Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 39 - Surrender

Kay heard Adrian approach where she was seated on the cold marble with her knees drawn up beneath her chin, hugging her arms around them.

The frozen place in her soul would not warm, and she cringed mentally away from Adrian's concern but didn't stir.

Adrian sat down beside her, leaving just enough space so they would not touch, but Kay sensed the werewolf's heat. How odd was it that her body craved warmth and contact, but her soul neither wanted nor needed it?

A sensation of comfort and love touched her mind link like a warm embrace, even though Adrian did not speak or physically touch her, and Kay instinctively resisted it. Fighting with all the despair, hurt, pain, and loneliness that her soul could muster, shoring up that wall and building it higher.

The steady feeling of comfort and love never wavered or shifted and was not repelled. Instead, it grew more steady, insistent, and more... protective until it became difficult to withstand, and she found it impossible to keep her distance.

The lonely broken girl hiding inside the fractured ruins of her soul needed the love of a mother—the child-woman who remembered what having a mother felt like and who believed no one could ever love her again.

The urge to lash out and repel what she sensed reared its ugly head, but her bleeding heart and soul had no more strength to fight. She wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, even if it was a lie.

***

Kay finally turned her head and looked at Adrian. Whatever the werewolf saw in her expression made her cross the divide that had once been a chasm and pull Kay into her embrace. Their souls touched, and the coldness began to thaw.

Despite the last of her resistance, a powerful bond formed that scared her. She had finally found a place where she belonged with people who loved her, and it was the last place on earth she expected it.

The divide had been bridged, her defenses breached, and her heart freed from the icy prison it inhabited for so long, but now it was open, raw, and defenseless. If it broke now, there would be nothing left.

A shuddering sob tore from her throat, and although she tried to curb it, she couldn't. The floodgates were open, and Adrian soothed her like a child as her pain, hurt, and desolation tore free of her grip.

Eventually, her sobs turned to little shudders, and Adrian held her, speaking no meaningless words in the face of such despair.

***

When Marcus finally came outside and lowered himself to his haunches beside them, Kay had fallen asleep. He touched Adrian's shoulder, and when she turned toward him, there were so many haunting emotions in her eyes.

She had seen so much of Kay's life during those flashes of pain, horror, and desperation that her protective growl was instinctive. Marcus didn't flinch back, steadily staring into her eyes, and despite knowing he would not hurt Kay, she was reluctant to let go.

Whatever gave her those glimpses into the succubus was not their pack link but something special, different, and unique caused by their proximity and Kay's vulnerable state.

With reluctance, Adrian allowed him to pick Kay up as if she were a child, and the succubus did not wake, too emotionally worn out and pushed past her boundaries.

Marcus offered his hand and pulled her to her feet, and she accompanied him with no need for words between them.

They walked past Darius, who touched Kay's cheek fondly as he smiled at Adrian. Had he waited for her to do this? Take the final step toward their new daughter? Yes. She briefly hugged her husband before following Marcus again, and Darius let her go. She was not ready to leave Kay alone yet.

***

Adrian pulled down the covers, and Marcus put Kay on the bed, pulling off her shoes.

"Marcus? Please leave," Claudia suggested from the door, dressed in pajamas, which she never wore, and he frowned, snarling gently.

Why did she ask him to go when he had fought his instincts to comfort Kay all day?

Adrian glanced at her daughter, and their eyes met for a second. Sometimes he hated that damned werewolf bond that left him out of their conversations.

"Please, Marcus," Darcy asked, passing Claudia.

His gaze traveled from one to the other as the other alpha females entered the room, finally understanding what they wanted to do and knowing it would help Kay, but he found it almost impossible to move away from her. Their bond had been strained to its absolute limit all day.

"I know you want to stay," Adrian said, walking over to touch his cheek, and he leaned involuntarily into the touch. He sensed the way she soothed him, the force of her will and the warmth of her emotions, 'but I think you understand that she is a part of this pack and a part of this family first, and she needs to learn what that means and how it works."

He forced himself to nod. Kay was safe, and it was time the werewolf bond between her and the alpha females was established properly; she needed this more than she needed him, and this was something he could not give.

Vampires had close bonds with their loved ones, but not like werewolves, and not even her real family or Thane or Akira could give her this.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked Claudia with her bond pulling at him, too. This would alter their whole family dynamic, and he didn't know if his wife was ready for this.

"No, but maybe the time to be selfish and afraid has come and gone. We are unlike the other immortals, nor are you and your coven. Our bond is unbreakable, something they can never have. Command, power, and force alone cannot afford loyalty and love.

"What we have will keep us standing to the end, even if that end is our own. They will never have this and never understand us, and what they see as a weakness is our strength. Theirs is a house divided, and a divided house will never see peace," Claudia took his hand, and he followed her to the door.

"Kay needs us, and we need her," she said firmly, and he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

A small smile touched his lips but was quickly gone. Would Kay allow their gift? It would change her, make her even more powerful, but make her vulnerable, too.

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