Lost Inside - 31. Chapter 31

Yuri ate, but his headache grew again. His brief burst of energy was gone, and all he wanted to do was sleep.

“You done?” Benny grabbed the box, still half-full with most of the burger and fries Yuri had wished for, before it could tip over and spill.

“Uh-huh.” Yuri yawned. His eyelids weighed a ton. “Sleepy again.”

Benny tucked the blankets up around Yuri’s chest. “You can shower and get dressed later. I bought you some sweats and a t-shirt.”

The bed dipped under his mate’s weight. Benny curled around him, and Yuri turned to his mate, nuzzling his neck. He smelled so good.

“Go to sleep.” Benny stroked his back.

***

Benny watched Yuri sleep for a while. It didn’t look very restful. He was snarling and his claws kept sliding out the tips of his fingers.

Pounding on the door jerked Benny out of the light doze he’d finally found.

“What the—”

“No!” Yuri roared. He jumped out of bed, naked, his pupils so big his eyes looked black. He snarled and hissed, his ears flat to his head as he spun in the middle of the room.

“Yuri? Are you okay?” Benny got to his feet slowly. His mate was crouched, ready to attack. The pounding on the door came again.

His roar vibrated the air.

“Stop pounding on the fucking door!” Benny shouted. He had to calm Yuri down before he mauled whoever was disturbing them.

The pounding didn’t stop.

Fuck it. Benny might maul whoever was out there. He shoved down his anger and approached Yuri, his ears as upright as he could get them and his hands open at his sides. “Yuri? Mate?”

Could he even hear him? Benny wasn’t sure. Yuri was awake, but he wasn’t there. What memory was he locked in? Sheshtun deserved a slow death for the way he’d treated his son to make him wake up this angry, this afraid.

“You need to calm down.” Benny kept his voice quiet. “You’re safe here.”

“I won’t let them hurt you!” Yuri hissed at the door, which was damn near vibrating in the frame.

“No one is going to hurt either of us. I swear. Can I touch you?” Benny wasn’t sure where Yuri was. He didn’t seem like before, when he woke up screaming from the first attack by Sheshtun. He wasn’t afraid; he was pissed.

Benny hated that his mate had been hurt on his watch, twice no less. “I won’t hurt you.” Benny finally reached Yuri and slowly enveloped his mate in his arms. He didn’t squeeze—he wasn’t about to make Yuri feel trapped in any way—but he pressed their chests together, skin to skin.

He could feel the pounding of Yuri’s heart, hear his quick breaths and quiet hisses. He tried to slow his own heart and breathe deep, steady breaths. “We’re okay. We’re okay.” Benny stroked a hand up and down Yuri’s back. He was cold and sweaty, his muscles slowly easing from rigid tightness.

“Benny?” Yuri’s voice was softer, questioning.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Did I… hurt you?”

Benny pulled back and looked in Yuri’s eyes. “Of course not. You were trying to protect me. You’d never hurt me.”

“O-Okay.”

He pushed some of the sweaty hair off Yuri’s forehead. “Bad dreams?”

“I think”—Yuri let out a shaky breath—“I was remembering. He was hurting you, hurting me. I tried to fight back, but my dad’s guards were helping him. I couldn’t stop it.”

“Shh. It’s not your fault. It wasn’t mine either. For a long time I thought it was. You know, when he was praying for you, Bashta told me he was praying for me too. We had a long talk about feeling guilty for things that we couldn’t control. He said Fate sometimes meant we had to live through bad things to get to the good.”

“Will we get good stuff?” Yuri’s child-like question clenched Benny’s heart in a tight fist. “I want good stuff with you.”

“We will.” He had to believe that, for both of them. They deserved to have a happy life together. All they wanted to do was be mates and love each other.

“Can you make the pounding stop? My head still hurts.”

Benny’d blocked out the incessant knocking on the door, when the person bugging them hadn’t tried to get in.

“Here. Let’s put some pants on.”

He walked them to the bed, then rummaged around in the bag he’d brought back from the store. Benny hated putting his dirty clothes back on, but he’d only had enough cash for the food, room, and some clothes for Yuri. He ignored his underwear and slid his jeans on commando.

Walking to the door, Benny wished he had a gun. He slid close to the window and twitched the curtain an inch. He could barely see the front stoop, but he could see the wide wings of the Falcon standing on the other side of the door.

He yanked it open. “What the hell are you doing here?” Benny snarled at the head of the Falcons.

“Saving your ass. Sheshtun evaded capture. We’ve been trying to reach you, or find out where the hell you’d hidden since you took off and left that damn doctor to wait for Velaku. Pack your shit; we have to go.”

“Did you say you let Sheshtun get away? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Two of my men were shot taking down the Tiger’s compound. Don’t question our abilities when you’re going to have to depend on it to keep your mate safe. I found you—Sheshtun could too. He didn’t escape alone.”

“My dad’s coming here?” Yuri sounded scared. He scrambled off the bed and backed away from the door.

“Yes, so let’s go.”

Benny snarled and dug his claws into the Falcon’s shirt. “Stop scaring my mate.” He hurried over to Yuri. “Shh. We’re gonna be okay.”

He needed a gun. “Call Davis and ask him to meet us wherever we’re going. Now.”