Chapter 208: Chapter 208 

~ NYSSA

I lifted my head, my eyes locking on the mirror in front of me.

The girl in the mirror had tired eyes and pale skin, the corners of her eyes were red rimmed from stress, and her lips were pulled down into a frown. She looked like me, but didn’t at the same time. The girl in the mirror was a werewolf, a lycan’s mate, she wasn’t a blood sucking vampire.

A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts.

I ignored it, waiting for whoever was on the other side to leave but to my surprise, they knocked again.

“I know you’re in there,” Eric said fiercely. “I’d rather not walk into the bedroom you share with the king but I need to make sure you’re not in there spiraling.”

He knocked again and I knew that no matter what, he wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted. With a sigh, I pulled myself to my feet and trudged over, letting my head rest flat against the door.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, voice soft but audible enough due to the distance.

The pounding stopped, and I heard shuffling on the other side. “Open up.”

“No.”

“Aria is gone,” he said, his voice a little hopeful, as if that was going to fix anything. “I don’t know what the fuck she said to you but we can talk about it.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

There was nothing to talk about. I’d seen the truth for myself and I knew what was going on. The last thing I needed was Eric trying to make me feel better about the whole thing.

“She didn’t say anything I didn’t already know,” I answered after a beat of silence. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I just need a moment to relax and—”

“At least open the door.”

I hesitated for a moment before pulling it open. Eric stood on the other side, one hand raised high as if he were leaning against the door and the other shoved into his pocket.

He smiled softly at me, his eyes crinkling as he took me in carefully. “You good?”

I shrugged “I will be once all of this is over.”

“If we’re lucky, it’ll be tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but snort. “When are we ever lucky?” He frowned at my words and his mouth opened, presumably to chide me but I cut in quickly. “I should go clean up the mess I made.”

“Already handled,” he said with a wide grin. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“You didn’t have to do that, you know? It was my mess. You all shouldn’t have to clean up after me.”

He stared at me for a long minute. “Somehow, I think this is more than just the mess.”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to respond to him because the door downstairs creaked open. I let out a sigh of relief and brushed past Eric, not bothering to confirm if it was Rowan like I thought.

Thankfully, it was just my mate. He stood in the middle of the living room, his brows knitted together and his lips pressed tightly, his eyes cloudy. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and was so lost in thought that he didn’t not notice my presence until I reached the bottom of the steps.

“What happened?” I asked but he ignored me, turning his attention to Eric.

“Thank you for watching her. It is late.”

Eric bowed. “It was my honor.” He turned to me with a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nyssa.”

I managed a small wave but my eyes did not leave my mate. He had already turned away from me and was typing furiously on his phone. His wall was up as well.

“Are you going to tell me what happened or will you make me keep asking?” I asked with a frown, hands crossed over her chest. “What the fuck is going on?”

He didn’t respond.

It wasn’t his first time keeping secrets, and it definitely wouldn’t be his last, but the dismissal stung more than anything else.

“For fucks sake, Rowan.” I snapped, walking across the room until I was standing in front of him. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure.”

I stared at him incredulously. “What the fuck do you mean by you’re not sure? Is someone hurt? Is it the vampires?”

“I don’t have all the answers, Nyssa. If I did, I would tell you.” His voice was soft, a bit resigned as well. He didn’t sound frustrated… just tired. “Someone is trying to play games.”

“And you don’t know who,” I finished for him and he nodded.

“I have my suspicions but until then, there is no point in making things worse than they need to be. Don’t worry about a thing.”

I snorted. “Of course I’m fucking worried. This is all happening because of me. If I wasn’t the bastards child—”

“You can’t control who your parents are,” Rowan frowned. “The more time you spend thinking about it, the more stressed you’ll get.”

“what am I supposed to do then?” I asked, throwing my hands up in defeat. “Sit around and wait? If we could just speak to him or something, maybe we’d know what he wants. Maybe we could reason with him. I’m his child after all, he’ll listen—”

Rowan moved before I even had the chance to blink. His hand wrapped around my upper arm, his grip firm as he forced me to look at him. “You are not going within fifty feet of him, do you understand?”

“I—”

“Say it,” he snarled.

“I won’t go near him.”

Only then did he sigh and release me, his hands going limp by his side. “Good, we don’t know who the fuck he is or what he wants, but the one thing we do know is that he is not a good man and I will not risk your life.”

I hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Even if that is the only way? Even if it risks the lives of the pack?”

One second passed, then two.

Rowan turned away from me. “It’s late, we should go to bed.”

It did not skip my attention that he didn’t answer the question.

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