Claws // Colby Brock

💫 55 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

AMIRA ANDREWS

Completely lost in the Goddess's influence, I was unaware of almost anything around me. The only thing I knew for certain was that Colby was still behind me holding onto my waist, and even that was at the back of my mind as I watched her up there staring back at me. Her elegance was unmatched, her beauty so distracting from everything going wrong.

But I had a bone to pick with her. It didn't matter how hypnotised I was, I was thinking about Tom's clan and the torture they'd been going through at the hands of someone I used to trust; someone I trusted even with my body once. Not to mention, someone I formerly trusted to take care of the only person before this group who seemed to ever truly understand. All of my memories were being tainted by the pain of knowing at some point we'd have to go to battle with them. I didn't want to. Not at all.

I had to.

For the first time, I understood what the Goddess meant. This clan were my people through and through; strong, wilful, logical, open-minded. They were me in vampire form, and they'd never do anything like this. I didn't need a mate bond with the leader to understand that. Right from the start, even if I gave them a hard time, a part of me trusted them. Why else would I have gone to sleep in a house full of vampires the same day I'd met them?

With everything I knew crashing around me, these vampires had become a rock my pack never had been. Maybe I didn't give them much of a chance back in the day, but I could see now I'd have ended up just the same as the rest of them.

Reading all of my thoughts, the Goddess slowly smiled, though her melancholy eyes showed me she understood my pain.

"Your people..." she said, motioning out with her hand. "They need you, beautiful. Stick with them."

"I wouldn't do anything different," I replied in my head, then blinked and she was gone. She could trust me now, too. With her influence over me disappearing, everything else was coming into focus and I heard Tara's voice for the first time. I looked over my shoulder to see her quietly talking with Colby, who had drifted a few steps away.

My heart was aching from the weight of the inevitable, so I walked over to Colby, alerting him mid-sentence to my consciousness, and tucked into his side. His arm came around me automatically as I breathed in his scent for what felt like the first time. For werewolves, this was it. The ultimate form of comfort. Having nothing but him patrolling my mind through one simple inhale.

"You okay, Ames?" he muttered, squeezing me for my attention. I just shook my head against his chest. "What did she say?"

I sighed. "Not much..."

"You've been out for a while," Tara replied gently. I pulled away just enough to see her in the corner of my eye. "Do you want me to leave? I know you're... going through shit right now. We were just talking about what comes next."

"It's okay," I told her, taking a step back. "I need to get my head on straight. You guys got a dummy or something?"

"Jake!"

I smiled at Colby despite myself. "No, something I can slash up without feeling bad."

"You don't have to feel bad, Amira," Jake said from the open doorway, his arms spread either side. "Go for it."

"No, but thank you."

"I'm sure we can find you a chew toy somewhere," Colby murmured, distracted by something else. Given how his gaze were on the floor, the others were as involved in this conversation as those in this room.