When Red Roses Die

Chapter 5

Kjell

I stood in the corner as the cute little redhead went about putting her groceries away.

Thankfully Erik cloaked me too, so I knew she couldn't see me.

Every now and then, when she would look up to look at a chair in the living room, I would get a glimpse of her emerald green eyes. They glittered with humor at whatever was running through her head. She seemed tired though. Like she hadn't gotten a good nights sleep in awhile. Which for some reason made my dragon pace restlessly.

Mate. My dragon growled in my head.

I barely held back my scoff at that. Yeah right, as if I was lucky enough to get her as my...
My inner thoughts stopped when her smell hit me.

She smelled of Vanilla and Roses. Her sweet, sweet smell made me groan.

Holy fuck she is my mate.

My stomach did little flip flops as I watched my mate go about her work, completely ignorant to my presence.

She finished her work and went down the hall to her bedroom. I lost sight of her as she disappeared into her bedroom.

My dragon roared as he lost sight of her. Though we could smell her, he wanted to see her. He clawed at me restlessly as he pushed forward. He wanted out. I quickly pushed him back and went back to watching down the hallway.

After about 30 minutes back there I heard a commotion. I felt the skin-crawling sensation of my cloaking leaving me. But that's not what surprised me. What caught me off guard was the all too familiar sound of a gun falling to the hardwood floor.

We don't use guns, usually, so I knew little red had pulled a gun on my brothers.

I smirked at her bravery.

Besides her intoxicating scent, I could smell her human blood, so I highly doubt she knows who we are or what she's up against.

My brave little mate.

I quickly left my corner in the living room and walked back to her bedroom.

"No please. I can't go back." Her little voice sobbed as I entered the room.

I was shocked to see her crumpled up on the ground, crying, as she hugged her knees and rocked back and forth. She seemed to be having a panic attack.

Mate scared. My other half growled. Which put me on edge.

"What happened?" I looked at Lincoln as he picked up the gun she must have dropped.

"We told her why we were here and she just freaked out," Lincoln said causally.

My dragon and I prickled. My mate is upset and I couldn't help but feel the sudden urge to pick her up and comfort her.
 
"I can't go back. He'll hurt me." She sobbed into her knees as her whole body trembled and shook.

I looked over at Erik and saw all kinds of emotions filter across his face. Confusion and concern were the main ones.

"Get the twins in here. Now." Link said to Erik. Who swiftly took the chance to leave the crying female.

"Who will hurt you?" Link said as he crouched down next to her.

She barely lifted her head, before her eyes widened and she immediately flinched away from him.

My dragon and I both growled.

Link looked at me in shock. "Kjell, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I huffed, crossing my arms and trying to ignore the burning need to pick her up.

The twins both appeared next to me. damn vampires and their super speed. Erik came jogging in a few seconds later he glared at the twins as he took up his old spot, in the corner.

"Great let's go," Aspen said with a bored tone as he saw the convenience of how we could just take her.

Oakley glared at his twin's daftness.

"Get your dick out of a knot, and have a little compassion," Oakley said to his twin.

"I need one of you to mind search her." Lincoln cut off whatever response Aspen had.

"What?!" Both the twins spoke at the same time.

"You heard me. I want to figure out why she reacted this way. Just go back to when she ran away." Lincoln said as another sob rocked my mate's body.

She seemed completely unaware of her surroundings, as if she was mentally somewhere else. Lost to memories or something like that.

Her body trembling, her heart racing, and her breathing crazy, she started hyperventilating.

Oakley looked down at her broken form and said, "fine," as he stepped closer to her.

She sensed his presence and flinched back until her back pressed against the wall. She looked up at him for a few seconds and all I saw was unadulterated terror.

My dragon roared and I couldn't contain the growl that erupted from my chest.

Help mate. My dragon had never been so restless before. Never so vocal either.

I ignored the shocked stares of my brothers as I watched Oakley's every move. I knew if my dragon even thought he was going to hurt her that I would be unable to control my dragon as he went after Oaks.

Oaks gently stepped closer to the girl, his hands raised. "It's okay. I just need to get into that pretty little head of yours." He spoke softly.

Though his soft words fell onto deaf ears as sobs racked my mate's body. She didn't even lookup. Instead, she put her head in her hands and just muttered, "I can't go back. He'll hurt me. No. No".

Oakley placed his hand gently on her shoulder. She flinched and pressed into the wall, but he kept his hand there.

Oakley took a sharp breath as he entered her mind. He seemed to have no problems getting in.

We all shifted restlessly as Oaks gathered whatever information he thought useful for Links orders.

Suddenly Oaks came back from her mind. He gasped and stumbled away from her small body.

"What did you gather?" Link asked impatiently.

Oaks looked at Link, his features mixed with horror and shock. Oaks face paled as he choked on his words.

"We can't take her back." Is all Oaks said before he ran to her en suite bathroom and threw up.

Aspen growled in annoyance and suddenly stalked towards my mate.

I barely contained my anger as he brashly ignored her whimpers and entered her mind.

Whatever he saw had him pale in the face too. Aspen slowly retracted his hand as he stared down at her crumpled up form.

"I'll kill that fucking bastard." Aspen simply said as he stood up.

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Thank you for reading Chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed it. Lemme know what you think so far.