Sweetest Devotion | ✓

eight

"West Savannah (feat. SZA)" -Isaiah Rashad, SZA

     Bonnie had slept for an hour and while she slept, the three others in the cabin were downstairs talking in hushed voices. All three were outside on the back deck with beers in hand. 

     They all sat around a large glass outdoor dining set, in plush chairs that looked to be brand new. Nora didn't know how Sean did it, he barely slept at the place so how did he keep it so clean?

     Nora took a long sip from her beer as she looked out into the field, her dark eyebrows furrowed together in thought, "Has she ever acted like that before?" Marcus asked the witch. She shook her head solemnly.

     "No, at least...not that I know of."

     "Tell me about her life in Santa Ana. I need to think of something happy," The Beta asked.

     Nora noticed how quiet the Alpha had been since they left her upstairs to sleep, "If ya want somethin' happy then I probably shouldn't talk 'bout 'er life in Cali."

     "What do you mean?"

     "That's enough, Beta," The Alpha spoke.

     Sean had done nothing but think of his mate for the past few days. He had expected her to be this innocent, small, defenseless human that he could care for, that he could love unconditionally. 

     But, that wasn't the case. His mate was short and beautiful, yes. But she wasn't human or at least, not fully. And she wasn't defenseless, you could see just by the dark green of her eyes. And from what Nora has told him, she went through things that she shouldn't have gone through. 

     His mate was tired and sad. She was terrified and Sean thought about how much harder it would be to love someone so hurt. It wasn't going to be easy like it was for everyone else.

     The Beta listened to his Alpha and Sean was pleased. For the first time in days, he didn't want to think about his mate. He didn't want to think of the bad things she had gone through. When Nora called him while she was ransacking Bonnie's apartment, he had been outraged at the photos the witch had sent him. 

     The place was a pit. There were dirty dishes and clothes scattered over the small space, the mattress on the floor was old and looked as if it was passed down from her family, and the bathroom...The shower was held together by duct tape and the door to the bathroom couldn't open all the way because of the toilet being in the way.

     Then when Nora had discussed payment with the landlord...It took all of his willpower not to jump on a plane just to kick the guy's ass himself. Nora said she would take care of the man but Sean still didn't know what she had done to him.

      Sean was worried that Nora might have left a lot of his mate's things behind because of the small amount of luggage. Everything worth keeping of hers was in a medium-sized duffel bag and she only owned one pair of shoes that looked to be as old as her.

     "Sean?" Nora called for him.

     He got out of his headspace, "What is it?"

     "Don't think 'bout it too much," The witch spoke lowly, "It only brings heartache to both you and 'er. She's better now because of ya. That's a good thing."

     He could only nod back, not completely convinced. It hurt to think about his mate. It hurt before when he didn't find her when he was twenty-one and it hurt now at twenty-six when she was sleeping in his bed.

      Before, it was because he hadn't found her like everyone else had found their mates, so he dived into his work full time and built the cabin as a safe house when needed but really...it was for his mate and him to spend their life together.