it had never felt so intense. I couldn’t move, and even if I knew they’d chained me up like a monster again in case I kicked off, it wouldn’t matter because my body was done for.
White noise rang in my ears, and even when I looked down to find my precious omega sleeping on my chest where she belonged, I couldn’t make a fucking sound because my throat was so raw.
I finally found Sin’s piercing gaze again, and I didn’t know it was possible for him to get paler.
It felt like a dream, some kind of haze that omegas got into where Sin held me, I knew Mel was awake; they were crying; they were talking, but I was stuck behind a wall of white noise where I could hear myself ask what happened, but even when they replied, it barely went in.
“Three days,” Sin croaked, and shock pounded me, because we both knew what it meant. He couldn’t say any more, not with Mel crying, but three days was too fucking long to be out after going rogue. Even the first time I lost my shit, I was only down for a day. So what the fuck happened?
I tried to feel inside myself, like my body might have the answer, and all I could find was a deep, crowing sadness. There was more to release, more to let rip. Whether I fought against the restraints or I held onto my mates, I needed to get it the fuck out of me, or I wouldn’t be able to breathe.
The screams were still there, ringing in my ears. Mel, Kai, my dads, and one more voice. One scream that was more desperate and panicked than the others. Anguish poured through me, andI couldn’t fucking stop it, especially when Mel sat curled in Sin’s arms, stroking me, trying to soothe me with her aura that didn’t stand a chance against mine.
“Sin, Mel. Just tell me what the fuck happened.” It hurt so much to speak, but I needed that more than anything. I reached for Kai, but, like Sin said, there was nothing there. It was like he had cleaved, or died, and I had to trust that they would tell me if he was really gone.
Mel let out another sob, her grief flowing into me and blending with mine, but it still didn’t answer my fucking question.
