Page 97 of What We Don't Say: Part Two

“I felt you through the bond,” he says, looking from my face to the empty places in the bed and then to the bracelet beneathour joined hands. “I was downstairs. Kade sent an update, and I thought I could read it without waking anyone.”

My gaze shifts toward the open door as I ask where Idris and Dash went. Sloane answers without hesitation, telling me Idris is in the office with Zana on the phone and Dash followed them downstairs because he heard movement and decided to make tea before everyone returned.

“You were all still in the house,” I say, needing to hear the fact in my own voice. “I saw the lights, and I knew you were close.”

Sloane waits while I search for the rest. He does not tell me to calm down or remind me that I am safe, and his thumb moves once over my knuckles while Theo sleeps across my legs.

“My body thought I had woken up after everyone was already gone,” I finally say. “I knew where I was, and I knew Theo was here, but it still felt like I had missed the moment when everything changed.”

Sloane’s face folds around the confession. He looks toward the empty side of the bed as though he can see what it became during the few minutes before he returned.

“I left because the house felt settled,” he says. “You were asleep, Theo was with you, and I thought I could handle one call without disturbing the room.” His fingers tighten before he catches himself and eases the pressure again. “I forgot that settled does not feel the same to you yet.”

“I don't want everyone trapped in bed because I might wake up,” I tell him, and the fear that he will hear obligation instead of need sharpens my voice more than I intend.

“That isn't what I hear you asking for.” Sloane shifts closer by an inch and keeps his gaze on mine. “You need to know when the shape changes. You need the chance to reach us before an empty room becomes the only explanation your body can find.”

The accuracy of it hurts, and I lower my eyes to our hands. His bracelet light reflects faintly against the metal around my wristwhile I admit that I am scared one day I will wake up and the leaving will already be finished.

“Everyone will have gone somewhere I can't follow, and I will only find out afterward,” I say. The words scrape their way free, though once they exist between us, my chest loosens by the smallest amount.

Sloane lifts our joined hands and presses his mouth against my knuckles. The kiss lingers, his breath warm against my skin, and when he lowers our hands again, his eyes are wet.

“We’re going to fuck up sometimes, baby,” he says, his voice breaking slightly around the truth. “We’re going to make mistakes, and sometimes one of us will misunderstand what you need.”

Theo shifts at the sound of Sloane’s voice and presses closer across my lap. Sloane glances at him before returning his attention to me, his expression steady despite the grief moving underneath it.

“But we won’t disappear and leave you to figure out what happened,” he continues. “We’ll tell you where we are going, answer when you reach for us, and come back to face the hurt with you. You won’t be left alone with silence while the rest of us decide what the silence means.”

My eyes burn, and I turn my face away before the tears can fall. Sloane lets me have the movement without pretending he missed it, and he tells me that he should have woken me long enough to say he was going downstairs.

“A sentence would have been enough,” he says. “I thought five minutes wouldn’t matter, and I was wrong.”

“You came back,” I whisper, and the bond answers with another low pull beneath my ribs. The words are simple, but something in Sloane’s face changes as if I have placed a fragile piece of our old life into his hands.

“I came back because I felt you reach,” he says. “I would have come back even if the bond had stayed quiet. Now I know how much those minutes mattered.”

I shift toward him, and Theo grumbles when my leg moves beneath his head before curling more tightly around my thigh. Sloane watches me adjust him, waiting until I ask him to stay in the bed.

“I will,” he answers, and he moves only after I lean back and make space beside me.

The mattress dips beneath his weight, and I settle against his chest while Theo remains curled across both of us. Sloane’s arm comes around my waist after I guide it there, his palm spreading over my stomach with a steadiness that lets me feel every breath he takes.

His section of the bracelet lights again. Sloane looks down at the glow and lifts the paired band on his finger, telling me he kept touching it on the way upstairs because he didn't know whether I could see it in the dark.

“I saw it,” I tell him. “It told me you were still connected to me, but it didn't make the empty bed feel full.”

“Then the light did its job, and I still needed to come find you.” Sloane presses his mouth into my hair and remains there as footsteps pause beyond the doorway.

Idris appears first with his phone held low at his side, and Dash follows carrying a tray with tea, water, and a small plate of crackers. Both men stop when they see the way I am folded against Sloane.

Idris studies my face before looking at the bracelet, his section still glowing because his thumb rests against the matching piece. He tells me he left to take Zana’s call and should have woken me long enough to explain where he was going.

Dash sets the tray on the dresser and looks across the empty places in the bed. Understanding settles into his expression ashe tells me he heard them downstairs and followed because he thought bringing something back would help.

“It does help,” I say. “I woke up, and only Theo was here.”

Dash’s jaw tightens as his gaze moves toward the pillow he left near the foot of the bed. He admits that he should not have assumed I would understand where everyone went, while Idris comes closer and rests one hand on the mattress.