Chapter 15
Effie Harlow
Ididn’t want to wake up. That was the first thought that came to mind as someone said my name softly, urging me to do exactly that.
There were a million reasons I didn’t want to wake up, but the main one was Coffin.
He was still with me, and my wolf had curled up with him as I wandered in and out of consciousness, not truly present.
Not like I’d been when he’d shown me his past, the life he’d come from.
It’d been both really cool and a little sad, the sadness only because I could feel the loneliness through the memories.
There were memories where it seemed that everyone except him had families, whether it be a partner and children, or even brotherhoods. He always seemed alone. A leader of the pack but ultimately alone.
Not anymore.
While I knew that Coffin was more magic than anything else now, I promised to always try to include him on stuff.
I think that was what Julian wanted as well, even if he didn’t always get along with his wolf counterpart.
I’d felt their connection as they worked to find me in my own head, although it hadn’t taken much since I’d been searching for them anyway.
To say I needed comfort when I was feeling like crap was an understatement.
I wasn’t positive what had changed, but I’d been feeling amazing following my dinner with Ryder, and then on the way home, I’d started to feel achy.
Before I knew it, my eyes had been closing, my natural assumption that I was exhausted from my encounter with the Fengari Stone and the exchange of magic between Ryder and me.
Apparently, though, I was just sick, because my magic seemed energized and fine.
Me, on the other hand? Not so much. My eyes were heavy and I felt feverish, although far less than before. I really didn’t understand why I needed to wake up, though. That was total nonsense.
“I know, lil bit,” Tore chuckled, but there was tension behind it. “But you need to take more medicine, and you’ve been sleeping for fourteen hours—”
“And twelve minutes,” Caedmon murmured from nearby. I nearly smiled, but I was far too tired.
“We need you to wake up,” Julian said, “before Tore and Caedmon lose their minds.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” I yawned, flipping my pillow to the cool side and laying back down.
“I’m going to get her some breakfast,” Ryder rumbled, the sound of his voice making my toes curl.
“Already got it,” Dakota said as he entered the room. I would have said I wasn’t hungry, but right at that moment my stomach decided to growl. My wolf glared at me like I was somehow a traitor to our sleep plans. She didn’t want to wake up either, especially since sleep meant being with Coffin.
“Fine,” I sighed. I sat up, blinking and looking around at my mates’ worried faces before taking in our environment. It appeared to be late morning, and all of the windows were open, allowing a cool breeze to roll over my skin.
“Thank the Goddess,” Caedmon grumbled, all of the guys visibly relaxing that I was not only up but wasn’t going to fight them on eating.
I began to eat some of the fresh fruit and pastries from the platter Dakota placed in front of me on the bed, but my brain was elsewhere, still not completely used to the easy access to food I now had.
I guess I kept expecting to not eat, so my stomach demanded food in fear of that.
That was the explanation in my mind, at least.
I was only half paying attention to what they were saying, my focus mostly on how I was feeling. Still achy for sure, but mostly I was tired and a bit foggy. I briefly remembered the things that’d been going on around me last night, although most of them were focused around Coffin.
There was a doctor, though; I remembered that. She’d said something about medicine, and then everything had gone out again until I groggily woke up to take medicine and then fell back asleep. I did sleep significantly better after that.
I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts by a ringing noise. The room went silent, and I looked up to see Ryder staring down at his phone in concern. It wasn’t making the tone of someone calling him; I was beginning to recognize that one. This one was different.
“I’ll be right back,” Ryder said distractedly. “Eat and rest; I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I murmured, as Julian made a sound of agreement.
“I’m going with him,” Dakota said, dropping a kiss on my lips before following Ryder out the room. Caedmon walked over and tilted my chin up, and the light brush of his lips on mine had me letting out a happy sigh before he left the room as well.
I could tell Tore wanted to go with them, his eyes on the door, but he also hadn’t gotten up to leave.
“Tore? If you want to go, I promise we’ll be totally fine. I’m just going to eat breakfast and then get ready.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s fine.” But then the ringing sounded again, this time sounding like a house alarm, and Tore cursed, getting off the bed and jogging out the door.
