Page 63 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
My stomach churned.
I could do this.
Jumping out of bed I grabbed the robe that was laid at its foot as I spun in place, searching the room for some clothes to wear.
My uniform was nowhere in sight. Fuck. What did that mean?
Okay, I was wrong. I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t ready. I knew it was cowardly, but I didn’t want to havethatconversation. The one we should have had yesterday.
Anxiety tightened in my chest and I knew I was spiralling. I hunched forward.
I couldn’t get enough air.
Breathe. I knew I needed to take slow even breaths.
The lid on the box in the furthest recesses of my mind rattled.
I tried to drag in air. My throat was tight, only allowing the tiniest sips of air into my lungs.
Fuck. My calming techniques weren’t working. Was he going to reject me politely over breakfast? Bile rose up my throat and I swallowed it down. If I wasn’t here, he couldn’t tell me that he didn’t want me.
Maybe if I could keep the bond in place a little longer, he’d change his mind. Surely I could make him want to keep me?
I couldn’t stay here. I had to leave. But where could I go?
My sister’s apartment was empty. I could stay there. Hurry. Hurry.
But my feet didn’t work. My legs were limp noodles, refusing to obey my mind. Black spots danced in my vision and I slumped to the floor, like a marionette whose strings had been cut, curling up into a ball.
The locks on the black box in my mind broke and the darkness rose to swallow me.
Chapter 58
Bastien
“You’ve got three minutes,” I told my brother, whose timing was spectacularly bad. “Electra’s awake and I’ve got breakfast being kept warm in the kitchen.” I hadn’t wanted to leave her, but the Moderates, my own party, were now asking questions.
Maximilian had hinted to at least one more person on the Council that the circumstances of my mating were suspicious. But all they had to go on was rumour. They had no evidence. And they would never get any. Patrick and I had spent the early hours of this morning developing a story that would satisfy even the most conservative Shifters in my party.
Electra was mine.
Just kill them all.
The thought was too attractive. I had to push it away.
Luc raised a brow, noticing my inattention and I nodded for him to proceed. “Silvio sang like a canary.”
“That’s—"
Distress shrieked down the bond.
Electra! Baby?
No response.
My chair crashed against the floor.
Luc stood in one fluid movement. “Electra?”
