SWNOVELS Chapter Silence
Oak
Everyone in the room was dead silent. We were at my cottage, where she finally fell asleep on the couch after hours of intense crying. The pain of seeing that went straight through me like a hot knife. I was not the only one who had felt like this.
Chris had looked her over. She had minor injuries but nothing serious. The mental injuries were something else entirely. On the examining table, she wouldn’t stop shivering. Teeth clacking together, blue lips. She was completely drenched, as we all were. But she looked colder somehow. As if seeing Leo die took all of her warmth away. She seemed apathetic. Not even flinching when Chris was stitching a nasty wound on her side. Ash and I were nearly frantic over her, but both of us knew that being the overprotective boyfriend wouldn’t do any of us any good right now.
All I wanted was to drag Chris away from her shivering, bloodied body and hold her so tightly to me that I would never let go. Ash was flexing his fingers, breathing hard through his nose the entire time. He was still so furious with Elia, even though he had a part in ending her life.
Sebastian and Jax had texted us a million times to see how she was. While Chris was working on her, we couldn’t and wouldn’t reply. Focused on every stitch to make sure she wasn’t in any more unnecessary pain. I texted them after we were done, and she was cradled in blankets in Ash’s arms. He was fussing over her face tenderly. Like I had never seen him do before. My brother never did tender, but I guess he did many things he had never done before for Lux Elmrose.
I said to come to my cottage. Knowing fully well that both of her other mates couldn’t even stand a single second away from her right now. How Dominic had done it for all these months was beyond me.
When we got to my cottage, she needed to be out of those dirty clothes. Just smelling her blood made me insane, as all mates would.
Ash gave her to me, and I carried her softly to my shower. We stepped in with all our clothes still on, the first of the cold shivers slowly fading a little. She just stood there, numb with all the life gone from those pretty eyes like her fire had been snuffed. I wanted to hold her so badly but was scared to offend her somehow. When she stepped forward, placed her soft cheek on my chest and hugged me tight, I was so relieved I couldn’t even put it into words.
We stood there for a while. She cried against my chest and I was relieved she was finally letting the tears out again. I stripped her slowly from all the wet clothes, did the same to mine, threw them out of my shower, and hugged her again. I shampooed her hair, feeling relieved at being so close to my mate and able to preen over her. My heart simpered. I washed her bruised body slowly, marveling at her beauty and my heart breaking at what was done to her at the same time. I kissed her softly. ‘I love you, baby.’ She nodded through her tears. ‘I love you too, Oak.’
I put her in one of my shirts, fuck what the others would say. She was in my house. She would be wearing my things.
She had trouble walking, the fight and the hits taking their toll finally, so I carried her out again. Sebastian and Jax were on me immediately. Ash told them to back the fuck up. I put her on my couch and pulled a blanket over her. She was as white as a sheet, silently crying. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. Sebastian couldn’t help himself. He lifted her, even went against the grunts of protest from all of us, and put her on his lap, pulled the blanket back over them, and kissed her forehead. A part of me was incredibly jealous because that was supposed to be my spot. Another part of me had been prepared to share a mate for my entire lifetime. But since it was her. It was still different somehow.
She cried on his chest for a while and then fell into a restless sleep. A deep frown was still etched on her forehead, and two streaks of wet tears lined her flushed cheeks.
‘I’m taking her to my bed.’ I said. There would be no discussion. She was not sleeping on Sebastian tonight. Her body was too sore for that.
He didn’t protest. I gently lifted her up again and carried her to my king-size bed while planting soft kisses on her forehead. She was so beautiful and small in my arms.