RAIDEN ||

Everything I witnessed, everything I heard between Dylan and his family.

All of the guilt they held for treating me the way they have this past month, hearing their apologies, looking into their eyes, I honestly felt nothing.

Absolutely nothing for them. I did however feel something towards them and that was fear.

The fear of my capture by the waterfall, the fear of them seeing Onyx and I as nothing more than murderers, the fear of knowing they would blindly follow Dylan's orders, even if it meant hurting someone who was innocent.

The fear of knowing they held no pause in condemning me and mistreating me, all of them including Dylan.

When I looked into their eyes, I seen their guilt and I felt my pain.

Nothing else mattered when I mustered up that terrible excuse of words that I addressed towards Dylan's family, nothing mattered... until I heard his voice again.

"Raiden?"

My whole world seemed to pause as I heard his voice again, causing me to stop mid sentence. I didn't care about addressing Dylan's family, I didn't care about their apologies, I didn't care what they wanted, nothing mattered when I heard the one voice that I thought I would never hear again.

"Onyx?" I whispered out loud in disbelief.

"Hi Raid."

"Fuck, how are you Onyx? Are you ok? Are you hurt in anyway? That shit they injected us with.. did it.. did it damage anything? Did it cause you any permanent damage?"

"No Raiden, I'm ok, I don't feel anything wrong, I'm just a little tired."

I let out a satisfied sigh as I clutched my hair, the sheer happiness I felt just from hearing my bestfriends voice, was nothing short of amazing.

"It's so good to hear your voice Onyx, you have no idea how much I've missed you."

"I missed you too Raiden."

"Where were you? All this time? I couldn't feel you."

"I don't really know to be honest. I know I didn't die, but it was like my body was stuck in the furthest of darkness in our minds and I couldn't get out. Like I was paralyzed or something... I was screaming for you everyday, I never stopped calling out for you. I never stopped trying to get to you, I just couldn't move."

His distress was causing the pain to rush back through my veins as I let go of my hair and gripped the sheets underneath my body.

He couldn't get to me, just like I couldn't get to him. He couldn't reach me and I couldn't reach him.

It was like he was dying trying to breath, while I was giving up and suffocating.

"The crap they injected us with, Dylan called it a numbing agent, he said it was meant to make you disappear temporarily, but you've been gone for so long Onyx. I thought I would never hear your voice again."

"How long have I been gone?"

"A little over a month."

"A month?! You've been without me for a whole month Raiden?! Are you ok?! When did I leave you completely?!"

"Yes, yes Onyx I'm ok. Don't worry, it all happened that day.. that day when Dylan..."

"When his pack fought us and tried to hurt us. I remember Raiden. I wanted to protect you so badly that day."

"I know Onyx, but it wasn't your fault. Dylan used our bond against me and he helped his pack take me down before his Gamma, Hunter injected the poison and then you were gone."

There was silence for a few minutes before Onyx actually spoke again, I could almost guess what his next words would be just from the hurt and betrayal he felt.

"He used our bond against us?" Onyx asked, sounding so hurt.

"Yes Onyx."

He frowned at my answer and pulled his ears back.

"Does Dylan not want us? Why did he help his pack take us down? Why did he want to take us down?"

"The rogue wolves we killed, apparently there's more rogue wolf camps out there and they retaliated against Dylan's pack because of us. When we killed them and drug their bodies back here, we didn't know this area was claimed but it was. So because we left the bodies here, the other rogues have been attacking the pack."

"I'm so sorry Raiden. If they hadn't attacked us first, I wouldn't have killed them. I didn't want to die, that's why I killed them. I never meant for it to get this far."

"No it's ok Onyx, I know you didn't. I don't blame you for anything, if I'm being honest, I blame our mate."

"Why? What else happened?"

I took a deep breath before explaining everything to my leopard. Everything from the time Hunter injected that poison to the time I woke up here in the hospital.

It's now been 5 days here in the hospital and I finally have my leopard back. Dylan said it would be soon after I got here, but it took 5 days. Even with the time we've lost, I couldn't be happier.

I had to be careful with the way I delivered the information though. It's a known fact that our animal counterparts feel more deeply than we do. They love harder, hurt harder, feel every emotion harder, rejection could kill them.

"Why would our mate treat us that way Raiden? Why would his family treat us that way?"

"His family didn't know that he was our mate, until maybe 20 minutes ago. He never told them. The only ones that knew were Gabriel and Hunter."

"The same Hunter that injected the poison?"

"Yes." I answer back and he scoffs.

I didn't have the guts to tell him about Hunter and his wolf being mated to Roman and Asad yet.

Onyx would probably lose his shit if he knew our brother was mated to the one wolf that took him from me for so long.

I had to keep this information to myself for the time being, I've caused him enough heartache with just the fact that our mates have treated us in a way that no mate should ever treat the other.

