Talons

Chapter 144: The Zombie

Rhea's POV

After confirming that Tyson was safe and fast asleep in his room, I returned to my camping gear, feeling as though I would need it much sooner than expected. I patched the tears and put everything away before turning to find Dolton watching me.

“Please not now,” I say. Now that I'm starting to feel the bond, his words might hurt me, and I really don’t want that to happen.

“I’m not here to talk about my brother. I’m here to ask you for tips on how to handle your aunt.” I had forgotten that Titi Beautiful was coming, and if the information we have is correct, she should already be on Claw territory, likely catching up with her sister before coming to the Iron pack.

“She is a lot like Miracle, only, a little more ‘free.’” Dolton looks completely confused, so I tell him that my aunt has vastly different ideals on morality from my mother. “My aunt runs a nightclub; all of her daughters worked as floor girls.” Dolton’s eyes widen and I feel like I shouldn’t have said anything. 

“I thought Miracle was joking.” I stifle a laugh before shaking my head in the negative, and the man suddenly hits me with a question that makes me burst into uncontrolled laughter.

“It's a club, not a brothel. She never forced Miracle to do anything, and truthfully, your mate probably would have killed anyone who tried anything with her anyway.” That seems to cheer Dolton up, and trying to be nice, he helps me get my stuff together and back to Colton’s suite.

“Hey, B; I know it's not my place but… Colt-” The door swings open with force and Colton looks between me and Dolton before swinging.

Colton’s POV

I’m little again, so I know I’m dreaming. Rhea is running into the woods without an adult, and because my father has started to warn us about rogue attacks, I go after her. She stops, and her small arms wrap around me, squeezing tightly, but she barely manages to get out her words before my father rips her from my arms.

“Keep your filthy hands off my son, you abomination.” My father tosses Rhea, but he’s smart about it, and she lands in a thistle bush instead of hitting a tree.

I try to help her, but my father tells me that I will be blamed if I stay, so I leave when he pulls me away. I can hear my mate crying, but I don’t understand what she is saying. When I am far enough, my father goes back, telling me he is going to help the girl, but I don’t believe him, so I grab onto his leg, trying to stop him from leaving. 

“You would choose that little atrocity over your own blood?” The man grabs a fist full of my hair and I bite his leg in retaliation. “How much longer are you going to hold onto this obsession?” He questions, pulling me away and backhanding me hard enough to make my body go limp. 

I wake in a cold sweat and run to the restroom where I spill the contents of my stomach which isn’t much, and then I hear someone outside of my door. I open it to reveal my mate and my brother staring at one another, but I won’t let anyone take her away from me again, so I swing. 

Dolton is barely able to dodge, so my fist connects with the tip of his chin, but before he can fight back, my mate jumps in between us. 

“Colton,” Rhea says. “He was just helping me. Nothing else. He already has a mate, remember?” My mind clears and in response, I pull Rhea into a hug that I know must be confusing to her.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.” My mate's mouth didn’t move, but I heard her voice in my mind, telling me that I was just a child.

“You don’t look good bro, let's get you some water and something to eat.” I quickly apologize to my brother, who seems to be taking his cues from my mate, and while Rhea goes to the kitchen to prepare me a meal, Dolton helps me into my room for a shower. “What the hell was that about?”

“I think dad f*cked with my memories,” I admit. “I keep having these dreams that I know are from the past, but I don’t know how else I would have forgotten them.”

“Not just you,” Dolton adds. “Your mate is having dreams as well; she just doesn’t want you to know.”

“Why?”

“My guess is that she’s scared. Like I said before, talk to your mate. Also, I’m not retaliating because I hit you not long ago, but we are even now. So unless you're ready for a challenge, keep your f*cking hands to yourself.” I chuckle at my brother who playfully shoves me toward the shower. “You’re lucky your mate can’t smell, because you reek right now.”

Rhea’s POV

I quickly prepared a meal for Colton and by the time he is done showering, I’ve already served him and prepared a takeaway container for Dolton and Miracle. The man leaves, and Colton asks me to sit with him, which I do.

His hair is in its natural state, and it reminds me of the Colton from my dreams, which makes me  feel sad again.

