Predator

22.

The boys' whole attire and demeanor changed drastically in just one morning. They all went from moody, slow-moving men that stayed in their pajamas all day to professional looking business men who were well-kept in 3-piece suits. Ryan was focused on doing what what needed quickly do Neela could be back in his arms.

"Everyone ready?" Damien asked the lot as he put a tall, glass cup in the sink which possessed blood that was now traveling through his body. The rest of the boys all slammed their glasses onto the island of the kitchen as if they had just taken shots of alcohol. They said nothing. Instead, the boys all made their way to the front door with Damien following behind closely.

Not one of his sons cared that they would be crushed by their own brother this time around, it was worth it.

~~

"Angel, did you have a nightmare?" Ryan caressed the smooth skin of Neela's arm that was hidden under the loose nightgown she wore. "You were gone," Neela complained and held onto Ryan's hand.

"I was right here sleeping," Ryan stated in an obvious tone, "then you started thrashing around. I didn't have the same dream as you. Do you need to talk about it?" Neela finally opened her eyes to see Ryan leaning on his right arm, looking down at her. His eyes softened the moment her eyes were exposed to him. "Aww," he cooed as Neela shimmied herself closer to his warm body, "try and go back to sleep. I'm right here." Ryan placed one of his arms under Neela's hand and placed the other one on her waist.

~~

Neela woke up in tears the day she had that dream. It was a great dream, she just wanted it to be real. She hoped that Ryan had the same dream. Really, to Neela, any dream of Ryan would be good, even if he was hurting her. At least she would be able to see and hear him.

Neela was about to lie down to go to sleep again, but the morning alarm for the hospital went off and Carmine entered. "Good morning, Neela." She envied how upbeat Carmine was able to be in a place such as that.

She didn't care about small-talk, she just wanted to know how long it would be until she was able to see her dad again. "When is Damien coming?" With a sigh, Carmine answered her question with a question, "don't you mean when Officer Ronald Thomas is coming?" He nodded with wide eyes, trying to get Neela to agree with him.

She did, only because she needed to see him again. "Yes, my apologies. Has he told you when he's going to be back?" Neela was now sat up on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees. Oddly enough, she could still feel Ryan's warmth from where he had touched her in the dream.

"He's not able to make it in today, Ronald. A problem occurred with one of his sons, so he's home taking care of it."

~~

"Ahh, the Soptic family finally makes their appearance in front of me!" Damien was leading his boys to Egin's throne, they all had to be presented to him as witnesses to defend Ryan's name. "However, I was expecting Ryan's mate to be here. What is her name again? Neela?" Egin made sure to speak her name, every letter, so slowly to spite Ryan.

Ryan hated how Neela's name dropped out of Egin's mouth. His smooth voice hurt Ryan even more, but he kept his composure, he did not want to look weak in front of that man. "I had foreseen her and I's meeting many times. I know it's going to be in this castle. However, I was expecting our meeting to be today, I was expecting the human to be clinging to the arm of her mate, looking around in worry and curiosity. Maybe even a slight blush on her cheeks after her mate has kissed her cheeks to reassure her that all would be well." After a few minutes of watching Ryan stand there in realization of that's what would have really happened, Egin clapped his hands which snapped Ryan out of his thoughts. "Is is the human girl not with us today?"

Damien spoke up, "we put her somewhere she would be safe. She should not have to remember what has happened to her body, we did not want to remind her of the pain. Please, leave her out of this."

Egin nodded and turned to start to his chair. "Please, all of you take a seat on either side of the aisle, except for the one on trial. He stays on the runway. However, if you need a seat, I'll give you one. I'm not the bad guy here."

Evan, Ethan, Caleb, Sean, and Landon were all on the right side of the aisle while only Damien sat on the left side. There were only five seats on each side and Damien wanted all his boys together.

"Had Neela ever seen death? Or had she been close to death?" Egin asked, now resting casually on his throne.

"She's been close to death on a least on occasion, not by my hand nor by the hands of my family." The truth easily dripped off of Ryan's tongue. Egin said nothing, which ensued Ryan to continue telling the events that occurred. "N—" he yet could not bring himself to say her name. "She tried to escape. We all went after her but we couldn't be there in time before another demon had came and slashed its claws down the left side of her body. That entire side of her body is terribly scarred."

~~

The hospital that Neela was placed in let her to be outside for an hour a day, each day. She would typically spend her time under a tree, away from the group activities that went on. Neela would simply lay back on the tree or read a book if one was offered to her, and today, none was offered that day.