Page 53 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

I was still processing the fight between Andreas and Stanley, Sarafina’s near-fatal injury, and the information Georgie had arrived with—so, when the man I loved told me that we couldn’t be together, it was just another emotionally intense event to add to the list. Only this one was the straw that broke my back. After walking away from Andreas, I half expected to fall to the ground in a fit of sobs, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I found that I could no longer continue to work through how I felt about any of it. I went back to the house and got Georgie. Then we piled into her car in silence. I buckled in and stared straight ahead with no reaction to what had happened. Georgie asked me if I was okay over and over again, trying to discern what had put me in such a mood, but I didn’t speak. All I did was shake my head yes or no to a few of her questions, and then I curled up against the door and closed my eyes.

When I woke up half an hour later, we parked in her grandmother’s driveway, and Georgie gently shook my shoulder.

“Hey, Di, we’re home.”

I blinked and was greeted by a ray of harsh sunlight. I’d almost forgotten what time it was when we left the compound.

“You go in and get some sleep,” she said. “I’m not going to open the store today so don’t worry about coming into work.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll drop by around lunch time with some food and coffee,” she added. “Maybe you’ll feel like telling me the rest of what happened by then.”

“We’ll see,” I said, opening the car door and spilling out of the seat like a rag doll. I was exhausted, and I’d used up all my brain power. All I could think of at that moment was the sweet relief that would come from crawling into my bed and not having to talk to anyone for a while. I would forget about everything that occurred on the compound and sleep until I had the energy to deal with real life again.

Laughing mirthlessly as I stumbled inside, I wondered if I’d ever have the energy to face my heartache head-on. A part of me was pretty sure that I would have to avoid the pain that Andreas had caused me for the rest of my life.

But the rest of my life was something I could put off for a while. Or at least until later that day.

Right now, as I threw myself down onto my bed, I just needed some rest. Which thankfully came quickly as I all but passed out.

When I woke up, it was late in the afternoon. I could tell, even without looking at my phone, just from the angle of the sunlight streaming through the basement window. I heard muffled voices upstairs and guessed that Georgie had kept her promise and brought some food over. I was glad she decided not to wake me and spent some time visiting with her grandmother while I continued to sleep. If I wasn’t so hungry, I probably would’ve tried to get more rest, but my stomach growled any time I closed my eyes and attempted to return to my dreamless sleep.

I hauled my ass out of bed and splashed some water on my face before going upstairs to greet Georgie and gran. They were sitting at the table eating out of a pie dish, and both of them smiled when they saw me.

“Hey, honey. Georgie mentioned you weren’t feeling well. Do you need some medicine?”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I just had a headache, but it’s mostly gone now.” I grabbed a glass of water and a fork, then came to sit next to them. Georgie slid the pie dish my way, and I took a huge bite. It was delicious.

“I told gran we didn’t feel like going to work today,” Georgie said. “She suggested we all go see a movie or something.”

“I’m not really in the mood to leave the house.”

“Ah, c’mon,” Georgie said. “It’ll be fun. We’ll let you pick out the movie.”

“Nah, that’s okay. You two can go without me. I’ll catch the next one.”

“Leave her be,” said gran. “She’s still not feeling all that great, I can tell. If you want some Tylenol, there’s a whole bottle in the hall closet. And make sure you drink lots of water. Georgie and I will stop at the store on our way back from the theater and get you some soup.”

I smiled. “Thanks. But really, I’m not sick. Just tired. I’m going to eat a little and then get some more rest. By tomorrow morning, I think I will feel right as rain, so please, don’t you two go out of your way or anything.”

Georgie eyed me suspiciously, but I knew she wouldn’t ask any probing questions while we sat at the table with her grandmother. For now, I was safe. I continued to pick at the pie until the two of them had to leave for the movie, and then I took some snacks downstairs with me, which I ate in bed. When I checked my phone, I noticed it was dead. Instead of plugging it in, however, I just set it back down on my bedside table and pulled the covers up over my head.

I didn’t want to have contact with the outside world anyway.

Chapter 27

Andreas

Becc and Mr. Morena managed to track me down a few hours after Diana and Georgie left the compound. Despite my bone-deep exhaustion, I hadn’t left the infirmary all day. Mikeal had done what he could to mitigate the rumor spreading, but I told him to focus most of his energy on finding the murderer amongst us. Unfortunately, that meant word of the incident got back to Sarafina’s family sooner than I would’ve liked. I’d been hoping she would be awake by the time her brother and father found out she was injured. But alas, it would seem I wasn’t so lucky. When they showed up, I was the only person around to speak to them. I didn’t even have a nurse to provide some much-needed backup.

“What the hell did you do to my sister!”

Those were the first words out of Becc’s mouth as he charged through the door of the infirmary and advanced on me. It wasn’t a question so much as an accusation, and thankfully, I was so tired I had no choice but to remain calm. If I were to try and match the aggression Becc was wielding around threateningly, I likely would’ve passed out. He got so close his nose nearly touched mine. I took a step back.

“I’m so sorry,” I began, looking more at Mr. Morena than at Becc. The woman who had pushed Mr. Morena’s wheelchair into the building was Sarafina’s friend, and she had pink circles around her eyes and was sniffling. “There was another security breach by someone who knew enough about werewolves to put copper bullets in his gun.”

“Copper bullets!” Becc raged. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to get through this explanation without at least a few more of his outbursts.

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