Keeping her in my arms, petting her, holding her as best as I could fucking do. “I’ve got you,” I whispered. “I failed you, but I got you.” I pressed kisses next to her ear, and she let out a purr that matched my own.
“Magic aside, she’s in the clear,” Bram said.
Bones leaned up against the counter and let out a sigh. “She’s going to be exhausted. She has had no sleep. We all know this.” I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut. “And who knows what kind of emotional distress she is going to have after this?”
“What do you mean?” I held her tighter.
“Think about it. She will not know what is real or what’s fake? Is she dreaming or not?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what you saw in there—”
“It was so fucking real.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Duke Idris was there, the bar was on fire, you guys, me were all dead, and I swore I saw her fucking parents were there. That demon took everything from her in that dream and made it so real.”
Delilah and Journey silently cried in the corner, my brothers shaking their heads.
“It’s going to take her time, Bear. I’m here. Her family is here. Nadia is battling something mental and emotional, not physical, not what we are used to. That doesn’t make her any less strong,” Bones said.
I never thought she was weaker than me. Never, not the first moment I met her. But she hid things, thinking she could do this shit on her own. I was her mate now. I wanted to be there for her. I should have pushed. I should have talked to her about these dreams, asked her what they were about.
“You shouldn’t blame yourself.” Hawke knelt beside me. “Nadia’s quiet. The girls have noticed that too. She doesn’t want to be trouble.”
“She’s my mate,” I growled. “I should’ve known. I should have known everything she needs.”
Delilah scoffed. “Yeah, tell that to Mr. Bossy. He thinks he knows everything, but women are different. We carry a lot more emotions than you men. We think about anything and everything twice as much. You men just don’t understand.”
Hawke turned and glared at Delilah. “You keep shit from me?”
Delilah paled. “Just stuff you don’t need to worry about.”
“Like what?” he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him.
“Um, just stuff. Like thoughts of I might not be a good mom,” she whispered.
Hawke growled, and they had their own silent conversation.
My mate stirred in my arms, her nose burying itself into my neck.
“Nadia’s smart,” Journey added. “The people who raised her taught her to be secretive. We just need to show her she doesn’t have to do things on her own anymore.”
My mate should have known all along that she wasn’t alone. I just needed to be more persuasive.
I had been a foolish male.
“Don’t beat yourself up.” An exhausted voice filtered inside my mind.
I perked up my ears and nuzzled closer to my mate’s soft, damp fur.
“She knows how to hide pain. She hid it from me, too, and I’m supposed to help her. I’m her animal, her protector, and I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move… I feel like I have failed her.” A purr resonated from her body, and I felt my eyes well with tears.
Fucking hell.
“Does she feel like we all have failed her?” I asked.
Through the bond I felt her animal shake her head.“No, she feels this is her own doing, her own fault she isn’t strong enough. Nadia feels she has brought this upon herself. She hasn’t. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“To the wrong damn innocent people,” I snarled.
People moved about the room as I talked to my mate’s bear. Someone put a blanket around me and my mate, but I was so consumed by keeping my mate safe that I didn’t notice who. I just knew that the souls around me were safe. My brothers and sisters that were here would keep us safe for the time being.
To think my mate witnessed their deaths and mine, I couldn’t imagine what sort of heartbreak she endured. If I saw her die in a dream, I’d feel like dying too.
