Thicker Than Ink

Fifty(18+)

"Paxton's done all he can here... They're taking Mason to the clinic and sending a nurse out to check on Bethany... She's resting at the moment, and Liam's keeping tabs on her through the link." Adrian is gentle with me as he slides into my arms... The hug he gives me just reassuring enough to Quinn that our Omega feels able to step away and that he now trusts either me or Addy himself to make sure I actually remember not to hold my breath over the stress of this fucked up situation...

The comfort that my mate brings when the two of us are finally wrapped around each other is needed just as much as the news of Mason being okay to actually move after nearly half an hour of Paxton poking and prodding him in the yard trying to stabilize him... The sight of which had been too much to bear for me... The way I had needed to turn away from him not sitting right with me...

I know I don't owe him anything... And that most of the time he acts like an insufferable entitled bully of a brat...

But it doesn't take away from how shocking it was to see him on the ground... To see his Timber that looks so much like my own other half buckle under the weight of his wounds after showing up here to beg for help...

As much as I want to claim that it didn't affect me... I feel sick to my stomach... Especially with how my kind keeps looping over and over the last interaction we had with each other... My mind not willing to let go of all the 'What if's...

Like...

What if I'm the reason Pop got shot?

What if he would have been able to avoid the buckshot if his foot hadn't still been healing from how I crushed it with the door?

What if I hadn't yelled at him and told him to get his ass off the property and out of the territory?

What if I had let him crash with us until he found a place to stay instead of banishing him to the woods or wherever the hell he was when this happened?

If I had just tried to extend an olive branch to his ornery ass maybe my mother wouldn't have been put through the agony she just had to live through... God forbid that could have happened if Pop hadn't had the nerve to come back here for help...

I could have possibly lost both my parents in one fell swoop and I can't help but feel at least partially responsible... And even with no real connection to Mason other than blood I still can't seem to keep the guilt currently pooling in my stomach from bubbling up as it tries to consume me... Not even the comfort from Adrian's embrace is able to keep it at bay... Not even when I hug him back for all I'm worth...

...

Adrian

...

At first, Silas doesn't really give any kind of response to my hug or my words... But after a few minutes of tense silence, his arms tighten around me so tightly and so quickly that I almost panic for a moment... The level of comfort he needs at the moment not surprising with where his head is at... The guilt he feels over the situation we've found ourselves in a bit misplaced if not understandable...

Even so...

It hurts...

All of it hurts...

Knowing that he's in this much mental anguish tears me to pieces inside... Mostly because with how fresh everything still is there won't really be anything I can say to actually make things feel better at the moment...

As much as I hate to acknowledge it... There isn't really anything more that I can do other than just being here for him... And being here for Bethany as she heals right alongside Mason...

Something that, according to Dr.Paxton... Is going to take quite a while... The current fear being that they're going to flush out the rest of the buckshot at the clinic and find more damage than any of us anticipated... Casper having politely told us all that Mason must have been hit with at least three rounds according to his personal knowledge of bloodshed... His words making even the Doctor flinch when said out loud as he continued to help get Mason's bleeding under control... His magic as well as that of Quinn's mate Archie having done wonders to calm Mason down and keep him that way.

Today was a long day for all of us... And even though my temples are starting to throb, my stomach tensed as if waiting for another blow... Right now I need to make sure Daddy is okay...

I need to figure out how to make things a little bit easier for him... Even if it's just possibly peeling away one layer of the grief he's currently consumed with...

The words almost hurt to sag out loud... My entire being scared of putting an image to the sound of Bethany breaking down over the feel of Mason bleeding out in the yard... But one way to give my mate a tiny bit of relief might be to let him hold his Mother's hand so he can see that she's alright..."Daddy... Let's go get our jackets... I'll grab the keys and we can go sit with Ma until the nurse gets there... Okay? I'll drive."

I know he likes the thought of me behind the wheel just as much as he likes the thought of me manning our stove on my own... But even he knows that he's not got the mental capacity to drive right now... It's all he can do to just try and keep himself grounded... And that's all I plan on asking of him.

Just like I hope he will... Silas trusts me... And he loosens his grip just enough for me to pull away from him while grabbing one of his hands, my pace steady as I guide him back inside the house and away from the smell of his father's blood staining our grass until we reach the hall closet... My hands being the ones to help him shrug his jacket on before finding his hand again and taking the keys to the truck from out of his pocket...

Our long day getting just a bit longer...