AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her knees buckled as she reached his side. She curled her body around his instinctively. Her hands rubbed at his chill-pebbled skin, her lips whispered useless words of comfort into his colorful, mussed hair. Jezzie felt Nithe join them rather than heard him. She looked up as he gently hovered a hand above Athon’s shoulder.
Athon’s sobs grew louder and Nithe started to move his hand away, afraid of hurting the male Jezzie knew he respected and had started to care about.
“No, don’t,” Athon’s croaky voice whimpered. “Please don’t leave me too. I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. He’s gone. Please don’t hate me, Jez,” he begged, before his tears overtook him and his voice failed him.
Nithe stood, lifting Athon into his arms and carried him to the bed before carefully laying him down. Jezzie quickly wrapped herself around him again. Nithe curled his body around Athon’s, mirroring Jezzie, but from behind, and together they held him until his sobs faded into the deeper breathing of a restless sleep.
Nithe caught her eye as she looked up from Athon’s head tucked against her chest, and with a lift of his brow across the link he asked, Where is he?
Roth’s absence and Athon’s distress struck like a knife to Jezzie’s heart. Athon was their priority at that moment. Roth’s behavior would be something to figure out later. Still, Jezzie felt anger rise over her concern for the male’s whereabouts.
Apparently, when the going gets tough, Roth tucks tail and runs the fuck away.
It could be something else, a stór. Let’s talk about it when Athon wakes and has showered. Maybe we can figure this out and talk some sense into Roth. Nithe’s eyes were full of worry and sympathy as he pulled the covers up to cover them all and her eyes drifted shut on a final desperate plea through the link to Roth.
Where are you? You hurt me, that’s fine. But Athon? Fix this. We love you. Only to be met with a wall of black similar to a dreamless sleep.
Blocking them out was one of the hardest things Roth ever had to do, but he had no choice. Not right now. He could only pray they’d understand once it was all over and done. Once the bitch was banished from existence, and he didn’t have to worry about her ever again.
Deus hadn’t really understood. In fact, he’d argued until he was blue in the face and threatened to call Lucifer in to stop him from leaving. Warned him he might even end up Fallen. Still, Roth had no choice but to take the chance. Only Leraie’s arrival had kept Deus from following through on his threat to call the boss in. Roth could see the anger and confusion in his friend’s eyes as Leraie had sighed wearily and told Deus to let him go. She’d then rounded on him and told him she thought him a fool, they were stronger together than apart, and while she’d help him, his reprieve wouldn’t last long so he better figure his shit out fast.
Mrs Briars had handed him a bag with food and clothing as she glared at him disapprovingly. She tut-tutted even as he went through the portal to his hidden location.
All he needed to do was find and destroy his greatest nightmare, then he’d find the traitor who’d allowed her into the fortress.
He’d do anything to get his new family back. Jezzie’s confusion and Athon’s agony tore strips from his skin and left gouges in his heart. He hated himself for doing it. He hated himself for bringing this evil to their door. He hated her.
Mara was on borrowed time, she just didn’t know it yet.
Athon’s dreams were a swirling mass of torment, confusion, pain, and anger. Images of Roth laughing at his broken heart, Nithe’s smirk at Roth leaving, Jezzie’s angry glare as she laid the blame of Roth’s choices at his feet.
In his slumber he felt sweat coat his chilled skin, his toes curled, and silent tears slid down his cheeks. His exhausted mind wondered if the tears would ever stop. He knew the answer though. As long as Roth was gone the ones falling on his cheeks might halt their salty tracks, but the ones pouring from his heart would continue their silent, unseen journey.
Warm bodies bracketed him at his back and front as he swam closer to wakefulness. Scents drifted to him and he inhaled deeply. Jezzie. Only Jez could smell so sweet. His tender ass shifted back to rub against the body at his back, but the arm that wrapped around him didn’t feel like Roth. Disappointment began to fill him. Nithe gave him a light squeeze and withdrew his arm, though he didn’t move away.
“I know you’re awake, Athon, and I know you’re not okay, but we are here for you. We are family and we will figure this out.”
Nithe’s warm breath and soothing whisper eased the tension from Athon’s shoulders as it glided over his neck. Emotion swelled in his throat and all he could do was croak out a soft ‘thank you.’
“Jezzie was awake most of the night. She refused to sleep, wanting to watch over you herself until Morpheus would not take no for an answer. I think she’ll sleep for a while still. Do you feel up to a shower? Food?” Nithe rolled out of bed carefully, and stood.
His concerned look caused guilt to swell in Athon’s chest. Not about Roth. Roth made his own choices, he knew that, even as he wondered if he’d made it worse. No, his guilt was for the shadows he saw under Nithe’s eyes as he rolled over, careful not to disturb a slumbering Jezzie. Had the male slept at all? It was doubtful by the look of him. Nithe stretched and yawned, the muscles in his defined chest and arms stretching and bunching with the effort, as if to prove Athon right. If he yawned any wider his jaw was liable to dislocate and the tendons in his neck to snap.
As if in answer to Nithe’s question, his stomach chose that moment to let loose an almighty rumble to rival a lion’s roar.
Nithe chuckled and reached out his hand.
“Come on, you go shower and relax, and I’ll hunt down some food. Do you need a hand with anything?”
Athon looked Nithe’s large hand, then down at his own nakedness and felt heat travel up his chest to his cheeks . . . the ones on his face obviously. Though this other ones did clench slightly, reminding him of what he and Roth had done before he left.
“I’m fine, I think I can handle it.” He knew he sounded gruff, but tears threatened to spill, and he refused to let them fall again. Not right now. Right now he had to face the day and the questions he knew were coming.
“Alright, So . . . um . . . how does one get food around here?” Nithe asked, kinda sheepishly as his own stomach grumbled its hunger.
It was Athon’s turn to chuckle, and it felt so good. Weird, but good. Fuck, he was so fucking conflicted. It was all too much, so he pointed at the phone by the bed, held up two fingers between almost maniacal laughs, and bolted for the bathroom. He locked the door behind him, and the instant water hit the black tiles he stepped in. Head under the spray he let the water wash away his tears and muffle the uncontrollable giggle-sobs that wracked his body. With it went the remnants of Roth’s body against his. His heart wouldn’t be so easy to wash clean. By the time he turned the taps off only one word echoed in his brain.
Why?
