CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED & THIRTEEN
Talia’s POV
Annie and the guards came around the corner behind me a moment later. The three of them stopped when they saw the man holding my arms. The guards straightened to attention.
“I’m sorry, Alpha. We tried to get her to stop, but Luna wanted to see you,” Annie explained.
Nolan kept his eyes on me as he spoke to them. “All three of you can leave. I have her.”
The guards bowed and turned back the way they had come. Annie hesitated. She looked as if she wanted to say something.
“Annie,” Nolan snapped, causing Annie to flinch. “Did you not hear me?”
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Annie responded.
“Go with them,” Nolan told her again. Annie nodded, bowed, and quickly left. The corridor was now empty except for the man who looked like Nolan standing across from me.
“You can let go of me now,” I told him as I looked at his hands still on my arms. “Or are you going to drag me back to my room?”
“I just want to make sure you’re okay,” Nolan responded. “I would never force you to go back to your room if you didn’t want to go.”
“Well, I find that hard to believe. I woke up, and you weren’t there. On top of that, you left me in the protection of strangers. Do you know how confusing that is?” I said.
“You are home and back in Bloodmoon. You are safe,” Nolan reassured me.
“Then why am I being kept in a room with guards at the door?” I questioned.
“For your safety,” Nolan said simply, as it made sense.
“That doesn’t make any sense. You say nothing is going on, but why do I need guards?” I asked.
“The walls have not been breached. There are no mad rogues inside the borders,” Nolan explained. His tone unnerved me as it felt like he was patronizing me. “I just wanted to make sure you were guarded until I knew you were stable.”
“I am the Luna of this pack, and I have been locked in a room with no answers about where you are. when I am allowed to leave, or why two guards I have never seen before in my life have been ordered to stand outside my door. I want an explanation, Nolan.” My heartbeat raced as I spoke.
I felt my hands clench at my sides, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. I could not let him see my fear, so I squared my shoulders back and met his look unflinching, even while confusion twisted tighter inside my chest with every word.
“I am sorry, Talia. I gave the order before I knew you would wake the way you did. I will have the guards
1:3
+25 Bonus
reassigned. They will not be at the door when we come back,” Nolan conceded
“And I want to go outside, now,” I demanded
He hesitated briefly. It was as if he were deciding whether it was a good idea. If I were in Bloodmoon, this was my home too, and I should be able to go wherever I wanted.
“Alright. I’ll take you to your garden. How about that?” he finally said as he offered me his arm. My wolf bristled within me. Nolan never did that, but I took his arm anyway and allowed him to lead me to the garden.
“How did we leave Silverfang? I do not remember anything after I fell asleep,” I said.
“I found you in the rose garden after you collapsed. You frightened all of us. I came down the path looking for you when you did not come back to the car, and you were on the gravel between the rose bushes,” Nolan explained.
1 thought for a moment that you were not breathing. Leslie checked you over and said you would be fine. Solon told me to bring you home, that it was better for you to wake up somewhere familiar than in a hospital bed in Silverfang. So I did. The drive was the longest drive of my life. You did not stir once.”
The story was neat. It answered every question I might have asked, but none of it made sense. If I had collapsed, neither Leslie nor Solon would have allowed me to leave. And Silverfang would have been more comfortable than Bloodmoon because that is where I grew up.
‘Are we sure we’re not dreaming? I asked my wolf.
“No, we’re awake,’ my wolf replied. “Look at his neck.’
I looked at the side of his neck while he spoke. The mating mark was there. The scratches I had put on his neck in Silverfang were not.
I remember the scratches had been bandaged when I woke up the next morning from being sedated. That was four days. The scratches I gave him in the ER should have been faint scars, but there was no
mark, no discoloration, not even a faint line.
Can you feel Nolan through the bond? I asked.
No. I can feel the bond. I cannot feel him,’ my wolf replied.
What does that mean?” I asked.
It means whoever this is, he is not Nolan, my wolf said firmly
How is that even possible? Could it be blocked or damaged? I asked
‘It could. But if it were, I would feel pressure on it, and you would know it too. The bond is open, but I cannot feel our mate, my wolf replied. He is either unconscious or far enough away that I cannot reach
him.”
This imposter showed me through a set of doors and out into a garden. Rose bushes lined the path. The
23
CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED & THIRTEEN
+25 Bonus
layout matched Bloodmoon’s lower garden, but something still seemed off.
“I have been working on some new cultivars. The white ones over there are new. Do you like them?”
“They are beautiful.”
I let the silence hang for a moment before I found the courage to speak. “Nolan, I have to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you not have a scent?”
BIG SALE: 3500 bonus free fou you
Comments
Support
Share
