All Chapters of After the Downfall: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The next couple of days crawled by as the acid rain persisted in falling, and I was beginning to feel stir crazy, flashes of how I’d felt in the fallout shelter coming back with a vengeance. I’d tried practicing with my katana in the open area of the cavern, not daring to unsheathe my silver-laced daggers in the confined room with all the shifters present, but the exertion only wore me out in the long run. Nothing stopped my worries about the worst-case scenario occurring, and my concern for Mira made my anxieties twice as real. Gage and Silas did their best to pretend the other didn’t exist, which I thought was childish, but I decided to pick my battles, just feeling grateful they weren’t at each other’s throats. Silas certainly tested the limits a few times, his casual affection grating on Gage’s nerves and leaving me a tad uncomfortable initially. Silas’s closeness helped calm me, but I wasn’t trying to throw my relationship in my friend’s face either. Thankfully, Silas wasn’t

I didn’t know how to respond to Silas’s admission, and I stood there gaping like an idiot as he went on to describe how our pissy attitudes had been caused by the stress to our bond. I didn’t know what to say, and I continued mentally floundering as he cautiously crept closer to me. On the one hand, I was beyond angry that he’d left out this key bit of information, but I was reminded once more of how he’d asked me to trust him to share what I needed to know when he felt the time was right. This felt like it would fall under that category, and I could understand why he would choose to keep this intel from me as well, as much as it killed me to admit. Considering how I felt now, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that my emotions were real. Even when I was furious with the Alpha, the love that had been blossoming in the pit of my stomach all this time was still there, and I grasped how difficult he’d made things on himself in order to ensure I received the time I needed for me to wil

The natural shelter that Gage had selected was small, and all of the males had had to shift in order for us to fit comfortably. What was initially meant to be a few hours delay turned into several more as acid rain fell from the blackened sky, leaving me slumped over against the wall and leaning heavily on Silas while water poured from the heavens. There wasn’t enough room for a fire, but Silas had taken a blanket out of his pack to wrap around me as we waited out the storm. Our rations were severely depleted after the numerous delays the weather had caused, but the guys had all insisted I consume the few snacks we had left. It was true that my body required more sustenance to function properly than a shifter’s, but that didn’t make me feel any less shitty, just the same. Slumbering heavily as the time dragged on, it took me a few minutes to reorient myself as I felt a gentle pressure against my shoulder. I rolled over, attempting to stretch my arms out above my head, but I speedil

It was pitch black in the room, but I was already aghast at what the lantern at the door illuminated of the space in front of us. Mira bent down, picking up the lamp and bringing it into the room with us as several girls scurried back out of the light. The room wasn’t big enough for them to go far, but they did their best to hide behind the available furniture, which wasn’t much. I took in a battered card table, a handful of broken seats, and a few large mattresses, piled high with a mountain of blankets at least. It was a harrowing sight, and I shoved aside the emotions welling up at the conditions that bastard had forced upon these females. That was saying nothing of the twisted expectations he’d held of them, and my pity filled me as I noticed more than one of them were pregnant. Silence reigned as Mira strode forth, but Saint quietly murmured that Silas and the others had reached Robbie’s quarters, not elaborating beyond warning me of an incoming storm system a few minutes late

Disoriented, I flew up in a flurry of limbs and blankets? It dawned on me then I was resting in a bed, and I was even more flustered as I struggled to regain my bearings. Yet, Silas was there in the next instant, pulling me into his arms where I could finally breathe. “You’re okay, baby. You’re alright.” He reassured, smoothing his hands over my unbound hair as he went on, “Saint got you stitched up, and you’ll have plenty of time to heal before we move again from the looks of things.” My other half was cradling me on his lap, and I relished his proximity, snuggling into the warmth he afforded as I woke up more fully, a mild ache starting up from a few places on my body. “What happened?” I asked, a loud yawn taking over as I finished my question, his disapproving tone not going unmissed on me as he responded. “From what we can surmise, you passed out due to a combination of things, blood loss being at the top of the list. You took on some heavy damages in your attempt to save Alis