“I thought they were waiting on you!”
She’s right. They are waiting on me.
I throw the pen back at her. “I’ll be back soon. Let me know if anything happens while I’m gone.”
Clover salutes me and Clyde nods his head. “You’ll be the first to know, Enforcer,” Clyde says. He knows why I want the constant updates. For her part, Clover doesn’t give me a lecture on relaxing but she does shoot a worried look my way. That look usually eats me up inside but instead there’s a spark of joy. It doesn’t make sense, not until I feel the tug that has me walking out of the room and down the hallway.
It feels like I’m being pushed along by an invisible hand. I don’t fight it. It’s Cordelia. I walk through the halls and out into the courtyard. The sun is shining bright. Blue skies stretch out in every direction and beneath them in the green grassy courtyard sits Cordelia. Her face is tipped back, there’s a beat up paperback in her hands and a smile on her face.
I’ve never seen anything so fucking beautiful.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
CORDELIA
Someone took Clover’s door. Who does something like that? Real weird behavior. I helped her drag it out into the hallway this morning from where it was propped so she had more room to “search for clues and conduct a thorough investigation.”
Whoever took that door off its hinges truly has their days numbered.
While Clover looked into the matter of the door, I had a nice breakfast. Simple stuff but more decadent than I had eaten most mornings before. Oatmeal and honey, sliced strawberries and blueberries and a side of ham. Clover had a pot of coffee on too. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a nice breakfast. When I was done, I cleaned up, got dressed for the day and snagged one of my beaten up paperbacks before I brought Clover a cup of Coffee.
“I don’t know who it is yet but I’m close to cracking this one.”
“I can tell,” I told her. It’s true, I could. She had paper out and names written on nearly every line with arrows to the word MOTIVE in big block letters. I gave the door an appreciative look. “Whoever moved it had to be real strong. Took the two of us to drag it out here.”
Thorne comes to mind immediately but only because my wolf thinks he’s the strongest and most capable alpha she’s ever laid eyes on. I try to remind her that she hasn’t seen too many and that the ones she’s seen include Keiran and his father, so not the best quality. She won’t listen to reason and so Thorne remains a prime suspect. I don’t mention it to Clover, though.
“Yeah,really strong,” she says and steps back from the door with a thoughtful look and starts scribbling on a paper with Thorne’s name at the top. It looks like she’s tallying points up on the paper. Yikes. I do not want to be here if Clover has the same idea as my wolf. I haven’t seen the alpha all morning and I’d like to keep it that way. Luna willing, I’ll be able to go to my meeting with Ronan, the Bloodstone Alpha without running into Thorne. It’s not that I want to avoid him but…well, yes, I do want to avoid him.
Big time.
The alpha throws me off center. Nothing makes sense when he’s near me. I might like a good daydream as the next girl, but last night? Last night was bad. Gods, last night I was so delusional that I woke up in the middle of the night positive that I saw Thorne outside my door. It was a dream, of course. Thorne wouldn’t come to my door.
Someone did, though.
Yes, but it wasn’t Thorne
I grip my coffee cup tighter. It’s true someone was there, but it wasn’t him. My exhausted brain tried to make sense of the day, that's all. I had my run in with Thorne in the meadow to thank for my fevered delusions about him guarding my room. Or my imaginings that it was him who took the door off the hinge.
“I swear to Luna if it’s him…” Clover mutters and squints at her paper. Right. I have to get out of here before she brings Thorne this way.
“I’m going to go in the courtyard to read,” I tell her.
Clover gives me a distracted smile and nods. “It’s a perfect day for being outside. Save me a seat and I’ll be out there in a while.”
“I’ll get us the best spot,” I promise.
I manage to navigate the Keep fairly well. As in I only get lost twice before I find the courtyard. The morning sunshine is warm on my skin. The second it touches me I feel myself relax. Shifters do best outside. The more time outside the better. Being cooped up on the bus for a few days on the way here was tough to handle and even with my time outside yesterday I’m in need of a reset. I take in a deep breath and then another as I survey the green space. It’s not empty like it was yesterday. Shifters walk here and there and I see a family sitting out on a blanket together at the opposite end of the grassy courtyard while a few others work on what looks like braiding rope. A laugh floats from the open windows facing me and a wave of deja vu washes over me.
Just like the tree.
I take in a deep breath and look around again but this time I try to find something that looks familiar. Somewhere that I’ve been with my mother. Nothing comes but the feeling stays. It settles against me, pushes right up into my space until there’s no getting away from it. Everywhere I look, I’ve been. I know I have.
I leave the paved path and walk out into the grass a few feet before I sit down. Any place here feels as good as the next and I want to sink into this feeling. I didn’t get to hold on to it with Thorne's Embrace. There was too much going on to do that but this time is just for me. No one to rush me along. I can sit for as long as I like this time.
I open my book up and savor the moment. Wind ruffles my hair, cool and crisp from yesterday’s storm, and I close my eyes with a smile. It’s impossible not to feel content. For the first time, everything is working out for me. Last night’s pain andloneliness blows right off me in the morning sun. I’m not there anymore. I’m safe.
