Page 11 of Blinded
"Were they mated?" I brought my hands back up to Bayne's chest, pressing my hands to him.
"No. I'm the first in my family's history that I know of to have found their mate." Bayne gently pulled me onto his lap. He ran his nose up my neck, then kissed a sensitive area right below my ear that had me sucking in a breath. "I didn't think I'd get lucky enough to ever find my mate either. You were the last thing I expected to find when I got here last night."
I tried to ignore the way his touch made me feel. "Then you walk in and find Fate has given you a worthless mate, one who can't do anything to make your life better." I lowered my head to his chest. "I hate how hard it is to ignore this. The more I'm with you, the more I feel connected to you."
"That's normal. It's supposed to be that way. I'm looking forward to being able to feel your emotions, share feelings, connect in a way we can't with any other." Bayne kissed my cheek. "You're not a worthless mate. You are my mate. You are my other half. I've watched my friends mate and I want that. I don't care if you're blind. It doesn't mean we can't run together, hunt together. It means we have to adapt to all that."
"What if I don't want to adapt? Fuck, if only you hadn't walked in when you did." I sighed, still curled up against him.
"Would you seriously end your life over this? Would you hurt me, your family, your friends?" Bayne caressed my back. "We'll figure this out. It's new, it's scary, and it's going to be different, but we will find a way to make it work." He lifted my chin with his fingers, then kissed me softly. "Do you want to go out there and eat or stay in here?"
"Everyone will stare." I wasn't even sure how I could eat without seeing what was on my plate. "Can we stay here?"
"Of course, for now." Bayne pressed another soft kiss to my lips. "Let me go get us some clothes and breakfast. I'm sure Cohen will be in to see you soon too." Bayne stood before taking my hand and pulling me up with him. "Bridger's family will be here today too. They'll probably want to talk to you. And, you should think about calling your family. I'm sure they are worried."
I nodded, but didn't respond. I wasn't sure I was ready to talk to them, but Bayne was right, I owed it to Bridger's family to face them. I was the last one to see their son alive. "Thank you. I know this is hard, and not how meeting your mate should go, but I'm glad you're here to help me."
"I'm not going anywhere, ever." Bayne led me to the table. "I'm also going to grab some new bandages. Don't touch your eyes while I'm gone." He helped me find the chair and sit. "I'll be right back."
I heard what sounded like him getting dressed, then the door click open and shut. I blew out a long breath, overwhelmed and scared. I reached up, finally able to touch my face, running my fingers over my eyes with the eyelids closed, then again with them open. My heart raced as I realized I could put my fingers into my eye sockets. "Fuck!" I gently felt around the rim of my eyes. Panic filled me as I blinked, my eyelids closing over my fingers. "No…" I stood, my body trembling as the realization of what I must look like hit me. Every bad horror movie, every stupid social media meme, it all fit me now. How could Bayne stand to look at me? How would others? Would I spend my life behind eye patches or wraps?
The door swung open hard, banging loudly. "Brett?" Bayne was at my side. "Jesus, I thought you were hurt. I felt your panic through our link. I've never felt anything like it before. He gripped my hands, pulling them back from my face. "I told you not to touch them." He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly to him.
"How can anyone look at me?" I buried my face against his chest.
"Hey, we're going to fix this, okay? You're not going to have to go around this way always. Give Cohen time to figure out how we treat this." Bayne kissed the top of my head. "I grabbed the stuff to wrap then again, but I didn't get time to talk to Corta about breakfast. Let me wrap your eyes before I go get breakfast."
I nodded, still shaking. "I didn't realize how bad it was. My eyes are really gone. There's nothing there anymore. It's just soft tissue. I thought they were just destroyed, not really gone. Why would they take my eyes?"
"My guess is a trophy." Kurt's voice came from the doorway. "Bridger was missing his as well. When Cohen did a closer inspection of the body, we found his eyes and balls were both gone."
I lowered my hands to my naked body, feeling my cock and balls, making sure they were still there. I blew out a relieved breath when everything felt normal. "Why? Why would they do that? Please tell me he was already dead when they did that." I dropped my head back to Bayne's chest.
"We're still trying to piece together everything that went on." Kurt sounded closer. "Corta's going to bring breakfast in. I've got some clothes for you both to change into if you want."
I heard something fall onto the bed.
"Thanks, Kurt." Bayne still held me to him.
"When you're ready, I'd like to talk more, Brett. See if you remember anything. Maybe find out if Bridger talked about any enemies," Kurt said from across the room again. "Bridger's truck is parked out in the lot. I'm guessing you left it there when you went to run?"
"Yeah. He said it was safe." I gripped Bayne's arm. "I'll need to get my stuff out of it."
"That won't be a problem. Come talk to me when you're ready," Kurt said
"Okay." I lifted my head. "But I don't know how much I can tell you."
"Get dressed and eat, then we'll talk." Kurt shut the door.
"I never want to feel that again." Bayne cupped my face in his hands. "I've never felt another person's panic that way. It was overwhelming. This mating thing is going to take some getting used to. We haven't even made it official yet. It's crazy."
I tried to remember to keep my eyelids closed, not wanting anyone to have to look at the holes. "There has to be a way to make it stop. A way to refuse the mating."
Bayne sucked in a breath. "No, I don't want to refuse it. I want to explore it. I want us officially mated as soon as you are ready. I'm not letting you go, Brett. I'm not losing you."
A knock on the door kept me from having to answer. I turned away, so whoever it was wouldn't have to look at me. I had to try and remember to keep my eyelids closed as much as I could, at least until the wrap was back in place.
Bayne left my side and I heard the door open.
