Page 50 of Tormented By Regret

Whisper had been acting strange since we’d arrived back from dinner last night. She barely said a word to me, and I worried she was getting sick once again.

“Baby girl, are you feeling alright?” I came up to her as she was coming out of the bathroom.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” she kept avoiding my gaze, and that alone was an indication that something was wrong.

I slipped a finger under her chin and tipped her face up until she was forced to look at me. Her light eyes stared back at me, full of concern.

“Are you sure everything is okay? You're not keeping anything from me, are you?”

“I’m fine, it’s just the raven. When it’s anxious, it fucks me up royally. You’ll get used to it, don’t worry so much. I might just need to spread my wings tonight.”

“You know you can tell me anything. I’m not going anywhere.”

She gave me a small smile and then touched my cheek. “I’m alright. Truly. I’m gonna go take a walk around the clubhouse, calm the raven.”

“Will it shift tonight?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe.”

“Be careful, okay. I don’t want to stop you, but I also don’t want you to think I’m trying to hold you back.”

“It’s okay, Lee. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

She gave me a swift kiss before walking away but it was the way she kept avoiding me that made me feel like she was hiding something. I understood and accepted the fact that she was a shifter, but this was different. Her reactions were human, as if she were afraid of something.

“I’ll be right outside if you need me,” I told her, closing the door behind me.

I headed down the hallway and out to the bar lounge area at the front of the clubhouse. I met Macabre halfway there. We hadn’t spoken since he found out I was doing things to his baby sister. I wasn’t sure if it was safe yet to approach, but as I walked past him, he placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me. At first, I thought he was picking a fight, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t like your relationship with my sister.”

“Noted,” I replied, keeping myself on defense mode as he turned to me.

“But I also know I can’t do anything about it. She won’t let me protect her. And I’d rather keep her here with you then in some cage, or worse, found lying near a lake somewhere.”

“Agreed,” I nodded. The pang of the reminder of Lucy’s death, still felt like a punch to the chest.

He gave me a hard glare before he spoke. “Is she alright?”

I was surprised by his question, but I sensed there was more to that statement. “If you’re asking if she’s physically well, yes. Emotionally, I have no fucking clue.”

“Why? Did you hurt her in some way?” Brotherly concern lined his brow.

“No,” I said carefully, almost amused by his reaction.

“Then what's wrong with her?”

“I’m not sure. She’s been avoiding me all day. Before I found out about her raven, she’d hide things from me, but she wasn’t scared about it. Tonight, I saw true fear in her eyes. As if something had startled her.”

“Did something happen while you were out with her?”

I shook my head trying to recall the events of the night, but we’d only gone out to dinner, had a few drinks. She’d been teasing me and playful the entire time, that is until I left her to go get some drinks. By the time I returned, she wanted to come home.

“I’m not sure what happened. She was fine one moment, the next she wanted to leave. We didn’t fight, hell, she barely spoke to me.”

I followed Macabre to the bar where one of the prospect’s handed us our drinks. “Have you told her what’s going on?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. I don't want to frighten her. She already feels like I’m controlling her.”

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