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Why Meredith and no one else? “What did she do?” A part of me thought it’d be easier to swallow this if I knew why it was happening. The other part of me knew that nothing would make me understand.
“Nothing to deserve this.” He set me on my feet as he stood. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“I’m scared that if I leave, she’ll be gone when I wake up.”
“If she gets any worse, Dr. Gonzales will come get us. Okay?”
He had a point. “Okay.” I leaned down to Meredith. In the dark, her skin was so ghostly it nearly glowed. “I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this. I swear. Just hang in.” She was like ice. I pulled up the extra blanket that was folded at the foot of her bed, and tucked it under her chin.
“Come on, cherie. Let’s go.” His hands squeezed my shoulders as he steered me toward the door. I let him lead me out of the room.
The farther down the hallway we got, the heavier my feet were. My limbs felt like lead. “I’m exhausted,” I said as I leaned into his side.
“It’s been a long day.”
“It feels like a million years since I woke up.” It was nuts how quickly things could go wrong. My luck had always been a little on the shitty side, but this was pushing ridiculous. If it was anyone but Meredith… I wanted to stomp my foot and curse the fates.
We stepped into the still night air. The thought of going back to my room without Meredith sharing the next room hit hard.
Dastien guided me away from the dorms. “This way.”
The only thing in this direction was forest and the private cabins. I’d never been to Dastien’s, but we obviously weren’t headed back to the dorms. The events of the day overshadowed any excitement that I normally would’ve felt at finally seeing his place.
The cabin was set deep in the trees. As I took in the surrounding woods, I realized that it wasn’t too far from Mr. Dawson’s, a little ways behind and to the right. The trees provided privacy that some of the other cabins didn’t have.
The design was identical to the other ones. One-story with a porch on the front. It was all natural wood and stone colors, making it blend in with the surroundings. Dastien opened the door and waved me inside.
I was shocked that it wasn’t the clichéd bachelor pad, except for a flat screen and game controllers on the coffee table. His place was spotless. If I had a pair of white gloves on, I was sure I could touch any surface in the cabin and not pick up any dirt.
The space was basically one big room. Along the back wall was a kitchen with a breakfast nook identical to Mr. Dawson’s. A dark wood coffee table and a leather couch created a nice little living room nook around the TV. Along the right wall was Dastien’s bed, covered in a black comforter. It was nice. Cozy. Maybe that was because it smelled like Dastien in here, like home.
“Nice place.”
“Thanks.”
Above the headboard were three bookshelves, which seemed a little dangerous to me, but with the limited space, I got why he’d put them there. I toed off my shoes and climbed on his bed to get a closer look. He had a lot of science fiction, but also a bunch of fantasy. Some of the same ones that I’d read. He also had a ton of non-fiction, which I usually stayed away from. Lots of psychology ones. Some texts on healing with herbs. A whole series on wildlife and survival.
I turned at the smell of beef browning. “You cook?”
He looked at me over his shoulder. “It’s good to know how to make your own food when you’re a werewolf. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we eat a lot.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. I just started to notice that.” I sat down on his bed and looked around. My knee bounced and I couldn’t stop fidgeting with the hem of my T-shirt as I worried about Meredith. That situation was a total mess, and I had no idea where to go from there. I felt like a total failure. Helpless. Hopeless.
I pushed those thoughts away before I started crying. Wallowing in my own self-pity wouldn’t help Meredith. This wasn’t about me. It was about her.
I lay down on his bed, my knee still tapping out a rhythm. Being in Dastien’s cabin was slightly terrifying. I wasn’t scared of him, but of expectations. He was older. More experienced.
Christ. My parents would flip out if they knew I was here.
“You okay?” Dastien said from the kitchen.
I propped myself up on my elbows. “Sure.” My squeaky voice was probably giving as much away as my bond was.
His brow lifted.
“I’m fine.”
He didn’t say anything as he considered me. We both knew I was lying.
