Page 25 of The Wolf and the Monarch

Sawyer

For the next couple of hours, Sawyer kept himself tucked as close to Andi as he possibly could. At some point, his arm had drifted under his shirt so he could have some direct skin contact to help warm him up. It seemed that his body heat was doing something because Andi hadn’t fully shivered for quite some time and the shuddering died down. He couldn’t help but notice the heat radiating off his wound growing and growing. He really needed to do something about that. He just didn’t want to leave the poor guy alone again…

Above them, the footsteps began to settle, which told him that the majority of the bunker had gone to bed. That was a plus, at least. He wouldn’t have as many scrying eyes upon him. He was sick of them watching his every move when he went there.

Sawyer shifted and propped himself on his elbow while he retrieved his arm from under Andi’s shirt. He gently brushed the back of his hand against Andi’s forehead and the moment he did, the man shuddered again. He was fucking burning up. That was not good. “Andi…are you awake?”

He groaned softly before he muttered a soft “nyeah”.

“You’re really hot.”

“Thanks.”

“And clearly delusional.”

Andi shook his head a bit. “I feel like I have the flu but…way worse.”

“Okay… I know there’s some medicine upstairs. I’ll go see what we have and come back down.” Sitting up fully, he moved and grabbed the extra water bottle. He squatted down before the other and untwisted the cap. “Can you lift your head?”

No answer.

“Andi.”

No answer.

“Andi. Look at me.”

He groaned. “That’s not my name,” he finally said while he lifted his head like Sawyer asked.

As smoothly as he could, he poured some of the water into the captive’s mouth before he plopped his head back down on the mattress. “You really are delusional.”

“My name is Benji.”

Sawyer’s eyes shifted back and forth, clearly confused. “Benji?”

“Mhm. Benjamin Madison.”

His knees suddenly buckled and he sat flat on his ass. “Your name is Benjamin?” The man just hummed and nodded. “You’re telling me we have the wrong person?!”

Benji shrugged. “Andi is my sister.” As soon as those words left his mouth, his eyes widened and he reached a hand out, gripping Sawyer’s wrist as tight as he could, attempting to sit up. The strength was impressive considering his state. “N-No. Don’t… Don’t listen to me. I am Andi. I am.”

His hand clasped around the others and he shook his head. Sawyer had no idea what to do with the information he was given. His mind was reeling. They had captured the wrong person the whole time. But Andi was Benji’s sister, so they weren’t totally off. How did they mess that up though? An entire gender swap seemed hard to do but what did he know? Not enough to know the processes Milo goes through. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

Benji’s eyes were wide. He was clearly panicking and that wasn’t going to help anything. “I told you, don’t listen to what I said. I am delusional. My name is Andi.”

Even with his hand on his wrist, Sawyer reached out and he softly held Benji’s face between his hands, keeping his eyes steady upon him. “I don’t care who you are. I am not going to hurt you. I want to help you.”

“What?”

“I want to help you. I’m going to help you.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because you shouldn’t be here.”

Benji shook his head. “I-I’m not letting you take her. If you tell them I’m not Andi, I will deny everything you’ve said. I will m-make sure they know you’re a fucking liar. I will get us both killed if you say a thing.”

There wasn’t a hint of deception in his eyes. Benji would do whatever he had to to keep his sister safe. It was commendable. “I’m not going to do that. To them, sure, you’re Andi. We’ll keep the rouse up. But you don’t have to with me. You can trust me. I swear.” Benji’s blue eyes searched Sawyer’s brown ones. He was searching for anything that told him that he couldn’t trust him, he imagined, and he couldn’t blame him for it. “I told you I’m holding out for something better,” he smiled just a bit and said, “This is my something better. Helping you. Doing something good for once in my fucking life. That’s it.”