Bronze

Chapter 24 pt.2

Leah

"Lee, you're back!" Sofie cried as she ran to me. Picking her up, I swung her around in my arms before placing her back down on her feet. "Why did you leave?" 

Tiny tears fell from her eyes, coating her thick lashes like dew on blades of grass, clumping them together, and darkening her already black hairs. Wiping them away, I smiled. 

"I had important things to do, Pumpkin," I said sweetly, avoiding the glares I got from both men in the room. Derrive, who had waited patiently by the car, had realized quickly how silly it was to stay back and ran up to me before I could get to the shed. 

Sofie raised her arms and begged silently to be lifted again. I did so, knowing I would never hold her like this again. I stared into her adorably over-sized eyes, suddenly feeling tired. 

"Sofie," I said as I held back a yawn. "I want to introduce you to someone." I turned and pointed over to my bulky bodyguard by the door. He waved curtly at her, giving her his best I'm-a-good-guy look. 

"His name is Derrive," I told her as I walked his way. I held her to him with my outstretched arms, forcing her small body into his massive hands. He held her as she squirmed, afraid of the newcomer and stranger. "Don't be afraid, Sofie. He's really nice."

She didn't seem convinced. James, meanwhile, just stared at us as we tried to get her adjusted to the new man. He sat still on his stool, hands on his knees, bracing himself. 

"You're kind of cute," Der managed to say with a rumble to his chest. She stopped wiggling to awe at his face, eyes as wide as her mouth. I laughed quietly as to not disturb them. Then I walked over to James, pulled out the other stool, and sat down beside him. 

We didn't speak until Derrive took Sofie outside. She wanted to run around and use her legs, and he had wholeheartedly agreed to go with her. He might not have if he hadn't seen my face, though. I was smiling meekly, watching Sofie slowly relax against him, and the sadness I felt must've shown on my face. 

"So you're really going to marry him?" James asked avoiding my gaze.

I shifted uncomfortably, staring out the open door at the giant tossing the baby in the air like a sack of feathers. She giggled happily, forgetting for a moment that I had abandoned her a few days ago. 

I sighed, still in thought. "I have no choice."

"You always have a choice, Leah. Stop thinking that you don't." He shook his head vigorously. "I don't understand why you're doing this."

I turned to face him now, fear gripping every muscle in my neck and pulling against me. "When I ran away, I stumbled into the Bronze pack. I met some amazing people while living there," I told him as I thought of Wendy. A heated blush crept up the sides of my neck as I thought of someone else. 

"If this war continues, and the people I love get hurt... James, I can stop this before it even happens, don't you see?"

He stood, pushing the stool back with his thighs. The metal seat toppled to the floor, disrupting the people outside and startling me.

"So you're willing to sacrifice yourself?" he growled. He was angry, I could see that, and that anger was directed at me. I was too tired to feel anything else, but the spark of rage did hit me in the back of the head like a slight shock from an electrical socket. But as soon as it came, it disappeared.

"Wouldn't you? If you had the power to determine the fate of everyone you cared for, wouldn't you give up your life for them?" I could slowly feel my eyes closing, so I stood to move around a bit, hoping it would wake me up.