"You know, it was pretty mean of you to call your ex right in front of me," he says, and I retort by reminding him of what happened prior. "Truce?" He questions.

"Ceasefire," I reply, making him laugh. 

Colton is really a handsome man, especially when he laughs or smiles. I can now remember having a crush on him when I was too little to even know what it was I felt, and I find myself wondering what we could have been if he didn't start hating me.

“Life would have been completely different,” Sylvia says, and her tone lets me know that she’s feeling the same way.

Colton’s POV

My mate is staring at me the way I usually stare at her, but when I look up, she looks away. So while I can feel it, I can't confirm it.

Eventually I get tired of trying to catch her and I ask her about her dreams.

"I know I asked before but, do you remember when we first met?" Asking my mate that question right now was a mistake because she immediately got up and ran to her room as if I said something wrong. 

"Imagine what she must be feeling," Orlin adds. "What if we were fated to someone who treated us the way our father did?"

"I would be devastated," I reply, and because I know I only have myself to blame, I clear my mess and head to my room where I literally wallow in self-pity.

Rhea's POV

It’s been a long time since I've cried myself to sleep, but last night was one of those nights. I didn’t even get out of bed until Miracle came to get me, and the only reason I got up was because her mother will be here any minute now.

I do my morning routine, slip into something comfortable, and wait in front of the packhouse with everyone else.

“Are you okay?” Mandy asks, but I’m not really sure and I’d rather not talk about it. 

“She’s here,” Miracle says excitedly, but I don’t perk up. I stay back, allowing Miracle time to speak to her mother before she finally approaches me.

“Gordita; I’m so sorry… I heard the news. Where is the as*hole who hurt you?” I point back to Colton who has otherwise been ignoring me. “Coño,*” she says, taking an exaggerated step back. “Gorda… he’s… how does it fit?”

“I… We don’t-”

“Oh my goddess!” My aunt starts chuckling before looking at Colton with a pitying gaze. “You must wake up blue every morning.”

“Titi,” I say. “Please don’t.” My aunt looks at me in shock, and then in Spanish, she asks if I want her to kill me. I barely get to respond before I’m roughly pulled backward, and I recognize from the warmth that it's Colton holding me.

“You try it and see what happens.” Dolton and Miracle react quickly, and the situation is mediated before it gets out of hand, although now, I feel like I want to go back to bed.

Everyone goes back to excitedly talking around me, but eventually their voices just sound like the buzzing of flies. Miracle has since introduced her mate to her mother, who has a similar reaction to the man, but he takes it in stride, telling the woman that she shouldn’t be jealous, which I’m sure earned him points with my very candid aunt.

“Gordita,” my aunt says, pulling me away from the plate of food I was staring at and back up at the table I guess I must have joined. “Blink twice if you need help.”

Colton’s POV

I thought Miracle was bad, but her mother is worse. She has been calling me ‘Azul,’ which I know means blue, since Rhea pointed me out.

 I haven’t gotten over the fact that she offered to kill my mate, and if it weren’t for Holly, I would never have known. Since then, my mate has been like a zombie, but I guess that isn’t really a fair assessment because she hasn’t been herself since she woke.

Lisette seems to love Dolton, who laughs at all her jokes while Miracle hides her face in embarrassment. I guess the girl can’t tell that she has the same personality, just like I came really close to becoming my father.

“Something is really wrong,” Orlin says, looking at my mate who only managed to let out a brief smile when her aunt asked her to blink twice.

I will be glad when the woman is gone, because I can foresee this situation becoming a mess, and because I deserve life to be difficult for me, Jessica makes her way into the dining hall with her parents. 

I go to intercept them, but the audacious couple tells me that the future luna has every right to join any meal she sees fit. That comment doesn’t go over Lissette’s head, and based on the way my mate’s shoulders slumped, she heard it as well.

“I don’t feel very well,” Rhea suddenly says. “I should probably go eat something and rest.” I don’t think my mate ever realized that there was food right in front of her, but before I can follow, Mandy links, telling me to let her handle Rhea while I handle Jessica.

I agree to it, and remain seated.