Chapter 86
Chapter 86
Rhea
There’s blood on Aron’s hands. I can see it from the corner of my eyes, and I try not to focus on it too much, not at the moment, at least. We head straight back to the manor after that. We don’t talk much on the way back. It’s quiet in the car, and I don’t know if it’s Kael or Aron
Lydia is dead; that is all I know,
The lone wolf killed her right there and then. The other girl–I think she’s going to be fine.
When we enter the manor, Aron stops near the stairs and places his hand on my back.
Tm going to change and shower,” he informs me before his lips touch my hair. “I’ll come down in a bit. Eat something.” And then he’s gone, heading toward his room.
My heart pounds in my chest. I’m a linle relieved. Not too much, but some of it is better than having none of it.
Aron is here. Still Aron.
Right
I look at Kovas, who enters the hall. We don’t dare to utter a word until Aron is completely out of sight, and even after that, it is still not the best. I’m too nervous to speak.
“What did he say to you?” he asks me
“Nothing, just that he’s going to change,” I look up at the stairs. He’s gone. “Is it him? Aron?” My throat tightens a little when I
ask that
I’m not sure
“Should I do something?” My fingers clench on the material of my shorts. Should I go up?”
“No, he’s going to think you’re doubting his control. Let him be done and then I’ll talk to him. I’ll know if it’s him or not Kovas gives me a side–eye. “Just relax.”
Relax
My stomach tightens; it churns and coils in the most unsettling of ways. I don’t think I will be able to eat anything right now. not after all that has happened.
Im worried”
“Don’t. Not until there’s actually something there to worry about. It could just be Aron in his very natural form—*
We are interrupted before I know it. Marcella comes into the hall with her brows furrowed. At the same time, Kovas steps. back and silences himself
“What’s going on?
“Nothing” Kovas shakes his head. “There was a small accident at the training grounds. That’s all His response is short. Marcella looks between us; she’s clearly suspicious and curious about us. “Are you alright?” she asks me
1/3
ΠΙ
* 84%
Chapter 86
I nod, unable to say more.
“Til go check on Aron. We’ve to discuss some matters anyway, Kovas gestures at the stairs before narrowing his head and then making his way toward the same stairs that Aron had taken.
It’s silent again.
Marcella steps closer to me, her voice softer as she asks me. “Are you okay, Rhea?” Her hand falls on my shoulder.
Yes. Just shaken, my eyes drop to the ground. I try to even my breaths, but the sound of that wolf ripping into Lydia still haunts my cars, the way it still makes my skin shudder. “One of the girls got hurt. And the woman who was training us, she- she was attacked
“By whom?”
“A lone wolf. He was at the border. My heart is racing. It feels like it is ready to jump out of my chest at any moment.
“Oh my god-
I shake my head at the sympathy on her face. It’s okay. They caught him.”
I take in a deep breath, but even after trying so hard, I’m still shaky and trembling all over. There is a faint ringing in my cars and the world feels hazy around me.
It’s not just about the accident, but also the fact that Aron may have snapped into his wolf again. After weeks of having him back after having Aron in his own mind, it may just all be gone. It makes me uneasy.
It takes me a moment to gather myself, and once I do, I head up the stairs to see what is happening. Aron has had time to change and shower, to get rid of the blood on his hands and clothes. By now he should be in his room. Maybe Kovas is with him.
enough
But the room is empty.
Or his office.
I knock on the door before stepping inside. He’s there, Aron
On the chair, his hand rubbing down on his face while Kovas is on the couch, sitting next to the empty fireplace. “Sorry. I just wanted to see how-
“It’s okay Aron gets up and walks over to me. “Everything’s fine. You tell me. Are you okay?”
“Did you get something to eat?”
I shake my head: “No, not y
yet
There is not one bit of change that I see, and that only means one
thing
He is ham. It is still Aron and not Kael, which does make me feel a little better about everything. The thought of losing him to his wolf terriles me. I didn’t think it would, not until now, until today when it came as such a near–close reality.
Aron reaches for my hand, holding it between both his. “Il come with you,” he glances back at Kovas, who’s still seated and quiet. “Why don’t we discuss this later? Il meet you in the event
“Of course.” Kovas stands up, nodding his head once at us before making his exit. Til get the patrols sorted in the meantime. We shouldn’t have another repeat of today.”
2/3
€84%
Chapter 86
“Good”
Kovas is gone from the manor after that. We head back down, and Marcella prepares some light lunch for both of us. I try t eat, but there’s barely anything I can put down my throat.
Even though I didn’t know Lydia for that long, a week was long enough for me to feel this grief inside of me. The guilt from not doing anything.
We could’ve done something–I could’ve done something. Yet I did not. I ran. The whole point of training was to prepare u for situations like these, to learn to fight our own battles, but it’s like I learned nothing.
What was the point of anything
Aron notices 111
lack of appetite. “Eat a little,” he says quietly, almost as a request. And I don’t have the strength to deny it, even if it’s just a bite of food or two.
I still try. For him. For.
r Aron and
my sake. He wants me to, and so, I do.