"I don't like any of this. It all just seems so awful, I just want to go back to our solitary lifestyle. We were happy the way we were before all these wolves came into our lives."

"Yeah we were happy, weren't we?"

"I miss our family Raiden. Mom and Pop and Rome and Maisie and Zahara. I just know mom, dad, Asad, Kizzy and Kalea are going crazy not seeing or hearing from us for so long."

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I didn't have the heart to respond to Onyx plea to contact our family.

I knew I would have to reach out to them soon, but my phone and all of majority of my belongings are back in that cave and right now, he didn't need to know the heartache I was going through from dealing with everything, so silence was my friend.

"Maddox is trying to push through, but I have a right mind to block him out. How could he let his human behave like this? You could have died in those cells Raiden. That makes me so sad to even think about, I could have lost you and then I would have a whole new human, but I don't want a new human. I want you. Always, you're the best friend a leopard could ever ask for."

"And you're the best Leopard a guy could ever ask for. I'm blessed to have you as my life partner through all of this.. and don't block Maddox out Onyx. Don't fault him for his humans mistakes. He's probably been just as worried about you as I was."

"He's seriously trying to push through a lot harder now. It almost feels like he's desperate." Onyx laughed and I smiled internally.

"At least one of us has a loving mate. I'm happy for you Onyx, you deserve this."

"So do you Raiden. I hope you can forgive Dylan one day and you two can love each other."

"Here's hoping Onyx." I smiled.

"Im going to go talk to Maddox really quick so that he can stop clawing at the veil I put up... I love you Raiden."

"I love you too Onyx."

The smile that spread across my face was from sheer happiness. I got my leopard back, I got my bestfriend back and he's going to his mate, to mend things hopefully and be happy with Maddox's love.

It was what he deserved.

What we both deserved.....

"Raiden?"

My mates voice flooded my senses, pulling me back to my surroundings as I blinked a few times before he came into view.

I finally noticed what was happening around me. His whole family surrounded my bed, making me completely uncomfortable for multiple reasons. One I didn't trust them nor did I like them, but the main reason being I don't like being crowded.

Leopards are not the most tolerant creatures unless raised with around others, like I was, but I still had my moments where majority of my time, I wanted to be left alone and not crowded like this.

"I don't like being crowded." I let out a frustrated growl and watched everyone slowly take a few steps back.

"We apologize Raiden, we were just worried about you." Dylan's uncle says and I shake my head.

"Maybe wolves like their personal space invaded, but felines don't. Please don't crowd me again, it makes me uncomfortable." I snarl at the wolves around me, watching the men put their hands up in mock surrender. The women were more respectful and just sent weak smiles my way while backing up fully to the other side of the room.

"Ok, so everyone just back up a little bit and give him some space please." That was when I noticed that Dylan was sitting on my bed and his hands were cupping my face. His eyes looked glossy, almost as if he had been holding back his tears.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice was laced with worry and concern. So I nod and he slowly drops his hands from my face.

"I'm sorry, I thought you... I thought something happened. You zoned out and stopped talking, then you closed your eyes and slumped back into your pillow... you weren't responding to anyone.. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched you like that, I just thought you were dead or something. Maddox was worried.... and I was freaking out."

I slightly narrowed my eyes at my mate before I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You thought I was dead and you were freaking out?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

I scoffed at his answer and before I could stop myself, I snapped at him.

"But you didn't freak out when I was in those cells for 3 weeks or when you damn near starved me to death because you didn't believe my raw diet was real and you weren't freaking out when your family was beating me... You definitely weren't freaking out when you took Onyx from me or when you had your wolves here inject me with that poison everyday were you?" I snapped and Dylan leaned away from me.

"Where were your freak out moments than Dylan? When you denied me? When you basically rejected me? When you called me a prisoner? When you assumed I was this cold hearted murderer? When you call me a predicament! Where were your freak out moments then?"

Dylan went to open his mouth to say something but I cut him off before he could.

"You don't get to say you were freaking out Dylan because you haven't earned the right to freak out about me.... I don't trust you, I'm working on it, but it's not there yet. I damn sure don't trust the wolves behind you. Family or not, they've done me wrong...So if you want this friendship to work, then I suggest you don't say things like that again."

I didn't even know I harbored this much rage towards my mate, but I think when he mentioned how freaked out he was and that Maddox was worried, all of the emotions I've been trying to bury, shot up to the surface and what was left of my explosion laid in front of me.

With my chest rising and falling, I watched my mates eyes continue to gloss over and his own chest was heaving. He stared into my eyes with such pain behind his gaze, I started to feel a little guilty about my outburst.

I didn't mean to hurt him, but I was hurt myself.

"I'll earn your trust Raiden." Dylan said nodding more to himself than me. "I'll earn it."

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