Chapter 96 - Simon

She didn’t leave the room. She sat in the far corner of the room, knees to chest, facing the furthest wall. She let out a sob. She was breaking in front of me. All I could do was try and gather the pieces and put them back together as best I could.

I picked her up, held her against my chest, and sat down on the bed. I cradled her in my arms, letting the sobs take over. She curled against me, as if I were there to shield her from the other bad things in the world.

She sniffled and looked up at me, I met her gaze. “It’s not…” Words escaped her.

“Shh, baby.” I pulled her closer to my chest. She let me hold her until the sobs subsided. I mind linked Stella to bring us tea and to leave it outside our door. I didn’t want anyone else to see her breaking. She already tried to escape me, escape my sight to fall apart.

Her breathing became even, exhaustion finally overcame her. I held her until Stella let me know that the tea was ready and waiting for us. I slowly stood and lowered Violet to the bed, eyes puffy from crying. I smoothed the hair away from her forehead and kissed it. She moved slightly with that action. I froze, not wanting to wake her up.

I went to grab the tea out in the hall but was stopped.

“Hey, Si. Normally people wear clothes outside of their room.” Jared said walking out of his room.

“Shh.” I said slowly, closing the door behind me.

Jared raised an eyebrow at me. “What’s wrong?”

“The guards found another witch and disposed of it.” I said in a low voice. “Violet demanded to know what happened and…well…it didn’t go so well. She’s taking these deaths really hard.”

“No one can blame her.” Jared said rubbing the back of his neck.

“They were part of her Coven; they were her people.” I said leaning against the wall. “I don’t know what to do to help make it better. I try to keep it from her, and she gets upset that I’m hiding something from her. I tell her and it kills her.” I shook my head. “What do I do?”

Jared stared at me for a moment, letting my words sink in. “Let the guards tell me. I’ll keep a running tally and if you need that information, I can give it to you. That way you aren’t keeping anything from her. And that will give her a break from knowing the death toll.”

I smile spread across my face. “You, are a genius.” I leaned over and kissed the side of his head. “Thanks, man.”

“Oh, come on, Si!” He said wiping the spot I kissed him. “I’ll let the guards know to communicate with me regarding captures.”

I froze before going into the room. Violet was the only one able to do the traps. If I told her to go and reset the traps, she would know there was another capture.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking about the traps. Violet is the only one that can set them.”

“We can just leave them. She set so many, that we can wait a bit before we have to have Violet reset them.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, give her a break. We can reset them later.”

Jared nodded.

“Thanks, man.”

“Anything for you, brother.” Jared said as he walked past and down the stairs.

I brought the tray of tea and cookies into the room and set them on the coffee table.

“What’s that?” Violet whispered from the bed.

“I got you some tea.” I turned and smiled at her.

“You went downstairs in nothing?”

I laughed. “No, I asked Stella to bring some tea up.” I walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed. “I wouldn’t want to make you jealous of all the other ladies staring at me.” I gave her a wicked smile.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Very humble.” She smiled weakly.

“All in a day’s work for the Alpha.” I took her hand and kissed it.

“I’m sorry.” Violet said. “I know that with the traps we need to…”

I pressed my finger to her lips. “No need to be sorry. It can’t be easy knowing the people we are trapping. I wouldn’t have expected a different reaction.”

She nodded.

“A hard decision needed to be made and that’s what an Alpha and Luna need to do. Sometimes the decisions I make are going to break me and that’s where you come in to help.” I stared into her purple eyes. “For now, we are taking a break from traps. Okay?”

I lowered my finger to let her speak. “Okay.” Her voice cracked.

“Good.” I smiled. “Now tea and cookies?”

She nodded as a tear slowly slid down her cheek. I took my thumb and wiped it away. I stood and went to grab the tray and set it on the bed beside her. I poured her a cup and offered it to her. She took it and breathed it in and took a sip. Like the bath, she melted again as the tea hit her lips. I need to recognize when she starts to get wound up. She was anxious, but I didn’t realize how stressed she had been.

I poured myself a cup and drank with her, then took a cookie and devoured it in two bites. “So, my dear, what would you like to do tonight? Luna’s choice.”

She nibbled on the edge of her cookie, enjoying the taste. “I honestly want to change into pajamas and relax.”

“Done!” I said as I stood and went to the dresser, grabbed the pajamas that I knew she liked and tossed them at her. She giggled. I went to the closet and pulled on a pair of basketball shorts. When I came out, she already had her sweatshirt on and was pulling on her shorts. No underwear. The image of her wearing nothing beneath made me hard. But like when she was recovering, I had to control myself. She wanted a relaxing night, and if she wanted anything ‘fun’ later I would be more than happy to oblige.

I leapt over her and the tray of tea and landed on the bed next to her. Barely making her bounce. She laughed as I pulled her in and clicked the television on. “Now, Luna, what would you like to watch?”

She took the remote from me and flicked through the movies, until she landed on a rom-com. She clicked play and nestled against me. She quickly passed out in my arms. I couldn’t blame her. She was a walking ball of stress for the last few weeks. The least I could do was act like her pillow and let her sleep. And without knowing, I would take the burden of her slaughtered coven members away from her.