PART TWO: 1. OBSIDIAN: NIGHTMARES

***PART TWO WARNING:
THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN
MM (MAN ON MAN) ACTION
BDSM
GRAPHIC SCENES
NOT INTENDED FOR READERS YOUNGER THAN 18!***

***

My agitation increased as I watched them from the edge of the forest. They weren’t paying any attention to Vanya.
When they arrived, Reeves had held on tightly to her hand but he dropped it the moment the other men arrived.
Vanya was moving further and further away from them and they didn’t even care. It wasn’t a safe place for her to be exploring on her own.
I moved along the tree line, careful to stay in the shadows but keep her within my sight. She stopped a few feet from the men and leaned forward to peer down at the water.

*Can she swim?*

My muscles tensed, ready to move if she fell, but thankfully Vanya straightened and moved away. She glanced over her shoulder at Reeves, and then did the opposite of what I expected, she disappeared in-between the containers. Biting back a curse, I spun around and headed back in the direction I came from. Once I was sure that there were no humans around to spot me, I left the protection of the forest. With every passing second that I couldn’t find her, my panic increased.

*How could she have disappeared so fast?*

A loud bang echoed in the air, followed by a scream that made ice flood my veins.

***

My eyes snapped open as my body jerked. It took me only a few seconds to realize that Vanya hadn’t just been screaming in my dream.
I rolled to my feet but stumbled when dark spots crowded my vision. Nausea hit as moved forward. It felt like everything around me was spinning.
“Obsidian?”
“V-Vanya,” I breathed.
Hands gripped my arms and thankfully steadied me. I squeezed my eyes closed and sucked in a few deep breaths, hoping that it would make me feel a little better.
“Ezra’s with her,” Devrim said softly. “It was only a bad dream.”
“N-no danger?” I asked him.
“There’s no danger.”
I opened my eyes and blinked at him. His eyes darted over my face before they locked with mine. There were so many questions in them but I ignored them.
“Ob—”
“Help me or I do it on my own,” I told him.
Devrim pursed his lips but slipped an arm around my waist and helped me along the hall towards her bedroom.
The door was open and a faint light shone from inside. My heartbeat increased again the closer we got to the room. Vanya was the only one who always managed to unnerve me.
We stopped in the doorway. Devrim’s fingers dug into my side to prevent me from entering the room any further.

*I wanted to be close to her.
I wanted to be the one to comfort her.
I wanted to be the one to chase all the demons away.
But how could I do that when I knew that I was one of those monsters that haunted her dreams. *

Ezra’s purr filled the room but I could hear Vanya’s soft cries even though her face was pressed to his chest.

*What was it going to take to get her to stop being scared of me?*

I kept repeating the question in my mind as I allowed Devrim to lead me back to his bedroom.
“Stay?” I asked him when he turned around to leave.
His eyes darted between me and the door as he hesitated.
“Go,” I growled.
“Obsidian, I—”
“Go!”
I lay down and turned my back on him so he couldn’t see how badly his hesitation was affecting me. There was a few seconds of silence before he left.
It was happening all over again. Nobody wanted me. Nobody ever has.

***

“How do you expect us to take care of you when you don’t listen?”
I stiffened when Devrim asked the question from directly behind me. If it had been the enemy, I would have been dead because I hadn’t heard or sensed him.
“Obsidian.”
I growled. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“Yes, you do.” He moved away. “You’re supposed to be taking things easy. If you don’t rest, you’re going to get worse.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I mumbled.
“Is this because I didn’t stay?” Devrim asked after a few seconds of silence.
“No.” I knew that I hesitated too long before I answered him. “Leave me alone.”
Devrim didn’t listen. He moved closer and stopped at my side, close enough for his arm to brush against mine.
“Talk to me,” he urged softly.
“No,” I growled.
“Obsidian—”
“Stop!” I spun to face him fully and glared at him. “I know that I fucked up! I don’t need you and Ezra to remind me about it every fucking second of the day!”
He frowned at me. “I’m not trying to remind you about it. I’m trying to fix things.”
“We all know that things would be better if I wasn’t here.” I turned back to the stove and stared down at the frying bacon. “You don’t have to lie to me. I can see the truth. None of you want me here.”
“That’s bullshit!”
His sudden explosion made my eyes snap over to his in surprise.
Reaching out, Devrim switched off the stove and moved closer, forcing me to step back. A second later my back hit the wall. My hands twitched at my sides as I fought the urge to push him away from me.
“Stop talking shit,” he hissed. “The four of us, we belong together. You, me, Ezra, and Vanya. All of us, Obsidian. Do you understand that?”
Devrim took another step closer until his body was pressed to my front. Fear flashed through his eyes, but it didn’t stop him. Swallowing loudly, he reached up with a shaky hand and pressed his palm to my cheek.
“I know you and I know Vanya. She’s scared, but it’s normal. I know that she wouldn’t have come back if she didn’t want to.
“I thought you forced her to come back.”
“No.” He gave me a small smile. “I told her that you were sick but I never forced her to come back. She came here to care for you all on her own.”
“She’s scared of me,” I rasped.
His smile widened. “A lot of people are scared of you, including me but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like you any less.”
I blinked at him, completely taken aback by his words. I felt certain that I must have heard him wrong because the only time anybody has ever told me that they cared for me; it turned out to be a lie.
Devrim had never lied to me but that didn’t mean that things couldn’t change.
My eyes fluttered closed as his hand slowly slid down to my neck. He had calluses on the tip of his fingers and some parts of his palm, just like me. His touch wasn’t triggering or repulsive.
I liked it when he touched me.
But there was another touch I craved more than anything.
“We will figure things out,” Devrim breathed. “It will probably take time, but we will sort things out and I promise you that things will be better than they had been before.”
“What if it doesn’t get better?” I asked him.

*What if Vanya continues to fear me? What if she starts to hate me for the scars I left on her skin? What if she only ever looks at me with fear in her eyes?*

“Look at me Obsidian,” he ordered.
My eyes fluttered open and locked with his.
“Promise me that you won’t do anything,” he pleased. “You have more self-worth than you give yourself credit for. Remember this, Vanya is still alive and with us because you dared to do what needed to be done in order for both of you to make it out alive.”
If I hadn’t done it, we’d both be dead but I never expected the consequences to be so bad.
Instead of saying anything, I just nodded. They didn’t have to know everything I thought about.
Devrim hesitated a few seconds and then leaned forwards to press his lips against mine. His fingers twitched against my neck as his lips closed around my bottom lip. Devrim still had some things to learn and I was looking forward to teaching him about it.
My hands shot out to grip his hips as I took control of the kiss. I sucked on his lip, nipped it with my teeth, and then pushed my tongue into his mouth.
“Seriously?” Ezra growled. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the two of you being. . .together, so can you please not do. . .that in front of me?”
Devrim moved away, but he avoided Ezra’s gaze as he walked over to take a seat at the island. My eyes darted between them. I was going to show Ezra just how hot and utterly satisfying it could be to be touched by another man.