Chapter 71

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Y'all can say whatever the fuck you want, this man is fine!

F I N E

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Damon's P.O.V

I run my hand tentatively over the glowing barrier, the purple waves warning of an attack if I kept prodding it.

Underneath the waves of vigilant magic, Mekhi slept peacefully, laid out like a mummy with his hands at his sides, same as he had been for a week now.

I do my usual checks. Poking around for any possible holes or areas that may need strengthening. When I find none I look at Mekhi, searching as best as I can for any sign of silent pain or distress, but there was none of that. 

Mekhi's brown eyes were closed, his breathing steady, and he was resting. He was fine.

Heading to the corner of his room that I'd claimed for myself, I sit down on the floor and prop myself against the opposite wall. Opening up Will's laptop, I stifle a yawn while I finish the tasks I could get done from here.

I knew Mekhi more than likely didn't even know I was here, and probably didn't even hear me when I talked to him, and maybe this half-hour I spent with him every morning didn't change anything, but if it did. If Mekhi could somehow feel that I was close and watching over him, then it was more than worth it.

So I sit in near silence, only breaking it to update him on all he was missing while he tried his best to be cast as the next Sleeping Beauty. I didn't see myself calling him anything other than Aurora after this, a name I planned on dragging through the dirt once he woke up.

Aurora Mekhi Thoras, that was his new name.

"I'm supposed to meet Amelia today," I remind him while I try to carve out the best times for me to cover some pack training this week. "I actually think it'll be okay."

Optimistically speaking.

"I mean, I wasn't scared when I called her, and I'm not really scared or nervous now but," I take a breath as I look up at him, "I don't know... I still feel a little uneasy."

Mekhi doesn't reply, obviously, but Theo does.

It's been near a year since you spoke to her properly - he reminds me gently. If you weren't feeling some sort of tension, I'd be worried.

"I guess," I reply, speaking to both of them now, "I just don't want it to go wrong. Enough shit has gone wrong this year. I just want to stick in this nice, easy mode we've been in lately."

If Mekhi could, I knew he'd say some annoying shit like, 'then just relax and it won't'. 

Easier said than done.

Amelia was my best friend, had been, before all of this shit happened, it'd been me and her against the world. Every future I'd ever envisioned for myself had her right by my side and most of my memories growing up had her in every one of them.

At a point, she'd been the one person I always thought I'd have in my life if I lost everyone else, so when she wasn't...

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, trying to get a grip.

Two years ago, the thought of spending even a week without talking to Amelia would've seemed insane to me. In reality, I'd spent my entire year as 18 without her, and I'd barely thought about her since I found Will.

Funny how things play out.

That's why it's called life - Theo comments sagely - things move at their own pace and no matter what we want, or how we try to affect things, we can't disrupt the natural flow.

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