Page 35 of The Lost Ones

We all glance around at each other and voice our agreement. Either way, she means the world to each of us and we will not lose her now.

"Good, we will tell her tomorrow morning after breakfast. We need to tell her soon or she's going to run before we can explain it to her." Levi adds as soon as we’ve agreed.

A sombre mood permeates the living room. The thought of losing her causes an actual physical pain in my chest right over my heart. From the way the others are grasping at their chests they can feel it too.Although I feel better knowing that we can tell her soon, that she will soon understand everything that has been going on and why we feel like we do or at least why we think, we feel like we do. I still have a foreboding feeling, like something bad is going to happen and I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.

Suddenly an ear-piercing scream rings out through the house. Immediately all of us have our guns out and are racing on silent feet towards Sage's room.Our training kicks in and with Levi in the lead using hand signals to direct us, we silently enter the room all of us expecting the worst.As soon as we enter, we secure the room and I'm thankful that there isn't an intruder, but my relief instantly evaporates as my eyes land on Sage crying and thrashing around in the bed.

I rush forward.

"She's having a nightmare! We can't wake her, it's dangerous but we can try to comfort her." Levi explains.

I lie down next to her on top of the covers. Levi does the same on her other side. Kai, Hunter and Jax all crowd around the bottom of the bed and on the large, padded bench that's placed there and lay their hands on Sage through the covers. As soon as we are all touching her, on top of the covers, she calms down completely.

"Don't leave me, don't make me go. Mine.” She whispers brokenly.

"We won't, Darling." Levi replies, settling her further, obviously correctly guessing what she is muttering about.

Once she seems to have settled down, we each start to move away but as soon as Levi lifts his hand she starts whimpering again until he puts it back.We all exchange a look.

"Looks like we aren't going anywhere.” Hunter chuckles lightly.

We all settle in for the night and I fall asleep more quickly and more settled than I ever have before.With our woman in our arms.

Chapter Eleven

Iawake feeling too hot and . . . Heavy? That doesn't make much sense.Awakening a bit more I realise the reason I feel weighed down. I have two sets of arms wrapped around my waist and legs intertwined with mine.I don't have a second of doubt about whether it's my men holding me or not. The pleasant thrum of Sparks comforts me and lets me know that I am surrounded by all five of them.

With my eyes still closed, I challenge myself to guess where each one of my guys are in the room to see if my new instinct from last night is still working.I take a deep breath and focus on thoughts of my guys; I can easily discern that Levi is snuggled up behind me and Maverick is in front of me.I know that the other three are by my feet but figuring out who is whom is slightly more difficult.I concentrate harder and without fully understanding why, I concentrate on the new Imprint tattoo on my sternum.

As soon as I've done so, It’s like a switch has been flipped and I can tell that sitting on the bench by my feet are Hunter, Jax and Kai, in that order.Still in my fog of sleep I open my eyes to see if I'm right and grin widely when I see I am.

"That's a beautiful sight to wake up to Titch." Maverick says, his voice gravelly with sleep.

My mood suddenly plummets as I recall what happened last night.

“Why are you all in here with me?” I ask shakily, barely daring to hope it’s because they still want me around them.

“You had a bad dream Sweetheart. We didn’t want to leave you.” Hunter replies from down by my feet.

I wriggle myself out of the grip Levi and Maverick have on me and hug my knees to my chest. It doesn’t make much sense. I was sure they wouldn’t want anything to do with me after the display I put on with Jax. I glance at the end of the bed and find Jax already smiling reassuringly at me.

“I can see you overthinking Darling, coffee first and then we have a few things we need to talk to you about.” Levisays gently.

“It’s nothing bad Beautiful, promise.” Kai says, trying to reassure me.

I give him a small smile in return and wait as the guys all exit the room to go to the kitchen before following quietly behind. My feet sink into the plush carpet as I follow them down the wide staircase.

My mind is whirring with all the possibilities of what they could want to talk to me about, none of them good. Kai wouldn’t lie to me though and he said there was nothing to worry about. Of course, their version of nothing to worry about and my version could be completely different. Suddenly a cup of coffee appears in my hands. I’d been so lost in thought, I hadn’t even realised that I had made it to the kitchen. I glance around and can’t help but admire the guys in their sleep mussed state. As soon as we all have mugs of coffee, Jax turns to me.

“Come on Little Star it’s time we explained some things. Just try to keep an open mind. Please?” Jax pleads with me, his sapphire blue eyes worried.

I nod my head in agreement feeling even more confused than I did before, as Jax leads me to the huge dark wood dining table we ate dinner at last time I was here, and we take a seat joining the rest of the guys. I take a moment to study their postures and I feel a small modicum of relief that they all seem relaxed.

Except on closer inspection I can see Hunters hands clenching and unclenching, tightness around Levi’s eyes and Jax’s mouth, Kai tapping his fingers repeatedly and Maverick rubbing the back of his neck every now and then. My men are worried about whatever they are about to tell me and that immediately causes me to tense back up.

“Before explaining anything I need to ask you a personal question that might help us to explain. Is that ok?” Levi ask sincerely.

I simply nod too nervous to talk.