Belle
“Skylar,pleasedon’tmakeme do this.”
“There isn’t any other way out of this Cairo, you have to stop this, now!” I watch in horror as he shifts to his black and white wolf and then lunges.
I startle awake screaming, hands land on me and I flinch away from the contact, I grip my hair and pull. This vision cannot come true. I have to stop it; it will kill him!
“Belle, you’re okay we’re here with you.” I blink my eyes a few times to try and focus, the pounding headache makes it hard. I look around and realize I’m outside in the woods, my three brothers and Cole are crouched down in front of me with looks of concern on their faces. “You had a vision.” If my head didn’t feel like it was splitting in half, I would roll my eyes at Hunter.
“I got that part Hunt, what I don’t get is why I’m outside?” I follow my brothers’ gazes as they land on a sheepish looking Cole, I tilt my head slightly trying to get a read on him. He rubs the back of his neck and begins to whistle like there is nothing wrong with this situation I find myself in. “Where’s Cairo, Cole?” He meets my gaze, and it throws me a little when I see pity shining in his gaze, what the hell happened while I was out?
“He’ll be here as soon as he can, but for right now this is the safest place for you.”
“Why Cole?” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, his green eyes bore into me.
“Because my mother is here.”
“Meg?” Cole shakes his head in answer to Blake but keeps his eyes on me.
“Our egg donor, Davina. She…uh wants you for something and we don’t know what it is.” I reel back in shock; my brothers climb to their feet, and I accept the hand Cass offers me. When I’m standing, he wraps his arm around my shoulders and tucks me into his side, it’s like we’re in a standoff. The four of us huddled together while Cole stands opposite us on his own, he shoves his hands in his pockets and scuffs his foot along the ground.
“What exactly does she want with Belle?” I can hear the unease in Cass’s voice, we may have the advantage of my visions but that doesn’t mean we know everything. Am I even a supernatural?
“That, I don’t know. Cairo and Sky kept their cards close to their chest where you were concerned. We all may have helped locate you, but that’s it.” Something doesn’t add up,
“I know why Cairo searched for me in the first place, I also know there is another reason, but he won’t tell me. Can I assume it has something to do with this Davina?” Cole smiles sadly and nods.
“That would be my guess as well.”
“Why does Cairo hate your bio mom Cole?” A whoosh of air rushes out of him.
“Take a seat, it’s a long ass story, I don’t know all the gory details, just what I learnt and saw from Jess and Creed.”
“What does any of this have to do with your brother and Cairo’s sister?” Cole meets Blake’s gaze, the look in his eyes has me swallowing loudly.
“Everything.” Cole heads over toward a tree and drops down so he can lean against it, Hunt and Blake follow him, but Cass pulls me back when I try to move away. He keeps his tone low so only I can hear.
“According to Cole you were out a couple hours back at that cabin and another couple here, that’s four fucking hours Belle!” He grits out through clenched teeth, I cringe and try to mask it, but it’s too late, Cass sees it.
“I’m not prepared––.”
“Horse shit! This is too fucking much Gabrielle, you have told him what you know, correct?” I nod. “Then we leave at first light and get answers from dad because I will not let this shit kill you Belle.” His tone escalates from angry to devastated, and that tears me up inside. Cass is the strong one, and self-assured so to hear him sound scared, puts the fear of God in me.
“I…I can’t leave Cass.”
“Yeah, you can, and you will. He isn’t into you Belle, the fucker only used you to get what he wanted, and from the smell of things, he got his cake and ate it too.” I flinch at the cold harsh tone and step back; his face drops when he sees the tears in my eyes. “Fuck. I’m sorry Belle, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that––.” I raise my hand to stop him and shake my head.
“To far Cassius.” Is all I say before joining the others to hear the story of Jess and Creed.
By the time Cole is finished telling us everything that happened, the moon is high in the sky and there is a chill to the air, I rub my arms to try and warm myself. Cole’s eyes shoot to me, and he jumps to his feet and heads toward the blacked-out Hummer that is parked near the road. He told us he didn’t want us to go in any further in case of trouble and we needed a quick exit, makes sense since I will be the one slowing them down. He jogs back toward us with a jumper and chucks it to me, I smile my thanks and pull it over my head, I’m assaulted by the scent of Cole, he smells like pine trees and coffee which is weird but…soothing. The jumper is big enough for me to tuck my legs in it, I look like a cocoon, but I don’t care, I’m warm and that’s all that matters.
We have been sitting here for hours, Hunt and Blake have fallen asleep on the ground, and I can’t stop staring at them. No matter what happens, or what we find out about my parents, I wouldn’t give them up for the world. I turn to search for Cass and begin to panic when I don’t see him, I go to stand but Cole’s words stop me.
“He went to scan the area.”Oh,that makes perfect sense. “What’s on your mind, you’ve had a permanent frown in place for the past hour.”
“I…uh, never mind––.”
“Don’t do that babe, I can see you are upset about something. Talk to me, I might even be able to help.” He smiles kindly and I melt, why couldn’t Cairo be more like Cole? I shake my head to rid myself of those types of thoughts, I knew what I was to him before I came here, and I even knew that things would be hard, but I didn’t expect them to be like this.