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“Silla,” I whisper, dropping my arms to take her hands. “It’ll mean that you’ll be free. You won’t have to look over your shoulder constantly, no pretending to not have an opinion on things, and most importantly you’ll be safe.”

Eyes widening, they start to fill with tears as she realizes the magnitude of what that would mean.

“I don’t even know what it means to be safe,” she whispers. “I mean… I really just thought I’d finish this mission and then jump in the river. I don’t want to go back. I can’t. I won’t.”

“Pet,” Sidney murmurs, moving to push her hair away to cup her face. “You are too important to throw your life away. I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through. I can’t speak to what you will only speak about in small truth bombs, but I know you’re one of the most beautiful people that I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.”

Silla winces when Sidney talks about the truth bombs, but I shake my head. “No, we don’t ever need to know if you don’t want to tell us. You don’t owe us shit. We want to be sure we don’t trigger you or upset you if there’s something you dislike now. However, if you do ever want to talk about things, I had an unpleasant experience with the guards once while I was in the dungeon.”

Silla’s eyes search my face before her lips tremble. “No,” she whispers, but I shake my head. I didn’t tell her for pity, just so that she could feel a little less alone.

“I’m okay,” I murmur, squeezing her hands. “My point for telling you, is that I leaned on the guys a lot, and they helped me feel a little more like myself. I was in a dark place, still am some days if I’m being honest, but if you ever want to talk or break things, I’m your girl.”

The guys smirk at my words.

“I’ve broken plenty of things in my office,” Gray admits, shrugging. We all look at him surprised, and his cheeks get ruddy with embarrassment. “I have a really good hold on my emotions, but we’ve all felt helpless in the last year. There’s merit in fucking shit up.”

Silla pulls away with a smile, standing. Moving over to Grayson, she brushes her lips over his forehead.

“So who’s coming to bed?” she asks, and everyone not already standing does so.

“Can Sidney give you something for your pain?” I ask carefully.

Silla turns, surprised. “I’m usually better at hiding it,” she says.

“You don’t have to hide anything from us,” Isaac admonishes. “Your body is healing, and I’m sure being in constant pain affects that.”

“It does.” Sidney sighs. “Come on, Little Love. They’re all going to take awhile to get ready for bed. How does a bath sound?”

“Someone may have to check and make sure I don’t fall asleep,” she chuckles. Silla says it without guile, and I can see it’s because she’s tired, not because she’s having ill-intentioned thoughts.

“I’m going to grab a shower,” I agree. “We’ll all meet in the middle bedroom for cuddles!” Something about talking about the dungeon and my experience just makes me feel dirty. I’m sure that may change with time, but for now, showers make me feel cleansed, even though I took one before dinner.

“Ayeeee!” the guys call out as we part ways in the hallway, making me smile.

We may all come out of this together, after all.

AYDEN

Someone is whimpering in bed with us. Sitting up with a gasp, I look for my sister. Andrya hasn’t had a nightmare in at least a week, but trauma doesn’t stay quiet for long. Blinking in the dark room, I see someone struggling in the blankets.

Silla got caught up in the sheets, because Grayson trapped her accidentally with his arm. Grabbing a pillow, I fix the problem in the quickest way possible: I reached across and hit Gray with it.

Gasping, he lifts his heavy arm, which means Silla can free herself. Kicking the sheets off with a strangled scream, she wakes herself up. The light is too far for me to reach, so I start talking to her.

“Silla, you’re safe. You had a nightmare, where something was probably trying to hurt you. But that’s not real, not right now. You’re completely safe. Can you hear me, Kitten?” I ask.

Stilling, her heavy breaths sound harsh in the quiet room. Shifting next to her, Andrya makes a snuffling sound as she starts to wake up. On the other side of me, Sidney sits up.

“Yes,” Silla whispers. “Gods, I’m so sorry.” Putting her hands over her face, she groans, sitting up. “I should have known this wasn’t going to work.”

“I trapped you in the bedsheets,” Grayson says sheepishly, turning on the light over Isaac’s body. “This one was totally on me.”

“Did you?” Silla asks, dropping her hands with a nervous giggle.

“Oh, yeah. I’m a fucking dickweed,” Gray says with a grin. “Forgive me?”

Our giant is literally a simp for this girl. It’s so funny, because he’s so growly most of the time.