Chapter 29 – Silas
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
SILAS
We ride into the compound, relief flooding through me.
I wanted nothing more than to be back here with Lilith.
I hated leaving her; hated being away from her.
I worried she might leave; I’d catch her staring off into the distance, deep in thought.
When I asked her what was on her mind, she’d do her best to give me a reassuring smile and say it was nothing.
She was a terrible liar. She forgot that for years I watched her, learned everything about her.
With the threat over, the worry that I would wake gone, we were left with only peace, and when it’s quiet, that’s when you’re faced with the reality of what happened.
I remember how she was after her family died, how she dealt with that loss.
If she hadn’t been forced to stay here, she would have run.
As I make my way into my room—ignoring my brothers’ demands for a party with fang bangers—I open the door to an empty room.
I move to the bathroom to check she’s not in there, even though I can feel she isn’t.
I run my fingers through my hair, tugging at the ends.
I should never have left her. It was too soon, too much for her to deal with in such a short time.
I turn on my heel and run through the club past my brothers. “Where are you going?” Lucian yells after me. I ignore him and jump on my bike. Lucian comes out a second later, concern in his eyes. “What is it?” he presses.
“She’s gone,” I say on a rushed breath, pulling hard on the throttle, turning the bike around, my back tire skidding in the dirt, sending dust clouds behind me.
Fear courses through me as I ride, pushing my bike to its highest speed.
If she had asked for time, for space, I would have given it to her.
But now, I don’t know where she is, if she’s okay.
Her bar is up ahead. I skid to a stop in front of it, all the lights out.
I press my face up against the glass, peering through, trying to see if I can spot her. Nothing.
I turn in a circle, looking down the streets; empty, asleep.
The silence consumes me, mocking me with her absence.
A breeze rustles the trees on the edge of the forest, catching my attention.
On pure instinct, I run, taking off into the forest, pushing past branches and bushes.
The crumpled bird-watching shed comes into view up ahead.
A silhouette of someone next to it. As I get closer, my panic eases.
I feel her, sense her. Lilith. Her head whips around to look at me. “Silas?” she frowns in confusion.
I grab her in my arms, holding her tight against me, breathing in her scent. Pulling back slightly, I check her over, her face cupped in my hands. “I thought you’d gone,” I rasp, the fear making it hard to speak.
Her face softens. “I went to the bar to get the last of my stuff.” She gestures to the huge, overloaded backpack on the ground by her feet.
I sigh, relieved, resting my temple against hers, my eyes squeezed shut as I quash the anxiety building inside me.
She softly clasps her hands over mine, moving them from her face, then presses a kiss into my palm.
“I posted the keys in the realtor’s,” she says.
“And I wanted to just stand here for a moment. Kind of like saying goodbye.” She shrugs.
She releases her hold on my hands, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. My hands cup her face again, unable to stop touching her, my thumb lightly caressing her cheek. I don’t say I would have come with her; she knows I would have. She wanted to do it alone. She needed to do it alone.
“You ready to go home?” I ask her. Home—for now—is the club. It’s everything but a normal home, but it’s ours.
A bubble of laughter escapes her lips, a tear trailing down her cheek. I swipe it away before pressing my lips softly to hers.
“Take me home,” she whispers.