19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Violet
“ A lright, you gotta give me all the dirt on how you and Chris finally decided to date,” Bells asked right away, closing my side of the bathroom door, and hooking the little lock after Chris closed his so we could have our girls’ night.
“I will, but you have to promise not to tell anyone at Crescent Moon yet. It’s still new. I don’t need Dad and Cory scaring him away.”
“Deal. If you promise the same. What is talked about in girls’ night, stays in girls’ night.” She stook out her pinky finger.
“Done.” I hooked mine around hers and giggled.
“Okay, dish,” she prompted.
“What are we watching first?” I asked, knowing how little patience Bells had.
Just as I thought, she grabbed a pillow and put it over her face, falling back on the bed and giving a strangled cry. I laughed, picking up the remote.
“We’re watching a Bug’s Life,” Bells answered.
“You already picked?” I asked.
“Well, you keep picking shit that makes me cry, so I came prepared.” She shrugged, opening a bottle of wine and giving me a glass.
I grabbed the remote, found the movie in the Disney Plus catalog and pressed play. I grabbed my wine glass and a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels and settled in to enjoy the movie.
“Well, are you going to dish or not, woman?” Bells asked, impatiently.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.
“Everything! A couple of days ago, you and Chris looked like you wanted to kill each other, and now you guys look like you want to eat each other.”
I blushed. I didn’t think anyone had noticed when we were annoyed with each other. So, I started telling her all about the women who kept showing up while we trained, and our fight over the rabbit.
“You shouldn’t be out there alone. I saw that thing, Vi. It was killing a bobcat,” Bells interrupted.
I glared at her and she stuffed popcorn into her mouth with a smile, so I kept going. By the time I was done, Bells was on her stomach, sighing happily.
“Well, look at you go! Didn’t think you had it in you to make the first move!”
“I didn’t, either,” I answered.
“Cade was right. Chris is good for you. He’s changing you.”
I shook my head at her words.
“He’s not changing me. He’s helping me change myself. He encourages me to become someone who can live in the world again.” Bells smiled sweetly at me, and I blushed again. Then I changed the subject. “And what about you, missy?”
“What about me?”
“‘Cade was right?’ You two have been talking about me and what else?”
It was Bells’ turn to blush and I grinned. I knew something was going on.
“Well, we kind of... we’re not dating,” she answered. “We kind of skipped that part.”
“You mean you guys are...”
“Since the full moon. Lots of it,” Bells giggled, and I thought this was the first time I’d heard her happy. There was a twinkle in her eye that had been missing for so long.
I hugged her.
“I’m so happy for you, Bells. If he makes you happy, you guys cou—” I stopped when Bells shook her head.
“I’m not thinking about that far ahead, Violet. I’m not Cade’s mate and he’s not going to be here forever. I’m just enjoying this for what it is: two people enjoying each other’s company for the time being.”
I wanted to frown, but I didn’t want to ruin tonight, so we continued watching the movie.
“So, what’s going on with Elim?” Bells asked after a little while.
“What about him?”
“Come on, Violet. You should have seen how worried he looked when you were unconscious. He didn’t even care that Chris almost killed him. He just wanted to make sure you were okay. I swear, he was practically crying after you guys left. I don’t think he’s hated being a vampire more than he did that morning.”
“I—he might like me, but I—he’s a great friend but that’s all I see him as,” I answered.
“Does he know? About you and Chris?”
“Yeah, I told him last night when he and Chris had a friendly spar.”
“Ohhh,” Bells looked like pieces of the puzzle were finally clicking suddenly.
“What?”
“Well, it just... it makes sense now why he was so stubborn about being useful, then talking about hating being a vampire and never being among his people.”
My heart broke for the Elim. I figured he was lonely here with everyone working during the day. I’d been trying to be his friend, but that’s all I thought I could be for him. I hoped he found his mate soon. Guardian Moon would be the perfect place for him to do so. There were so many people from all walks of life and species.
The rest of the night was more light-hearted. It wasn’t until the movie was over that I took a chance.
