Chapter 19 - Silas
The vision struck Elle two days after the pack gathering.
One minute, she was sitting at the kitchen table alongside Silas, talking about theories of how her newly awakened magic could be used. Then, suddenly, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her body started trembling.
Before she toppled off her chair, Silas snatched her, his heart pounding with fear and helplessness. He could only keep her in his arms, softly whisper encouragement that she could hardly hear, and wait until the vision subsided.
When Elle eventually came to herself, her face was deathly white, and a sheen of sweat coated her forehead.
“I saw it,” she said in a hoarse voice. “The next location.”
“Where?”
She rambled off the address of an old factory on the outskirts of a town two hours north.
“The auction is tonight.”
Silas immediately summoned his brothers and August, who arrived at the house in a quarter of an hour. However, when they arrived, Elle was worse off.
She sat up on the couch, wrapped in blankets, shivering even though the day was hot as fuck. Her skin had turned pale, and she had dark circles under her eyes. This particular vision was harder on her than her usual ones.
“We must move now,” Javi said as soon as Elle recounted what she saw. “We have about six hours to get there and put surveillance in place if the auction is to be held tonight, as she said.”
“Elle is sick,” Silas snapped. “Look at her. That vision sucked her dry.”
“I am fine,” Elle mumbled weakly. “You need to go. You need to hurry before it is too late.”
“You’re not fine.” Silas dropped to his knees before her, scanning her features. “You can hardly sit up.”
“But I got you a location. Factual, practical intelligence.” He grabbed her hand. “Don’t waste it because of me.”
Rael came forward. “Silas, Elle’s right. We may miss this altogether should we not act immediately. And the auction could be held without us present to collect intelligence.”
“More women will be sold, and we’ll have more victims,” Javi added.
Silas knew they were right. He knew that each minute they spent here was a minute closer to those women being sold, hurt, destroyed.
But the idea of leaving Elle in such a sick and vulnerable state made his wolf snarl with protest.
“Go, Elle squeezed his hand weakly. “I’ll be here when you get back. Sara can stay with me.”
“Elle—”
“Please, Silas. Let me help. Let this power be of help for once.”
The desperation in her voice got through to him. She needed this. She needed to know that her power, the visions that exhausted her, were working.
“Fine,” Silas agreed. “But Sara stays with you all day. And if you get worse, she calls me right away.”
Elle nodded wordlessly.
“I’ve got her, Silas,” Sara spoke up from the doorway. She had been there for some time now. “I’ll take care of her.”
Silas kissed Elle’s forehead and then her lips. “I love you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“You better,” she chuckled weakly. “Can’t stay alone for long.”
Silas gave her a tight smile and got to his feet.
The drive north was tense and quiet. Silas was seated in the passenger seat, while Rael drove. He held his phone in his hand, glancing at it periodically to see if Sara had called.”
“She will be all right,” Rael shot him a glance. “Sara will not allow anything to happen to her.”
Silas didn’t respond. His mind drifted back to the house. How Elle shivered under the blankets, and her pale skin. The bond between them throbbed with her pain and worry. It was almost impossible for Silas to think of anything else.
They arrived at the place Elle had told them about—an industrial area on the outskirts of a mid-sized city. There were deserted factories and warehouses, and the majority of them were covered with graffiti and in bad condition.
“This is it,” August pointed to a building that fit the description Elle had given them perfectly. “That’s the one.”
They parked a block down the road and walked down with the stealth their black ops training had drilled into them.
The house seemed like an empty building on the outside, but Silas smelled shifters. Lots of them.
“The auction is already going on,” Javi whispered. “We’re not too late.”
Relief rushed through Silas, followed by guilt. Elle had overdone herself to the extent of breaking down to provide them with this information.
They managed to get to the rooftop of an abandoned building next to it, where they had a perfect angle into the factory windows. Silas could see the auction process through the dirty glass. A stage, chairs filled with buyers, and women in dungeons, where they waited to be sold.
Silas felt rage bubbling up inside of him, but he suppressed it. This was reconnaissance. The plan was to collect data, find the leaders of the operation, and trace the buyers. Acting based on emotions would be self-destructive.
