Chapter 30 Elsie's heat

Chapter 30 Elsie's heat
Tristan’s POV
It was instinctual. I hadn’t noticed I was moving until Elsie’s weight shifted in my arms.
“I’ve got her,” I said as I lifted her bridal style and shifted her head to rest against my chest.
Her naked body pressed against me was sending me into unrivaled pain of unbridled desire but I shoved it to the back of my head behind the wave of concern for her health.
Silly girl! She pushed herself despite being in heat with a head injury.
Topher hovered close. Tyler kept a non-existent distance. I saw the way they both twitched anxiously as I placed our mate on the bed. It reflected my own anxiety.
Our strong, fearless, very feisty mate who made us beg with just the sight of her body.
“Her heat is hitting harder now. I can almost taste it,” Topher pointed out as he adjusted the pillows for her head.
I hummed a response. He was right. Her heat scented so strongly; it wrapped around my lungs like a heavy-toned perfume.
“Control yourself,” I warned. Though it was more to myself than my brothers.
Tyler let out a humorless huff. “You say that like you’re not barely holding it together.”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t exactly deny that.
Elsie barely stirred as she rested. Her face remained still like she hadn’t caused quite the chaos moments ago, like she hadn’t just undone all three of us.
Tyler ran a hand through his rough hair and started pacing. “Say it,” he snapped suddenly. “Say what we’re all thinking.”
“We’re hers?” Topher answered with an unsure tone as he took to sitting beside her again. I simply stood as my thoughts ran in miles trying to think about our next move.
I didn’t hesitate. “As she is ours.”
“The torture,” Topher added. “We’re done with that.”
Tyler scoffed lightly, but there was no fight in it. “Yeah. Can’t exactly win against an opponent who’s the embodiment of all your weaknesses.”
Silence stretched for a second before he exhaled and scrubbed his face. “I need her to wake up.”
“And what do you reckon we say to her?” I shifted to face him.
Topher leaned closer to her to caress her hair. Out of the blue, his expression sharpened into something more focused. “There’s also something else we need to address.”
I could already guess what it was. “Mother,” I affirmed.
Tyler’s lips curled faintly. “That’s one way to ruin the mood.”
“She’s coming back,” Topher continued, ignoring him. “And when she does, she will notice the bond immediately.”
“She’ll do more than notice,” Tyler muttered. “She’ll hurt her and none of us will have the power to do anything about it!”
“One thing at a time. I’ll take care of mother,” I walked further away from them, to my dresser table where a bottle of whisky sat comfortably.
Topher glanced at me. “You’re planning to stand against her?”
“You know we can’t,” I quickly countered, reaching for the bottle. I poured myself a cup.”She’s the queen.”
Tyler hummed with an odd tight look that suggested a hint of defiance. “So what then?”
I tried not to scoff at his change of attitude. Just yesterday he broke her head in and now he was seemingly ready to take on our mother for her? How endearing.
“We make mother acknowledge Elsie is not a threat, first. Highlight her strength and ease her into the idea,” I tell them before downing the entire cup in my mouth. It burned bitterly.
Truth be told, that sounded better in theory. Mother hated Elsie for reasons I would never understand.
Topher’s shoulders relaxed slightly, like he’d been waiting to hear that. “Do you think we can really protect her?”
Protect. A word I was familiar with but not like that. I was great at taking things, at scaring people out of any ideas of challenging my authority, and at staying fearsome. Protecting something so fragile. How in the world was I supposed to do that when I had no idea how to handle it in the first place?
A soft sound suddenly cut through the sinking tension. It pulled all our attention back to the bed.
Elsie shifted as her brows knotted together on her forehead. Her fingers twitched against the sheets. She clenched them tightly before her eyes slowly fluttered open.
Once she caught sight of us, she just stared. Her expressions morphed from confusion to guardedness. It happened so fast, it gave me whiplash.
That was always how she responded to our prescence but now, it felt wrong.
“I’m sorry.” I let it slip before I could think about it. Saying nothing was useless if she didn’t hear that first. A proper apology.
Elsie stilled first but her guardedness only increased as she continued to gaze at us with her eyes.
“I’m sorry too,” Topher and Tyler nodded along, staring her down to communicate they also meant it.
She pushed herself up slightly. “For what exactly?” she questioned skeptically, “The things you did during the challenge? Or everything else before that?”
“We’re sorry for all of it,” I answered quickly, leaving no room for doubt. “Every insult, every scheme to humiliate you, every lash, every word of abuse.”
“The way we treated you at the parties. The way we have always treated you as we grew up.” Topher looked down at the bed. A submissive demeanor to the matter that would have had anyone question if he was an Alpha.
Tyler swallowed. His Adam's apple bobbed before he finally spat out, “The way I pushed you.”
Elsie watched us carefully, like she was trying to decide if this was real. Of course, after all we did, it would take more than this for her to believe us.
“I get it now,” she said after a tense pause. “This is because I won.”
“No,” I immediately refuted as I stepped closer. “It’s because we lost.”
“And because we were wrong,” Topher added gently.
She didn’t believe us. I moved her way. I wanted to take her hands and hold them tightly till she felt safe and sure but to my horror, she flinched.
I stayed dead still on my feet. What followed was the most uncomfortable silence I had ever had to endure in all my years. Not even my father’s death felt this deathly uncomfortable.
Her lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Abruptly, the scent of her heat spiked again, sharper now that she was awake. It hit all of us at once.
Tyler cleared his throat. “There’s one more thing.”
Elsie’s gaze snapped to him. “What?”
I exchanged a wary look with my brothers before answering. “Your heat,” I said. “It is fully set in now.”
Her cheeks flushed red as she dropped her gaze to the bed. “Oh.”
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Topher explained softly. “And you’re not meant to go through it alone.”
Tyler’s voice dropped, more serious than I’d ever heard it. “W-we take care of you. That’s how this works!” His delivery was harsh but it lacked the usual bite of his rage.
Elsie swallowed. Her fingers grew whiter as she fisted the sheets. “What if I’m not ready yet?”
I stepped closer, just enough for her to feel my presence without overwhelming her.
“Then we will wait until our mate is ready,” I said quietly. “Even if it’s the most torturous thing in the world, we won’t touch you unless you demand it.”