Breeding in the Academy: Searching for Freedom (All 14)

Chapter 24

Update!!! God this took a lot out of me both mentally and physically. I just love Owen (who doesn't?) Anywho, tell me what you think.

The door snapped shut, and I looked at the man who had been dealt a heavy blow. His back was facing me and the others, and I knew that he was lost in his thoughts. For years, he had to mask his emotions behind a façade, and this moment challenged his years of habit. I looked at him from the side. He stood with his hands fisted at his sides. His head was pointing towards the ground, and his eyes were closed as if in pain.

"Sang," a voice called out to me. Axel stood there. His team was mixed among the Prime, but I saw Corey's pain filled gaze as he leaned heavily against Raven. All of them, both Prime and Phoenix, stared at Owen with worry.

I smiled at them. "Take Corey to the hospital. And can you show the Prime to their new rooms?"

Axel nodded before looking at Owen. His eyes asked me a question. Will he be okay?

I gave him a small smile before speaking back with our silent eye communication. I hope so. I'll talk to him.

The Prime looked at Owen's back with hesitations. They had lived with him for a decade or so and were worried about him. Sean's eyes met mine, looking at me. Whatever he saw in my gaze had him nodding before leading the others after Marc.

Alone, I waited for Mr. Blackbourne. A minute passed, and he turned around. Long lashed fluttered against pale skin as he looked at me and the empty hallway. "Where are the others?"

"I had Toma team take them to their rooms."

"Oh," he said. He stood there emotionless until tears started to well up in his eyes. In that moment, I saw who he was underneath the mask. There was a helpless look on his face, like a child who didn't know what to do.

My heart broke for him and ached to help him. Slowly, I raised my hand towards me with my palm facing upward. Gray eyes looked at me with a question.

"Do you trust me?" I whispered.

He didn't say anything, but what he did answered my question. He slid his hand in mine. With his hand in mine, I turned around and started to run. Mr. Blackbourne kept up with me as his hand tightened around mine. We didn't care about darting past people in the hallway or people greeting or yelling at us. All I was focused on was Mr. Blackbourne.

We ran towards the elevator, and I punched in my numbers. The elevator doors closed and we shot upwards towards the surface. The doors opened, and we were back in the barn. As those doors opened, we ran into the woods that led up into the mountains. After a few moments, we slowed down from a jog to a slow walk. I pushed aside some bushes, revealing a small clearing before a cliff. Standing silent, we stood there, looking over the scenery. Moonlight washed over the trees and mountains, and a fresh breeze tickled our skin as it danced lonely in the silent night.

The darkness hid his features, but I could hear the soft sniffling and rough breathing. I didn't know what to say as I just squeezed his hand in silent comfort. His grip tightened on my hand as if I was the only thing keeping himself together.

Turning towards him, I looked at him. Shimmering like crystals, tears ran down his cheeks. A shattered expression haunted his eyes, and I did the only thing that I could think of. I wrapped my arms around his neck. For a moment, he was still, making me feeling as if I crossed a line. I started to move away when his arms wrapped around my waist. His face bent to rest against the nook of my neck. Tears dropped onto my neck, but it didn't matter. As one, we lowered ourselves to the ground until we were on our knees. He continued to cry in my shoulder as I started to run my fingers soothingly through his hair at the nape of his neck.

After a while, he calmed himself. We didn't say anything but continued to rest in each other's embrace. We had moved positions where I was sitting with my legs out, leaning against a tree. He had moved to lay his head in my lap, his face pointing towards my feet. My right hand was still in his hair, while he gripped my left hand in his. He spoke in a hoarse whisper. "Ever since I was in the Academy, I was told to do and be someone. I didn't fight because I always thought my mom would appear on visitation day. Every year, I would get my hops up, and then they'd be smashed."

He sighed. "Now I'm finally reunited with her, and I still don't feel like I'm wanted. She told me her side, but I also knew that she had to choose between me and her new life, and she didn't choose me. It hurts because I feel as if I'm nothing but an object to be passed around." He groaned, running one of his hands over his face. "I don't even know who I am anymore or how I should act. All I've known is to be the 'Perfectionist.' I don't know what to do."

I squeezed his hand. "You can be whoever you want to be. Get angry, goofy, or whatever. When I first came here, I face a similar experience. When I was separated from Milo, I rarely had a kind person around me. We had money, but I didn't have anyone who deeply cared for me. The staff was rude and mean to me because my mother had ordered them to. Over time, I suspected that they came to enjoy torturing me. When I came here, I was always quiet, afraid to be myself, afraid to change. I would flinch at every movement, and try to blend into the background. But I discovered that I could act and change the way I used to be. I had people around me who helped me change. You can be whoever you want to be."

"Did you know what I saw when we met at the Bidding?"

He turned his head in my lap. A vulnerable look was in his eyes at he stared at me. "What?"

I smiled. "I didn't see the Perfectionist or an Academy tool. I saw a man who had a strength to endure. I saw a man who would look out for his family even when you were walking towards an unknown variable. I saw a caring man who would bear the whole world on his shoulders so others wouldn't be harmed. That's what I saw."

A smile appeared on his face, and I smiled back at him. His eyes lost focus before he started to withdraw. "And what if you don't like who I want to become?"

I studied him. "Is this about becoming an agent?"

He nodded. "I saw your reaction to me and the others asking to become agents."

I laid my head against the rough bark of the tree behind me. "I can't tell you what to do or not what to do. I am afraid that becoming agents will harm you."

"How?" He muttered.

I looked into his gray eyes. His eyes widened minusculely but I knew that he saw the sadness that I had kept hidden. "Being an agent is far more than learning self defense or forming a team. In one point, you will be sent on a mission and you will have to kill another person. The guilt no matter if you were saving an innocent, the guilt will be so heavy because you know that you've killed another human being with your hands. Nightmares and terrors will weigh you down. I don't want you or the others to suffer this."

Owen sat up, turning his body towards me. His hands cradled mine. "I know that this will become our reality later in our lives, Sang. But we want to be able to stand behind, beside, and in front of you. We want to protect you like you have done with us."

I smiled, knowing that they will become agents despite my worrying, but my promise to myself squashed any positive feelings to his last statement. I forced a laugh. "You should keep those statements for the women you and the others love in the future."

His change made my mouth go dry. A stubborn but beautiful expression entered his eyes, and his eyes lit with a fire similar to Victor's. "The woman that my brothers and I are falling for is already in the present. Why would we look into the future when we already have her?"

I felt my stubbornness to rise to clash into his. "I already told you that I don't...won't love."

A smile appeared on his face and he lifted my right hand to his lips where he placed a soft kiss. "Things can change, Sang, but my feelings won't be one of them."

Which pov would you guys like? Could be anyone from the toma team, the blackbourne team (not owen please), or owen's mom?