Warriors

Chapter Six: Boundaries

For once, sleep wasn't a total shitshow. If I had any dreams, I don't remember them. I stretch, open my eyes, and realize I'm no longer in the bathroom. Onyx must've carried me in at some point during the night. I slowly open my eyes and pray that I can see. My right eye is alright, but my left is still blurry, I can see better than last night at least, and it doesn't hurt anymore. I reach my hand to gently touch my face and smile when I find it healed. I get up, throw some clothes on, and then walk into the bathroom. I splash some water on my face and look in the mirror. Three prominent scars run diagonally across my face from the top of my eyebrow, then across my left eye and nose to the corner of my lips, stopping under my jaw. I sigh and hear laughing in the living room. I walk in, and I'm shocked to see Onyx and Fergus talking and drinking like old friends. They turn their heads when I walk in, and Onyx stands up to hug me. Well, he tries to, at least. He reeks of liquor and can barely walk. What the hell is this?

"Mallory! My beautiful little wolf, I missed you, baby! Look at your scar. It looks badass! How did you sleep?"

He slurs his words and almost falls over multiple times as he talks.

"Fine. What's uh... what's going on?"

"I was just having a drink with Ferfus."

"Ferfus? It sounds like you had the whole bar."

"Oh, come on. I thought this was what you wanted. You wanted us to get along, and we are."

I look at Fergus and raise an eyebrow, and he shakes his head. I sigh and take Onyx's hand.

"You're about to drop. Time to go sleep it off, big guy."

"I'm not even drunk. I've never been this sober in my life."

He stumbles back and starts to fall, and I almost lose my grip.

"Let's go. You're hammered, Onyx."

"Jesus, fine."

I walk behind him to ensure he doesn't fall, and he drops into bed, already out. I quietly close the door and step back into the living room to sit on the couch. I sit next to Fergus and grab the bottle off of the table. I take a long pull from it, then lay back and close my eyes with a sigh.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I don't know what's gotten into him lately. He never acts like this. When did he carry me to bed?"

"He didn't. He ran out early with those two guys, and I didn't even know you were still lying in the shower until I came in to take one. You were out, and your skin was ice cold from the water. You were shivering in your sleep. I shut the water off and carried you back to bed. I sat next to it to make sure you were alright, but after ten minutes, you were still shivering, and your lips were blue, so I shifted and curled up next to you under the blanket and laid my head on your waist to get your body heat back up. Onyx is fucking stupid. You were just attacked and lost a considerable amount of blood, and he leaves you under ice-cold water with absolutely no heat source. It was making you freeze. I waited until I heard Onyx returning, then got up and went to the living room. He wasn't happy I moved you, but he shut up once I called him out for his idiocy."

"Oh. Well, thanks for warming me up. How is he?"

"He's hurting. He feels guilty."

"Guilty? For what?"

"Exiling you, not keeping you safe from Pine or the mountain lion, and acting like a madman. His words, not mine."

"He knows he had no choice but to exile me. If he didn't, I would've died. And he isn't my keeper. I've gotten hurt many times, and it's never his fault."