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She had not been able to get any sleep in the last twenty-four hours because her visions had continued to plague her. However, now that she was here in Moonwood, she’d hoped that her visions would ease up a little bit.
Her mood had improved a little bit already. Although she’d had to return to a place she never wished to see again, she had made the effort to come all the way here and was already in the process of doing something about relieving her visions.
Juniper had gotten to her room in the Moonwood Inn and quickly jumped into bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes or wash off whatever dirt she might have accumulated during her journey here. She had closed her eyes with a smile on her face, ready to jump into oblivion.
But instead of calming down, her visions had somehow managed to get worse even though she was here now. In the short time that she’d been in bed, she had managed to see the vision five times already.
Whenever she was about to fall asleep, the vision would return, jolting her awake until she lay gasping and grumbling. She tried to go back to sleep, but soon so much time had passed that it became clear to her that she would not be able to find any rest, not until she actually did what she’d been dragged here to do.
With not even a wink of sleep.
She looked out the window and realized that it was already sundown. Juniper knew that if she didn’t do something about this then this would be her reality all through the night, so with deep weariness she got up from the bed, looking back at it longingly.
She would get drunk and pass out. She let out a humorless laugh at her predicament. It was so crazy that her only options were either to become an alcoholic or to help the pack, neither of which she truly wanted to do. But she had no choice, so she headed to the bathroom to clean up.
Juniper headed out for the bar as quickly as she could. Even though she knew it was the meeting spot for the Knights in the Sky, she still trudged up to the bar. Surely her luck could not be so bad that she would encounter them.
Her suffering was already too much. Surely the universe could not be so cruel as to do that to her. She considered for a split second that perhaps it would be better for her to not take the risk and simply head back to the inn, but she batted the thought away immediately.
Although Juniper hoped she didn’t have to come face-to-face with the alpha today, she also could not bring herself to care much for what would happen. She was simply too tired, and she doubted she would be of much use to the pack if she was too tired to do anything.
Juniper had noticed the dark circles under her eyes, a sharp contrast to her pale skin, from the short glance she’d taken at the mirror before she turned away and left the room.
She pushed the door to the bar open and walked in. She had barely taken two steps into the bar when she felt eyes on her. She looked in the direction she felt the gaze coming from and there he was.
Seven years had passed and he had changed with the times, but there was no way she wouldn’t recognize that dark hair and those golden eyes that she had stared at very intimately for a year and had dreamed of for seven. Or the way that his mouth seemed to permanently be turned downward in a scowl. She knew that whenever those lips turned upwards, he had the most beautiful smile that managed to set her heart all aflutter.
One thing that hadn’t changed, however, was how much he affected her.
Juniper refrained from putting her hand to her chest. Her heart had begun to beat three times faster than it ever had.
She studied Rowan’s face for a minute as he held her attention.
He had a bit of facial hair now and a five o’clock shadow. He had cut his hair shorter, and it no longer fell over his brows as it often did before. This hairstyle made him look more mature, and somehow that affected Juniper more than anything else she had seen of him so far.
The seven years between them seemed to stretch out as she finally saw him again. He seemed a little more jaded than he had been years ago. He had always been huge, however, and now he appeared even bigger, like he had been spending more time working out.
Juniper stood, unable to take her eyes off him. How was it possible that he had become even more gorgeous? She was awestruck by all of the changes that she saw in him and how the changes seemed to tie together to make a perfect exterior.
It didn’t occur to her that she had been standing there staring at him for a long time until she saw one of his alpha friends poke his head from beside Rowan to look at her. The spell he had cast on her was suddenly broken and she was brought out of the moment.
Why are you drooling over a man who has already rejected you once already? Will you never learn?
She chastised herself as her thoughts finally caught up with her. She frowned suddenly as all the resentment she had harbored toward him all along suddenly began to come back.
She turned away from Rowan and headed to the bar where she got herself a stiff drink.
As she went, she noticed from the corner of her eyes that Articus and Rowan were constantly shooting glances her way and talking about her. She soon felt him approaching her but refused to turn around to acknowledge his presence. She had done that before and she had lived to regret it.
“The seat is taken,” she said when he tried to slide into her booth, not bothering to look up at him.
“They are going to have to wait,” he said, causing her to look up at him.
He was looking down at her with an almost incredulous look, as if he could not believe that she was here. Juniper frowned and looked away from him. She hated the way that he was looking at her.
“There you go, always doing whatever you want,” she said as he took the seat opposite her.
For a moment, it was quiet between them as he stared at her.
