Page 33 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
And then I remembered. The cabin. The barn. The Shifters who came for us.
I’d told her to hide under the bench. But she didn’t. She jumped. She fucking jumped up to the bars on the ceiling. I’d known that she had done gymnastics when she was younger, but I’d never seen just how magnificent she could be. And the move had distracted me. Allowed the Shifters to gas me.
My mate had caused us to be captured. Separated.
Pain punched me in the chest so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Bastien? Please, let me explain.
But her betrayal hurt so much. I didn’t know how to deal with it.
I shut her out.
Chapter 39
Electra
I came to after the gas in what looked like a hospital room. Single bed. No chairs. Bland white walls. No windows. Hmm. Hospital room or prison. But there were no restraints on my wrists and someone had changed me into a clean white gown. Then, when I reached inside myself, I could feel my well of magic. That settled some of my burgeoning anxiety. If I had my magic back then I wasn’t in the hands of Humans First any longer.
In my mind, the bond with Bastien was quiescent. He hadn’t woken from the drugs yet. The need to see him tugged in my chest. I could ask, without it seeming peculiar, right? He was my boss and we had both been kidnapped. It would be normal to ask about his wellbeing. Totally.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I climbed out of the bed and tested the handle on the door. Not locked.
A Shifter sat on a chair in the corridor immediately outside, already looking up. A Shifter I recognised. “Charlie!”
“Hey, Electra. You feeling okay now?”
“Yeah,” I said, studying him. His shoulders were tight and he hadn’t returned my smile. “What’s going on?”
He shrugged, not meeting my eyes. Not good.
“Can I see Bas… The President?” I had to remember that our interlude was over. Bastien was the President.
“Sorry El,” Charlie said. “Gotta wait for a debrief.” But he still wouldn’t meet my eyes. Something else was going on. “You hungry?”
On cue, my stomach grumbled. How long was it since I’d last eaten? When Bastien had cooked for me in the cabin in the snow.
Charlie laughed. “You go back inside and I’ll get some food to you.”
I gave him a nod of thanks. Back in my room I climbed back onto the bed, my mind whirling. Someone didn’t want me to see Bastien. Or Bastien to see me? I chewed at my lip, as I thought through the possible reasons. First, the least paranoid reason was that Luc wanted to get my version of the events, independently of Bastien’s in case we noticed different things about our imprisonment. Yeah, maybe it was legitimate, but my gut was telling me that it was more than that. The way that Charlie had refused to meet my eyes. He’d been uncomfortable.
Next, was the possibility that we’d been separated because Bastien had called me his mate. But I couldn’t see why that would be a problem. My own sister and his brother had recently bonded as mates and everyone in the Palace had been genuinely pleased for them. I mean, I thought it was a big deal that Bastien had bitten me, but maybe I was reading too much into it.
It’s not always about you Elie.
So maybe it was because Bastien had shifted and his Beast side was in control. I’d never heard of this happening before, and I’d worked with Shifters, the world’s biggest gossips, for the last five years.
A knock on the door interrupted my thinking. “Food’s here,” a female voice said.
I looked up, expecting someone to bring the food inside, but the door stayed shut. Surprised, I went to the door and pulled it open. A tray of food sat on the floor and Charlie watched me from his seat in the corridor. “Kitchen delivered your meal,” he said with a nod.
Okay then. That was weird. Charlie was acting like I had a contagious disease. Murmuring my thanks, I picked up the tray. Sandwiches, some fruit and a piece of chocolate cake.
When I was back on the bed, sandwich in hand, I picked up my previous train of thought. My gut told me that I was being kept from Bastien because he’d shifted. With his Beast in control, he couldn’t lead the Council. Even the Moderates would struggle with him in this form.
The implications hit me. I dropped my sandwich, my appetite disappearing.
I had witnessed it all. I was the weak link. I had to be kept away from the rest of the Palace staff so that I couldn’t tell anyone what I’d seen.