“Bells?”
“What’s up, sis?”
“I know you don’t want to talk about it with me, but have you thought about talking to a therapist? About everything that happened to you?”
“I—Cory wants me to, but I can’t do it right now. I need the pack to see me strong. I can’t do that and be seen seeing a therapist.”
“What about phone appointments? That’s what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here? I’m sure Dr. Campbell wouldn’t be opposed to taking you on.”
“I’ll think about it, Vi. I’m not sure I’m ready to face it, yet.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“You’ll never be ready, Bells. Not until you heal. You live with it regardless and you need to learn to deal with it in a healthy way.”
“I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Okay,” I conceded. I couldn’t force her to do anything, but I wanted her to know her options.
“I guess I should go to bed,” Bells said. “I love you, Vi. I’m so happy to see you’re healing.”
“I hope you can do the same one day.” I hugged her tight.
After she left, I cleaned up the mess we made and looked over at the closed door. I wanted to ask Chris to sleep in my bed again. I never had nightmares when he was next to me. I didn’t want to seem needy though.
As I was thinking about all of this, there was a small knock on the connecting bathroom door.
“Come in.”
“I thought I heard her leave. How was your girls’ night?” Chris asked, walking through the door and checking to make sure Bells was gone.
“Good. We had a lot of stuff to talk about.”
I smiled at Chris’ blush, who was likely recalling the way I told her about us this afternoon before she asked me for the girls’ night.
“Can I take that stuff for you?” He nodded to the bag of trash I’d set to the side.
“Nah. We can drop it off on our way to training.”
“You think Elim’s going to want to train with me?” Chris asked.
“Are you kidding? He’s already texted me asking if you’re up for teaching him a few things.” I showed him my phone.
“I doubt I’ll have much to teach him. He’s really good already,” Chris answered, sitting down on the bed. “Are you going to sleep now?”
“I think so,” I replied, playing with the blanket. We sat there in a bit of an awkward silence until Chris sighed.
“Can I sleep here? I won’t try anything. I jus—I liked sleeping next to you,” he said, the blush re-appearing on his cheeks.
My heart fluttered in my chest and I smiled.
“Yes, please. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to seem needy.”
Chris let out a harsh breath of relief. I scooted down the bed until there was space, and Chris climbed in next to me. When I thought he was comfortable, I inched closer until I was right up against his arm. Chris lifted his arm and I inched forward again until I was cuddled up against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me, and I sighed.
“This is better,” Chris sighed right back.
“Much,” I replied shortly before I let my eyes flutter closed.
My alarm sounded a few hours later, and I reached for my phone to shut it off. Instead of finding it, my hand touched solid muscle under cloth. Chris turned and grabbed the phone, putting it in my hand so I could silence the offensive noise. I let my hand drop back onto the hard chest, and Chris’ hand settled on top of my arm, running it up and down as we woke up.
“Are you sure you want to come out? We could just stay here tonight?” Chris’ husky voice made his offer, oh, so very tempting.
“Elim will be waiting for us,” I grumbled, cuddling closer to him.
Chris grunted, his hand still rubbing my arm.
“What do you call a three-hump camel?” Chris asked, and I smiled.
“What?”
“Pregnant,” he chuckled.
“You’re a dork,” I giggled.
“You’re the one who laughs at them,” he replied.
He’s got you there, Nenetl laughed at me.
Chris patted my hand with another chuckle when I didn’t have a reply, and sat up.
“Let’s get going then.” Chris grabbed me a few clothes and then left to get ready.
“How’s the leg?” Elim asked when we finally made it to the training arena.
“Getting there. I told Nenetl to go slow so she didn’t tire out. How’s the skin?”
“Much better. Thanks for this morning. I didn’t think it would get that bad,” he laughed, blushing.
“That’s what friends are for.”
“Where did you want to start today?” Chris asked.
I watched them teaching each other for the next two hours. They seemed to be having fun with each other, and I hoped they would still hang out when Elim got to Guardian Moon. Elim could use all the friends he could get. So could Chris for that matter, but he at least had warrior friends back home.
