Page 111 of Petals and Strings
I saved her.
Fuck, how did I lose all these years with her?!
“Can you send me pictures, Sarah? I need to see my baby,” I pleaded.
Desperation had me ready to burn this whole building down, but Ares had proven we could trust him. I stopped right in front of him, eyes burning with determination.
“You have one week, Ares. That’s all I have to give.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Audrey
My eyes kept drifting to Caspian. He came out of Ares’ office shaking and pale, but something had changed.
He seemed… stronger.
Even more lucid.
His gaze sought me out and he approached me, pulling me to a hug and breathing deep as he held me tight.
There wasn’t a word uttered as we were ushered to breakfast. Ares watched over us as we gathered our food and hurried back to the table. Kane even slid Caspian a cup of tea, which he took with a grateful smile.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Ledger asked, never the subtle one. “Something’s changed. Talk to us.”
“Lilly is alive.” Caspian uttered the words without skipping a beat. “I didn’t fail her.”
“What?” I gasped, glancing at Ares who nodded once, quick and subtle, before gazing over the room.
“Eat,” Ares warned. We all listened, taking a few bites of our food and waiting to see if Caspian would offer anything more.
“I have to be patient,” he finally said, shoving a bite of eggs in his mouth. He was struggling with this. Who could fucking blame him. He found out she was alive but knows he missed so much time with her. That and they’d never let her walk in here.
Ansel cleared his throat. “We’re here, Caspian.”
Caspian glanced up, a strained smile on his face. “Thank you, Ansel.”
I loved the small ways that Ansel was stepping past his discomfort and was embracing our pack. Even a supposedly feral alpha like Rydell. He still didn’t want one romantically, but he accepted them as our protectors. That was enough to tell me this was right.
A retching sound had us looking up and glancing over where a few patients were vomiting over the trash can.
“What the hell?” I groaned, shoving my own plate away. Though, there wasn’t much left.
“Must have a stomach bug,” Ares muttered, shifting uncomfortably before stepping closer to us. “Should have had food delivered to the wing.”
“We can’t hide,” Ledger said. “It’s best this way.” The ‘It’s less suspicious’ was left unsaid.
We tried to act cool, until more and more disgusting sounds joined the mix. Groans, vomiting, dry heaving, and the ones who ran out with hands gripping their stomachs.
“Okay, now I’m worried,” I said, glancing at Ares in panic. “It’s everyone.”
We were late to breakfast, one of the last, but it clearly wasn’t taking long to hit.
Ares pulled out his phone. “Cross, we have a situation in the dining hall. Food poisoning, maybe? It’s not taking long to hit after eating. Mass sickness.”
Cross came in quickly, a box of masks and gloves in his hands, passing them out to every staff member he encountered.
“Malik is on his way.”
