Haven't Seen The Light In A While

Content warning for this chapter. Mentions the lead-up to self-harm at the end.

Melody

I am surrounded by warmth and large bodies. The softness of the bed beneath me envelops me.

That's the first thing I register.

A heavy, safe kind of warmth wrapped around my body. I blink slowly, my eyelashes dragging against Sam's chest. His arm is slung over me. Another hand is threaded with mine. Rory, maybe? Vince's clothed chest is pressed to my back. The bed dips on all sides. I'm not alone.

Everything is hazy, like I'm swimming up from deep underwater. My head throbs faintly, but not from pain—just fog.

I shift slightly, trying not to wake anyone, but that's when I notice it.

Skin. My bare skin. Their arms and hands were against it. They touched my chest, my stomach, and my thighs. My entire body felt exposed. I jolted.

And the moment I look down, panic sets in like a punch to the gut.

I'm naked. Completely.

Why am I naked?

My heart stutters, then kicks into overdrive. "No... no, no, no—"

I scramble backward, elbowing someone by accident. "No—what happened? Why—why am I—?" My voice cracks with hysteria. "What did you do to me?"

The words are out before I can stop them. I don't mean them. I don't. But they come, wild and feral, fueled by fear I haven't shaken yet.

The bodies around me stir.

"Mel?" Vince is the first to rise, voice groggy but suddenly alert. "Hey—hey, it's okay—"

"Why am I naked?!" I shout, clutching a pillow to my chest, shrinking back into the headboard, heart hammering so violently it makes my vision blur. "What—what happened? Did I—Did I shift? Did we—did someone—?"

Sam sits up next, eyes wide with concern. "Mel, no—baby, you're safe. You're with us. Nothing like that happened."

I can barely hear them over the rush of blood in my ears. My breath comes in shallow gasps.

I don't remember. I don't know anything after...

After the goddess.

After the power.

After—

Vince is already reaching for me, but stops short. "Mel," he says carefully, his voice now lower and soothing. "You were stuck in your wolf form for a while. The shift back stripped your clothes. You had a breakdown. That's all. We laid with you to help you calm down."

I stare at him, trying to see the truth in his eyes. Everything is fractured, but I can see he is telling the truth—I can actually see it.

"Nothing happened to you, baby," Rory adds, voice thick with emotion. "We didn't touch you like that. We just... held you."

"You were hurting," Odin whispers from the foot of the bed. "You told us not to touch you unless you said it was okay. And then you let Vince hold you. We followed your lead."

I blink at all of them. My throat is dry. The pressure in my chest eases just enough for me to breathe.

I didn't mean to accuse them. I know them. I love them.

But I'm terrified.

Of my body.

Of what it means now.