Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 258 Did You Miss Me?
Felix trailed behind the figures of Allen and Lexi still bickering quietly and he smiled ruefully to himself.
That should have been him and Aoife… minus the bickering of course.
He had to admit, he shared the same confusion as Ann did. Why was Aoife taken out of all of them?
If they had wanted to make a significant impact on the Dubois family then surely whoever it was would have gone after him? There had been plenty of opportunities while he was dealing with the rogues at the border with Adam. Surely the Enclave was a more risky target.
But, what if they hadn’t been aiming for the Dubois family and had instead been aiming for disruption within the Veritas family line? He scowled as his mind ran with possibilities. If that was the case though then they wouldn’t have chosen Aoife as a target because it would have minimal impact…other than preventing a possible alliance after years of tolerable neutrality.
Had that been their goal? Could it have been a case of mistaken identity? Had Ann been their target and the assassin had merely got the wrong room?
Felix sighed in frustration and brought his fists together, cracking his knuckles to relieve some tension as his wolf’s frantic thought process did nothing to ease his own anxiousness.
“Felix?” Alien’s voice interrupted his thought process.
“Yeah?” He answered a little defensively, before taking a steadying breath to help calm his thoughts,
“Sorry, I’m a little distracted… my wolf isn’t helping.” he grimaced apologetically.
“No worries,” Allen said with an understanding look, “We were just saying, Lexi is going to go and see her father to see if there’s anything she can do, I’m gonna head to the barracks and see if there’s any news yet. Do you want to tag along with any of us?”
Felix thought about it for a moment before finally shaking his head.
“No. As much as I appreciate the offer, I think I’m going to head back to my room and try to rest a little. I haven’t slept in almost two days, you know?”
“You should probably shower too.” Lexi offered as she wrinkled her nose, “I mean, I’m not saying that you smell bad per-se… but you have an awful lot of filth and other… stuff to wash off you.” She continued as she gestured to his blood soaked clothing.
Felix’s heart constricted painfully as he looked down and realized just how much of Aoife’s blood covered him.
“Thanks, yeah… I’ll do that first.” He said a little numbly as he turned and wandered off in the direction of the Enclave.
“You could be a little more sensitive, you know.” Allen hissed furiously.
“Well there’s no point beating around the bush! Why dance around the truth when you can simply say things as they are? It saves so much pointless conversation…”
“People have feelings you know, there are kinder ways of saying things..” Allen grumbled loudly as Lexi snorted.
“Ooo People have feelings!” She mocked, imitating his voice perfectly before laughing, “Seriously Allen, when did you turn into the woman in the relationship. Did you want to switch places? Peggings not really my thing but I mean… if you want to give it a go…”
“f**k off Lexi.”
Felix hurried past the shocked glances of the people in the corridors without raising his head as he made his way to the room that he had shared with Aoife.
He fumbled with the lock momentarily before it finally unlocked and he pushed past the door with the weight of people’s curious stares on his back.
He closed the door to his room quickly and leaned back against it, closing his eyes and tilting his head back in relief, taking a deep breath to try and steady his racing heart.
Aoife’s scent still lingered in this room and he drank it in deeply. The warmth of her love and the scent that had always identified her as his own broke his heart into pieces over and over again as he felt his resolve crumble in the privacy of his own room.
He made his way to the bathroom and turned the shower on, stripping his clothes off and standing under the scalding water as he sobbed, the rivulets of water washing away his tears of grief.
His wolf howled his desolation alongside Felix’s sobs, a symphony of misery that only the two of them would ever hear.
When he could cry no more and his soul felt numb, he stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel from the rack and walking through into his room as if he was on autopilot.
He pulled a pair of loose pajama trousers out of his drawer and stepped into them, not bothering with a t-shirt as he threw the towel onto the chair in the corner of the room and allowed himself to fall face first onto the bed.
“Goddess Aoife,” He murmured to himself, “Even though you aren’t here, it still smells like you…”
He flipped over onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a while, as he replayed all the memories that he could think of with Aoife over and over in his head.
After a while his eyes began to droop and he crawled to lay his head on a pillow, taking hold of the ones that Aoife used to lay on beside him, and hugging them tightly to his chest, the scent of her surrounding him soothing both his and his wolf’s aching heart.
With their eyes closed they could at least pretend that she was still here. If only for a little while.
Felix wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep but his eyes flew open when he felt the ominous sensation of being watched. His wolf was instantly on alert and without wasting a second he pinpointed the muffled sound of breathing in his room and flew out of bed, grabbing hold of the unwelcome visitor and slamming them against the wall with a furious snarl.
“Who the f**k are you and what the f**k are you doing in my room.” Felix hissed as his hand tightened around the intruder’s throat.
Whoever it was would regret stepping foot in his room this night and interrupting the dream in which he held Aoife in his arms once more.
The amused chuckle that answered him sent chills down his spine as his mouth suddenly became dry with fear.
He shouldn’t be here, it simply wasn’t possible.
The two luminous snake-like yellow eyes that glinted back at him in the darkness of the room blinked lazily as they met his gaze without fear.
“Hello baby brother…. did you miss me?”