Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 104

Tiberius collapses back onto his hip as the light snow trickles down from the heavens. A tremble runs through my body as Verando struggles to get his breath in my lap. I can only hug him tighter, ignoring the grunt of discomfort as I bury my face in his hair. It was the first time I'd trigger my wolf over attempting to use magic, did that mean I was finally accepting this side of myself?

The siren's thick black hair falls all around his face, golden eyes broad and disturbed, we were all frightened. 

"We need to get Landon inside before he freezes."

It's Verando who thaws us both out, I jump at his voice, glancing towards Tiberius with a stiff shift of my eyes. The man nods, getting up on stilted legs as he treads over to pick up the young man and bring him inside. K rushes to us as I help Verando through the broken door, cursing that I hadn't managed to protect our house. 

With a flip of my hand, it startles me how easily I build a solid ice wall to protect the open space. My time with Rowan must be finally starting to pay off, as Tiberius helps K carry Landon to one of the guest rooms to rest, and to tell Helen we had all come out of this, I direct Verando to the couch. "Let me get you some clothes." 

Without receiving his answer, I race upstairs to grab him simple items. A long sleeve, some jeans, and boxer briefs, my fingers and hands struggle to grip anything at the thought that I almost lost him. That I might have chosen to remain here while he burned in the underworld because my children needed me. That was the correct thought, it was what must be done, but it didn't cease to break me for even considering it. 

Coming back down the stairs, he's gone and I nearly implode from the panic. "Randy?!" I plead, rushing into the living space to catch a glimpse of him in the kitchen. Using a cloth to scrub the blood from his body in slow, deliberate movements. My body moves before I can think, I appear in the kitchen and I grip his wrist in command to not irritate the wounds. 

Yet, looking him over, his body had mostly healed. The bruising on his neck might never leave, but the cuts and slices of the chains vanished. Where the sword had stabbed him barely remained as more than a slice that seemed to get smaller by the moment. It didn't even scar, the bruising from the impact of fighting with a god had mostly lightened and he seemed no worse for wear. If nothing else, he was only exhausted. 

The dark circles under his eyes, the pale skin from being drained of all his energy and blood loss, he was still out of breath but he was himself. 

Placing my hand over the place where the bullet pierced his chest, the space felt cold but there was hardly a mark remaining. "I-" The words don't come out, empathy for my struggle in the last hour crosses his expression. 

"I'm alright." He manages, his voice rough and hoarse, probably from the chain constricting his throat. 

Throwing my arms around him, I hug him as tightly as I can manage, enough to produce a flinch that I will myself to ignore. "I thought you were gone."

"I was." he admits. "Everything went black, it felt like a dream, but more permanent. Alpha pulled me out." 

Would I have rathered him lie to me? Horrified, my gaze meets his and the fear there matches my own. Neither of us was prepared for a relapse, that seeing Tyr would trigger an invasion into his person. We had thought that the seal and the chain would lock Fenrir away but it would appear that it had only suppressed his ability to gain his full form. It did not keep him from attempting to take over Verando's body just as he had with Caspian. 

"Tyr wanted to take you," I whisper, my voice hardly audible, I couldn't even allow myself to consider it. "We don't give Alpha enough credit... he saves us time and time again."