Chapter Eighteen Dylan
Something was wrong with Silas.
I couldn't put my finger on what was off about him, but I could feel it.
As we walked through the secret passageway, he couldn't stand on his own, so Hunter and Jackson put his arms over his shoulders and helped him out.
Because my bond with Silas was incomplete, I couldn't transfer the astral ability to him for assistance.
We all seemed to hold our breath as we walked through, waiting for Lupe to show up.
When we reached the library, I thought for sure she would pop up out of nowhere, but I was wrong.
We were safe.
Sort of.
"Let's take him to our room. I don't want him separated from us tonight," Hunter told us, and I couldn't argue.
Lupe had already taken Silas the moment he wasn't with us. Anyone harming my friends, especially my mates, must go through the rest of us first. From recent events, I'd say she was afraid to take us three on.
Sera followed us out and kept watch with me as we hurried along to the dorms. I took my chances and sent out a command to any guard nearby to ignore us, hoping my power would wash over them and make them listen. When we approached the building, the guards weren't paying us any attention.
Score one for me, zero for the guards!
That just makes you hotter, sweetheart. Jackson rumbled through my mind.
I didn't respond. Dealing with a hostage situation left us with no time for things like that. That part worried me. Lupe wouldn't have allowed us to take Silas unless this was a trap.
Silas seemed out of it, but kept his head down while Hunter and Jackson carried him up the stairs. Sera almost broke away from us, but I grabbed her hand before she did.
"No. You are coming to our room. They took Silas, and they won't hesitate to take you, too," I told her, yanking on her arm to drag her along to our room.
She sighed, but it felt like more of her agreeing than anything. "You're right."
Once inside our room, Hunter put Silas in the bathroom. He was still out of it, but Hunter had no problem taking a washcloth to wipe him down. I mirrored his actions, investigating if Lupe’s involvement extended past the rough handling.
"Silas? Are you with me?"
He looked at me, his green eyes meeting mine, a moment of unfamiliarity passing between us.
My chest tightened at the thought of him forgetting me.
I only recently recovered him; Lupe may have harmed him, even if I couldn’t see it just yet.
Normally, she drills into the back of the neck, but she didn’t do that to him.
Silas shouldn't have any Shadowborn blood to make him a candidate for her evil scheme, but that didn't mean she didn't know other ways by now to turn him against me.
Silas's hands shot out and grabbed my face, causing Hunter to snarl and grab onto his wrists to stop him from doing anything.
Silas focused on me, ignoring Hunter entirely.
I didn't move. Something transpired down there while he had been held captive; I sought an explanation for her actions toward my mate.
"Dylan?"
It was a relief to see him recognize me again, but it still worried me he had lapsed since we removed him from that dungeon. Hunter let go of him, and I put my hands on his face to help the bond fight through whatever fog it was dealing with.
"What happened down there, Silas? What did she do to you?"
Something else flickered in his gaze. I kept wondering if he was struggling to remember what happened to him or trying to recognize me.
Pulling on the bond, I tried to see what was happening to him, but I encountered a wall.
Pushing on it did nothing, and even Silas growled a little as I tried.
Hunter stood next to Silas, waiting for him to make a wrong move so he could end anything he might do.
"I don't know. Everything is black when I think about it," he explained without looking at me. I detected no lie, so he must be struggling against the same obstacle I faced in the bond. If he couldn't remember anything, that posed more issues.
The wall wouldn't budge in the bond, so I stopped trying. It only worsened Silas’s condition; this was inopportune.
"Well, let's get washed up and into bed." I nodded at Hunter, who helped Silas onto his feet.
There was still something off. Silas's movements were not normal–slower at first and then like he was speeding up.
Hunter and I stood at the door and watched him wash off in the shower and pull on clothes Jackson let him borrow.
He said nothing else outside of asking for a toothbrush.
We all took that as a cue to get ready for bed.
I let Sera borrow my clothes and the guys decided they would sleep on the floor and let us girls take the bed.
"That won't be comfortable," I told them, but naturally, Hunter wasn't having it.
