Page 70 of Daughter of Garnet

"What about my teeth? Stooping to physical insults now?"

He shakes his head, pointing a shaky finger at me. "Your teeth were sharp."

I force an eye roll and an indifferent tone into my voice. "Wow, you're more delusional than I thought. Now you're seeing things."

"I know what I saw!" His voice is a loud shriek at this point, and I know someone is bound to hear him.

"You should go, Warren."

He shakes his head, sweat-drenched hair clinging to his cheeks. "No. You were⁠—"

"She asked you to leave. Now leave."

The deep voice behind me simultaneously assures me and makes my shoulders stiffen. I look over my shoulder to see Ray, dressed in loose pants and a casual shirt, looking as handsome as ever, with a cup of coffee in each hand and a dark expression on his face.

"This is a private conversation." Warren seems to have regained a little of his composure in the presence of another man.

I step to the side and angle my body so I can look at both men. Warren may not realize it, but he's flinching under the Alpha's glare.

"Can't be too private. I heard you yelling at her down the hall. Get out of here, Warren."

Warren huffs and shoulders past us both, mumbling under his breath.

Always one to get the last word, he pauses in my doorway.

"I know what I saw, Zoe."

I got him off of me, but at what cost?

CHAPTER 34

Zoe

Ray shoves the warm paper cup into my hand.

"Viv said you skipped lunch for a nap, so I thought you could use some coffee."

"Uh. Coffee?"

A small, crooked smile tilts his mouth up at the side. "Yeah. I don't know how you take it, so I got you a vanilla latte. I hope that's okay."

My brain is broken. The whiplash of my argument with Warren, the realization that he caught a glimpse of my secret, and now Ray, here, giving me coffee, is doing my head in.

I sink onto the edge of my bed, the coffee cup clutched between both hands, and stare at the Alpha.

He takes a few steps closer to me, but doesn't crowd me. "You okay?"

"I don't know how to answer that."

I just had a massive fight with the person I thought was my best friend, and now I know there is no way we'll ever get back to that. Our friendship has been irrevocably changed.

Ray looks around the room and grabs the chair from my desk, dragging it across the floor before flopping into it. "Wanna talk about what just happened?"

"With you?"

He flinches, but it's so small I almost missed it. "Why not?"

My senses are starting to come back to me, at least enough to take a sip of the coffee.