Page 145 of Fractured Fate

When he stood from the bed, her gaze snapped up at him and he gave her an apologetic look. He didn’t mean to spook her with the sudden movement.

“Uh…” His hand cuffed the side of his throat as he rubbed at it. “I know it isn’t ideal, but until they can bring you your clothes and stuff, I’ll loan you something to sleep in, so you don’t have to stay in that.” He motioned to the outfit she wore, unable to resist letting his eyes roam over the skin on display.

“Yeah, thanks. I don’t think I ever want to wear this again.”

He shook his head. She looked phenomenal in the outfit, but he didn’t blame her; it probably wasn’t comfortable. He retrieved a pair of boxers and a T-shirt from his closet and returned, passing them to her when she stood. “My regular shorts would swallow you. These are going to be big as it is, but it’s better than anything else I have.”

“It’s okay.”

“You can shower or take a bath and get some sleep. The door’s locked from the inside so no one can get in.” He nodded to the bed on the opposite side of the room. “The bedding is new, added while you were in the staff building. That whole side of the room is yours. The desk and all. You also get half of the closet. Before the summer is out, they’ll provide you with a uniform and all the things you need.”

She laughed. “I still find it so weird you wear uniforms in college.”

“It’s just the policy. I don’t understand it, but I know some religious and military schools have similar things. I guess it’s the Blackthorn Clan’s way of keeping the elite appearance to discourage humans from applying.”

“Yet they still try.”

He chuckled.

She looked down at the clothing in her hands and then up at him. “Thank you, by the way. Not just for the clothes, but for everything else. You saved me. I didn’t thank you for that.”

His fingers twitched at his side with the need to touch her. Instead, he gave a tight nod and clenched his fist. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

Stepping forward, she used the arm not holding his clothes to wrap around his waist, resting her cheek against his chest.

His heart lodged in his throat, and it took swallowing several times to force it back into his chest cavity. He couldn’t take it anymore, he had to ask. Her actions since they entered the room made no sense. “How are you not afraid?”

She tightened her grip on the back of his shirt, and she sighed. “Because none of you have ever hurt me, or even Blaire, and she’s been with the academy for over a year.” Her head tilted up, her chin resting against him like she did when he first arrived in Athens—it felt like a lifetime ago. “And you’ve always kept me safe. No matter what, you didn’t let anyone hurt me. You’ve never hurt me.”

His hand lifted slowly, giving her the chance to step away, but she didn’t move. He cupped her cheek, and she leaned into the touch. “I would never hurt you.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes against the burn in his eyes. “I will never hurt you as long as I breathe.”

Charlotte didn’t say anything to his words, giving only a small nod as she separated from him. He hated the loss of her warmth.

“Take your time,” he said. “I’ll be out here if you need me.”

When she disappeared into the bathroom, he collapsed onto his bed and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. It boggled his mind how she wasn’t afraid of them. It gave his fearful heart hope, and that was a dangerous thing.

He couldn’t deny the ever-present demon in the back of his mind reminding him that to her he was nothing more than a monster once his canines descended and his true hunger showed itself.

29

THE PAST

Aviolent crash startled Charlotte awake. Blinking away the exhaustion weighing heavily on her body, she looked at Aiden’s bed, perpendicular to her bed. Moonlight from the window illuminated his tossing and turning.

Her gaze moved around the room for the source of the noise that woke her. A broken lamp lay on the floor between their beds. Aiden must have knocked it over with his thrashing.

She pushed her covers down and put her feet on the floor, rolling her neck. She felt stiff and her arm throbbed. The stress that kept her muscles taut hadn’t abated in sleep. She didn’t feel a threat in the room, but she couldn’t shake the events of earlier in the night from her tired body.

Her stalker was dead. She was free. Noah ran when Aiden attacked the stalker, but she didn’t think he could get onto academy grounds. Dominic told her he had people searching for him.

Pushing to her feet, she adjusted the boxers she’d rolled at the waist several times to fit and crept over to Aiden’s bed, climbing onto it from the bottom corner to avoid the broken glass.

His face was twisted in pain, and she hated it. She knew he had nightmares, but he never told her what they were about. It made her question if he trusted her or not. For him to keep what he was a secret from her should have given her the answer to that question; by their laws, he couldn’t tell her before.

Maybe he could share now.

“Aiden,” she whispered, crawling up beside him, kneeling on the bed, her hand touching his shoulder as he squirmed. When he didn’t respond to her voice, she put her other hand on the other shoulder and shook him. “Aiden!”