Lost Inside Chapter 11
He
wasn’t very tall. Yuri could see the top of his bald head, even standing
several feet away. The cat was stacked with rounded muscles on his arms,
shoulders, and chest though, and he was breathing hard, his ears flicking back
and forth.
Yuri
stumbled back. He tripped over the edge of the flower bed along the yard and
landed on his ass in the dirt.
“You’re….”
The words died in his throat. He shook his head, blinking rapidly. He was
having a hard time breathing too. Ellis dropped to his knees next to him,
holding on to his shoulder and patting his back. Yuri reached for him, needing
something to hold on to. Ellis winced but didn’t say anything when his claws
peeked out from his fingertips.
Benny
took a step back. “I’m sorry!” His hands clenched into fits and the stripes on
his arms, just like the ones Yuri had, pulsed with the muscles’ movement.
It
was… he was… Yuri made a sound in his throat and his ears flattened.
“You’re
safe. It’s okay. I’ll go, I promise.” Benny held up his hands, stretching his
fingers out. “You’ll be safe.” His voice broke and he took a step back.
“No!”
Yuri jolted forward. “Don’t leave.” He scrambled forward, racing for Benny. Those
hands, held out to him.
He
knew those hands.
“You
can’t go.” Yuri latched onto Benny, wrapping one arm over his shoulder and one
under and locking his hands behind his back. “You can’t.” He had a mate. He
knew it was this Tiger, even if he didn’t remember how he knew.
“Oh
god.” Benny shook in his arms, and Yuri squeezed tighter. No one else existed,
it was just them. The spicy scented man buried his face in Yuri’s neck and
shook with great, silent sobs. He’d never seen someone cry like that.
“Are
you hurt? Did I hurt you?” Yuri always had to watch his claws and his strength.
How could he forget the first time he got to touch his mate? He was a bad mate.
That must have been why Benny left. “I’m sorry. I won’t hurt you again.” Yuri
let go of his mate, holding his hands out stiffly so he wasn’t touching the
shaking man, but Benny didn’t let go.
“Didn’t.”
The word was so quiet, shoved out between the sobs, Yuri nearly didn’t hear it.
The littles always shrieked so loud and calmed down so fast. Yuri wanted Cleara
to help him stop Benny. He didn’t see her. Maybe he could do what she did.
“Shh.
It’s okay.” Yuri smoothed Benny’s black shirt down, rubbing with the inside of
one fist, his claws turned inward. He wasn’t going to risk even snagging the
fabric with his claws. His didn’t have soft, feathery hair like the little
Falcon kids did, looking bald from a distance, but up close there were little
hairs that prickled Yuri’s hand when he caressed Benny’s head with the back of
his fingers, hushing him again. “You gotta calm down.”
As
a last resort, Yuri started swaying side to side. He liked rocking and began to
purr. Rub, rock, purr. Rub, rock, purr. His mate’s sobs began to slow. Yuri
titled his head sideways and rested his cheek on the prickly side of Benny’s
head. It was like his face when it got all bristly and Szorpin had to help him
shave it all off. His ears were still fuzzy, but the hair was so light it was
nearly invisible.
“You
smell good.” He couldn’t stop smelling Benny. His mate hiccupped a little.
Benny rubbed his face against Yuri’s neck and shoulder, over the puckered round
scar he liked to play with sometimes.
“So
do you.” His voice was ravaged. The man in his arms shuddered. “I missed you so
much.”
“Then
why did you leave?” He didn’t understand why his mate was there but wasn’t with
him. “I didn’t know how much I missed you.”
“That’s
a hard question to answer.” Benny cleared his throat.
Yuri
frowned. He’d heard that before when he’d asked something he shouldn’t. “You
sound like you just woke up. You want some water?”
“That’d
be good.” They didn’t move.
“The
water’s inside,” Yuri said. He took a step back. Benny stepped with him. Yuri
grinned and took two quick steps back. Benny lurched forward. Yuri burst out
laughing. Benny looked disgruntled, but the line between his eyebrows went
away. He smiled.
“You
look nicer now.” Yuri liked that smile. He wiped away some of the marks left
from Benny’s soundless crying. That was better. He liked the way his mate’s
eyes crinkled.
“Thanks.”
They stared. They were so close, just inches apart. Would Benny kiss him? Did he
want him to? Mates kissed; Yuri saw them do it. They must have kissed before,
when they were together. Yuri tilted his head sideways, his gaze falling to
Benny’s mouth.
His
mate groaned.
“What’s
wrong?”
The
wrinkle was back between his eyes, his dark eyebrows bunching up. “You have no
idea?” He pressed his lips together.
“Don’t
do that. I like your lips all soft.” Yuri tugged on Benny’s bottom lip with his
thumb. Benny smiled, his eyes still sad, but kissed the tip of his thumb.
“Okay.”
It wasn’t like the kisses Yuri had spied on, when he wasn’t supposed to be up
in the nighttime, but it was nice.
“Wanna
come inside?” Yuri asked. He wanted to introduce his mate to the guy who came
sometimes. He was always fun.
“Yeah.
We were going to get water.” Benny cleared his throat.
Yuri
smacked his forehead. “Oh! Oh yeah. Sorry.” Benny reached for his hand and held
it gently. He twined their fingers together.
