Chapter 48: Chapter 48

~ NYSSA

Eric helped me clean up the cereal I’d poured all over my front door and the broken pieces of the plastic bowl.

He didn’t seem bothered by it at all, and when I tried to help him. He just waved me off and told me to go inside and get cleaned.

It wasn’t until I got to the bathroom and looked in the mirror that I realized just how terrible I looked.

I winced, taking in my expression in the mirror.

Eric must’ve been some kind of saint in his past life. How else could he have been able to look at me with my rough hair, scratches all over my face and arms and the tear streaks running down my cheeks and not laugh.

I wasn’t even sure at what point the tears had fallen, but the unmistakable streaks down my cheeks told the story.

I washed up and changed into something more presentable—shorts and a shirt and headed back down the stairs.

What I didn’t expect was to find Eric seated on my couch like he owned the place, his legs crossed on my coffee table, and a bowl of my cereal in his hands.

“You need to get more cereal,” he told me as soon as he noticed me approaching. “You’re almost out.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.

I’d intended for it to come out more annoyed, but I only sounded confused.

“Eating, duh,” he said, shaking his head as if it were a ridiculous question. “There’s some more cereal for you on the table. I didn’t use it all.”

I stared at him dumfounded, my mouth opening and closing with each passing second. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he just kept eating without a care in the world.

I’d never met anyone like him before, and I honestly doubted I ever would.

“I meant, what the hell are you doing inside my house?”

“I’m keeping you safe,” he shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

I gave him a blank stare, my arms crossed over my chest. “You’re eating my food on my couch. We could reason that I’m keeping you safe.”

He snapped his fingers like he’d just gotten an idea. “Trade by barter, I like it.”

I didn’t even have it in me to be upset. There was something about him; an aura that told me I could trust him.

Perhaps it was because the other lycans I’d met had all played games with me and he was just being… honestly I wasn’t sure what he was being, but I liked it.

“How do I even know that Rowan sent you?” I asked. “You could be here to kill me.”

He shrugged. “I could, but trust me, Nyssa, if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. I’m not bragging, but I could snap you like a twig.”

Even if he weren’t a lycan, I believed that. He had biceps almost as large as my thighs.

“That doesn’t make me trust you, you know?” I said but he didn’t seem to mind.

“You should eat,” he said simply. “If I know that girl… and I do, considering I’ve been here for the past week, she’s going to tattle to the Alpha. You’re going to have shit to deal with. You might want your strength for that.”

In the heat of talking to him, I’d completely forgotten about Alisa.

As much as I hated being told what to do… he was right. Alisa was a tattle tale, and rather than fight her own battles, she liked to recruit others to do it for her.

I made myself another bowl of cereal and sat next to Eric, eating in silence. He took both plates to the sink and I watched in shock as the massive lycan did the dishes without even as much as a complaint.

“Thank you,” he said once he was done. “I have to say, you’re the first assignment I’ve had where I got fed on the job.”

“I didn’t feed you, you snuck into my house and took what you wanted.”

He waved me off. “Semantics. Just say you’re welcome and—”

He didn’t get to finish whatever he had to say because there was a loud bang.

He reached out for me, pulling me behind him instantly as the sound of heavy footsteps filled my house.

I felt the swirling rage before I even set eyes on Henry.

His face was a bright shade of red from anger, and with each step, his chest rose and fell. Behind him stood Alisa, a triumphant smirk on her face.

“Apologize,” he ground out. “Right fucking now.”

I said nothing, choosing instead to stand my ground and keep my hands crossed over my chest.

“Did I fucking stutter?” he snapped. “You act like a rabid dog, attacking her and-”

“Actually,” Eric drawled. “Your mate attacked her first. She did some serious damage to Nyssa. I had to pull her off.”

My mouth fell open at the same time Alisa yelled. “That’s not what happened!”

“Can’t you see the cuts all over her?” Eric asked, gesturing to the now pink cuts on my skin. “They were much worse. If I hadn’t stepped in, she would have killed her.”

I didn’t know what to say. He was lying right through his teeth.

Alisa tried to dispute it, telling Henry that I’d attacked her first. I just kept my mouth shut, unable to form a single sentence.

For a long minute, Henry just looked between the three of us, not knowing who to believe.

If it were just Alisa and I, he would have taken her side, but there was a third party now, one that stood to gain nothing from lying for me.

“There were other witnesses,” Eric continued. “Would you like me to-”

“No,” he ground out before turning to Alisa. “Come.”

She tried to protest, but he didn’t listen, grabbing her arm instead and pulling her towards the door.

I watched them both disappear and flinched slightly when the door slammed shut behind them.

Once they were gone, I turned my attention back to Eric. “You lied for me.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like her,” he shrugged. “And I think that you and I are going to have so much fun together.”

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