Page 51 of Wolf Desired

No. It had to be the newsuite. It was too much, too luxurious. Someone like me wasn’t given a room like this without it being a trick or a mistake and I felt like it was going to be ripped away any second and I was going to be banished to the basement. Or rather, since this was a castle, the dungeon.

Did Cyrus even know Bishop had moved me to a suite? Bishop had said they’d all agreed, but upgrading someone with almost no useful skills didn’t seem Cyrus’s style. I didn’t deserve a room like this. I barely deserved the room I’d originally been given.

Except that was something Merrick and Sterling would tell me, and Bishop wasn’t like them. Cyrus and Knox weren’t like them, either. They might not have welcomed me or thought highly of me, but they hadn’t tricked or punished me.

Yet,a small voice whispered inside me, even as my heart and soul assured me it would never happen. The mating bond might let Knox reject me and be angry with me, but it would never let him be purposefully cruel.

And while Cyrus was tough and didn’t sugarcoat things, he didn’t strike me as cruel either. Without a doubt, all of them would eventually do things to hurt me, but their intent would never be malicious.

Which meant I just had to get over myself and accept the fact that someone wanted to do something nice for me with no strings attached.

Really.

Except the sense of unease didn’t diminish with my certainty that the guys weren’t screwing with me. It was going to take a while to let go of all the doubts and fears Merrick had driven into me for far too many years, and telling myself things were different wasn’t what would help. I needed proof. I needed Bishop and Knox and Cyrus to keep treating me differently until it finally sunk in. My own words to myself didn’t matter.

And neither did soaking in the bath.

I was still too worked up. I could spend all day in the warm water and it still wasn’t going to relax me.

With a sigh, I climbed out of the tub, dried off, and wrapped myself in the big, fluffy robe hanging on the hook behind the door.

While I’d been in the bath, someone had entered my suite and set a large silver tray with my dinner on the table in the living room. That only added to my unease. I didn’t like that anyone could just come and go from my suite. I should have thought to lock the door, but I’d been distracted by Bishop’s kiss on top of being tired from our long journey.

Had that been Bishop’s intent? To distract me?

No. Just no!

I couldn’t start doubting him. He’d taken care of me and been kind and sweet for the entire journey. I had to break the cycle of mistrust and doubt.

But the unease kept growing, twisting in my chest, making me twitchy.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I hadn’t been afraid like this in the entire time we’d been traveling and there’d been times when I’d be in serious danger.

But my current fear wasn’t because my life was being threatened. It was the fear that the safety and comfort I felt with these men in this realm wasn’t real, that it was all a trick, just like my mating bond with Royce.

I paced the room, hoping movement would burn away the tightness that was slowly squeezing my chest, but it didn’t help. I picked at my meal, a pasta in cream sauce with a side salad but couldn’t bring myself to eat much despite having been ecstatic about not eating camp food when I’d first returned to the city.

Jeez.

I collapsed on the bed and buried my face in a pillow. Sleep — if I could fall asleep — was my last option before I broke down and ran screaming through the halls.

With a groan, I rolled over and pressed my hands against my chest. It was so tight now that it was hard to breathe, my unease blossoming into full anxiety.

I could only pray sleep would reset my brain and I’d no longer be freaking out in the morning.

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