“Don’t
hit yourself. It’s not your fault you didn’t remember. We got distracted trying
to walk. I don’t want to let you go.”
He
shouldn’t get distracted so easily; he knew that. He wasn’t normal. Yuri
smothered the familiar sense of frustration and hid his frown when Benny shook
their joined hands. Water. He repeated it a few times under his breath.
But
how did they get inside still hugging? “I can’t let go of you. You might leave.”
“Tell
you what. I’ll hold your hand, and I won’t let go.” Benny squeezed his hand. “I
promise, I’m not going anywhere without you ever again.”
Slowly
Yuri moved, watching Benny every long second until they were standing side by
side. Benny even held onto his arm with his other hand when he rearranged their
clasped hands so his fingers weren’t twisted sideways anymore.
“Water!”
Yuri said.
“That’s
right. We’re going inside for a drink. Everyone probably wants to talk to us
too. I’m afraid I delayed your trip to the hospital.”
“Ew.”
Yuri wrinkled up his nose. He opened up the door bolted into the cliff wall,
pushing with his shoulder to get it wide enough for both of them. “Hospitals
stink. I don’t want to go.”
“Ellis
brought over the doctors to meet you, though. They want to help you, remember?”
“No,”
Yuri said sharply. He hated it when people asked him if he remembered
something. He never did. Well, almost never. He’d remembered Benny when it
mattered. They went into the kitchen, and Yuri grabbed a glass and filled it
with cold water from the tap with the blue band, all the while towing Benny back
and forth across the long, narrow space with him.
Benny
drank about half the water and then offered the cup to him. Yuri was kinda
thirsty. He drained the rest in along drink, then blew out a hard breath.
“Yuri?”
Szorpin stood in the entry to the living room. “You okay?”
“We’re
fine,” Benny said. He tugged Yuri closer to him.
Szorpin
didn’t move. “Yuri?”
“We’re
fine.” He liked repeating his mate’s words. They were fine. Just fine. Fine,
fine, fine. Yuri grinned. “This is Benny. I remember his name!” He pointed at
his mate.
“We’ve
met before.” Szorpin stepped into the kitchen and held out his hand. “Nice to see you again, Benny.”
An
interesting red color crept up Benny’s neck and face. “Thank you for everything
you’ve done for Yuri.” How did they know each other? Benny shook Szorpin’s
hand. Yuri didn’t like them touching, so he pulled his mate back.
“We’re
going to talk to Ellis,” Yuri announced.
“He’s
in the living room with Cleara and the doctors.” The bell at the front of the
house rang.
“Ding,
dong, ding, dong.” Yuri liked the loud sound. “Ding, dong.”
Benny
started laughing. Szorpin stopped on his way to answer the door, casting a
shocked look over his shoulder at the laughing Tiger. He shook his head and
left the kitchen, leaving them alone. Yuri watched his mate laugh in delight,
finally joining him just because he liked it so much. They were leaning
together, still chuckling, when Ellis appeared in the doorway.
“What’s
so funny?” he asked.
“Yuri
reset my ringtone on my phone ringtone to those old style bells the first night
we met. Anytime my phone went off he’d ding and dong along with it. It just…
reminded me.”
“Well,
if you’re done being silly”—Ellis stuck out his tongue, so Yuri knew he wasn’t
serious—“come in here. Bashta and Cavel just got here too. We were supposed to
meet them at the hospital.”
“They
came?” Benny sounded like he didn’t believe Ellis.
“If
Ellis said they did, they did. He doesn’t lie,” Yuri told Benny. He wanted to
make sure his mate knew that. Ellis didn’t lie. It was important to tell the
truth. Yuri got really mad when people didn’t.
“No,
I know he wouldn’t lie. I just wasn’t sure if they could make it all the way
here.”
Ellis
came into the kitchen. He stopped in front of them. He reached up and shook
Benny by the shoulder. “Stop being so surprised that you have friends who want
to help you. We all care about you, both of you.”
He
reached up and hugged both of them at the same time. Ooh, group hug. Yuri
really liked group hugs. He wrapped his free arm around Ellis and squeezed him
back.
“Ouch,
hey, easy.” Ellis squirmed. “Careful, Yuri, you’re too strong to hug me so
hard.”
Whoops.
“Sorry. I forgot again.” Yuri let the smaller man go.
Benny
squeezed his hand. “You’re not too strong to hug me hard.” He flicked one ear
and grinned. “I like it.”
Yuri
didn’t know if that was a hint for a hug or not, but he gave Benny another one
anyway. He had his mate again and could hug him anytime he wanted. He’d had
sandwiches for lunch, and Ellis came over to visit.
It
was a good day.
TBC on Wednesday with the Briefers!
What a sweet reunion! I hope it can last.
ReplyDeleteYeah... but Yuri still has a lot to go through. Thanks for reading JaNo.
DeleteThanks for the update! I love them all, even the short ones :)
ReplyDeleteThanks back nadine! :)
DeleteWow, I'm so glad for Benny that the reunion turned out well. I was so worried that Yuri was going to freak out on him. Wonderful story.
ReplyDeleteMe too, lol! Thanks for reading, Jbst!
DeleteYAY!!
ReplyDeleteThey are reunited!
Can't wait to see how this progresses!
Thanks again Cia!
:)
I try! Don't always succeed, but I try! :) Thanks for reading.
Delete