"I'll sleep by the door. I'm not letting anyone get into this room," he told me and put a folded up blanket on the floor and laid on it.
Hunter slept in nothing but his boxers, but tonight he had on a pair of sweatpants.
It left nothing up to the imagination, so I found myself staring until Sera smacked me playfully.
Jackson followed suit, sleeping at the bed’s foot on the floor.
When I didn't stare at Hunter, I stared at Jackson.
They were too hot, excessively hot even.
It had gone to their heads if you asked me.
If Sera wasn't here, I'd be taking advantage of this.
But she was, and I had to worry about Silas.
Silas wore sweats and a shirt, hiding away his amazing body.
I should be thankful, but it made me want to growl and demand for him to take the shirt off so I could stare at him, too.
He didn't notice me looking at the others, which reminded me of how he felt off.
Silas normally looked at me with saddened eyes as I gazed at my mates.
He hated knowing he had messed up so badly I ignored him while we were in the same room.
Watching him try to get comfortable on that couch, his tall form trying to shrink himself to fit on it, instead of watching me, was out of character.
What the fuck did they do to my mate?
~*~*~*~*~*~
Nothing seemed to improve or change the rest of the week.
Silas talked little to us during our eating periods, and he paid more attention to the teachers than he did to us.
Hunter and Jackson noticed what I was seeing and watched Silas closely.
They feared Lupe had gotten to him, but I didn't see it.
I've seen people react like this after being taken from their pack as hostage and then returned.
They were withdrawn for a while until they could move past the experience.
"No, I agree with the boys," Sera told me as we got ready for the day in the bathroom on Friday morning. "Silas isn't the same. Something is wrong." Sera stopped running a brush through her red curls and frowned at me. "I can't put my finger on what is off about him, though."
"He's withdrawn. Silas is just trying to get back into things after being captured and most likely tortured.
We don't know what he went through down there.
He doesn't remember." I tried to give an excuse because I didn't want to accept that, whatever was going on with him, was worse than just trying to move on from a traumatic experience.
"No, Dylan. There's something more about what is going on with him. I don't even know how he doesn't remember what happened to him. What if Lupe has gotten to him?"
I shook my head at her. "No. He's not acting quite like the others after Lupe turned them into the wolf-ridden zombies."
Sera sighed and nodded. My normal bubbly friend seemed more concerned than normal, making me and my wolf whine at her.
"It's okay, Dylan. A lot is going on, and I just want to make sure we are all safe. The other students have no idea." She bit her lip and then smiled at me. "What if we told the entire school? Or even the other teachers!"
I shook my head. "Why would they believe us? Lupe's reputation is keeping this school safe."
"We don't know until we try. What if we are the reason the others look more into Lupe? Why is this all on our shoulders?"
Those words frequently echoed my thoughts since stumbling upon all this.
Only I couldn't shake the idea that, if we said anything against Lupe, it wouldn't end the way we expect it to.
Lupe charmed every school teacher. None seemed to be investigating her, not even Talia, and the angel councilwoman had felt like she understood something wasn't right about Lupe but hadn't done a damn thing about it, so why would anyone else?
Talia would have meetings and what not with Lupe as a councilperson to the school.
"The teachers are noticing things, Sera, and still aren't doing a thing about it. Teowulf is mated to her and can't see that she is abducting students and residents nearby. Wilcox has noticed Lupe not being right in the head and hasn't done anything either."
"Wilcox has?"
"Yeah. At the assembly. Didn't you notice her making faces during Lupe's speech? She knows something is off and hasn't done a thing about it."
Sera returned to looking at the mirror, applying product to her hair to keep it from frizzing. "Maybe we should talk to Wilcox then. She might be the one teacher who would do something if she was given all the information."
Sera had a point, but I didn't know how much use it would be for the issue at hand.
Not to mention I would assume, if Lupe thought I would talk to others to bring her down, she would openly attack me.
She already stole my mate from me and basically made him forget who I was to him considering how often I have to make him come back to me.
The wall in our bond was still there. It felt disgusting to even touch.
Every time I tried, it was too vile to push too hard.