Chapter 73: Unexpected Comfort
Lily POV
I woke up screaming.
The nightmare felt so real - Caleb’s empty eyes staring at nothing while I shook his lifeless body, asking him to remember me. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst from my chest.
"Lily!" Someone crashed through my bedroom door. I expected Aiden or maybe Elder Iris, but it was Brock who rushed to my bedside. His usual tough look melted into worry when he saw my tear-streaked face.
"Another nightmare?" he asked quietly.
I nodded, unable to speak. These dreams had been haunting me for three days straight since we returned from the rite site. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Caleb looking at me like I was a stranger. The mate bond we’d fought so hard to protect felt like a thin thread ready to snap.
"Tell me about it," Brock said, sitting on the edge of my bed. His voice was softer than I’d ever heard it.
"He doesn’t know me," I whispered. "In the dream, I’m trying to describe who I am, but he just stares at me with those empty eyes. Like our love never existed at all."
Brock was quiet for a long moment. Then he shocked me by reaching over and taking my shaking hand in his big, calloused one.
"When I was fifteen, I watched my best friend Marcus die in a rogue attack," he said slowly. "For months afterward, I kept expecting to see him around every turn. I’d set two plates for dinner out of practice. I’d start to tell him something funny, then remember he wasn’t there anymore."
I looked at him with new understanding. Brock never talked about his feelings, but here he was, sharing something painful to help me.