After training, I went to work. I only had a couple of days left before I would be done inputting the last of the documents. The rest would just be busy work. I looked over at Chris, who was currently reading one of his mystery novels.
Would he still be willing to be with me when we went back home? We were in our own bubble here, and I didn’t know what would happen when he was around our entire pack. They knew what happened to me there. I knew they talked, and Chris was a protector, through and through. It might prove to be too much for him in the end.
I worked steadily until almost lunchtime, then there was a knock on the door.
“It’s me. Just coming to say hello!” Cade’s voice came through before I could even ask.
Chris stood and opened the door for him. Cade was smiling from ear to ear.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Great! I put in a bid. We’ll see if it gets accepted or if I have to keep looking.”
“That’s great! Where?”
“In Arizona, actually.”
“Oooh, that’d be awesome to have you near.”
“Yep. It feels right, but I don’t want to jinx it,” Cade chuckled, crossing his fingers.
“I hope it goes well for you,” I told him honestly, though I was wondering what would happen to Bells once he left. “Have you seen Bells, yet?”
“Yep, I swung by the fields before I got here.” He smiled cheekily.
“I bet,” I answered.
“I did! I had to let my beta know I was back.” He threw his head back and laughed at my teasing. “Wanna have lunch?”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright, I’ll go grab us food. See you in the conference room?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll come help once I get Violet into the conference room,” Chris added, standing up.
“No need, bud. You take care of our Violet there,” Cade winked, making Chris frown at his use of words.
Cade laughed again and left.
“You know he’s with Bells, right?” I told Chris when he was still frowning as he led me to the conference room.
“What?”
“Cade and Bells. They’re together right now.”
Chris grunted, but I smiled when I saw his frown disappear from his face. He’d gotten jealous again, and I was more than a little thrilled he could do that. Nenetl agreed, purring with affection in the back of my head.
Cade walked in with a big tray of food a little while later, Bells following behind him with another.
I grabbed one of the smaller plates with only one meatball marinara sub and a cluster of grapes and chips. When Bells sat down, Cade hooked his finger under her seat and dragged it over to him.
“Cade!” Bells hissed with alarm.
“What? You said they knew already.” Cade shrugged.
“Violet knows.”
“And you don’t think she told Chris?” Cade asked, smirking over at me.
“I’ll have you know,” I said with a blush on my face. “That I only just told Chris a few minutes ago.”
Bells rolled her eyes. “I told you last night.”
“And, I’ve been awake since four in the morning. That’s a solid eight hours, plus yesterday evening, that I kept it to myself,” I defended, making Chris’ lips twitch.
“It’s not like you didn’t tell me they were together before I even got here, Princess,” Cade said, making me cross my arms and glare at my sister, while Chris was blushing beside me. “Chris, stop blushing. We’re all adults here.”
Chris finally chuckled, hooked his finger under my seat and pulled me closer, making Bells giggle.
My foot was fully healed two days later, and I was finally able to restart my training. Elim was still coming by, but they were keeping their sparring to the last half-hour of the training.
Everything was great for the following week. I even went to breakfast in the dining room, though Bells asked me if I could still eat with them in the conference room. She and Cade were keeping their thing a secret, and breakfast and lunch was one of the few places Cade was able to show his affection and not feel like he was being hidden, so I kept my attempts to eat with the packs to dinner time. It didn’t work every day, though. Some days I was too tired and burned out to push through my fear.
Things were going so well. I was happy and proud of the progress I was making. Dr. Campbell was ecstatic, and we were setting up more small goals to continue with my progress.
“ H ey, I want to go get something from my room,” I told Chris halfway through the morning. I’d finally finished the drawing of his spar with Elim, and I wanted to show it to him, but had been distracted with yummy kisses and forgot. If he liked it, I wanted to order it printed on professional paper and give a copy to him and Elim.
“Sure.”
We walked up and I grabbed my tablet. We were walking back when I tripped on a piece of folded carpet. He caught me, steadying me against the wall.
