Lily is silent as she watches the trees pass us through the window resting just beside her. She hasn't said much since we had left the small ice cream store but that isn't really anything new. Not with her anyway, but that does nothing to stop me from watching her either. After Jamie had stopped me on our way out of the store my eyes have barely been able to leave her in fear that something is going to set her off worse than I had at the club, but she seems just as silent and just as tense as she usually is. That is until we pass into the Pack territory, then it's almost as if everything within her changes.
The second that we make it onto Pack territory her eyes snap to the window in front of us and her body goes stiff. The calm aura that had been rolling off of her a moment ago is now nothing but an empty iciness that is able to make the temperature within the car drop low enough that I am able to see my breath in small white clouds before me. As if he can feel the change in his masters mood Ala wakes out of a death like sleep with the lowest growl that I've heard him make yet, and when I look at him I am able to see that he has grown just as tense as Lily has. I give her small hand a gentle squeeze as it rests within my own but it seems to do little to nothing in being able to calm her obviously raging nerves.
It only takes another half hour to pass before I turn the car onto an old dirt road, but it feels as if it takes less than five minutes. Where it usually feels as if the drive to the house from the driveway takes hours for me to reach the end of the drive where the house rests, it feels as if no more than a few seconds have passed before I am pulling in front of the house and parking the car just in front of the garage beside one of Kays corvettes where I turn the key cutting off the soft pur of the engine before I look to Lily. "It'll be alright Lil, I'll stay there right by your side the entire time, and if you feel as if you need to leave I will take you as far away from here as you wish for me to." A shiver rolls through my spine when she turns her head to face me allowing for her eyes to meet my own and for a moment she does nothing more than stare at me. Then slowly, the air around us begins to grow warmer until it's only a degree or two lower than it had been to begin with. I brush one of my fingers over her knuckles giving her hand another soft squeeze and she slowly nods before turning to the door and pushing it open making her delicate hand slide out of my own as she goes.
I do nothing to hesitate but jump up to follow after her as I shove my own door open to slide out of the car before shutting the door so I can turn in order to open the back door allowing Ala to jump out of the backseat only for him to run around the car nearly jumping over it to get to his masters side and I'm not all that far behind him. A soft screech fills the air as Jamie rushes down the driveway only to park the jeep beside my car. I watch with a silent smile on my face as they begin to open all of their doors and slide out of the jeep only for Jake to rip the keys out of Jamie's hand with one of his own in his hair making the red strands stand on end as if he had ran his hand through it multiple times. "Never will I allow you to drive my jeep again." His deep emerald green eyes darken even more as he glares into Jamie's bright golden yellow eyes making him pout but from the excited glow in his golden yellow eyes it is very clear that his words had done nothing to bother him.
"And here I was thinking that you were the fun one in the group." Issac frowns at his words just as Jake's glare deepens.
"I am as long as you don't mess with my jeep." His deep voice lowers with a growl as it leaves him making a huff leave Jamie's lips at the deep sound.
"You were the one that offered to let me drive it." He uses one of his long hands to throw his curly hair over his shoulder before tilting his nose to the air and walking away. "Next time you should think things through then hmm?" He takes hold of Issac's hand so he can hold it in his own just slightly smaller hand before walking to the front door making Jake growl as he watches him go but Jamie easily ignores him as Issac begins to push the front door open making a loud squeal flow through the air as Kay lays eyes on the two men.
"You've been gone forever Issac, I missed you so much!" Her soft voice is a loud squeal as it leaves her and I see Ala's ears pin back against his head as if the sound hurts him. His beautiful eyes meet my own as I let a low sigh pass my lips before gently taking Lily's hand into my own to lead her to the door just behind Jake. A second squeal fills the air as Kay takes in Jamie and he giggles as she begins to play with his curly hair. "Ugh, your hair is so perfect! You have to tell me how you keep it so damn soft." Even though her voice is a whisper as it leaves her there is a low growl that fills the house from the kitchen.
"Kaylie Marie watch your language!" Moms soft voice fills the air and Kay rolls her eyes.
"I would if I carried a dictionary around with me." Jamie chuckles at her words making her smile before she wraps her arm around his own then pulls him deeper into the house not even noticing that the three of us and Ala have walked into the house behind her making Issac sigh.
"Just as oblivious as always I see." He chuckles as he shakes his head and Jake smiles as he bumps Issac's shoulder with his own.
"You wouldn't even know what to do if she was any different than she is now." Issac chuckles with a nod of agreement and Jake shakes his head.
