Page 24 of Forsaken By Fate
Fenris
Long after Aurora falls asleep, I sit up in her suite, watching her. She’s at peace, her breathing even as her naked chest rises and falls in the moonlight streaming through the parted drapes of the Juliet balcony. That should give me a sense of comfort, but I can’t sleep. Something is nagging at me like always.
Not wanting to bother her with my restlessness, I leave her alone, slipping out of the bed and heading out to wander the halls.
I don’t like that her mate has come back for her now. What does he want?
“What are you doing?” Zane hisses at me from across the hall. “Go to bed. We have to meet with the Oklahoma Alphas in the morning.”
I barely glance at my brother and snort. “You’re awake too,” I remind him. “What are you doing up?”
Padding across the hallway, I join him at the cross section between the wings and lean against the wall. Zane shoots me a wry smile. “Probably the same thing you are. Overthinking.”
I straighten myself and puff out my chest bravely, but my brother sees right through the act immediately. “It’s all right tobe worried, Fen. I’m worried too. She seems like she should be our mate somehow, doesn’t she?”
My shoulders sink, grateful that Zane says the things I won’t say out loud.
“Maybe it’s an anomaly,” I suggest, and Zane snorts.
“I thought you were against the idea of anomalies,” he teases, and heat creeps up my neck at his gentle ribbing.
“What can I say?” I reply lightly. “Aurora is making me reconsider a lot of different things.”
“Me too,” Zane sighs.
I think about the talisman in her car and wonder if she hadn’t been hexed, but before I can suggest it, an odd noise catches my attention. Zane and I perk up together.
“Did you hear that?” I ask, pivoting toward Aurora’s rooms.
He nods, and we head toward her suite.
Zane raps on the door. “Aurora?”
There’s no response as we listen, but there’s no more sound, both of us straining to hear with both our human and animal senses.
“Do you hear anything?” I ask, reaching for the handle.
He shakes his dark, tousled hair and I open the door. The rooms are exactly how I left them, dim and silent.
“Aurora?” I whisper into the shadows. “Are you awake?”
I listen closely for her breathing, but my heart stops when I realize I can’t hear it. “Aurora?”
My hand extends and I stop my brother, his head swiveling toward the ensuite to search for an indication of a light, but there’s nothing.
“Aurora!” This time, our voices are louder and in unison.
I reach for the chandelier light. It flicks on and immediately shorts out. The magic is going haywire again.
And Aurora isn’t in bed.
“Maybe she went for a run,”Victor complains irritably, rubbing his eyes in the light of the moon. “Seriously, she’s a grown woman. She doesn’t need to tell you her every move.”
“We were standing right outside the door, Victor,” Zane insists. “If she had gone anywhere, we would have seen. I’m telling you, someone took her.”
Victor is out of bed, Zane’s concern suddenly alerting him, if mine doesn’t. I refrain from rolling my eyes. My worry for Aurora is far more important than petty sibling squabbling.
“You don’t think she left, do you?” he asks.