The Alpha's Favour

LXIV

"Crystal?"

At first I was paralysed for a second.

Seeing him.

Seeing his face, hearing his voice.

It felt like a dream.

A dream come true.

"Tristan." I breathed out as I sprinted over to him.

He caught me right as I jumped into his hands. I opened my eyes alarmed.

His arms were clearly around me but I couldn't feel anything.

I pulled back and stared around at the black walls around us.

It sent shock waves through me reminding me of what this was.

"Mind spaces are crappy like that." Tristan explained when he saw my reaction.

"I - I can't feel you." I spoke, my voice cracked as I tried to hold his hand but once again, the contact was made but otherwise... nothing.

Tristan rubbed his thumb over my hand.

"Physically, no. Mentally, yes. Otherwise we wouldn't be here." He looked at me as if he couldn't believe I was here.

Heck, I couldn't believe I was here.

"I should have known you would find a way to reach me." He spoke with a proud smile.

My heart was heavy and I was overwhelmed with emotions.

I was relieved that I had finally succeeded. This proved that he wasn't dead.

But was he on the brink of it?

He looked horrible. His eyes were sunken, his skin looked grey. He looked... weak.

A far comparison to the strong Tristan I was used to.

"Believe it or not, it was a team effort."

Tristan rose his brows at me.

"It's a long story, Josh, Mikey and I... we uhm formed like a mind link and bonded and now... I'm here."

Tristan shook his head like he didn't understand any of this.

"Well." He let out a humourless laugh. "It took this long but you finally followed that rule."

"Rule?" I asked.

"Crystal needs to try to get along with my brothers." He reminded me.

I frowned.

The conditions we had come up with.

It all seemed like a lifetime ago when we sat on that porch swing. Things were so different to what they were now.

"Tristan, where are you? We're gonna save you." I spoke as I moved closer and took his hands in mine holding them to my chest.

There was no feeling behind the action but with the way he looked at me, you'd think I had offered him all the warmth in the world.

"How are my brothers?"

I shook my head in confusion. "Mikey and Joshua are okay. But we want - we need to know where you are Tristan."

Tristan sighed.

He looked around the darkness that surrounded us.

"My mind isn't as strong as it should be. Otherwise, I promise you, we would be having this 'meeting' in a better setting." He gave me a small smile.

I frowned and walked towards him.

Didn't he know just seeing him was enough for me.

"Tell me where you are Tristan. We'll come get you."