Page 109

Chapter 31

Calax

My brothers…

I turned from face to face, memorizing them. Fallon’s longer hair was hanging limp and disheveled around his face, dirt and blood streaked on his cheeks. Asher was similarly bedecked in blood and soot, the color staining his blond hair. Ronan and Declan moved to stand in front of the group, in front of Bitch, with their mouths agape.

They stared at me as if I was a ghost. A painting come to life.

“What...how…?” Ronan sputtered, venturing a trembling step towards me. “How are you alive?”

“Long story. No time,” I grunted, but my damn eyes burned with tears.

“What happened? Is she hurt?” Fallon roared, the first to come out of whatever funk they were in. I understood the feeling all too well.

Seeing someone you loved standing in front of you, someone you thought was dead, was mind boggling, to say the least. You couldn’t differentiate between up and down, left and right. Your entire world was tilted, your reality skewed.

“She’s in shock,” I explained, handing her over to Fallon somewhat reluctantly. I didn’t want to relinquish my claim. The feel of her in my arms, as if she was meant to be there, was addicting, my drug of choice.

Fallon brushed at her hair reverently, love, awe, and hope all emanating from his eyes. Addie continued to stare blankly ahead, her sooty lashes fluttering against her cheekbones with every blink. I wondered what was going on in that pretty, chaotic mind of hers. I sometimes wondered which one was the actual apocalypse: reality or our own minds.

I knew she struggled with depression. I knew that my ‘death’ had haunted her. Hell, her reaction at seeing me again said enough.

But I hadn’t realized how precarious her grip on sanity was. How her fingers gripped the edge of the cliffside as rain and snow pelted her face and fingers. How she just wanted to let go and drop into the abyss waiting down below.

“I can’t believe you guys are both alive,” Ronan whispered. He moved to Addie first, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, before moving to me. He gripped me in a fierce hug, and while normally I would shy away from physical contact, I pulled him even closer.

“Your hair’s gotten longer,” I said hoarsely, ruffling the green-streaked locks. He sniffled.

“Your face has gotten uglier,” he retorted.

“That’s scarily true.”

Ronan was replaced by Asher who hugged me just as tightly. He was immediately followed by Declan.

“Where’s Ryder and Tamson?” I asked, scanning the sea of faces desperately. If something had happened to them…

I would murder everyone in this fucking compound. That might be the knife that finally cut Addie beyond fixing. That might be the dagger that reopened all of her previously scabbed wounds, bleeding her out.

“They’re fine,” Fallon whispered, eyes flickering from my face to Addie’s. I had never seen such emotion on his face. It was a heady combination of hope and agony. “But fuck, I’m glad you guys are okay.”

“Me too.” I turned towards where Bitch had fallen, dead. “Sorry about your ex-girlfriend. But she was kind of a psychotic bitch with murderous tendencies.”

“Fallon has a type,” Declan signed with a small smirk, and Fallon laughed, a quick, sharp sound that seemed to bubble out of him.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Calax.” Fallon’s words were directed at me, but his face was pressed against Addie’s forehead. “I didn’t know you were alive, or else I would’ve come for you. I’m sorry that people I know...my ex…”

“And your uncle,” I mumbled. His brows furrowed, a crease forming on his tanned skin.

“My uncle?” He exchanged anxious glances with the other men. “How far does this fucking go?”

“All the way to the top,” I replied. But now wasn’t the time to discuss all I had learned. We needed to get out of here. Now.

“How do we fix her?” Ronan asked, peering down at Addie. She looked so small in Fallon’s arms. So frail. So vulnerable.

“If I may?” a clipped voice asked. I turned towards the familiar male, eyes narrowing. It was the doctor from the store. The one who was present when Addie was shot, just before I arrived here.

What the fuck was he doing with my team? My family? Nobody else seemed bothered by his presence, Fallon going as far as to twist Addie towards him.