Blinking, I stared at the door, then down at Solaris and then back at the door. Finn usually was easy to read. His emotions in the forefront but I was met by a wall when I tried to reach out through our bond. Walking over to the kitchen, I started to clean up the dishes after my now useless attempt to make dinner for all of us. I had to stop every couple minutes though. Fear gripping me. What if she stopped breathing? What if her heart stopped? I had to listen, confirm I could still hear it. I watched as the blankets rose and fell with her breathing. Once I was satisfied, I continued cleaning. Only for pure fear to strike me again after a minute, forcing me to stop, listen, and watch.
Finally, after a few minutes of constant checking, I gave up doing anything. Walking over to the bed, I pulled back the covers and slipped in next to her. I’d put her a little more towards the center. Her usual spot was on the left side of the bed, Finn in the middle, and me on the right.
*** Silas POV ***I pounded on the door of the The Wayward Tap. The rain was pouring down and I was completed soaked through. Hell, I was lucky I even had sweatpants in the nearby tree from the other night. My wolf-ass ran all the way over here as fast as I could. The thunder rolled behind me and I pounded on the door again. Charles taught me how to ‘police knock’ when he first got into the force and I hoped it carried all the way up the stairs.Stepping back, I looked up at the window but the light wasn’t on. Cursing, I was about to knock again when the door swung open. Aelia was standing in the door in a huge shirt and clearly only half awake.“Sil, do you know what time it is?”“About three in the morning, I think.”She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”“I need your help.”“Help can wait till the morning, Sil.”She was abo
Aelia went into the kitchen and started up the coffee maker. Sam moved next to her, taking out everything she would need for the coffee. All three of us were quiet until the pot was made and three mugs were passed around. I looked at the time and it was almost four a.m. Sipping my coffee, I sighed and placed it down on the counter.“What now?”Aelia took another sip as she leaned against the kitchen counter. “Keep an eye on him. Touching madness like that can leave a lasting effect sometimes. He’ll need to have his family close for a while. There is also a chance he might hole himself up for a little. It’s okay but eventually he needs to come out. Otherwise it will be impossible next time to help him.”I nodded. “Will he know you’re Aelia?”She shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. Most of the time, that kind of feral, you don’t remember much of what happened. But I’ve seen stranger thi
“You know I put my foot down whenever it came to you telling me about my fated pair.”She nodded. “Yeah. You would stick your fingers in your ears and start yelling that you couldn’t here me at the top of your lungs until I walked out of the room.”Sam giggled and it made Aelia smile. “Sounds like Alpha.”I ignored the both of them. “Over the years, I just thought I never had a connection. I’ve been nearly everywhere and I’ve never felt a connection with someone. I thought…I thought that you would end up telling me that I didn’t have someone. That I was destined to be alone.”Her face fell and tears filled her eyes. “Oh Sil…”Walking over to me, she gathered me into her arms. As her scent and her arms enveloped me, I let myself break. I pressing into her body and cried. Cried for all the nights I held it
*** Solaris POV *** Finn whistled and I peaked my head out of the workout room. “Beta is here.” My eyes narrowed and I grabbed my shirt I had discarded on some of the workout equipment. I also snagged a towel and wiped my face, hanging it around my shoulders before walking out into the bar. Sure enough, Nate was standing awkwardly in the entry to the bar. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched over. As I walked up, he looked up at me, dark circles under his eyes. “I’m glad you’re up and about. Honestly, I expected you to be holed up for a few more days.” I smiled but he didn’t smile back. “Aelia, I need to talk to you.” I hummed. “Sure. You want to go into town? I’ve got a hankering for some food. We could go have dinner.” Noah walked down the stairs. “Sol…” “I’m fine today. Relax. I’ve had enough recovery time. Plus, I’m not gonna be out all night, Dad.” Noah grumble
It didn’t quell his anger. In fact, it only made it worse. Wren was starting to show more and I could see him struggling with keeping control. Sighing, I reached out and put my hand on his fist. It seemed to work, his shoulders slumping as he looked at my hand. “I don’t understand.” “You keep saying that. Some things we aren’t supposed to understand. Some things are out of our control and some things we can only do our best to help them along. I want to help, Nate. I would love to get to know the man you have become. At least reach a semblance of a friendship before I leave.” He shook his head, filling up the wine glass again. “How? How am I supposed to just ignore you? Ignore our bond? We were made for each other. You knew that from the beginning. Why would you throw that all away?” “I’m not throwing it away! Goddess, why can’t you get it through that thick head of yours? I’m dying!” “I understand that!” I caught his eyes and stared h
The face I was staring into was one I hadn’t seen before. Not from Nate. My heart hammered in my chest as I felt at his mercy. His hand pushed my right wrist into the brick but it was the hand on my hip that hurt. Wincing, I tried to move but it was hard even to bring my left arm to rest on his. “Nate…please…you’re hurting me…” “You aren’t strong enough to fight me, are you?” His words made me swallow hard. They were deep, angry and threatening. The problem was that they were true too. My leg was already getting worse and my arm basically just rested on his arm, unable to do much more than that. “What are you doing?” “You’re wrong.” He came in close, our breaths mixing with each other. “You are wrong, Aelia.” I suddenly was very aware that not only was my phone in my back pocket, but I hadn’t put the crystal back on. It wouldn’t remove the feeling of the bond as he touched me but it would have at least dulled the scent. My chest rose a
*** Silas POV *** My eyes peeled open and I looked over to my nightstand at the disturbance that woke me up. It’s was my phone that was vibrated on the dark wood. Someone was actually calling me, which meant it was most likely Charles. I closed my eyes, it could wait till later. I had gone to bed around three in the morning after Sam slammed a giant request for a new building within the town. It required a completely teardown and rebuild which was crazy. Not just that but they requested it within a stupid short amount of time. It took six hours to just go through all the information and quotes for everything. Whatever time it was, it was too early. I started to fall back asleep once the vibrating stopped when suddenly it started up again. Growling, I sat up and snagged my phone. “What?” “Morning, Silas.” Groaning, I rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?” “Just after eight. I just got into work.” Sighing, I leaned bac
Charles pursed his lips. “I mean, assaulting a woman and a police office is a big deal. Especially since backup had to be called and we now have multiple documentations of it. It’s not something I can let slide. He will have to go to court. If Solaris and Mitch don’t press charges, we may be able to wiggle our way out of jail time and into some hours of community service. But that’s a big if. What about you?”“If he did try to mark her, it’s something I’m technically supposed to report to the Alpha King. He’s supposed to be turned over to them for punishment. They handle it and send him back. It’s rape, attempted or not, in our packs. It’s taken very seriously.”“Well fuck.”We sat in silence for a while. Both of us were mulling over our own thoughts.“How long do you need to hold him?”“Well, it will have to be until the confirm whether or not to