Running Red: Lost Moon

Chapter 48: Stone Explosion

TW: abuse, harassment, sexual harassment(**check comments), injuries

...

Laik waited till his grandpa was alone in his office to slip in and close the door. He turned around, ready to ask, when Kevin cut him off. "No."

Frustration filled his voice, "I didn't even ask anything!"

Kevin leveled him with a stare that had Laik looking away. "You want to go along to the mines to help with the search. The answer is no."

"You don't know that." The grumbled huff had Kevin raising an eyebrow. "Okay, fine, I was! I can help!"

"No."

Laik threw his hands in the air. "You gave me this responsibility, and now you won't let me-"

"Laik." There was an undercurrent of a growl that had Laik hunching his shoulders and freezing. "You are where your at for that reason."

"Hiding behind everyone is not keeping Levi safe."

"I'm not arguing this."

"You won't let me help because I died!"

Kevin straightened his back and jammed a finger in Laik's direction, "If that was the reason, you wouldn't leave his damn house. Hell, I'd send you back to your mother until all of this was resolved!"

Laik pressed his lips together to keep from snarling back.

"You are where you're at because Levi will be at his most vulnerable on his way to the hospital."

He glared at the ground.

"I need you there, so I can clean up this mess on my grounds. I'm not changing it."

Laik went to say something, only to meet Kevin's hard stare. He gave a growl and stormed off out of the room almost running into Tate in the process.

"Whoa." He watched as Laik took the stairs up to the second floor two at a time before looking into the office to find Kevin rubbing at his temples. "Is everything alright?"

"He's as bull headed as Merrisa."

Tate felt his mouth quirk up in a smile. "Could be worse." Kevin looked at him from where he was now rubbing at his face. "She could be here."

"Don't remind me." Kevin took a seat as he asked. "Please tell me you have good news."

Tate looked at the backs of the photos that lined Kevin's desk. "Everything is ready on my end. Luciana is almost done with the circles."

When Tate didn't leave, Kevin asked, "What is it?"

"We need to talk about what if's and backup plans."

"What kind of what ifs?"

"Levi, for starters, and we go from there."

Kevin frowned, "What don't I know?"

"Let me go get Celest. She can explain it better."

Once Tate was gone, Kevin rubbed at his face. He had a bad feeling about this.

0

Levi was woken up when Wyatt kicked his foot. "Time to wake up." He squinted up at Wyatt to find him looking across the room at Tad. Looking over, he found Helena leaning over Tad. She looked over at Wyatt and gave him a thumbs up. Wyatt let out a sigh of relief before looking at Levi. "You're lucky. He could have killed himself."

Levi looked away. "He was protecting me. I couldn't... the voices were loud."

Wyatt knelt and grabbed Levi's jaw. He twisted his face to the side. "You're really bad at cleaning up your cuts."