Thicker Than Ink

Forty Eight (18+)

"Hey hey hey, don't look. Look at me instead, Silas. Don't... I promise it's better not to look." The way Addy keeps demanding that I keep my eyes fixed on his instead of on Pop really doesn't leave me any choice, the way he's holding my cheeks to hell keeps me from looking over his shoulder appreciated... Shivers rolling through me as Casper calls out that it looks like some rather nasty buckshot and a lot of it... His skillset appreciated, his wartime experiences having unfortunately shown him one too many field injuries for him to be clueless as to how to stop the bleeding... On how to buy us time for Paxton to get here... The last thing the pack Doctor really expected today rushing to our house way out in the middle of nowhere to tend to Pop and make sure that... To make sure that he doesn't... Out here... "I know you want to panic, Silas... But I promise it's better if you don't... You heard Cas... We've got to be calm... It'll help Mason stay calm and we need his heart slow and steady right now... So just look at me... Just look at me and it'll be okay..."

Out of the two of us, I never imagined that Addy would be the one out of the two of us to keep a level and calm head but yet here we are... With him holding me together while Casper and Liam both do their best to press what looks to be about six towels into Pop's side while he whines to try and keep pressure on his wounds... Not that my old man is making it any easier on them with how he keeps randomly panicking over the sparks of magic Casper keeps snapping off to try and keep himself calm... Their explanation as to why he can't just use his magic to heal Pop being that with buckshot there could be all different kinds of stuff floating around in his wounds... And if Cassie were to try and draw them forward without actually knowing what kind of buckshot was used he could do more damage... Just like he can't close Pop up... Because that could cause more damage too...

But no matter what... No matter what it only has to be just long enough for Paxton to get here from across town... I... He had mentioned why he was across town but I... I can't remember what his reason was... Just that it was going to take him time to get here... Time that Pop may not actually have... His body seeming more and more limp every time I find the courage to look up away from Adrian's calming blue eyes... My who mind conflicted on what to do as everyone else seems to flutter about moving in slow motion...

It seems like no one is moving fast enough... Like no one knows really what to do other than Liam, Casper, and Addy... Everyone else seeming just as stuck as I am... Quinn's sobbing heard even if I can't see him... The tang of Pop's blood hanging so heavily in the air that I can't smell anything else... Not even the gardenias...

...

Adrian

...

It's hard not freaking out right now... My fear so thick that I can taste it in my throat... The fact that one of Silas's parents has been downed by some asshole of a hunter with so much time on their hands that they found themselves creeping onto a clearly marked 'no hunting' territory... The thought of poachers having made their way even here to continue haunting me reducing my insides to nothing more than a pile of ash wanting so desperately to be blown away in the wind so I won't have to break down the way I know I'm going to later no matter what happens... All of this too close to home and too close for comfort for me to avoid falling apart the moment Silas doesn't need me to be strong anymore...

Which is not right now... The tears in Silas's confused eyes completely to be expected... No matter how bad their relationship is, Mason is technically family, and one of the strongest people that Silas knows... Seeing the man on the ground is more than just a shock... It's stunning... And in such a negative way...

It's so obvious that he doesn't know what to do with himself... His mind is mostly blank and he's at a loss and he has no idea how or why any of this is happening... I don't think anyone would really understand what to do... Not when you know the person who's been hurt...

"Oh!" The word comes from just on the other side of the doorway, Quinn popping his head out once again, careful not to look at all of the discarded blood-soaked towels that had been thrown away after they had gotten too soaked to be of any real use, "Bethany! I'll call Bethany! If... If they're still linked she... She is not okay right now!"

That...

Those words...

That is all it takes to startle Silas into coming back to reality... The swear that flies from his lips guttural as he scrambled for his phone in his pocket, his hands shaking as he dials... His body turning away from me and thankfully away from the sight he had been trying to stare at before I had made my way out here to see if I might be useful for anything other than crying and being a distraction...

"Ma..." His voice is so thick when she finally answers... The tone of his voice so telling... His heart fractured in ways too complicated for either of us to actually figure out right now still in the thick of things... "Ma... Are you....? Are you alright?... Pop came back and... He's not okay..."

It's hard to listen to my mate as he tries to figure what the hell to even say to her about what's going on... The thickness of his throat sounding so achingly familiar that I find myself begging the gods that he never has to deliver the news no one ever wants to hear to his own mother...