killer instinct - || h.s. ||

90

TRIPLE UPDATE!
read chapters 88 & 89 before this one.

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" we've traveled the seas, we've ridden the stars "

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aurora astor.

Sleep never came. I hardly expected it to, even in the embrace of my lover's arms. The steady breaths of his tickling across my neck only remind me of life and its counterpart: death.

Every time I dare to close my eyes, the flashbacks haunt me like reels of the past. The crimson stains each of the frames, the very same shade that covered my fingers as I tried to save Jules, Louis, Mia, and my brother.

All of them.

And I couldn't bear it, couldn't bear to live through that again and again.

So I chose the latter. I stared into the darkness that coated our small motel room, finding it an intimate friend these days. I savor every long blink, the only momentary peace I could grasp while my fingertips brush against Leo's little head.

But the sun rose again, as it always seems to do nowadays. It spills through the sheer curtains drawn shut, illuminating a golden iridescence over the worn-out room's walls that nauseatingly warp around me.

I cautiously twist in the cradle of his arms, adjusting my eyes to the golden light as it pours over his sleepy features. And that crease between his eyebrows still drawn tight, as if even his head haunted him in his sleep too.

I mindlessly ease away the furrow with my thumb in a few gentle caresses, earning an exhausted hum from him in his content sleep. I lean up against his warm frame, tucked tight against the warmth exuding from his chest, to tenderly kiss the crease away.

He remains within sleep's embrace while I manage to untangle myself from his inked arms wrapped around me. And he rolls over onto his belly in the slight stir to his consciousness, squishing his cheek against the pillow.

Leo stirs awake at the sudden movement, wandering over to Harry's warmth to plop himself down in a little furball beside him. Grumbling in his sleep, Harry wraps an arm around his small frame with a hum of contentment before snuggling with him.

I dangle my legs off the edge of the bed, sighing as I lean my weight back upright. I glance down at my upper arm, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt swimming on me to peek at the dressing. I lift up to my feet, wandering over to the open duffel bag on the floor to gather the fresh supplies from my bag.

I stomach a granola bar with some gummy bears we picked up at a gas station on the way before swallowing down my antibiotics and painkillers. I sit myself down into the chair, laying out the new dressing on the nightstand to work under the faint glow of the sunlight pouring in.

Tugging off his shirt from my body, leaving me in just this sports bra, I carefully cut the dressing to reveal the stitches healing nicely. I clean the wound, clenching down on my jaw at the radiation of pain stinging through my upper arm. I begin wrapping up the sterile wound, around and around until a familiar voice greets me.

"How's it today?" He raspily murmurs, his voice coated in sleep as it slightly catches me by surprise.

His puffy eyes still half-shut as he longingly gazes at me – the sight alone almost coaxing me back into the bed with him just to simply stare at it all.

I softly smile, regarding the way he tucks Leo's little frame further against his.

"It's fine," I assure him as I cut the piece off and rip at the tape with my teeth before setting it into place. I clean up my things, tossing the old dressing out before sinking into the edge of the bed to lean over him.