Chapter 18 Van #2
These hands had lifted mountains. Repaired broken bones. Kept this whole building from turning into a pile of rubble after a bomb, yet, when it mattered most, when she laid limp and pale in someone else’s arms, I could do nothing.
I clenched my fists, trying to stop the shaking, but it only made the emptiness worse, like I was squeezing sand and watching it fall through the cracks of my fingers, grain by grain.
I wasn’t supposed to be helpless. Not with her. Not for her.
“Snap out of it,” Lucus said, his voice sharp but not unkind. He ran his hands down his blood-stained white shirt like he was trying to reset himself, to stay in control. “We’ll figure it out, mate. Let’s go.”
I didn’t answer right away. Couldn’t. My throat was too tight, my heart too loud in my ears, but I eventually nodded. All I could do was keep moving, keep fighting for her, even if she didn't know why.
“I think all of us boys need to have a chat.” Lucus stalked forward and opened the door for me. “All of us could benefit from clearing the air and doing a reevaluation because that woman up there is going to wake up. No matter what’s going on.”
Stepping out onto the street, the roar of New York swallowed my thoughts, leaving behind only the aching need to believe him.
We caught up to the others waiting for the elevator. Alic was looking down at her with that singular, unflinching intensity, the kind that didn’t need words to declare his loyalty.
He should tell her.
I’d always suspected something was happening between them, and strangely enough, it didn’t bother me, not the way it probably should’ve. His quiet devotion felt trustworthy, like she’d be safe with him.
It was different when she turned that charm on to others.
Watching her schmooze the male members was like having my brains yanked through my nostrils.
My pulse would spike, magic flaring at my fingertips, ready to throw someone into the wall.
I knew she’d hate that, so I kept myself occupied by managing the talent and handling the shit jobs she didn’t want.
I’d made myself into whatever she needed, and in his own way, Alic was doing the same. He just hadn’t realized it yet.
We crammed into the elevator, instinctively giving Aniyah and Alic space. I glanced around. Lucus and Alic made sense. But Rasmus? And this wolf? Who the hell were they?
My gaze never left the new guys as we stepped off and onto her floor. I moved ahead to unlock her door. The scent of her perfume still lingered in the air, clothes were strewn across her bed in a glittering mess. I smiled despite myself, gathering them up to clear a space for Alic to lay her down.
Afterward, we all stood there for a moment, suspended in the moment, watching her.
Then she shifted, yawned, and curled onto her side. Her breathing came out even. Sleeping. She was just sleeping. Maybe she’d run herself ragged.
The tension I’d carried like a second skin finally started to fall away, replaced with something steadier. She was going to be okay. She had to be.
“Sleep. She just needs some sleep,” the wolf murmured. Biting his lip, he turned away. The look on his face said he couldn’t stand to see her like this, but who was she to him?
He stalked into the kitchen as I clutched her clothes tighter in my hands. She’d hate for them to wrinkle, so I moved to the closet and started hanging them back up.
The scrape of chairs across hardwood made me wince. I poked my head out of the closet, glaring toward the kitchen.
“Shhhh! Keep it quiet!” Alic snapped, beating me to the punch, but my eyes and lips twitched.
“Van.”
I turned to find Lucus standing at the entrance to her closet, peering around like he’d just stepped into a museum. “Spectacular,” he muttered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an apartment where half the square footage is a closet.”
I said nothing, slipping the last dress on a hanger and into place.
“Come on.” He gestured for me to step out.
I raised a brow. “Why?”
“I’ve got a theory,” he said, lowering his voice. “And I think it’s time we all got on the same page.”
I froze. My heart thudded once, loud and hard.
Wait. No.
He couldn’t mean…. Shit.
Did he want to tell them about her being my flame? I hadn’t even told her yet.
“I don’t know, Lucus. I’m not rea—” A loud crash from the kitchen cut me off.
I bolted around the corner to find a shattered vase at the wolf’s feet. Morino, I was pretty sure that was his name. Glass shards glittered across the floor like broken ice.
“Oops,” he muttered. “I’ll clean it up.”
I rubbed my hands down my face, trying to center myself.
At the table, Alic sat with a beer clutched loosely in his hand, eyes distant.
Rasmus kept flicking glances around the apartment, cataloging every detail for some mental archive.
Morino looked like he needed something, anything, to do with his hands.
Preferably something that didn’t involve touching Aniyah’s things.
Lucus bent over beside him, gathering the sharp pieces one by one.
I opened my mouth to tell him to leave it, that I’d take care of it, but then he glanced up at me with a cold, impenetrable look.
Don’t fuck with me, his eyes said, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
If he thought he could treat me any way he pleased, it would be a cold day in hell before that happened.
He kept his gaze low, his voice deceptively even. “Aniyah is my mate.”
Silence. A sharp inhale. Every head in the room whipped in his direction, then, chaos.
Alic was the first to move. His chair scraped back, beer nearly spilling as he surged to his feet.
“Lies!” he barked. “She’s not. There’s no way.
Have you even seen the mark?” He laughed, but it was tight, unhinged at the edges.
“She would never take a mate. She told me that herself. It’s a moot point. ”
“She’s my wolf’s mate, too.” Morino’s words were calm, measured, but they hit like a punch to the ribs.
“What?” I blurted. My stomach dropped.
“I met her almost five years ago,” he continued, eyes on the floor. “Right before she moved here. That was when my wolf chose her. I’ve been looking for her ever since.” He dragged a hand through his hair, voice becoming rough. “She’s hard to track. Smart. But I never stopped trying.”
What the actual fuck? Five years, and none of us knew?
My pulse thundered in my ears, and before I could stop myself, the truth spilled out. “She’s my flame.”
That shut everyone up.
“That’s why I couldn’t heal her earlier,” I added. With each word I spoke, my voice became quieter, steadier. “I didn’t want to say it until I was sure… but that’s what she is to me. My flame.”
Three sets of eyes turned on me, mouths slightly open, blinking like they were trying to reset reality.
I turned my head, eyeing Alic, who tipped the bottle back again, drank deep, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “There is no way that she’s my mate,” he said flatly, but the hidden despair in his eyes said he wished she was. His insistence made no sense.
I was positive…
Lucus slammed his hands down on the table, the sound echoing through the apartment. “That's a bunch of fairy shit, and you know it.”
Alic glared at him, teeth bared, about to explode—
Then a quiet voice, dry and curious, drifted through the room. “What fairy shit?”
We froze.
Slowly, heads turned toward the bedroom. There stood Aniyah, sleepy-eyed, one shoulder leaning on the doorframe, her hair a wild halo and confusion softening her features.
Fuck.
She’d heard everything.