Page 122 of Savage Queen (Blood Empire 3)

“Harlow.” Dean is the first one of us to speak. “I need to know you’re okay. I’m barely hanging on here.” His voice is strained, his hands clenched so hard that each knuckle is white.

“Am I okay?’ she huffs out a laugh. “No. No, I’m not. I’ve never felt so many emotions before. Fuck, it’s scary,” she says, wiping at her face with a shaky hand. “I may never truly be okay.” She looks around the room and cringes. “Fuck, sorry about that. I’ll replace everything.”

“You have nothing to feel sorry for,” I tell her, standing up from the couch. “Burn the whole house down if it makes you feel better. Everything is replaceable, but you, you are not.”

“Cass...” she starts before falling apart again.

Unable to hold back anymore, I pull her into my arms. She grasps at me, another round of sobs breaking loose as she clings to me like a life raft. I muffle my face into the top of her head as I let a few of my own cries slip out.

One by one, the others get up and join in on the hug, wrapping their arms around Harlow. We show her she’s not alone and never will be again.

“I love you,” she murmurs into my chest. “All of you. Please, please, never leave me. I don’t think I could survive it.” Her voice sounds so childlike, so vulnerable that my heart breaks all over again.

“Never,” Neo, Axel, Dean, and I all growl. We look at each other, a silent vow forming between us. This woman is our reason to live. Without her, we are nothing. In my case, I’d keep living for Rosie, but life would never be the same without this woman. Our woman.

“You will never be rid of us,” Dean says.

“We're yours, until we die, and even after that,” Axel adds.

“I’m nothing without you, my Queen. I could never be without you. I’d die and just haunt your ass,” Neo jokes, trying to make light of things. I know he’s not really joking, but trying to hold everything back. Beast will be let out tonight, and I’ll have to let Miller know to be on the lookout, ready to cover up whatever mess he creates.

Harlow laughs, but the smile she gives us settles my restless mind just a little.

“I want to open a home,” Harlow says as we all separate. “I want it to be for foster kids. But especially, the ones who have been abused in the system. I wanna get them help, support, and on the right track to finding loving and caring homes. It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but with everything going on in our lives, I put it on the back burner, not knowing if it was something I could get myself into without it bringing up old wounds. I don’t want to wait anymore, because every day that goes by, another child is getting hurt, and I need to do what I can to stop that.”

“I think that sounds like an amazing idea,” Evie says. “Count me in. I’ll start looking into everything we need to make it happen.”

Harlow nods, then looks to Sam. His lower lip trembles. “Oh, Sam,” Harlow breathes. Sam loses it, bursting into tears as his legs give out, and Axel catches him before he hits the ground.

Knowing that Harlow is finally facing her trauma, even if this is just the start of a very long process, we all file out of the room to let the three of them have a moment of privacy. This must have triggered Sam as well. I hate this. I hate that anyone has to go through such horrible, disgusting things, and I hate that it’s people in my family.

“How are you doing?” I ask Evie. Poor girl is shaking like a leaf, her face red and swollen.

“Me?” she says, waving a hand at me. “I’m fine.”

“Evie...” I say, not believing her for a moment. “You're not, and it’s okay not to be. I’m here for you, you're not alone either.”

Her lower lip quivers. “I guess you’re not too bad after all.” She starts to cry, and I hold her. Evie has become a close friend of mine, and I hate to see her in pain.

Whatever happened tonight, I don’t know if it will happen again. But if it does, we will stand by Harlow, letting her know that we love her, and will never leave her. She will never have to go through anything in her life alone again.

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