Wind Carved Names Into Silence by Zex Hollow 168

Thinking of him being my best friend takes me back to who’s in the tunnel. How’s Ryan going to react to seeing Adrian again? Maybe I should give him the heads–up. Wait… Cole is down there, and he didn’t mention a thing… maybe he didn’t reconsider him? Goddess only knows but either way, I can’t worry too much about that right now. “Ryan…” 

“What the fuck!” He suddenly shouts, cutting off my words. “What the… How is he…” I follow his line of sight to be met with the face of Adrian as he climbs out of the hole, I’m assuming ready to help everyone get out. “Please, tell me I’m not imagining this?” He practically begs me. I shake my head, completely understanding how he’s feeling. 

“No, you are not. I understand how you feel, trust me I do. There is a lot to talk through, but for now, we are choosing to trust him somewhat while always watching him while we get them out of here. We will be discussing everything later on.” 

“Can I be there?” 

“Of course. I already assumed that you would be.” He nods as he thanks me, before looking back over at the drain, his face a mask of confusion. “Let’s get these women and children out of here.” He nods agreeing, and we quickly make it over to the door. 

“Ryan… is that you?” Adrian looks a mix of happy and nervous, but I understand why. “It is, but as I just told Ryan. We have a lot to discuss, and we will at a later time, but right now we need to get things moving here. We don’t know if anyone else is going to turn up and the last thing we need while protecting the vulnerable is to be blindsided.” 

“I don’t think there was anyone away from the camp, but I can’t be sure,” Adrian says. I think he’s trying to show us we can trust him and I want to. I do, but I have to be careful, at least for now anyway. “That’s good to know.” 

I look down the hole to find Robbie at the bottom of the ladder. He was at the very back when I left, and I can’t help but find it strange. “Are we ready, Alpha?” He shouts up to me. “Yes, children first.” He nods and that’s when I notice that they already have the children lined up. He’s down there to protect the pregnant women, so the fact that he’s organizing the children makes something feel 

even more strange. 

Maybe I’m just thinking about this too much, but I can’t help but think of his strange behaviour earlier. I shake my head and bring my attention back to the little faces that are now staring up at me looking terrified and that is enough to snap me out of my stupid imagination. “Let’s go!” 

He starts by handing me several babies that range from newborn to 1–year–old before sending the rest up from youngest to oldest. One by one, he lifts the children as high as he can before helping them onto the ladder while I take hold of them as soon as I can to help speed up time. We would be here way too long if we had the children climbing up the whole length of the ladder. 

I look at every single child as I help them up, and I swear my heart breaks more and more each time. Just looking at them takes me back to when Lottie was their age and to think about what they have possibly been through kills me. There is no excuse for it. Fuck, I was 16 when Lottie came along. 

1/2 

15:36 Mon, Jan 19 

Alpha Nicholas’s Little Mate 

Chapter 169