Otherworldly Darkness [Book 5]

Welcome Back.

"I guess you're right." I sighed. 

Of course I'm right. He snorted. I'm usually always right. 

"And cocky too..." I murmured rolling my eyes. 

Alright, give me a few minutes and I'll pass over the reigns to you. 

Without a response he disappeared into the darkness of my mind, once again leaving me with the tormenting voice that had been plaguing me this entire time. It's an eerily haunting female voice that I don't know and every time I have a remotely positive thought it destroys it with negative comments and thoughts.

You think they'll want you back? Just come back to me and I'll make it all better. 

"No you won't." I mumble out to no one in particular.

We'll always want you here. Once they find out how broken and pathetic you really are do you think they'll want you? 

"Of co-course they wi-will." I whimper.

Well they won't. Who would want someone like you? You'd be lucky if we accept you back into our family. We know how to fix broken things and make them better. You will just be one of our broken things, darling. 

 "I'm not broken..."

Of course not. She laughed, a chillingly haunting sound. The laughter echoed off in the darkness until I felt completely alone in my mind. It was always the silence after that made me feel so lost. She was right, of course she was right. I was broken and a pathetic mate but my mates needed me as much as I needed them. I'd just have to fake it until they could see that they'd be better off without me.

You ready?

"I suppose." I sighed. In truth I wasn't but at this moment I doubt I had any choice in the matter. Suddenly the darkness that had surrounded me began lifting and it was like I was able to see clearly again. In the distance I could see several blurs in front of me and slowly they came into focus. There lying in front of me was Owen in his wolf form and Set lying underneath him trying to push him off.

Owen growled playfully as he wiggled his body on top of a frustrated Set. I blinked once or twice before a smile graced my lips. My mates. My mates were lying right in front of me and I couldn't have been any happier that I had come back.

"Xerxes! Help me..." Set shouted at me flailing his arms around trying to push Owen off of him. "He's squishing me."

"Set?" My voice was light and I felt like it wasn't even me speaking. Set stopped moving and looked over at me as well as Owen who climbed off of Set and crawled over to me. Owen shifted instantly and I wondered at when my mate became so adept at shifting between his two forms. Had I missed that much while I was gone.

"Declan?" Owen's already soft voice was barely a whisper as he spoke. His eyes brimmed with tears ready to fall as he waited for me to answer.

"Yes." I smiled, at least I tried to. Every action felt quite foreign to me as if I forgot how to even form a response more complex than that. Owen launched himself at me wrapping his arms around me as his tears began to fall onto my bear shoulder.

"Oh Zeus! I've missed you so much! Where have you been? Oh who cares, I miss you so much that I don't even care." He sobbed even harder into my shoulder. Awkwardly I raised my arms around him and wrapped them around his bare body hugging him closer to me. My mind couldn't even come up with an answer for his question because all I could think about was how much I missed them.