"Lets get in there before she corrupts my mates mind." Issac cringes at the thought and Jake growls.
"You mean worse than it already is?" Issac laughs at him with a shake of his head as he begins to reply but I ignore them as I gently pull Lily with me to the kitchen.
The moment we step past the kitchens threshold everyone goes silent and turns to take us in, but it isn't really us that seems to catch each of their attention. I watch as each pair of eyes move to Ala with confusion as they take him in only to move to Lily as she stands just as tall and silent as ever at my side. Mom is the first to break the stare out as she turns away from us to finish putting the chicken on a large plate before she lifts it up taking it to the table where she sets it down and turns to us with a bright smile on her beautiful face making her green eyes shine with slight excitement. "You made it just in time for dinner so go ahead and wash up before you come join us." Her soft voice is just as gentle as it always is as it leaves her making Jamie smile at the sound just as Jake groans with a dramatic roll of his eyes making one of moms perfectly shaped blonde brows lift in one of the most daring of ways and that is all it takes for Jake to immediately rush out of the room making the others laugh.
I ignore them as I turn around only to gently pull Lily with me as I walk away to lead her to one of the spare bathrooms in the hallway just beside the large living room. "Do you want me to wait for you?" I shiver as she turns to meet my eyes with her own even from beneath that damned hood of hers.
"You said you would not leave my side." There is a breath of a whisper of need in her deep voice. The sound so soft that it is nearly hidden in the emptiness that rests within it but I catch it and the moment that I do I feel how my heart gives a harsh thump within my chest making me fill with a need to pull her into my arms and hold her to my chest where I know she'll never need or fear anything ever again. But I force myself from doing that and instead give her a soft nod with my lips slowly pulling into a smile as I lead her into the bathroom. I loosen my hold on her hand so that she can pull it out of my own before she slowly pulls one of the fingerless gloves from her hand before laying it down on the counter beside the sink before doing the same thing to the left glove.
My body stiffens at the sight of her delicate hands without a glamour or gloves to hide what they truly look like. All along the back of her hands there are deep blood red scars that mar her snow white flesh. I was able to see a few scars along the tips of her fingers but I never thought that they would be this bad. Compared to her fingers her hands are puzzles that only grow worse as she begins to wash them allowing me to see each of the blood colored scars along her palms. When she finishes I can't help but to wrap both of my hands around her much, much smaller ones as I pull them closer to my chest so that I can take them in as they are and it makes a fiery rage boil in my veins the moment I do. Each scar is jagged as if she had been trembling or as if she had been thrashing as someone had cut into her every which way they could making the blood red lines look like veins crawling on her flesh all along her hands. I see her body stiffen as I lift my right hand away from hers only to begin trailing the very tip of my pointer finger over each of the scars resting on her flesh. A deep growl builds within my chest as my finger brushes against the sleeve of her jacket making it move just enough to show me that the scars do nothing to simply stop at her wrists but crawl along the length of her arm and even as I try to push the growl away it only grows stronger with the need to be heard as I think of what Jamie had said in the store about her having flaws that had been forced upon her. He must have meant the scars, and if Az keeps her from showing her face then that must be one of the reasons why he does so.
I swallow my growl as I lift her hands to my face and gently press my lips to her scarred knuckles. I hear how her breath catches in her throat as if in shock as she watches me trail my lips along her hands moving from each of her knuckles to caress each of her long delicate fingers before I move them to gently kiss the inside of her left palm only to turn my head to do the same to her right hand. "You're so beautiful Lily, even with these scars, all they do is show others the hell you've been through. They show people how much you have fought to get to the freedom that you now have, and one day I hope that you will be willing to show me each scar that you own." My deep voice is soft as it leaves me, just barely a whisper against the flesh of her hand but I know she has heard me from the way her lips seem to gently part with a soft gasp as if she's in completely shock that someone would be so willing to say something she may see as horrid, is beautiful. Before she's able to reply to my words, I lift her gloves from the counter to gently and slowly put them back on her hands hiding the scars once more before I move to wash my own. As I finish I turn to her making a shock of tingles rush down my spine as her eyes meet my own once more. "We should get out there before the others think that we left them and ran away." She remains silent as she nods, and this time it isn't me that takes her hand into my own. She is slow and hesitant to take my hand into her own and even more so when she gives it a small squeeze making me smile as I gently squeeze her hand back before I open the door and lead her into the hallway once more.