Chapter 30

Nico

I never knew that four little words could have such a drastic effect on so many people for so many different reasons.

Dylan, looked as if she was about to yell, scream, or pass out. Tristan looked like he was debating on if he was going to need to run to her or chase her.

Micah looked worried as he kept looking between the two of them, but it was my own reaction that had my full focus.

While I knew it was really good news that he was alive, I couldn't hide the sting of pain that hit me from knowing that my brother wasn't. 

Thankfully, no one was watching me, and I was able to pull myself back together before Dylan could see me. I didn't want her to feel any guilt about Cruz right now.

Dylan was still leaning over where she stood trying to catch her breath and maybe calm herself down. Gage was urging me to go to her and see if there was something we could do to help her.

Gage has been overly protective of her from the moment we first got here and right now he was getting a little anxious as we watched her visibly struggling. He was pushing me to go over to her.

"Dylan are you okay," I asked as I moved slowly closer to her, but Micah reached out a hand towards my direction halting me from going any closer.

"Dylan, I know that it's a lot right now, but can you tell me what you're feeling?" I had stopped moving towards her but the annoyance I had started to feel when he stopped me shifted as I watched her tear filled eyes look up towards us.

"Pain. So much pain. It. Hurts!" She choked out through deep panting breaths, and I felt my eyes widen as I noticed that she truly looked as if she was experiencing some sort of physical pain.

This time I didn't give a sh*t that Micah was trying to stop me from going towards her. Gage and I couldn't understand what it was that was causing her so much distress so suddenly, but it clicked in my head when I was finally beside her.

"Take it off Dylan. Take the ring off. Is that what's causing you pain?" I wasn't sure if I should try to get it off of her. As I began to reach for her hand, she immediately jerked her hand away from me.

"No, don't touch it! It's not my pain," she spit out so quickly, "it's his," she cried out. Tears were still streaming down her face, and I watched as her pupils dilated and almost completely block out the beautiful gold of her irises.

I had been so distracted by the changes in her eyes, I had not been prepared for what came next. Dylan fell forward onto her knees, pushed her hand into her hair and let out a cry that shook everything in the suite.

"What are they doing to him? They're. He's. Killing him!"

This time, we all moved towards her. Gage was snarling and urging me to shift and let him come forward, but he also wanted to get Dylan out of the building. 

Tristan, Micah, and I were practically surrounding her on all sides, but she was no longer yelling, just crying as she tugged at her hair and sobbed. And even though my back was to the windows, I could have sworn I felt the crack of thunder before I heard it.

As I leaned in closer to her, the metallic sting of blood filled my nose and Gage was losing his mind as he registered her scent mixed within it.

Tristan must have realized it sooner than I did because before I could reach out and inspect her, his hand shot forward and I saw him lift her face up to his. Glancing over her body and face came to a stop when found where the blood was coming from.

Dylan was biting down on her bottom lip so hard that she had pierced through the skin inside her mouth. It hadn't broken skin, but I saw the blood slowly trickling out of the side of her mouth.

"Dylan, stop! You're going to hurt yourself! Please, try to calm down," Tristan pleaded with her as he held her face in his hands. I watched on helplessly as she shook her head back and forth.

"She's trying to stop herself," Micah let out softly and reached out one of his hands and placed it atop Tristan's that was still on her cheek.

"I'm right aren't I," he asked her softly and I could do nothing as Dylan stopped shaking her head, opened her eyes, and nodded up at him. "But doing this is only going to hurt you in the end Dylan, let us help you, okay?"

Tristan was crying now, and I had to admit, I was fighting the tears that felt like they wanted to burst forth as well. Seeing her like this, struggling and in pain from some invisible source was almost too much for Gage and me to bear.

Long slender fingers moved softly over Dylan's face and over her lips. I watched as tiny wisps of purple flowed over his skin and somehow seemed to coax Dylan to release the hold she had on her bottom lip from her teeth.

She was still crying, and her body was shaking with the sobs that she was so desperately trying to hold inside. Now that she had stopped trying to bite her lip off, Tristan practically ripped his shirt off to catch the blood that continued to fall.

Micah, who I thought should look much happier in this moment, didn't take his eyes off of Dylan's face.

"We need you to breath Dylan. I know that the pain you are feeling must be intense, but it is not yours and it is not real."

"It is real," she demanded suddenly. "It's real and it's his. It is the real pain he is feeling right now. I feel it, in here," she said as she took her hands out of her hair and pressed them to her chest, right over her heart.

More tears rushed down her face, but this time she seemed more collected as she fought to force out the right words. Her eyes were still dilated, but a small rim of gold was finally beginning to show around the outer edges.

"Okay, so if it is real, then what does that mean," Micah asked still staring at her face with so much intensity that I started to get nervous at his intentions for asking such questions.

Dylan watched him for a moment and then she took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before she finally let it out, "that he's alive."

Micah only nodded at her for a moment, and this time, I couldn't help but turn to look out the window when the lightening practically lit up the room around us.

Tristan was still kneeling next to Dylan, shirtless now, and dabbing the few dribbles of blood that came down her cheek, but when he spoke to Micah, he didn't turn his gaze away from his sister.

"Is that why you came right now, to make her do this?" The question sounded like more of an accusation, but there was also a hint of fear in his voice that even I wasn't sure was about.

Micah nodded his head again and I was about to snap and ask him if he had known something about the ring beforehand, why he hadn't said anything, but Dylan jumped in first.

"Is something wrong? Why did you need me to check now all of a sudden? I thought we would be leaving at dawn?"

