Page 131 of Gift from the Tree

“Tillman, get out here, Willow’s missing.” Draken’s panicked voice filters through the whole room. “Tillman.”

Walking over to the door, he opens it to reveal Draken, Corentin, and Caspian all standing on the other side. “What the fuck took you so long to answer? I just said Willow is missing. Why the fuck do you look so calm right now?” Draken goes off, his eyes shifting back and forth.

Tillman steps out of their line of sight and shows them me still perched on the side of his bed. All three rush in at the same time.

“Fuck, little wanderer, I was so fuckin—” He stops mid-sentence, eyes fully shifting. “What the fuck is on your neck?”

Oh fuck, I completely forgot about that.

The healing vials helped with any damage done, except for the bruises. Those would take the day to heal. And now Draken’s thinking the worst.

“Move over, Draken, now. Let me see her,” Corentin commands as he pushes around him to get a look at me, followed closely by Caspian.

“What the fuck did you do?” Draken growls at Tillman, who’s just standing there like he’s prepared for whatever’s about to happen.

“Draken, please stop and listen.”

He doesn’t listen. He lunges straight for Tillman, tackling him to the ground and landing a brutal hit to his jaw.

“No. Corentin, Caspian, please stop him. This was an accident, please,” I scream, looking between the two of them, while Draken continues to lay into Tillman.

“How do handprints around your throat equal an accident?” Corentin asks, not even looking at the brutal brawl going on right now.

“Please stop them and I’ll explain. Please, Corentin.” I’m bawling my eyes out, begging, screaming. Tillman’s only blocking face shots that Draken delivers but taking every body shot.

“Draken, please stop. You’re hurting me.” I sob and yell as loud as I can. I can’t catch my breath with how hard I’m crying. I can’t feel the hits. That isn’t what’s hurting me. It’s the bond. It’s freaking the fuck out and my heart feels like it’s tearing in two.

I can’t hear anything in the room but screaming and it’s so loud I can’t even hear myself crying anymore. Strong arms lift me and place me in their lap, holding me close, and I bury my face in his chest.

“It’s okay now. They’ve stopped, baby. You can stop screaming,” he whispers sweetly in my ear.

Oh, it was my screaming.

I’m able to cut off the screaming but not the tears. They’re flowing down my face in earnest. Someone tries to talk to me, but I just burrow myself deeper into Corentin.

“You’re both fucking idiots. Neither of you even considered what it’d do to her bond for the two of you to fight in front of her. She wasn’t screaming to get you to stop. She was screaming because of the pain. You fucking morons.” Caspian’s words are quiet and menacing, causing the room to fall completely silent. The only sound is my hiccups.

“You’re okay. They’re okay. I’ve got you, princess,” Corentin whispers over and over until my tears stop.

“Why did they do that to each other?” I tremble out.

“Because Draken thought Tillman purposely hurt you, so he was going to hurt him. Tillman just explained what happened. We know he didn’t mean to. If you’re not upset with him, we’ll get over it eventually.” The way he says it lets me know they’re all, in fact, still pissed at him but wouldn’t take it out on him anymore.

“Little wanderer.”

“Will.”

Both Draken and Tillman say at the same time, kneeling in front of me. I don’t sit up from Corentin’s lap, though.

That was fucking terrible. Both their fight and the bond in my chest feeling like it was going to rip out of me. I’m used to violence and don’t have a sensitive stomach to it, but those two fighting was horrifying as fuck. I could hear Draken’s fist hitting Tillman’s body, the sound still echoing in my ears. For once, I agree with the emotions of the bond. I never want to see any of them fight with one another again.

“I’m sorry, Willow. I didn’t—”

“Don’t ever do that again. Any of you. If you have problems with one another, fine, take it up amongst yourselves, but never again like that in front of me.” Despite the tear stains covering my face and snot dripping embarrassingly from my nose, my voice snaps out firm and definite. Looking down at the two of them, they look properly chastised, but I’m not done.

“Draken, thank you for jumping in immediately to protect me, but you had no idea what had happened. My chest felt like it was ripping to pieces every time you delivered a punch to Tillman’s body.” I flinch a little at the hurt that crosses Draken’s face, but I keep pushing along, needing to get my point across loud and clear.

“And you,” I say, swinging my gaze to Tillman. “I don’t know what misguided belief you had that you thought you deserved to just sit there and take a beating without defending yourself, but you were wrong. We cleared the air between us last night. I knew you didn’t intentionally do this to me, so there was no reason for you to let him punish you like that. In front of me. Watching that just now hurt me far more than what you did to me.”

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