Page 24 of Nine Inch Nasty
But before we get back to that, I hope you have a smile on your face. And possibly a yummy drink.
Peace.
Chapter 10, Continued
Delaney
Of course I had to call my parents. Don’t want anyone to think I’ve gotten too big for my britches and am trying to just fix all these problems myself— I really don’t need any more responsibility right now. I’m literally just a college girl trying to get dicked down.
I think it’s pretty funny how many of my mates seem alarmed by how nonchalant my parents still are about sending me off to save some unknown realm, whether it ended up being fictional or not. I’m pretty pissed at myself for playing the helpless card though, for letting that stupid witch get in my head so hard that I forgot half the tricks I had up my sleeve.
So here I am in the aftermath of collapsing a fictional realm that I was trapped in for days, doing a bunch of, let’s be honest, reallystupid shit that never should have been a footnote in my life, all so we could just end up back here, where we started.
Except this time, I’ve got all my mates with me, bonded to me, and I should be happy.
That’s what you do when you accomplish everything you set out to accomplish, right?
It hurts my heart to know that all those people, well, unicorns, I interacted with weren’t real. How do you mourn something that never existed?
There were some moments back there when I was sitting with Saladriel, where I really started to get some visions of a future we could have together. Maybe I’m just a covetous woman with an overactive love life, and maybe it makes me selfish to mourn the loss of something I never even really had when I have all these other incredible people around me, but I think we’re all a bit stunned right now.
It's surreal to be riding back to campus in the back of my dad’s SUV, watching regular ground pass by, where there are rules to how things can work and such little raw magic ready for the taking, but all of this is just a distraction, because no matter how much I tell myself I’m content with all the mates I have, and I am, don’t get me wrong, I can’t help but wish things might have worked out differently with me and Saladriel.
For example, maybe he would have been real; that’s the first hurdle, but then that he would have wanted to see what we could become. I feel like we were cheated out of that exploration. I’m going to miss that fictional grumpy unicorn.
It takes me entirely too long to realize that the car has stopped, that the drive is over, but Zac’s face in mine sucks me back into the reality I have to deal with now.
“I don’t want to have to leave you so soon after everything, but I think I need to go check at the office and make sure nothing crazy has happened while we were gone. It was only a few days, sure, but…”
I kiss him, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting him pull me from the car. Standing up, I’m more able to bury myself in him, squeezing him tight.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” he tells me.
It’s a platitude though, and we both know that. There’s a chasm between us because his sister had to be a psycho. “Is it? Can you promise that?” My parents said they took care of alerting the university and anybody else who would care that we were pulled away suddenly on official business. No one is powerful enough to manipulate time here. “Everyone here has just been doing normal stuff while we’ve been…fuck. We did some weird shit. Hey, do me a favor? If Cory ever tells you what we did during that fucked up tournament, they’re a liar, and I wouldnever.”
He laughs, this warm rumbly thing that makes my insides just a bit less tight. “I understand.” His hands tilt my chin up to look at him, keeping his other arm firmly wrapped around my waist. “We’re going to get it figured out. It’s you and me, okay?”
It’s about that time that I break.
“Oh sweetheart, come here.” He pulls me entirely onto his lap as he sinks to the ground in front of the SUV, hiding me from the world.
“I’m s-sorry, Zac. I t-tried so hard…and it just…I couldn’t…” A sob rips through me, the overwhelm of the past few days catching up to me.
This man holding me is a part of me though, his snake seeing me as his one fated mate, the one to love and to care for above allothers, so I never should have bothered to worry that he might resent me for the role I played in his sister’s downfall.
“It’s not your fault, Delaney. You think I don’t feel like shit?” He asks quietly into my ear. “I hate that I didn’t see all this shit happening sooner; I could have stopped it long before it ever began if I’d been only slightly more observant.
“I was her guardian foryears. I could sit here and blame myself for everything I missed, you could sit here and think you could have changed the outcome somehow, but in the end, the only thing we can do is give credit where credit is due; my sister picked her path and committed to it, and so the blame lies solely with her.
“For my part, I’m sorry that people you care for were hurt. I’m sorry that Leo and Rush lost so many years of freedom because of my family’s line.
“I don’t want to live in the past though. We stopped Shelly before she did worse, we’re safe, we’re together, and all I want to do is figure out what forever looks like with you. You already know I’m done staying away from you, now all I want to do is be locked inside a room with you for a few weeks and get as close as two soulmates might possibly get.”
I get warm fuzzies bubbling up my throat at the sweet sentiment, and then Zac smirks and tucks some of my hair behind my ear. “I guess we can invite your other lovers in there, too. Might make it a bit more interesting, huh?”
I look around at all the men watching me, trying like hell to give me the space they think I need, while being desperate to hold me and reconnect after what felt like so much longer than a few days. Even if it wasn’t the worst danger anyone’s ever been in, I’m still shaken up. Still grieving the loss of the unicorns I interacted with.
“Does that mean I can get out of classes for a bit?” I ask, knowing damn well I have to figure out a way to get back into normal society tomorrow since I’ve already missed several days of classes.
