Claws // Colby Brock

💫 63 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

War wasn't new to us. Given the... irresponsible nature of many of my clan members, in the beginning, we faced a lot of foes who were capable of drawing together an army. But we always defeated them and always celebrated afterwards.

In the last year, I'd managed to control my friends enough to stop them from taking part in petty fights so we didn't have to go through another war so soon, though it didn't entirely work out as just before Amira found us, we'd just about taken down another enemy. That one was my fault, however, so I didn't hold it against the others like I did every other battle we'd had.

This one was different from every one of those. Aiden was far more cunning and had actually made a move against us first, unlike our previous conflicts. We were bound to have fought him anyway due to that attack, then Amira came along and her ties to a pack made everything more exciting for him. He was a powerful leader, I had to admit, with a reach that was far too wide and an attitude not too dissimilar to that of a war lord. That was what made it so different; other clan leaders just wanted the pride of winning, whilst for Aiden, it was all a game. And that made him more dangerous.

The longer Amira lay deathly still from my bite, the more everything seemed to get to me. We'd executed an informant simply because I was in a bad mood lately, rather than letting him live as we always promised. The cover-up job wasn't too difficult, but if anyone discovered what we'd done, our reputation would be tarnished and I'd be the one dealing with the consequences.

I needed her back conscious again, which was why when I heard the slightest shuffle from upstairs, I was gone in a flash from the living room. Mike was in the middle of saying something about our next attack — an attack that we'd been planning for the past week in my One's absence — and I heard him cursing me for abandoning them on my way upstairs.

Amira was in the process of raising a hand to her head when I carefully shut the bedroom door as to not alarm her. Her eye lids flickered and her brows scrunched together, as she slowly came back to life. Relief washed through me, a welcome feeling after so long without much sleep and full of endless worry.

As she gradually pushed herself upright, I took a seat on the bed beside her, drawing her gaze to my face. My attention briefly flicked to the deep marking on her neck that had yet to fade even a little bit, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Let me guess," she whispered, her voice hoarse even at such a low volume, "it's been days."

"A week," I confirmed for her with a stiff nod. I didn't know where we stood — would she be mad that she'd been gone for a week? Did she hate me because of what we'd done, and never wanted to do it again?

All of my doubts were immediately vanquished the moment she practically crawled over onto my lap and pressed her head into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, warmth filling me to the point of a sting behind my eyes. If I were human, tears would be streaming down my cheeks, but unfortunately I might as well have been actually dead.

"I expected a slap at the very least," I muttered, trying to sound amused. She half-assedly flicked her fingers at one of my pecks, then raised her chin to place a swift kiss on my neck. I shivered without my own permission, the almost-foreign sensation reminding me of how deprived I'd been of her touch recently.

She smirked against my skin but didn't say anything in return, snuggling closer. I certainly wasn't going to argue, not when I'd missed her as much as I had.

Clutching her to me still, I shuffled back to rest against the headboard, laying my head back comfortably. She hardly even moved.

"Has much happened?" she asked.

I sighed. "Nothing of note, really. Dima was attacked but it didn't end well for the clan who did it. We've warned everyone to go into hiding so many of our allies have moved elsewhere, and are ready to fight with us if we need them."

"We shouldn't bring anyone in who could get hurt."

"I don't plan to."

"Okay..."

She was silent for a few minutes, then raised her head and those eyes met mine properly for the first time. In the limited light of the dark room, with nothing but my enhanced sight illuminating her stunning features, I was lost.

"Colby?" she whispered, barely able to pull me out of my trance. Gaining my attention wasn't what she wanted, though. "I love you, too."

I wanted to make a joke, or to tease her for being soft, but the words were caught. It wasn't the right moment for something like that. The way Amira had shut me down when I'd tried to say it before, and everything I knew about her led me to realise it took a lot for her to say those three words. Hell, maybe it was even harder for her than it was for me.

So I didn't say a word. I leaned down to capture her lips in mine slowly, relishing in how she responded to my advance. Her hand came up to the side of my face, cradling it like I was the delicate one. My need for her was overwhelming, yet pleasantly absent, giving me a chance to just appreciate her existence in my life.

As much as I wanted to remain in this bubble, however, I could hear someone cooking downstairs and knew Amira's body would be malnourished and in need of some self-care. Reluctantly, I pulled back and resisted the pout she immediately gave me, pulling her upright. "You need to eat, at the very least," I reminded her.

"That can wait," she whined.

"A week, Ames. Come on."

She groaned dramatically but let me pull her out of bed. She slipped into the bathroom with a change of clothes to quickly wash and tied her crazy hair back into a bun that wouldn't get in her eyes so much. I noticed her grab her phone before she came with me, walking slowly like she didn't know how to. I considered she might need me to support her, but she was soon sat down in the kitchen beating her palms on the countertop, seemingly perfectly fine. Cassie was the one to cook, of course.

Amira wasn't opposed to recovering, though I knew it wouldn't take long before she was itching for a fight. She'd already shown an interest in everything she'd missed.

I may have known her well by now, but I had no clue how to stop her from charging head first.

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