This time, when Tristan turned to Micah, I saw the steal in his gaze as if he was warning him to watch what he might say next to his sister.

To my surprise, Micah looked towards me before turning back to them and answered Dylan's questions.

"We received word that Rogan left Blood Mist sometime last night and no one was able to follow him after he reached the city. We need to get you out of her now in case he or his dog come here to try to find you."

At the last few words he said, I watched Tristan's intensity slip a bit, and couldn't help but notice the way that his right hand softly grazed the top of Micah's fingers before moving to his side.

"Is that why you are all dressed," Dylan asked softly, and I realized that most of her tears were done falling and it was just the dampness on her cheeks that still remained.

Jumping in just then, "no, I was already dressed, I wanted to be ready for when we would leave." I saw the three of them look at me and each nodded, but I felt a bit embarrassed at my sudden outburst.

Micah continued, "yes, that is why I'm dressed, but it seems that you and Tristan need to go and change so that we can leave."

Dylan was up and moving to her room in a flash and the three of us were left there kneeling as we had been around her moments before.

Micah and I moved at the same time, but Tristan had gotten up just a few seconds faster than us and was running to his room.

The two of us just stood there for a moment, and I couldn't help but notice how intensely Micah seemed to be watching the sky through the large windows in the living area.

"She is truly remarkable," he muttered more to himself than to me, but it didn't stop me from nodding in agreement of his awe and praise of her.

When he spoke again, I had already turned to watch the sky outside with him as well and didn't hesitate to answer him.

"What does it feel like to follow her or be connected to her as you are," he asked and there was no hint of judgement or anger in his voice, just pure curiosity.

"Right!"

Neither of us spoke again until I heard Dylan and Tristan enter the living area at the same time. They had never looked so similar as they did right now.

The two of them were both wearing all black from head to toe, but it wasn't the clothes that made me suddenly see them as siblings.

No, it couldn't be something so basic as fabric. It was the fire and intensity that I couldn't just see, but that I could feel in both of their eyes.

Dylan reached out a hand and placed it on Tristan's arm and I saw the shimmer of silver haze in his eyes before he spoke aloud.

"Reg will be the one to stay with Lecia. He is outside right now, but I can have him guard her from in here until she wakes up. From that point, he will be right by her side until we return."

Dylan didn't respond, but only nodded and began walking towards the door. Instantly, the three of us were moving to follow her. 

While I had no idea just how we were going to get there, I knew that Micah had probably already set something up before he had even arrived at the suite.

When we got to the hall and stood to wait for the elevator, I watched as Tristan spoke to Reg, who in fact was outside the door, and who slipped inside the moment he watched the doors sliding shut.

"There is one car that we will drive to our old drop off point and a second will follow behind us with a driver only. Once we reach Blood Mist, I will cloak us, but we will have no more than an hour max to get in and get out.

No one spoke or even nodded. There was nothing to agree upon. This was the plan and there would be no exceptions. 

As soon as we were outside and in the blacked out SUV, we raced away from the building and towards the city at a speed fast enough that it felt almost like running as Gage.

"I run much faster than this gigantic monstrosity can drive".

In any other situation, I probably would have laughed, but right now I just didn't have it in me. Dylan and I were in the back seat while Tristan drove the car and Micah sat up front.

Unsure if it was unconsciously or purposefully, I slid closer to Dylan as we drove and when her hand reached over to my own, I squeezed the fingers that she let slip into the gaps between my own.

In that moment, that simple touch seemed to solidify something inside of myself and Gage. I couldn't name it, or place it, but when I felt her words brush through my mind, I was shocked and comforted all at once.

"No matter what happens, you must come back with me. You promised me that you will stay by my side, and I will hold you to it. We will find him. We will all come back to Lecia."

There were no words to say because she was right. I did promise to stay with her, and I would for as long as she will allow me. I will stay beside her and follow her wherever she may go.

Gage agreed as well so when I nodded, I squeezed her fingers between mine again and I felt her one word brush softly through my mind.

"Good."

My mind was moving a million miles a minute as I began to consider the plan that we had gone over and who may be on guard near the Northern gate. So, by the time I looked out the window, I realized that we had already reached the mountain's base.

Tristan had the headlights off as we approached some of the older cabins that were on the human side of the mountain and parked the SUV. The second vehicle did the same, but the driver stayed inside.

As we walked towards a familiar part of the mountain, I couldn't stop the feelings that were flooding through me and causing my heart to race. I hadn't anticipated these kinds of feelings to hit me the moment I saw my old pack lands, but here they were.

Unsure if Dylan felt something off or if she felt something similar, she reached out and clasped our hands together as we continued to walk to the old guard posts.

Tristan nodded towards Micah whose hands, now gloved, reached out and touched all of our clothing quickly, but I didn't feel anything until his eyes began to glow silvery purple.

A warm heat seemed to start at my feet and flowed up and over my head. Quickly he pointed at his watch and then at the pack lands in front of us. Holding up one finger, he nodded, and we all began to move forward together.

The moment that we crossed the invisible barrier line that separated the land here at the mountains edge, I felt a sudden shock run through my body the moment my foot stepped onto Blood Mist lands.

It felt like a jolt that felt similar to a spark that you can get from an electrical outlet or when someone touches you after running over a carpet in socks. It waws uncomfortable but not painful. Although, that wasn't what caught my attention.

Sunrise was still an hour or so away, so I had thought that I had imagined the slight shift off in the distance, but when the bloody body walked out from behind the large tree in front of us, neither Gage nor I knew what to do as we looked on in horror.

"Why the f*ck would you bring her back here!"