Descent

Chapter 1

1 year after The Highwaymen's defeat.

"Ouch."

The older man cringed as his beloved stitched up his wound, shaking her head while contradictorily cracking a wide smile. They sat in the confines of their designated bedroom within the walls of Prosperity, also known as John Seed's repurposed ranch. It had taken a while, but Nayeli was finally able to enter the building without her mind drifting to what John had done to her so many years ago. She would spite him by making this place one of love and community. A place where she and her lover Jacob Seed could raise their son and watch over their daughter in peace.

"I told you not to instigate the wolverine." Nayeli Lamb mused as she finished the last bit before knotting off the suture. She finished it off by dabbing it with a cloth lightly soaked in alcohol, again, causing the man to cringe.

As she began to clean up, he hung his head low, "I don't know how you've put up with me for this long."

With her back turned she responded, "I believe that was in our wedding vows. Keeping you alive when you're acting like a brave idiot." she giggled before turning back to him.

Her grin softened to a concerned look. Jacob moved from the foot of their bed to standing over the makeshift crib that held the tiny life form that they called son. The baby was sound asleep, hiding away the same crisp shade of blue as his father. With his eyes closed, he was the splitting image of Nayeli, dark curls laced across his head and his skin a beautiful inbetween of russet and tan.

"Is this how Mai looked when she was born?" he asked her, his eyes still fixated on the tiny bundle

Nayeli approached him, placing a hand along the small of his back. She did not respond only because he knew what she would say. Jacob Seed was a complicated man to say the least, but if there was one thing that was sure about him, it was that he loved his family more than anything else. To miss out on the first few years of his daughter's life had left a hollow feeling in his heart. Combined with the year and a half she went missing following her kidnapping...well, that kind of time lost that could never be made up. Since Malik was born, there was not a single hour where Jacob was not by his son's side, ensuring no one would ever tear him from their family. But he and Nayeli knew there was one thing that could: time itself.

"I'll never see him grow old." Jacob murmured as he ran his finger along one of Malik's curls.

Nayeli felt her eyes burning as she shot a look at him. Age had caught up to the wolf within the last six years. His hair had lost most of its fire, his eyes softened, a result of an unconditional love he had never known before, but also exhausted from every single event he had to endure during his lifetime. Nayeli rose her hand to his chin, grasping it gently as she turned his head to her. Upon seeing her he immediately grasped her face between his hands, planting his lips on hers in the same manner they had the first time he came to her on that fateful night in the remnants of her childhood home. The night where he realized his love for her. They pulled apart but kept their lips close enough that the bristles of his mustache and beard still trickled along her skin.

"Jacob...my beloved..." she cooed, "Don't set your mind on what will happen. Just be here with us. Here and now."

Jacob relinquished his dark thoughts as he sighed, a soft smile encompassing his face as he traced his fingers along the sharp line of her jaw.

"You're my dream come true." he hummed as he kissed her again then paused to see her reaction.

Her eyes squinted, her smile was so wide. With a slight giggle, she wrapped her arms around his neck, their eyes meeting, "And what else?"