“Think it’s anything serious?” I asked Julian, taking a bite of a muffin. I probably should have been more worried but I trusted my mates, and more than any of that, I wasn’t positive I had enough energy to get super worked up right now.
Julian looked out the window in thought. “This time of day? I wouldn’t think so, but that’s for Ryder’s security to worry about. You focus on eating, and then we’ll shower.”
I groaned. “A shower sounds amazing.”
He chuckled softly, checking my temperature as I sipped some tea.
Only 100.9. When I was finally done eating, he helped me get out of bed.
I felt so gross, having been both freezing and so incredibly hot while running a fever, so when he turned on the hot water to the shower, I didn’t think twice about pulling my clothes off and stepping inside.
“I love that.” Julian’s throat produced a noise that had my body breaking out into shivers.
“Love what?” I asked softly as he joined me, running his hands over my body as we stood underneath the rain head.
“How comfortable you are around me,” he said, brushing his nose against mine. “I love it.”
“And I love you,” I teased, knowing that he was right. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be in this position with Julian when I first met him. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“I love you isn’t enough to describe how I feel about you,” he admitted, running his hand over my waist and down to my ass. I shivered and reached up to kiss him, but he groaned.
“Nope, we can’t start that—you’re sick and I have no self control. Turn around for me, preciosa.”
“I feel better,” I said softly. Still, I did what he said, Julian grumbling about me not feeling perfect as he grabbed shampoo and lathered it in my hair.
I sank into him as he massaged the soap into my hair, getting each and every strand, which was an accomplishment since I had so freaking much of it.
When he was done, he conditioned my hair and washed my body.
I nearly fell asleep standing up—until the shower turned off and he wrapped me in a towel, a scowl slipping onto my face at the loss of the soothing warmth.
I swayed on my feet, dizzy as I stepped out of the shower, but Julian was right there to catch me.
He sat me down on the vanity, saying, “Stay right here. I’m going to get your clothes. ”
I had no issue with that—I wasn’t positive I could stand up even if I wanted to.
A minute or so later he walked in with clothes and held my hand as I got dressed, looking over me with concern.
When he led me back to bed, the sheets had been changed and my other mates had returned, talking quietly as they looked over some footage.
Tore immediately pulled me against him, running his hands through my hair before braiding it.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Much better,” I admitted, leaning back into him. “What’s going on, Ryder?”
His burnt gaze met mine, his concern apparent. “Security breach. Someone tried to break into the garage.”
I blinked in surprise. “Wait, really? Like someone random?”
“We don’t know; security didn’t get them before they left. I have a feeling they thought we wouldn’t be here since I sent one of the house attendants out in my car to grab something.”
“Oh,” I whispered.“Maybe they did think someone was here, though. Maybe they thought only you were gone.”
Tore froze. “Like you?”
I nibbled my lip. “Not necessarily me, but maybe one of you. I’ve been thinking about this, and it may not be accurate, but I think it’s a little weird how easily we were able to leave without seeing Caedmon’s dad.”
“You think he had someone follow us?” Caedmon asked, but a moment later he exhaled sharply. “That sounds about right.”
“Either that or it’s Hastain,” Dakota rumbled.
“Bastard,” Julian growled. He was crouched on the floor in front of me, and I barely flinched at his swearing before squeezing his hand in comfort.
“I may be wrong—it could be just someone breaking in,” I said, nibbling my lip. “But it seems a bit odd.” The man was demanding and pushy; I didn’t see him just letting us leave his country without getting a word in edgewise…unless it was part of some plan we were unaware of.
Ryder nodded. “You’re right, which means we probably need to figure out our next plan.”
Almost as if knowing it was being talked about, the pendant on my chest warmed underneath my oversized sweater. One that was a mix of purple and blues and very fuzzy.
“Mona said the pendant was supposed to show us the way,” I said, “but it hasn’t shown me anything yet.
I guess we can wait here for it to show me, or go back to school and wait?
Maybe?” I didn’t love that idea, but I also didn’t like the idea of not warning my friends what Hastain was up to… although I could do that with a phone.