Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 113

Due to the nature of the event, there weren't many places to wander off to. We were trapped in here, for the good reason that we would be in danger if there were secluded places for anyone to slip off to. Dragging him with me to the side of the large room, I bring him back towards the windows as I feel his body vibrating under my fingertips. 

My own heart hammered in my chest, shaking in my own skin from the relived trauma. We were both a mess of post-traumatic stress, it was unsettling how quickly I could be triggered. "I'll skin him alive-"

I wrap my fingers around the front of his vest, burying my face in his chest as I attempt to hold myself together. "Please. Please stop." I murmur, hardly able to make the words come out. "Just hold me."

Stopping him dead in his tracks, he exhales as his arms collect me and pulls me into the depths of his chest. Warm against my chilled skin, my body was quickly fatiguing from the sudden blast of magic and the stress of fighting against my wolf. I was overloaded, and hit with a sudden withdrawal from a lack of enhancers. 

"Are you alright, love?" The kind voice brings me slowly back to my center, he's trembling too, but not for the same reasons as I was. 

He wanted violence, to inflict damage on the unfortunate soul who dared lay a finger on me if I didn't wish it. 

While I felt safe in that aspect, my body was wracked with horror. It was the sudden fear that it could all happen again, if I wasn't strong enough, if the right situation was met, i'd be captive and held against my will for someone to do as they wished. 

Shaking my head, I swallow hard as I scoot impossibly closer, taking long hits of his scent to calm myself. "T...."

Verando snarls and I tighten my grip on him. 

"T caught a whiff of my scent. He... it wasn't his fault.. he just commented on it and I was already having Sherian flashbacks." I manage, I wanted to be carried away from here, to hide in the dark and forget this night ever happened. Yet, I could slowly begin to think around the terror that I was being irrational. 

Nobody had meant me any harm, nobody had attempted to take me, it was a joke gone wrong and a male lycan scenting something that made even my warlord uncomfortable. 

"Don't leave me again," I whisper, releasing his vest to curl my arms around his waist.

"I'm not going anywhere. I shouldn't have left you in the first place-" Hesitating, feeling my building whimper, he considers his words before carefully collecting my chin to tilt my gaze up. "You are fully capable of handling yourself in the worst of circumstances, but I'd say that this was an unfair series of events. You're in a delicate state right now."

Shaking my head, I hide against his vest once more. "'M not..." I grumble, I didn't want to be delicate, I hadn't thought about that time of my life in years. But then, we didn't surround ourselves with mimics. "This.. this is what the mortals are always talking about. These people are documented, it's dangerous."

"I know." His words are low, hardly above a murmur as he presses his lips to the top of my head. "Something to consider. France was a touch more controlled, it's a bit of a free for all here, so it would seem."

We were expected to sort through the civilians on our own, with no documentation or reveal, no prevention from using abilities publically. It made me uneasy as take the opportunity to scan the room, finally taking a moment to truly sort through every different scent. "Looks like a room full of humans." I exhale. 

"Horrifying, isn't it? There was a war involving this very topic, you know. Multiple ones." His sarcasm is heavy, words still dripping venom from his detest of the youthful mimic.  "There has to be a way that both sides feel comfortable."