Page 110 of Devoted

“I see,” Gloria said eventually, weaving her fingers together and bracing her chin on them. “Well, Micah, this is your official warning. You have five days to get your house in order. At the end of those five days, if the human is unmated, we will have no choice but to intervene.”

A yawning chasm opened under my feet. I’d thought I’d have time to win Sam over, to let him fall in love with me the way he deserved to before deciding whether he wanted to tie himself to me for eternity.

Now, it was being ripped away. My joy at finding Sam was being tainted by those who were supposed to support and lead us.

Gloria smiled, undoubtedly reading the emotions I couldn’t keep from flickering over my face. “You’re dismissed.”

25

Sam

Losing myself in work was easy. I’d been hoping that by the time I was finished, Zeke would’ve returned.

The sun was setting outside the window though, and he still wasn’t back.

My stomach rumbled for the sixth time in the past ten minutes, and I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer.

‘His housemates will think it’s weird if you go downstairs and help yourself to food.’

“No, they won’t,” I muttered. “Zeke literally told me to and everyone’s been really welcoming.”

Even if I had told two of them off.

Naturally, my OCD latched on to that next.

‘They all hate you. The twins especially. With Zeke gone now, they’ll make you leave.’

Gritting my teeth, I headed for the door of the suite, battling with my thoughts every step of the way. “If that happens, I’ll take a taxi to a hotel.”

‘You’re going into a kitchen. What if one of them does something to make you lose your temper and you stab someone?’

I rested my head against the door, my hand frozen on the handle. Being in a different environment, without Zeke, everything was starting to spiral. No matter how much I tried to push my thoughts away, they kept returning.

‘Because you’re supposed to sit with them, not push them away. You can’t succeed at anything. If you go downstairs now, you’ll fuck that up too.’

My hand fell from the doorknob as I took a shaky step backwards. Who was I kidding? There was no way I was leaving this room tonight. I could eat Jelly Babies, that’d do.

Before I could take another step, there was a knock on the door followed by a gentle female voice. “Sam?”

Forcing my face to relax enough to smile, I opened the door to find the petite blonde woman there.Grace.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “We were just wondering if you’d like to join us for dinner?”

‘You’ll ruin everything if you do.’

“No, I’m okay.” My knuckles whitened on the handle, fortunately out of Grace’s sight. My smile, thankfully, stayed in place. “But thank you, I really appreciate you inviting me.”

Grace’s smile faltered slightly, making my heart skip a beat. Fuck, had I offended her?

‘Of course you did. You need to apologise now before she makes you leave.’

Before I could do just that, she spoke again. “That’s not a problem. I can make you up a plate if you’d prefer to eat in here?”

“No,” I said hurriedly. I didn’t need my OCD to answer this one for me. Like I’d said to Zeke, the last thing I wanted was to be waited on. “Honestly, I’m not hungry.”

That was the moment my stomach chose to rumble again. Loudly.

I cringed, but thankfully, Grace was kind enough not to call me on it. “Okay. If you change your mind, just shout. You can join us, or I can bring you food. We don’t mind.”

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