The Lost Ones Book 2: Welcome Home

Chapter 61

Jordan jerked awake with a sharp gasp and looked around, confused and disoriented before seeing Tyler crying. "Tyler?! Are you okay?!" He quickly crawled over to him.

Tyler was still sobbing. He tilted his face up to get a glimpse at Jordan, whose face was blurred beneath a wall of tears.

"Hey, hey, what happened?" He tried to coax him as he sat in front of him, looking concerned.

"He....he..." Tyler tried to speak but his fast breathing got in the way.

Jerome suddenly sat up, growling and his claws out. His eyes darted around and upon noticing who was in the cave his demeanor completely changed. He nervously looked over at the two who were awake and quickly came over to them. "IS EVERYONE OKAY?!" He yelled in a panic.

Jordan hesitated but placed a hand on Tyler's shoulder trying to calm him down. "I'm okay but I don't know about Tyler..."

Sqaishey stirred at the loud yell. "Huh? Wha?" She muttered.

Mitch jolted awake last with a quiet yelp, gripping the neck of his shirt. "What the heck just happened?!"

Jerome's nose twitched as he sniffed the air. "Where'd he go? W-what did he do to us?!" He looked at Tyler, who was still freaking out too much to respond, but was confused as to how the bacca knew.

Jordan wasn't sure how to calm Tyler down and looked confused. "What?" He asked Jerome.

"I could smell it when I was... asleep? But I wasn't physically able to wake up." Jerome responded, sniffing again a bit closer to Tyler. "Kalaraja was here, right by Tyler."

Tyler tensed up at this.

"What?!" he turned to Tyler. "Did he hurt you?!"

Tyler shook his head. "I-I'm... F-f-fine..."

Mitch looked angry. "Wait so you're telling me that demon showed up and I was asleep the whole time?!"

"Seems that way..."

"B-but how?!"

Tyler finally lifted his head to look at everyone else. "H-h-he did i-it."

"Huh?"

"Did wh- wait, he put us to sleep?"

"Mm-hm..."

"Did he hurt you?"

"N-no..."

"Well that's good."

"Mh..." Tyler buried his head again.

"Tyler? Are you sure you're okay?" Sqaishey asked, now awake.

"No..." Tyler cried, his voice muffled.

"Gosh, he really messed you up, didn't he? I wish we were there to protect you..." Mitch moved a bit closer to the others. "I made one small promise and couldn't even keep it."

"None of us could." Jordan replied softly as Sqaishey crawled over and hugged Tyler.

Tyler flinched but his shoulders quickly relaxed. He peaked an eye out to look at her.

"You look like you needed a hug."

His expression softened. "I-I... t-t-thanks...."

Mitch wrapped an arm around Tyler and grinned. "Trust me, we're gonna make sure that you never get hurt again, kay? He'll have to get through the rest of us first, and we all know that loser can't do that." He snickered.

Jordan chuckled. "Yeah, He can't take us all on at the same time."

"Definitely." Jerome grinned.

"We'll show him he can't mess with us."

Tyler had stopped sobbing by now and wiped his face on his sleeve.

Jerome placed a paw on his back. "You're gonna be fine... we all are..."

"Mh-hm!" Mitch agreed.

Sqaishey nodded. "We aren't going down that easily."

"T-thanks..." Tyler had the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

"I saw that!" Mitch teased, causing Tyler to turn red.

Jordan and Sqaishey both laughed at that and smiled.

Tyler looked down at his shoes, his face still flushed. He was beginning to look tired now.

Jerome sighed. "You should get some rest."

Tyler quickly shook his head.

"We'll stay right here by you, okay? He won't come back if we're all surrounding you."

He still looked hesitant before Mitch pulled him closer into a sort of half-hug. "If were this close he won't even think of touching ya."

Sqaishey nodded. "It can be a cuddle party!"

"I'm sure just the sight of any sort of affection will drive that demon a hundred miles away from us." Jerome remarked.

Jordan laughed. "Yeah, probably."

"Yuuuup." Mitch smiled.

Sqaishey beamed. "Cuddle party!" She hugged Tyler with a bright smile.

Jerome laughed and pulled the rest into a hug, his fur thankfully a lot more dry now.

Jordan chuckled as he was pulled in.

Tyler glanced around at everyone around him as his smile grew on his face, and for once a tear of joy fell down his cheek.

Sqaishey burrowed up against Jerome snuggling into his fur.

Mitch had one arm around Tyler's shoulders and another one around Jerome. He too, was using Jerome as a pillow, resting his head on the bacca's chest.

Jerome rolled his eyes, remembering the inevitability of him becoming everyone else's pillow.

Tyler's body finally relaxed, his legs finally left his chest and sat against the stone floor. His shoulders slouched and he wiped his face one more time before resting his head on Jordan's shoulder.

Jordan relaxed and into the group as they all happily settled down.

It wasn't long before Tyler was fast asleep, a large grin across his face.