Page 57 of Bred By Sor'en

“If you are not back before nightfall, I will burn this city to the ground, Hue,” Sor’en warns, his sidekick warbling in agreement.

My cheeks heat as I nod; they’re gone in the next instant. My hands tremble with excitement as I pull the flowers from behind my back, ensuring they aren’t crumpled, and finally head for the city center.

twenty-eight

Hue

My toe catches on the lip of Jin’s tent, making me stumble just inside. “Shit.” I smooth over the lip that I’d peeled up with the bottom of my foot before heading the rest of the way in. “Don’t try to say I broke that. It was messed up before—"

My words cut off at the scene before me.

The bundle of Sor’en’s flowers hit the ground with a featherlight thud. “Jin.”

Jin is lying on his bed in the corner of the room, a bundle of black flowers placed over his face. My footsteps are weighted and sluggish as I cross the tent to him. “Jin…hey,” I choke out, my heart pounding so hard it hurts my chest, but slower than it should. Like my blood is thicker than it was seconds ago. Like maybe there’s even less of it.

No. No. No. No. No.

My entire body is trembling as I fall to my knees beside his bed, shaking the bed harder than I should. “Jin’rayal, dramatics really don’t suit you. Knock it off.” My voice sounds weird, far away, like I’m listening to it through somebody else's ears. “Jin’rayal!”

I finally work up the courage to touch him, and for a minute, his cold, leathery skin is dark fur, a tail hanging limp from a bed. I stand up, shaking him harder, watching in horror as his head lolls limply to the side, displacing the flowers, a sob bursting free from my throat. “Jin! Jin, please!”

I shove the flowers the rest of the way off his worn, boned face, trying to get his attention, to see any sign of life as my sobs grow louder, deeper, more unhinged. I don’t know the exact moment I start screaming or necessarilywhy. I can't pinpoint the moment in time when another Xyrelith, one I don’t know well, pulls me away from the older man, from my friend.

I sob, fighting his hold. “Let go! Let fucking go of me!” I scream, shoving and slapping at the male. While he holds tighter with one arm, clearing the space above my head with the other, trying to calm me. I just hit him harder.

He ignores it just as the Balla’mar rushes into the tent, his long robes catching on the stupid lip. “Go get her, mate,” he orders the other male, and more are coming, gathering around the opening as I sob, big gasping sobs so hard your throat feels like it’ll bleed.

My hands are shaking as I mumble out apologies, fixing the flowers I threw off my friend.

“I’m sorry, Jin,” I sob.

The Balla’mar’s hand finds my back in what should be a soothing gesture. I flinch instead, shaking him off like he’s diseased. Something I’ve never felt the need to do before.

He schools his shock quickly, but something odd in my chest is going haywire, my thoughts scrambling around in my brain. Justas Sor’en enters the tent, I stand shoving the Balla’mar. “What is wrong with you? Get out! You shouldn’t see him like this.”

The male barely reacts, staring at my mate as if I’ve lost my mind.

Sor’en finds me next, his hands too much on my skin, so I shake them off too, casting my incensed wet eyes around the spectating group. Their calm, unmoved faces like a blade to my gut. “What is fucking wrong with you people? Why don’t you care?”

“Shhh,” Sor’en soothes me again, ordering everyone out. “Of course we care, my soulveil. Please, please calm yourself, my mate.”

Lyr’ael enters next, and for once, I’m not happy to see her. Sor’en holds me as I thrash in his arms, sobbing. “He has passed, human sister. It is a good thing. His soul was thinning as he lingered.”

“It is not good!” I scream, fighting my mate's hold. To get where, I don’t know. “He’sgone!”

She strokes my cheeks, desperately wiping away my tears. “Please calm Hue, he was suffering in this plane. He is with you always. Hechoseyou as his.”

I shake my head and, like flipping a switch, the fight leaves me. The anger that has made my life bearable since I was small leaves me. My legs give out just as Sor’en pulls me to his chest, letting my tears soak his neck. “Please,” I gasp. “Please, Sor’en, don’t leave him alone.”

“I would never.”

I sob wildly into his neck before he grips my chin, forcing me to face him. “Look at me, Hue.”

I do or try to through my tears.

“I will take care of him for you.”

Another sob leaves my throat, but I nod, casting another look at the old male lying prone on the bed, wishing I had stayed alittle longer yesterday. Wishing I had come earlier, said more, lingered past my welcome. Wishing I had been bigger and stronger, that I had been able to fight them as they launched Sofaxi out of the airlock like space trash.