Page 105 of Gift from the Tree

“Fuck,” Ry shouts.

“Why? Ry, what’s going on?” Tillman asks.

“I can’t. I can’t say anything yet. I’m sorry, T.” With that, he stomps away, his Nexus following behind him.

What the fuck was that about?

We can’t worry about Ry’s problems right now, though. We have our own mess to clean up.

Draken’s not in the lounge like we thought he’d be, so we make our way down the hall to check his room and at the same time, we notice Willow’s door open, so all three of us haul ass toward it and pile through the doorway. It’s not Willow we find, though, it’s him.

“She was here. She came by here before she left.” Sorrow coats Draken's tone, and he holds a note out to Corentin.

“Share with the class if you don’t mind,” I say sarcastically as he reads to himself, earning a growl from Draken and deadpan looks from both him and Tillman.

Guys,

Well, Draken, you’ll be the one to find this.

I need some time. Please don’t come to find me. Don’t tear the realm apart.

Willow xoxo

That’s all she says. No clue of where she’s heading, and we can only assume she and Oakly stayed together.

“She knew I’d find it. Knew I’d come in here hoping to find her,” Draken states, wiping his eyes.

“We’ll find her, Draken,” Corentin assures him, laying his hand on his shoulder.

“No, you won’t. To the lounge. We won’t invade her space like this while she isn’t here,” Gaster says, stepping into the room, mad as hell before turning on his heels and walking back out.

“Come on, let’s go hear if he’s heard anything,” I tell the group, making my way out of her room first. It feels cold and empty without her in it. Nothing like the lightness that calls to me in my darkest hours.

“Did you talk to her? Is she okay? Will she come home?” Draken asks Gaster question after question the moment we sit down.

“No, I didn’t speak to her. I got through to Oakly after calling multiple times. Willow hasn’t said anything to her yet. She isn’t coming home right now,” Gaster answers all his questions, even though his answers just created more questions.

“Well, Oakly was standing right there when she announced why she was upset, so Oakly knows what’s going on,” I chime in, confused.

“I phrased that poorly. Willow hasn’t spoken since she asked Oakly to take her away and instructed her to take her away from here once they left the mansion.” Gaster raises his voice, shoulders rising and falling with how hard he’s breathing. “I should’ve never listened to any of you, and I should’ve told her the truth. Elementra blessed me, blessed all of us, with something special and what do we all do? Lie and keep secrets. That has never done anything but get people killed.”

There’ve been very few times in my thirty-three years of life that I’ve heard Gaster raise his voice in such anger, and I got to admit, he’s a little terrifying. All the guys have the same surprised and intimidated look on their faces now that Gaster’s thoroughly scolded us.

“What do we do now?” Draken asks, sounding so broken.

“We give her time, then we tell her anything she wants to know. No more secrets,” Tillman tells him seriously, making it known to the whole room that everything will be put out there for her if she wants to know.

“At least you haven’t had your awakening with her yet. Maybe she’ll talk with you sooner than us.” Draken looks at Tillman hopefully.

“Actually,” Tillman starts, rubbing the back of his neck, “we had our awakening when I left for the mission when she told me bye. We left not even two minutes after, and I haven’t been here to tell any of you.”

“Fuck, so she’s awakened the bond with all of us and now she’s run off alone with Oakly. Her emotions are going to go crazy, and I won’t be there to fix it.” Draken throws his hands in the air, standing to pace back and forth, pulling his hair.

He’s been the one for the most part to comfort her through any of her heightened emotions. She just didn’t know that’s what he was doing. When the bond awakens, it does weird things to the body and brain. She’s become more territorial over us, well, them, and we have with her. She’s had an increased need to be around them, and when she isn’t, she can react in many ways, angry, sad, frantic, horny, you name it, I’ve watched it all happen already. It’ll calm down if someone’s near her and it’ll level out completely once she bonds, but the way we’re going, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“What happened in your awakenings? Tillman? Caspian?” Corentin asks, looking at either of us to begin.

I nod at Tillman, telling him to go first.

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