Chapter 13 #3
Julian’s reaction, though, had probably been the funniest. His entire body froze as he just stared at me with large eyes before walking over and nuzzling my neck… And that was when he and Tore started talking about destroying the dress.
They wanted to destroy it because they liked it on me. How little sense did that make? I fully planned on buying a similar one, not to even go out… Just to wear around. Plus, I loved how it felt against my skin.
Pulling the sleeves of my borrowed hoodie over my palms and walking out, I could hear voices from the kitchen, finding Caedmon sitting on the bed waiting for me.
I walked up to him and hesitantly ran my fingers through his hair.
He tilted his head back and lifted his hand to my waist, his touch a bit less cautious than normal.
“Comfortable?” he asked seriously.
“Yes.” I smiled. “But the dress was fun to wear.”
His eyes traced my expression. “You looked different wearing it.”
“What do you mean? I mean, it’s a bit less material…”
He shook his head. “Not like that. I just mean you looked… I don’t know how to describe it because you’re always beautiful, but when you were wearing that, you couldn’t stop smiling. You looked like you felt as beautiful as you already are.”
My chest squeezed as he hit the nail right on the head. “You’re right, and I have never really felt like that before. I was always called horrible things back at Whitepaw, so this felt…good. This felt really good.”
“I would be willing to do a lot to put that look on your face always,” he murmured and then offered me a small smile. “Maybe that is something I can buy for you.”
“What? A silky blue dress?”
“Anything that will make you smile like that.” He squeezed my waist. “But yes, that. I will try to curb my gift-giving, mon ange. I know you are a bit uncomfortable with it, but…”
“It’s how you show your affection, I know.” I squeezed his hand gently.
“Food is ready!” Julian called out. Caedmon stood and backed me up slightly, before intertwining our fingers and leading me from the room.
I frowned at the office door down the hall, where I could hear quiet, intense conversation, and once again had to resist the urge to go check on Aanya and make sure—
A phone rang from the office, and the ringtone had something sinking in my gut. I couldn’t tell you why I felt sudden concern, but the minute it stopped and the door opened, Aanya stood with the phone pressed to her ear, offering me a panicked look.
“Yes, of course, I will be right there. They took her to the care center, okay—”
She hung up the phone and strode towards her room. “Grab a jacket.”
“What’s going on?”
“Ruby is in the emergency center.”
Many things had changed in my time at SFU.
Namely, for the first time in my life, I had true friends.
Not only mates, but both Aanya and Ruby.
So to say the drive to the emergency care center was stressful was the understatement of the century.
Our group had to take two separate cars, and after five minutes of tense silence, we arrived in the parking lot.
I got out and walked quickly towards the door, Aanya meeting me there.
It was so odd being back here when I wasn’t the one in the medical bed.
A nurse greeted us at the door and without question led us back, stopping at the door before looking at the room behind us. “Two at a time. She’s stable, but we just gave her medicine so she isn’t very responsive.”
“We will be right here,” Ryder confirmed, squeezing my waist as Aanya led the way into the small room…where Ruby was hooked up to several machines.
Oh, no. No. This was all so wrong. Ruby was so strong and vibrant, seeing her in the hospital bed made no sense at all.
“She was found on the side of the road, right outside of campus. She had her student ID on her but nothing else.” The nurse offered both of us a concerned look. “We were able to get most of the blood off and get her hooked up with fluids, but she suffered fairly severe trauma to the head and body.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?” I asked.
The nurse let out a small sigh. “We won’t know until she wakes up, but she had high amounts of drugs in her system, and she had blunt-force trauma all over her body, including several broken bones.”
“That's impossible, I talked to her maybe an hour ago, we were texting.” Aanya’s voice was tight.
“Are you sure it was her?” the nurse asked.
The question silenced both of us because we didn’t know, and if she had been in danger because of the man from before… What was his name again? Reaper. If it was because of Reaper, then we had let her return to a dangerous situation, and that possibility had my eyes stinging with tears.
I felt like I had let Ruby down. What type of friend was I, that I couldn’t even take care of her? Make sure that she wasn’t surrounded by dangerous individuals?
“We will figure this out,” Aanya bit out. “Whoever did this is going to pay.”
I didn’t doubt her for a single second.