Page 20 of Miles's Pact
Seven
Miles
I blinked into the dark and reached for my water only to smack my hand against bare wood. Right, I was at the dads' place.
Sitting up, I glared at the clock that told me it was three in the morning, and wondered why I was awake at this godawful hour.
Fighting with the sheets in a manner that was far too graceless for a shifter, I got out of bed, and slipped out of my room with as little sound as possible.
I was about to head downstairs to find that glass of water when a soft thump from Micah's room made me stop. Was Duckie okay? A wave of terror hit me through our bond, and I was rushing across the hallway and pushing the door open before I'd processed anything.
Duckie was sitting on the edge of the bed, and the terror he'd felt dissipated as fast as it'd hit. I padded closer to him, though itwasn't hard to tell what had happened. I was intimately familiar with nightmares, and I'd spent many nights curled up against a sleeping Mateo as I tried to calm myself down enough to fall back asleep.
You wanna talk about it?I asked through the bond, not wanting to wake the others. I'd realized that I could direct what I said so it reached one or both of my mates, which was useful in situations like these.
Duckie glanced up at me, his face shadowed in the dark room. He glanced at the spot beside him, and I sat down on the edge of the bed. With me sitting and him standing on the mattress, he didn't have to crane his neck to meet my eyes for once.
I had a nightmare.
About something specific or...I trailed off, and melancholy filled our bond, making my chest ache.
When I was eight, two armed men broke into our house in the middle of the night. My mom told me to shift and hid me in a cabinet. They... they killed them both. I can still hear the sound of the gunshots. They found me, but they thought I was a duck, and they were going to eat me, but I managed to escape. I've been drifting since, too scared to shift back. I've tried to many times, but I always panic.
Duckie fell quiet as I digested what he'd revealed. No wonder he was so unwilling to shift back.
Mateo and I had been abandoned as babies. We'd never known our birth parents. But I knew that even as an adult, it would break me if someone killed my dads, or Mateo. Going through that as a kid? I couldn't even imagine it.
God, Duckie. I'm so sorry.The words didn't feel like enough, but I didn't know what else I could say. Or do. I didn't think anything would make him feel better.
Duckie shrugged, and I slid closer to him, pressing our sides together in an offer of comfort. He leaned into me, his feathers soft against the bare skin of my arm.
Do you remember where you lived?I asked after a few minutes. Maybe I could find out if the men had ever been caught. Maybe having some closure would give him some peace. Maybe I could find out his parents' resting place and we could pay them a visit.
Yeah. We had a small house in South Hill, Tacoma,but I don't remember the exact address. I've never been able to bring myself to go back. Why?
No reason,I told him, not wanting to get his hopes up in case I found nothing.Can I ask how old you are? I can tell you're an adult, but beyond that I'm clueless. I'm twenty-four.
You're younger than me! I didn't realize that. I'm twenty-nine.
Twenty-nine? That meant he'd spent twenty-one years all alone drifting from place to place as a duck. Fuck.
Can I hug you?I blurted out, and Duckie's eyes snapped to mine.
Um, sure, he answered after a beat, and I reached out, winding my arms around his middle, careful not to squeeze too tight as I picked him up and held him to me.
He was warm and soft in my arms, and while it was nowhere near as comforting as hugging a human, it still made me feel calmer.
I placed Duckie back on the bed before it got awkward, then scratched the back of my head.I should let you get back to bed.
Thank you for checking on me.
Offering him a smile, I left the room, and padded downstairs for a glass of water before returning to my room.
I climbed under the sheets as Duckie's story circled in my mind, and realized I wouldn't fall back asleep anytime soon. Iwas unsettled. I needed to do something, help Duckie somehow, make things better in some way.
Maybe if I could find out what had happened to the men who killed his parents...
Grabbing my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until I found Nash's name, and opened a text window. My thumbs flew over the keypad as I typed the message.
