Moving away from the fireplace in the cabin, I was sure Elias had run away from here now. I gave him the perfect opportunity to do so. Heading to the dining cabin, Henry and the Doctor were chatting by the front door. Henry narrowed his eyes at me, and I felt anger from him.
“What have I done—--”
The sound of crying reached my ears, and it made my wolf antsy and very upset.
“Who is crying? What happened? Why was I not made aware—--”
“You should be ashamed of yourself.” The doctor snapped, heading back inside. Henry stopped me from going inside..
“You are likely to get attacked if you go in there.”
“Attacked? I still don’t know what the hell is going on?”
“Elias, he is inside—-”
“He is here. Why? I set him free last night and—--”
“He is nearly frozen, William. He thinks whatever happened is his fault.”
“Let me inside—--”
“No.”
Elias was sobbing. I could hear it.
“You left him out in the cold last night with nowhere to go.”
“I thought he would have left!”
“He had nowhere to go William, you’ve ruined the only place that male has known as home!”
Shoving Henry out of the way, I went inside. James and the Doctor had both fireplaces stocked with wood and they wrapped Elias with several blankets. He was visibly shivering, tears stilling running down his cheeks. James’s eyes nearly burned a hole through me when he saw me.
“Get out.” He snapped.
“Wait! I didn’t know he was here, I would—---”
“You threw him out into the cold last night!” James hissed.
“You and Henry were the one’s last night that said I needed to let him go, remember?” I yelled, pissed off.
“We didn’t think you would actually listen!”
The Doctor blocked me as I tried to get closer to Elias, to help.
“Get the hell out of my way. I will rip you into sherds.” I snarled, anger welling up inside of me, both mine and my wolves. He moved, only after looking at Henry, who nodded. James didn’t hide his anger with me when he shoved the hot blanket that he had been warming into my hands aggressively.
Using the warm blanket, I wrapped Elias tighter. He growled at me, showing his fangs. His eyes were closed, and tears were still running down his cheeks.
“Elias, I’m sorry.”
His eyes opened, and he wiggled, no doubt trying to get away from me. I held him tighter, and he struggled more. Crying even harder than before.
“You’re ok, I… I have you.”
“You left me outside in the cold.” He said, his voice horse.
“I know, I’m sorry. I should have thought about my actions more before I did it.”
“I have nowhere to go…” He sobbed, his entire body trembling in my arms.
Self-disgust filled me. I should have known he would have nowhere to go. I was the one who ordered his home to be erased. All this was my fault. Getting closer to the fire with him, I could feel the heat, which meant so could he. Eventually he stopped crying when he went to sleep, wrapped tightly in the blankets and against my chest where I forced him to stay.
“I’m so sorry, Elias.” I muttered. Pulling him even tighter against me. Henry got closer to me, and I growled at him.
“I’ve not come to take him, but rather to be a messenger. James said he will need to feed once he comes back to normal temperature. If you will not be the one to do that, then you need to let me know, and James will feed—--”
“That is Elias’ choice. He made it clear last night that he doesn’t want to be bonded to me.”
“I see. Then we will wait until he wakes up to make that choice.”
Elias moved in my arms, his head tucked into the side of my neck. I knew just a second before he bit into the side of my throat. Henry took a step forward, and Elias growled.
“I’ve not come to steal your meal. I’ve just come to make sure William is alright.”
Elias snaked one of his hands out from under the dozen blankets and rubbed his thumb back and forth on my skin in small motions. The pain in my throat was easier to handle than when he bit into my arm, mostly because I had a moment of notice.
James came over and spoke.
“I can feed him if needed.”
Elias growled again and locked his teeth deeper into my flesh, and I grunted.
“Give us space. Please.” I said, strained, pain flaring at the spot where he was attached to me.
“If you need me to remove—--”
Elias released me from his teeth and shoved me to the floor, his crimson eyes startling me as he growled, low and angry, before he lowered himself back to my throat and attached himself again.
“That is our warning to back off. We will give you the needed space.” James said, pulling Henry with him as they backed up.
My hands felt tingly and numb. Elias was still feeding, too. He had taken too much, but I didn’t stop him. This was not the first time this had happened. His father had done the same thing to me.
When he pulled back finally, he pressed two fingers over the wound and cursed. I watched him bite into his wrist and he pressed it against my lips.
“Fuck. Fuck. William, You need to take my blood. I took far too much from you and I can hear your heart slowing.”
His blood was thick and tasted of copper, but it was warm and was bringing back feelings to my hands. He pulled his wrist from my mouth when I reached up and touched blood running down the corner of his lips.
“I could have killed you, William.”
“Hmm, I almost killed you last night.”
The headache that was forming directly resulted from the blood loss and the vampire blood he gave me.
“I need to lie down.” I groaned, the sunlight now too bright in my eyes, Elias having helped me stand up. He was good and warm now.
“I’ll take him back to the cabin to lie down. If anyone needs William, he is going to have a headache for a little while.”
“I’ll be fine.” I grunted.
“I’ll man things while you go have a quick nap.” Henry said, looking at Elias, with knowing eyes.
“I don’t like whatever just happened there.” I sighed.
Elias shivered as he pulled us both through the snow and back to the cabin, a look of relief on his face when the door opened. I apologized again for leaving him outside on purpose, and he waved me off.
“I’m fine now.”
“I’m still sorry.”
He helped me into the bed and covered me. I could do it, but he was insisting on doing it himself. He laid there beside me for a while. As I was falling asleep, I felt him leave. I was sure he was actually going to be gone now. I deserved that.
Waking up with a jolt, my stomach turned, and I was dry heaving. My body felt twice as heavy. Which I quickly realized was caused by Elias sleeping right nearly on top of me. I yanked him with me when I moved.
“Woo, let’s not do that again.” He groaned.
I was confused why he was back here in the bed, again. I felt him leave.
“When did you return to the bed?”
“Oh, I only got out to make sure I stocked the fire with wood. You were out when I got back. I tried to give you space, but you yanked me closer to you. I would have moved, but you were warm and I got cozy.”
“Ok.”
I laid back down and looked up at the ceiling. Before turning to look at Elias, who had his eyes closed again. I could sense he was sleeping, and I reached out, touching his cheek. He opened his eyes while my hand was still on his cheek.
“Are you alright?” He whispered into the dark.
“Yes.” I said, removing my hand when I felt he was warm.
“I’m ok too. So you don’t need to feel so guilty about it.” He muttered, closing his eyes.
How was he aware that I was feeling guilty about it? He opened his eyes a moment later and looked at me.
“I know what you’re feeling. A moment ago you were feeling guilty, now you’re curious. This is so invasive.”
“You’re aware of my emotions and feelings now too, then?”
“Yes, and no. It seems murky, like only something’s come through.”
“You fed again, so the bond would grow.” I muttered, before turning over and closing my eyes. Not waiting to hear him repeat the words from the night before about the bond. He sighed, and I felt him inch closer to me. He pressed himself against my back.
“When you wake up, wake me up too.” He muttered.
I waited for him to fall back asleep before I closed my eyes again and felt the bond. I was aware of his breathing and heart rate, too. After listening to both for a while, I finally fell asleep. Feeling content with him pressed against me.
Comments (6)
See all