For Jakob

17: the storm

S E V E N T E E N

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Callan's POV

"How does this colour look Prince?" I mumbled, tilting my head as I looked onto the screen of my laptop.

Prince gave a quiet woof and I nodded, "I agree, it's not very cute."

He moved his head closer to me, shimmying his large body on the bed. I took that as my cue to give him head scratches.

I smiled at him before looking back at my laptop.

I was looking over some designs for the interior of the new shop. The offer I had placed was accepted after some back and forth, and though I hadn't seen the place in person, based on what it looked like in pictures and videos, I knew I would love it.

Not only was the location perfect, but Aunt Devon had finagled a great deal on the price.

I didn't know how she did it, but she was great at negotiating and had connections with all the right people.

My current store had closed for in-person shopping two days ago, and the last few online orders were going out before we would put a pause in everything to pack up and move locations.

I, of course, wasn't allowed to do anything yet; I still wasn't supposed to leave the apartment unless absolutely necessary.

For the past few days, I had continued working from home and deciding what kinds of renovations I wanted in the new space.

Aside from Aunt Devon and Prince, I hadn't seen anyone since that night at the hospital.

Either Sade or Zion would stop by at the crack of dawn to take Prince outside for some exercise each morning. I tended to be asleep at that time, so Aunt Devon, who usually got up early to speak with business partners overseas, would give Prince over to them.

Not being able to leave because of the threat to my safety was unbelievably suffocating. My nights had been filled with the most terrifying of dreams, and my days were spent within the confines of four walls that seemed to be closing in on me.

The only night I could recall sleeping well recently was when I had fallen asleep under his watchful eyes.

I sighed, my heart beating faster just at the mere thought of that night.

I had felt my body freeze in fear when Malakai had called.

The thought of anything happening to my mother was unbearable.

I couldn't seem to function after hearing Malakai's words, but Elijah knew how to pull me back together.

He just knew.

He held me up the whole time we were at the hospital, and I couldn't stop myself from blurting out my entire past.

Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the only thing I had blurted out that night.

I groaned, pushing my laptop aside and laying back on the bed.

Prince, disgruntled at my move, gave a low bark.

"Sorry Prince, mama's just cringing from embarrassment." 

Prince gave me a look, and then laid his head on my stomach. I closed my eyes, trying to not to think about what his reaction could have been.

Will you wait for me, Elijah?

Maybe my body had done me a favour and made me fall asleep before I could hear what he had to say.