Rael had also provided some equipment, like long-range cameras and audio recording devices. They will help in providing them with evidence that they would need to exonerate their pack and nip this operation in the bud.
Silas pupils to concentrate on the mission—memorize faces, write down vehicle license plates.
But he was always thinking of Elle. Wondering if she was okay, if her condition had gotten any worse, if Sara called and he had failed to see the message, despite glancing at his phone every thirty seconds.
“Silas,” August said quietly. “You need to focus.”
“I am focused.”
“No, you’re not. You have been looking at your phone more than the auction.” August moved closer. “I understand that you are worried about Elle. But if you want to go back to her alive, fucking focus.”
“I don’t—” Silas opened his mouth, but stopped when he saw something. One of the auction handlers had come out to take a smoke, and he was staring squarely in their direction.
“Shit,” Javi breathed. “He made us.”
The handler dropped his cigarette and picked up his phone. In another few seconds, three other shifters came pouring out of the building, and all four were looking up at the roof where Silas and the rest were.
“Time to go,” Rael started grabbing the equipment.
They moved swiftly, but the shifters were climbing the fire escape, cutting off their exit route. Silas and his team parted ways; his brothers headed off in one direction, while he and August went off in another direction.
The footsteps behind them got closer. Silas turned to face their pursuer—a massive bear shifter with murder in his eyes.
“Well, well, well,” the bear shifter growled. “What do we have here? Spies?”
Silas moved to a defensive position, his wolf rising to the surface. He thought about Elle and the bond pulsing with her vulnerability. He couldn’t afford not to return to her.
The bear shifter charged, but he was too big to move fast. Still, Silas barely managed to avoid the first and second swing.
August crashed into the bear shifter, and the two of them fell in a heap of limbs.
“Focus!” August grunted, punching the bear shifter who was struggling against his grasp. “Either get your head in the game, or we both die!”
The words sliced through Silas’s momentary distraction. August was right. Unless he concentrated, if he allowed his concern about Elle to cloud his thoughts, they might end up dying or seriously injured at best.
Silas’ wolf roared to the surface, all his training and instincts finally clicking into place. He joined August, and together they took down the bear shifter. They left him unconscious on the roof and ran, meeting up with Rael and Javi at the vehicle.
“Everyone okay?” Rael asked, turning on the engine.
“Yeah,” August shot Silas a look. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Did we get enough?” Silas asked Rael.
“I recorded the buyers, audio tapes of the deals, and pictures of the handlers.” Rael’s voice was grim. “But before we could track where they took the victims, the auction was over. We have information, but we didn’t get actionable rescue information.”
Silas’s chest tightened. “So we were too late.”
“We were a day or two late,” Javi spoke. “Whatever Elle saw in her vision was not timely.”
Silas took out his phone and looked at his message. Sara sent three texts.
Elle’s fever is getting worse.
She’s asking for you.
Silas, please hurry.
“Drive faster,” Silas told Rael.
The trip back seemed longer. Silas’ wolf stirred within him, impatient, the bond drawing him to Elle. She was sick. She needed him. And here he was, stuck in a car two hours away.
When they finally reached home, Silas immediately jumped out of the car and ran straight into the house. He climbed up the stairs—two at a time and made his way to Elle’s bedroom. He pushed the door open and saw Sara sitting by the bed, holding a cloth in her hand.
She glanced up at him and sighed. “Thank God. She’s been asking for you.”
Silas moved to the bed. Elle was lying on her back, flushed with fever. But as she looked at him and smiled weakly. “You’re back.”
“I’m back.” Silas sat at the edge of the bed, his hand finding hers. “I’m here, love. I’m right here.”
Sara slipped out of the room, leaving them to themselves.
“Did you find it?” Elle asked. “The auction?”
Silas’s chest ached. He didn’t want to tell her. He didn’t want to burden her any further. But Elle deserved the truth.
“We located the place,” he said carefully. “Your vision was accurate. However, it was a day or two too late. The auction was already over when we got there.”
Elle’s face crumpled. “So I was too late. Again.”
“No,” Silas said firmly. “Elle, no. Good intelligence was obtained. We saw faces and license plates. Your vision gave us that.”
“But we didn’t save anyone.”
