I'm watching as everyone around me is crying, I'm dressed in black and I'm silent. People are coming up to me tears staining their cheeks and their pitying looks. I don't listen as they offer their condolences and move along.

Next thing I know I'm in the small crematorium and a small white coffin is being moved back towards a curtain. People are speaking and crying but I can't hear them. My heart is in so much pain that I can't think.

I'm empty of tears and my face aches, my nose hurts and my throat is painfully swollen.

I'm suddenly back at my house and I move past the hoards of people towards my sons room, I open the door and look at how it was the morning he left for school. His bed covers are pulled back and his blanket is draped over his pillow.

Lego is littered across the floor and his scribbled drawings hang on his wall. His pjs are crumpled at the foot of his bed.

I'm sitting on his bed with my face buried in his pillow, it smells of him. His smell is fading the more time I sit on his bed. It's starting to smell of me.

I'm running down the stairs into the kitchen, everyone is staring at me but I don't care. I fling open drawers and cupboards until I find what I need. People are trying to talk to me but I don't answer them I run upstairs and back into his room.

I draw a large breath of air into my lungs through the soft blanket. I'm memorising his smell before I neatly fold the blanket and place it in the bag.

Storm woke to Vini breathing in short gasps; he opened his bedroom door and padded over to the guest bedroom door. He placed his ear to the wood and then he heard her wake up with loud gasp.

He opened the door forcefully to find Vini sitting upright in just her underwear. Her body was covered with sweat and her hair was damp. The duvet was scrunched up on the floor. His eyes went straight to her luscious body. He looked to her soft stomach and her womanly thighs, her large breasts were heaving up and down with her heavy breathing.

His eyes travelled upwards until they met a pair of green eyes staring at him and they were not impressed.

"What the fuck!" she swore as she fumbled to grab the duvet off the floor. She covered herself and glared at Storm.

"I'm sorry I thought you were in danger! I heard you breathing fast and then you gasped" he answered honestly.

She relaxed. "Oh, well I'm fine as you can see. Thank you" she said as she rubbed her eyes and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

Storm walked further into the room and came closer to Vini. She looked at him surprised that he would not take the hint.

Storm didn't believe she was fine. She looked beautiful but tired and he could smell her pain.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all, I'm fine." She hoped he would get the idea and go but he didn't, he just came further into the room and sat on the bed.

"I also have bad dreams, from my time at Mercile" he said softly.

She suddenly felt so selfish he had been through so much and was being very kind to her and she felt her heart go out to him.

Lavinia looked at Storm in the dim light of the room. The moon was visible through the window and it created eerie shadows in the room, but lit up Storms magnificent physique.

Vini wondered how many nights he woke up in a sweat from nightmares.

"I bet you do lovely" she said kindly as she placed her hand on his. His warm hand turned over and he linked his fingers with hers. She looked up at him and thought he really was "lovely". It had been a long time since Vini had let anyone in emotionally let alone sexually. She cursed herself because this man was so enticing.

She and Pete didn't have a sex life; after Sam was born they rarely made love. His decline into his depression had managed to cut her out of his life. They barely talked most days; he had no interest in her or Sam.

The thought of Pete made her furious and Storm breathed in her scent. "Why are you angry?" he whispered but it came out with an almost growl.

She rarely told anyone her feelings about what happened that day; she had specifically run away after everything so she didn't have to face her feelings. She missed her son; she missed his smile, his laugh.

The lump started to form again in her throat and her eyes were stinging from the impending tears.

Storm just sat waiting patiently for her to answer; she looked into his eyes and felt she had some kind of bond with him. She didn't know how but she knew he cared enough to listen to her. She took a deep breathe and started.

"I was married to a man called Pete; we had a son, Sam. Sam was amazing, very cheeky" she said with a smile and a roll of her eyes "he was a shit sleeper and a git at times but he was very kind and loving. He loved animals and Dinosaurs" she chuckled.

"He was fascinated by you guys" Vini gestured towards Storm with their still linked hands.

"He was everything to me, when he was born he was so small" she paused "He had dark blonde hair and huge eyes. His eyes were blue but they changed to green over time" she looked to Storm to see if he was still listening.

He looked at her sombrely and nodded.

"He was a little bugger with the fridge, always getting in there and "stealing" yogurts" she giggled. Tears were falling onto her chest and Storm wiped them away with his thumb.

"He sounds wonderful Lavinia" he said, clearly a little choked.

"My husband was very depressed, I tried to get him help for a long time but he refused. He just got deeper and deeper" she sighed "One morning he went to my son's school, picked Sam up and drove to a nearby wood" she tried to stop the sobbing that was bound to come.

"He put a pipe from the exhaust into the car and gassed them both" she got out on a whisper.

Storm felt fury like he had never felt before. He looked at Vini through new eyes; she had lost her young in horrific circumstances. She gave herself to that "male" and he was supposed to protect her and their young, but he had done the opposite. Storm hated this "Pete".

"Pete didn't want to live but he didn't want to live without our son. His shit excuse came in the form of a note." Vini said with anger burning through her. "I fucking hate him, there's a special place in hell for that fucking bastard."

Storm stroked the side of her face and brushed a stray hair behind her ear. He looked deep into her eyes and held his hand on the side of her face.

"I could never hurt you Vini, your mate is lucky he is dead. If he was not I would kill him myself" he said earnestly.

"Ditto" she said as she leant into his hand and closed her eyes. He moved closer and wrapped his strong arms around her.

She laid her head against his hard chest and listened to his heart beating. Storm was stroking her hair and for the first time in a long time she felt peace.

She pushed at his chest him gently, a silent request to release her. She reached for the plastic bag and picked it up; the crinkling of the bag was loud in the quiet room.

She placed it on her lap and looked at Storm. She wanted to give him this, wanted him to know that she trusted him.

She opened the zip no more than an inch and passed it to Storm. He looked at her quizzically and took the bag.

"I have kept his blanket in here since he died" she said to him. She motioned him to smell the contents.

Storm leant down and put his nose to the gap. Vini's smell invaded his senses and then a scent that was much younger. The fragrance was of a male, a young male, it reminded him of Forest and Salvation when he had held them.

Then he smelt Slash and he growled. The male had contaminated his mate's blanket.

He gently closed the bag and passed it back to Vini.

"Let me hold you tonight Vini" said Storm, he wanted to hold her and bring her comfort. She looked uneasy but nodded placing the bag to her side.

He pulled back the covers and climbed into the warm bed next to her. She turned her back and he curled up against her. Vini's soft curves felt like velvet and her ass and hips rose above her waist as she lay on her side. He rested his head on the pillow and drew her in closer to him.

They lay like that, just holding each other. Storm thought about how much his life had changed in a matter of hours. He never wanted to let Vini go. She was his and he would protect her from here on out.

He was never letting her go.