“Doctor, ummm?” He seems to be dragging his memory as he says it, staring at doc like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing and trying to remember that mouthful of a name. That hostile jealous need to maim him dies an instant death, as he realizes there is no way in hell, I’m looking to mate up with someone older than my parents. I feel it wash away, and the surge of relief that bubbles over affects me too, taking the edge off my own anger and realize half the time I don’t even know whose mood is who’s, as we feed one another and react. My aggression slides away like I got hosed down with a cool jet in a heatwave.
“Ahhh, dear boy, you remember me. Look at you all grown up and rather hunky. You are very tall for a Santo. Wow, you certainly did beef up somewhat, did you not. Look at those shoulders. I bet you can bench press ten of Alora on a bad day. Such a specimen!” The doctor and his usual inappropriate babbling to diffuse an otherwise awkward situation and I shove Colton aside and yank the door the rest of the way. Impatient to rip this band aid off completely and show him what we brought him here for.
“Excuse me.” I ask the doc politely, suggesting he let me by and stop shielding the contents of the truck, and he shuffles aside as I climb up, getting halfway up the high step when Colton lays his hands on my waist, gripping me lightly, and pushes me up the last distance. It both riles me that he thinks I need his help like some feeble girl who didn’t survive alone for weeks in the wilderness, and yet makes my heart ache that he still, even mad and confused, wants to take care of me.
God, I hate him sometimes.
“Colton, come.” I command, knowing in this darkness the inside of the truck is pitch black and he has no idea who lies inside until he gets up and his nocturnal view kicks in. I doubt he would recognize her scent as it’s been so long, and she smells almost human due to not turning for almost a decade.
He doesn’t question, just hops up effortlessly behind me, stealthily, and follows me so close his body touches me from behind and I know it’s deliberate. I can feel it in him, the longing and ache to get close to me again, almost as much as it’s growing in me to be touched by him. Aware of his proximity like a throbbing pulse in the air around us, making me hypersensitive of his energy. I shake it off, knowing he’s looking down at me, and not ahead, I can feel his breath on the back of my neck as he very clearly stakes his claim on me. Personal space is not in his vocabulary at this moment in time.
He is all in wolf mode in his head and acting like a male hitting the haze. Possessively close, practically bearing down on me as the femme he clearly wants to bone. It’s a little unnerving that he is being so weird, but I get it … I left him. I knew where I was and was in control of my being gone, so I never had that frantic pain of loss. I always knew where he was, and how to reach him, and could have if I needed, and wanted to, but he had none of that.
He just had silence, no idea where in the world I went and not knowing if I was okay, so I guess it’s why he seems a little stirred up and wolfy crazy. His bond instincts to protect me must have made him insane these last weeks, and until now I never really thought of it. How that must have made him feel, the powerless nature of it. Especially if he could feel my fear, my panic, my sadness, in everything I have been through. His wolf taking over, and sheer instinct is to stay on my ass and convince me I need, and like him stuck to me. That primal aggressive urge to stick to his mate and kill anything that comes near her.
Normally the human in us counterbalances it a lot better than he is, but I guess I can let it slide while he’s caught in our first moments of reunion. My scent alone must be affecting him on all kinds of unbearable levels, because even his is getting under my skin and making me crazy. It’s taking all my will power to not turn and wrap myself around him.
I walk a few steps to put distance between us unsuccessfully, him bumping me the whole way in an almost claustrophobic manner. I stop when I know we’re fully inside and then reach, feeling his face above mine with his taller height, having him towering behind me. I cup his chin just behind me, stretching my arm slightly and lift it, so he looks directly at the corner where Sierra lays in front of him. His senses are all on me so that he hasn’t even clicked she’s here. That there’s anyone else in here.
There’s a moment of pause. I sense the heart stop, and inhale. I feel everything that he exudes, and it makes my own emotions fade in comparison. His shift from ‘I need you’ possessive over-hormonal crazy, to ‘what’s going on’ confusion, and then the ‘is that?’ shock as everything about him changes.
Colton steps around me instantly, freeing me from his presence as his attention is swept out from under him and darts to the bed in the dark. Swift, and direct, seeing exactly who it was in the dimness. Doc seems to be shuffling around and manages to click something that illuminates the back of the truck with built in low lights and I focus on Colton sliding to his mom’s side, scooping up her hand carefully, and almost gasping in shock. He leans in, making her look so small in comparison to him and gently strokes his thumb across her pale hand. All the tenderness of a sweet child, infatuated with the mom he’s been pining for years.
“Mom…. Is that really you? Can you hear me?” he sounds like a lost little boy, so young, and vulnerable, an aching rawness to his tone, and for a moment I forget my anger and nothing but compassion for him fills my heart. I can feel the way this has ripped his heart open, and his pulse is racing so speedily, mine starts to match it. Colton regresses ten years, and he’s just a boy finding his mom, whom he’s needed for so long, so much more than anyone could ever have known.
“She’s sedated; the doc needs to wake her, but she doesn’t know what’s going on. Colton, you need to know…. there’s nothing wrong with her mind.” I point out, coming level with him, and resting my hand on his arm as he stares at her, eyes fixed on her face. His breathing is shallow, and the confusion and pain is evident under that furrowed brow, and glowing amber eyes. He can’t contain his emotion, so his wolf is showing. He swallows hard, reaches out lifting a strand of her hair and brushes it back gently, so carefully like she’s fine china, so fixated on her, like this is some kind of dream he doesn’t want to wake from.
“How…… where?” his voice breaks, a harsh croak, and the doc seems to keep his distance to let me be the one to explain. It’s not an easy thing to tell a guy that the father he loved all this time is the reason his mother was imprisoned and put to sleep. I don’t even know how or where to begin, and I hesitate, looking to the doc, mildly panic stricken for a moment when it comes to me. The doc shrugs and nods at him, as though encouraging me. I think he’s a little intimidated by Colton to be fair, I mean he did threaten to kill him three minutes ago.
I don’t need to tell him. I need to show him. It’s the only way I know how.
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