“Not this time. But we will.” Silas brushed his lips against her knuckles. “Because of you. Because your magic is finally working like it’s supposed to.”
Elle shook her head, her eyes turning glassy. “It doesn’t seem like it is working. It’s as if I’m failing over and over again.”
“You’re not failing.” Silas took off his shoes and got into bed next to her, pulling her close to his chest. “You’re learning. Your power is evolving. We were unable to prevent an auction, yes. But we’re getting closer. Because of you.”
Elle pushed her head into the crook of his neck, her body trembling with sobs. Silas silently caressed her hair with one hand and made circles on her back with another.
“So, the vision made you sick. That has never happened before.”
“It was stronger than the others,” Elle mumbled against his skin. “More detailed. I was able to see so much. I could see myself there.”
“Your magic is becoming more powerful.”
“Or becoming more dangerous,” Elle leaned back to look at him. “What if the next time I get a vision, it makes me so exhausted that I—”
“Don’t,” Silas interrupted. “Don’t go there. We’ll figure it out. We will.”
Elle looked like she wanted to say something in protest, but her exhaustion won. Her eyelids dropped, her breathing evened out, and she drifted off to sleep.
Silas held her in his arms as she slept, and his mind raced. Elle was right to be worried. In the event that her visions continued to get stronger and drain her, they could lead to something worse.
He had to find a way of getting around it. A way to help her contain it and to prevent her from being destroyed in the process of helping them.
However, at the moment, all he could do was to hold her, keep her warm, safe, and loved until she got enough rest.
A few minutes later, the door creaked open. Sara walked in with a tray of food and water. She placed it on the nightstand. “How is she?”
“Sleeping,” Silas said softly. “ I will make sure she eats when she wakes up.”
“You’re good for her,” Sara smiled. “I understand the situation under which you two were involved was not very good. But you’re good together.”
Silas glanced down at his mate. “I don’t deserve her.”
“Maybe not. But you are trying to win her over. That counts for something.”
Sara told him to make sure Elle ate, then she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Silas continued to hold Elle as her fever went down.
Hours passed. The sun had gone down, casting shadows in the room. But Silas did not move an inch. He only held his mate and swore to himself, silently, needing to find a means of saving her.
When Elle finally stirred, her eyes fluttering open, the fever had broken. She looked more like herself—still exhausted, but no longer pale.
“Hey,” Silas said softly. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck. But better than before.”
“Good. You need to eat something.”
Silas assisted Elle in sitting up with pillows behind her. He offered her water first and watched her take it slowly, and then offered her the soup Sara had brought up earlier.
“I’m not hungry,” Elle protested.
“You need to eat. You have not eaten anything since this morning.”
“Silas—”
“Please, Elle. For me.”
Elle sighed and took the bowl. She chewed slowly and finished half of the bowl before she put it aside.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For taking care of me. For coming back.” Elle grabbed his hand.
“Of course I will. I always will. But I cannot help but feel worried. Elle, you were almost killed by that vision. And they are growing stronger, according to what you told me. What happens with the next one? What if it’s too much?”
“I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
“Together,” Silas agreed.
He pulled Elle to himself, and they lay there in a pleasant silence as the night was gathering around in total darkness outside.
“I love you.”
Silas’s heart skipped. “What?”
“I love you.” Elle tilted her head up and stared at him. “I don’t know when it happened. Perhaps it happened a long time ago, and I was too stubborn to realize it. But I love you.”
“Fuck,” he exhaled. “Say it again.”
Elle smiled, soft and genuine. “I love you, Silas Weston.”
Silas leaned down and kissed her, putting all his heart into it. Love, gratitude, devotion, and promise. When they separated, they both dragged in a lungful of air.
“I love you too,” Silas grinned. “More than anything. You’re my entire world, Elle.”
“Then promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Swear to me that you will focus when you’re out there. That you will not take care of me and go get yourself killed out there. Because I can’t lose you, Silas.”
“You are not going to lose me. I’ll be careful. I’ll focus. I’ll come back to you every time.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
After a couple of minutes, they fell asleep, cuddled together, the bond stronger than ever. Even though he had been disappointed because they got to the auction site late and worried because of the intensity of Elle’s visions, Silas had hope.
They were in this together, and they would win together.