Sapphire Bones

Brave

"Too bad," I added, catching his attention again. "I would've loved to kno-," I stopped as Cole started to stir. "No," I whispered and pushed forward onto my knees while he slowly woke. Cole stretched his arms out and shoved them into the ground to heave himself into a sitting position but he struggled, arms shaking from weakness.

"Cole," Roddy bolted toward him and helped him up, casting me a glance with wide eyes. I returned the look and bit my bottom lip enough to pull a shred of loose skin from the edge. "Hey, Cole," Roddy eased as his mate rubbed his eyes and looked at his surroundings.

"What happened?" Cole asked after a minute.

"Do you not remember anything?" I asked and got to my feet and walked over to him but I kept my distance like before. He lost it once, I wasn't positive he wouldn't go berserk again. "You attacked me and then blacked out." I left out the first part. If he really didn't remember, I wasn't going to be the one to remind him of my sacrifice.

"I'm sorry," Cole looked up at me, sad eyes burning a hole into my brain. I couldn't see the color or the shakiness of his bottom eyelid but I knew the look anywhere even if all I could see was a faint outline of vaguely almond-shaped eyes. "I-,"

"Don't apologize," I raised a hand to stop him, and it worked. "It's the drugs."

"That doesn't excuse," he paused and put a palm to the side of his forehead, wincing at a hidden pain neither I or Roddy could see. "Violence," he finished shortly after the pain in his head settled. He removed his hand from his forehead and went to stand. Roddy hovered nearby while Cole stood up, only wavering on his feet once before getting his footing.

"It's nothing," I assured him with a nod, yet something inside me burned at the idea of forgiveness. A set of footsteps forced my head to whip around far enough to make my whole body turn. My hair whipped into my cheek as I watched in the distance through the trees as a faded, blurred shape approached. I gulped and waved a hand low to signal Roddy.

"He's coming," I muttered, and my companion stepped up, leaving his mate behind us. Roddy stood beside me, much taller than I was but in the moment as I could see our visitor and he couldn't, I felt so much larger. Not just the thumps of his feet hitting the ground, but the change of air quality around us. My nose not only sucked up the sweet smells of summer leaves and trees but a stench worse than rotting corpse mixed in the pot. Rogues had a specific smell. The kind that lingered in your nose and stuck in your memory. It made your eyes go wide, teeth clench and blood turn to ice.

"How far?"

"Two hundred yards, through the trees. You should be able to see him in a moment," I slowed my speech and kept it low as to not signal Cole but he stepped up on my other side before I could finish my thought.

"Is that?"

"Yes," I turned my attention to Roddy, eyes wide hoping to draw his attention but he ignored me and kept his eyes on the tree line.

"I see him," Roddy said after a minute. "Stick to the original plan," he whispered, hand hovering over my forearm.

"How?" I mumbled. "He's awake," I glanced to my other side. Cole kept his focus on the forest and the man who emerged from the depths, his figure an opaque, bright red form amongst a sea of blurred black.

"Just stick to the plan," Roddy sneered, an elbow into my ribs. I rocked onto my right foot but steadied myself before Cole noticed my sudden movement. I nodded and moved away from Roddy and Cole as to not signal our approaching rogue leader of any inside planning between the three of us. Roddy followed my lead and went back to one corner of the cage where he went to lean on the fence. Cole didn't move from his place where we left him. Tantalized with the approaching figure, he stood as a statue in the middle of the cage with his hands at his sides. I watched, but cast my gaze to Roddy several times in an attempt to catch his attention but he kept his eyes trained on Cole.