Lilly's Torment(32)

Nodding, he smiled at Ax as the other man headed out of the room. "He's  giving me time with you," he commented. "He knows I'm on shaky ground  right now. I really hate his ability to read my thoughts. Drives me  bonkers most days. At this moment, though, kinda glad he's got it."

"Same here," Lilly admitted to him. "I'm glad that he's giving us time  together because I think that I needed it, too. I'm pretty sure that he  knows that as well." Adjusting the plate on her lap, she looked up at  him and smiled. "All right, come on Gav, eat. You need to eat. Food is a  very good thing."

"Yeah, I know," he said softly. He picked at one piece of the sandwich  for a moment. Lifting the piece, eventually he took a bite, but didn't  look overly enthusiastic. He seemed to be chewing on automatic, his  thoughts not on the food but elsewhere.                       
       
           



       

She watched him as he slowly ate, and felt bad for him. "I know that  this is not what you want, I really do, but I truly do want you to stay  healthy, okay? You and I both need to ensure that you remain healthy,  right?" Just as he would demand that she stay healthy as well.

"Yeah," he muttered. He finished off one half of the sandwich but shook  his head at her when she lifted the plate in offering to him. "I'm too  tired to even think about eating that other piece. If you want it,  though, go for it. It was very good, but I'm at that point of exhaustion  where it's too much effort."

"I ate earlier." She moved out of his lap and held her hand out for him.  "Come on, let's go and have us some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough for  us to start thinking of anything much more than simply crawling into  bed. Tomorrow, the three of us will sit down so that we can discuss what  needs to happen next, okay?"

Nodding, he stood up and took her hand in his. "Sorry, little mate, I'm  just so fried right now that I don't know if I'm coming or going. I wish  I was better company," he said with a lopsided smile. He followed her  as she tugged him along toward the stairs and up to the bedroom.

"It's okay. Let's get you into bed and we will worry about everything  else later." She hesitated. "Do you want your bed, or do you want to  have all three of us in Artaxias's bed? Or is your bed as big as his  is?" She hadn't been in Gavriel's room, so she didn't know. "Because I  would rather have both of you with me, if you wouldn't mind terribly?"

"Mine's about the same size, not quite, but pretty close. It doesn't  really matter where we end up, but I do need to get out of these clothes  or else I'm never going to sleep. So that means a trip to my room at  the very least, and then you can decide where we're laying down for the  night."

"Well then, we will end up in Ax's bed so that we have all the room that  we want and need. Go, do what you need. I will wait here in the hall  for you, okay?" she asked and leaned against the wall. "Hurry. If you  aren't out soon, I am going to come in looking for you."

"Likely a good plan, in case I fall asleep on my feet. Or fall over and  fall asleep." He reached out to touch her cheek gently. "Thank you for  looking out for me, Lilly. You are one hell of a woman and the best mate  any of us could ever pray to have."

"What can I say? I'm pretty special, but so are you boys. We all belong.  The three of us. Now go. I will let you hug and touch me when you are  clean and we are in bed, okay?" she asked softly. "Go, or I'm going to  ask Ax to go in with you and make sure that you hurry your rump up."

"No thank you, that is really unnecessary." Gavriel made a face and  turned into his room. "I'm just going to grab clothing and then shower  in his room. That way I can just collapse afterward. A hot shower will  likely do me right the hell in."

"All right, then I will come in with you," she said without letting him  argue. Instead, Lilly walked into his bedroom and waited on him to  follow. "Come on already. Let's get this done so we can get you showered  and in bed as soon as possible. Remember, I'm impatient."

"Just clothes from here, Lilly. Need to be close to whatever bed I'm  falling into. Because once I'm out of the shower, it will be minutes  before I collapse." He went to his dresser and dug around before turning  to face her with something folded in hand. "Let's go." He waved toward  the door.

Moving with him, Lilly wrapped an arm around him, her worry thick in the  air for him. When they entered Artaxias's room, Lilly smiled. "We are  all sleeping in your bed. He's going to shower and then, in his words,  collapse onto a bed. So let's get up and into bed so that he can join  us?"

Nodding, Ax frowned. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just tired. You know how it is when I'm there," Gavriel said.  Smiling at Lilly, he walked through the room and into the bathroom, the  door shutting with a small sound.

"Unfortunately, I do know how it is when he's home, well, his mother's  home. He gets nearly no sleep, always going because, while he loves her,  he doesn't want to be there too long." Artaxias looked her way. "If you  want a shirt to sleep in, go and raid the closet."

"Thank you." Lilly didn't hesitate but instead went to the closet,  pulled out one of the shirts, and stripped right there in the room with  him. Leaving on her panties, she pulled on the shirt and turned to him.  "What about you, aren't you getting ready for bed?"

"I will in a minute, I was just reading what little Briar was able to  figure out so far." He held up his pocket data pad as he slid off the  bed. "Looks like about eighty percent of the tattoo is just regular  inks. But the part she thinks might be making you do things you don't  want to do … " He stopped next to her and held out the little pad. "The  ink contains trace amounts of the same material you found out  compromised that shard. Odd little coincidence, don't you think?"                       
       
           



       

"Hurm, very interesting indeed," Lilly said with a frown. "I don't like  it. Do we have any idea where this material comes from? How we can trace  it back to its source so we can ensure that these asshats are caught,  hopefully sooner rather than later?"

"Briar sent it off to the lab," he said as he headed into the closet.  "She's hoping she has a full breakdown of the metals makeup sometime  tomorrow. Once we know how many parts of this and that are in it, we can  figure out if someone has a patent out on that particular mix. If there  is someone, then we can go and knock on doors. Hopefully, someone there  has some answers on just where they sent their metal, and we will have  more doors upon which to knock." He walked out, bare chested and  barefoot. All he had on was a pair of loose drawstring pants in what  looked to be linen. Nice and light. "But now we need to sleep. Or  rather, we need to remain conscious long enough to ensure Gav hasn't  drowned, and then get some sleep."

She looked toward the bathroom again. "Should we check on him? And by we  I mean you of course. I'm worried about him. He looked ready to fall  down at an instant. I don't think that I can handle him taking this much  on very often. I think next time I will go with him to ensure that he  does actually sleep. I don't want him burning out before we have all had  a very, very long life together."

"No, he's okay. He's washing something, I'm trying not to listen too  intently though. As long as he's still moving around that's a good  sign." Artaxias's chin went up a bit. "Water's off, he's getting out  now. We'll give him a few more minutes before we go rescue him if he  needs it."

"I'm a wreck seeing him like this, how can you stand it?" she asked  quietly. "You care for him, he's been in your life a very long time so  how do you handle it?" She wanted, needed to know. She knew that they  shared a deep friendship, a kinship in knowing that they would one day  share a mate and she wanted to know how Ax was able to handle Gav when  he was in this state because it was breaking her heart.

"You can only do so much and you need to know your limits," he said. "I  get away with a lot with him since I've known him most of his life.  Hell, even his mother practically adopted me. Which was very weird, I  have to say. But I also know that some things I can't fix. I can be  there, support him, offer a stiff drink or a shoulder, but there are  limits. I've learned to accept the limits as you will, too. It's not  easy but if you do all you can and it's still not enough, then at least  know you've done all you could for him and let him take the next steps.  He's done," he told her quietly, pushing on her back gently. "He'll be  out in a minute, get into bed so he can curl up with you, Lil."