“Thanks,” I smiled up at him.
“You’re welcome,” he answered, then as if he couldn’t help it, he whispered, “You are so pretty, Violet.”
“Yeah?” I asked, my heart singing with his words. “How about a kiss, then?” Chris bent down and pressed his lips to mine. Too soon, he pulled back. “Nope. A proper one.” I pouted.
He gave a low chuckle, then bent down one more time and I wrapped my arms around his neck when his lips met mine. He pressed me against the wall, finally giving me what I wanted and plunging his tongue into my mouth. I let out a little moan, urging him on.
“Oh my!”
The sound startled us apart. I looked over the entrance of the alpha floor to find Martha standing there, looking like a deer caught in headlights, a hand to her chest as if she’d caught us naked and fucking in the hallway.
“Martha, what are you doing here?” I asked.
As far as I knew, Bells hated the woman. She had no reason to be up here and Martha was looking very startled.
“I-I was looking for Bells,” she stammered.
“She’s out in the fields, like she usually is,” I told her, not buying it.
“Oh right... and does she know... about this.” She motioned our way.
“What about ‘this’?” I asked.
“Well... I mean. I can’t imagine your parents or siblings would be too happy to know. Not that it’s any of my business or anything. But, you’re a young vulnerable girl. I’d hate for you to be taken advantage of.”
I watched Chris’ entire body go rigid from the corner of my eye.
“I’m a twenty-three-year-old woman. No one is being taken advantage of, and not that it’s any of your business, but my sister knows I’m in a relationship.”
“Well, I... I guess things are different where you’re from. I can’t believe a woman of your stature would be allowed to... well, you know.”
“No. I don’t know. Please explain,” I said, losing my patience. I didn’t like what she was saying and I didn’t like the way Chris’ face had become shuttered and stoic.
“Well... Nothing. I guess things are done differently in Crescent Moon. Standards are different. I’ll find Bells later.”
With that, she turned around and left, practically running away. I turned my attention to Chris, who was still looking at the spot where Martha had stood.
“Chris?” Chris turned to look at me, and I saw a look I didn’t understand cross his face before he blanked it again. My stomach fell to the floor, and a knot formed in my throat.
“I should escort you back to the office,” he finally stated, formality in his voice.
“I would prefer to go back to my room,” I answered, wanting to address this before it could fester in his head.
“Of course,” he answered, not looking at me anymore. “After you.”
We walked back to my room and I turned around the moment he closed the door.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m... I’m fine.”
“Chris. You don’t have to lie to me,” I said taking a step toward him to put a hand on his cheek.
He took a step back, and hurt lanced through my body, my stomach sinking further.
“She’s right, Violet. I’m taking advantage of you,” Chris said, taking a step toward the bathroom.
“What are you talking about? Chris, you can’t lis—”
“I—Things—I’ve enjoyed spending this time with you Violet, but it won’t work. We’re not second-chance mates. I checked during the last full moon. Once we leave here... We’re too different. I think it’s best if we just go back to how it was before.”
“Wh—Are you breaking up with me?” I asked, tears coming to my eyes.
I tried to blink them back, but I felt one fall. Chris’ eyes zeroed in on the traitorous tear, regret and pain flashing in his eyes for a moment before he took another step away from me.
“I’m sorry. It’s for the best. You’ll find your second-chance mate one day. It’s better if we don’t get too attached. I’ll be in my room until you’re ready to go back to work.”
I sat on my bed, wondering what just happened. How could it go so wrong so quickly? I felt the tears leaving my eyes freely now and a small sob left me. I pulled out my phone and texted Bells that I wouldn’t be working today, and that I didn’t want to see anyone for lunch. She asked why, but I ignored the text.
Instead, I crawled under the covers and let the pain flow. I felt cheated. I was finally feeling happy. The nightmares were gone, and I was feeling something other than dread when I woke up each morning. I thought what Chris and I were starting was something that could become deeper, maybe even permanent. Now it was all gone.