Book Smart

Fifteen

Silas lets himself out with one last smoldering gaze and it takes me a moment to collect myself before I can look up at the very stern face of my Grandmother staring me down from across the room.

She has her arms crossed, hip cocked to the side, the pose that haunted my childhood every time I got myself into trouble.

"Of all the men out there, Adrian... It had to be him?" She sighs before relaxing her posture and joining me where I'm still perched on the bed, her thin arm wrapping itself around my shoulders and hugging me close. Even though we've been in this position before after being in Silas's strong grasp it feels alien and wrong.

Her judgment makes me feel shy, but her lack of respect rushes to the forefront of my mind, and the new bristle of irritation balances it out, "It's not like we get to choose Grammy. He's my mate." I try and keep my voice even, but it's hard. I can physically feel Silas slipping away from me, his scent slowly fading from the room as he makes his way to Collin's office.

I miss him already and it's off-putting and upsetting not to be wrapped up in him.

"You do have a choice, Chipmunk. It's not too late to reject him. Stay here, safe with me." Her voice is weak and watery with the tears she's trying not to shed but her words make me jump out of her hold like she's poured acid into my lap.

A bitter taste floods my mouth as bile rises in my throat at the mere suggestion, "Grammy!"

I can't believe she's even making the suggestion. Turn away my soulmate without reason? Live the rest of my life knowing I hurt the beautiful man who's sole purpose in life seems to be playing with my belly and showering me in soft kisses.

She stares at me startled, "He's not a nice man!"

She's wrong, "He's nice to me!"

"And that's enough for you? What happens when he eventually lashes out in front of you? What if he hurts you?" Her words are angry as she shoots them at me, one of her hands coming up to clutch her chest.

"He'd never hurt me!" I hiss back at her, turning away. I'm too angry to see her face right now. How could she even suggest that Silas could ever hurt me, especially when he's been nothing but heartbreakingly sweet after our first encounter last night?

"How many times did your mother say that?"

I'm in the middle of shaking the rest of my stash of drug store paperbacks out of my backpack when her words make my blood run cold.

"Do you remember, Adrian? How volatile your father was?" The venom in her voice as she brings up the one subject we could never talk about peacefully and the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place.

"He never hurt us." And he hadn't.

"Maybe not but he still got worked up enough to run during that fight. He still made your mom chase after him. She thought she could calm him down and look what it got her! Shot in the forehead right along with him."

She forces to light the memory I wish I could burn from my mind. The fight that morning had been about me. Most of their fights were. Mom had jammed her finger into his chest hard enough to force him into a corner, screaming at him that being a runt didn't mean there was anything wrong with me. That having an omega as a son isn't anything to be ashamed of and that he needed to get over it.

The exact words may have faded due to how young I was at the time of the event, but what happened next refuses to escape me. The way the door slammed when he yanked it open. The sound of his clothes ripping when he shifted, followed by hers when she chased after him.

I never saw them again.
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Silas
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"Are you going to focus or not? This is important." Collin scolds from across his desk. It's not like he can't understand why I'm so distracted. I don't remember anyone trying to separate him from Becky after they found each other.

He had been thoughtful enough to gather up all of Adrian's important documents, and to my surprise, medications.

I zone back in on the pill bottles in front of him and gestured for him to continue, trying my best not to steal glances at the cracked door waiting for my angel to appear in his divine form.

"Sleeping pills. He doesn't take them often, but it's still good to make sure that it gets refilled regularly. This one is for his anxiety - the same thing. Only when he asks for it." He slides the two bottles to me to hold on to along with the thin manilla folder with my sweet boys' birth certificate and paperwork. Collin opens his bottom drawer with a sense of finality and pulls out a pill bottle, opaque white this time, and twice as large as the first two, "This one is important."

He tosses the bottle at me and I catch it, surprised to note that it's a prescription pain killer. When I cock my eyebrow at him he gives me a wry smile, "Adrian gets migraines. I'm pretty sure it's why he came in last night."

It doesn't surprise me that my sweet pup gets headaches. With as much as he loves books and reading, I can imagine that depending on how small the font is in whatever particular book has his attention that these pills will be a good thing to have to keep him comfortable and taken care of.

The other pills he most likely won't even need. There would be nothing to be anxious over once he's back where he belongs. And sleep will come naturally when his body will be so thoroughly satiated every night. He'd be well fucked, fed, and happy.

"Silas!"

I come back to the present upon Collin's insistence and annoyance, "Jesus. Every time you two are alone together it leaves you all fucked up."

His exasperation makes me laugh, "Now you know how I feel about you and Becky." It had been a nightmare the first few months after their initial mating came to light. He hadn't wanted to focus on anything and at the time it had made me want to cut my ponytail off just so I could beat some sense back into him.

Before I can jokingly tear him a new one for giving me shit when he was just as bad if not worse the most wonderful smell fills my nose.

The smile that works it's way onto my lips over his appearance shrivels as I spot the tears he's trying to wipe away, his sniffles making their way to my ears.