Chapter 35

BELLE

I woke up the next morning feeling cold and groggy.

I hadn’t slept well. After Grayson had left with his shocking news, I’d taken a shower and put on the ‘pajamas‘ he’d given me.

Then I’d sat on the bed for a couple of hours, waiting for him to come back, worried out of my mind. I didn’t know anything about vampires, and, although Grayson had promised he would be okay, I couldn’t control my anxiety.

I’d stayed up as long as I could before the jet lag had gotten the best of me, forcing me into a restless sleep. Once awake, I had rolled over to snuggle closer to Grayson, only to replace that he wasn’t in bed.

He didn’t have his arms wrapped around me—wasn’t caressing my face, my

back… Playing with my hair. I frowned and sat up. This was the first time since I’d met him that I hadn’t woken up with him by my side. It didn’t feel right. My anxiety immediately spiked as the events from last night came back to me.

Grayson never came back.

I

got out of bed and put on some sweatpants before running down the hall, hoping to replace another person. I eventually came across a kitchen and was relieved when I found Kyle cooking breakfast with Elijah.

They were both laughing and couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other. I couldn’t help but smile. They seemed so happy. Noticing my presence, both turned around.

“Luna! Good morning,” Kyle said.

“Hey, Kyle,” I replied. “You two are adorable.” I gestured to their entwined

hands.

Elijah smiled and wrapped his arms around Kyle. He k*ssed his cheek. “Yeah, well, weeks apart will do that to mates.”

“Speaking of mates,” I said, “have either

you seen Grayson?”

of

Kyle frowned a bit. “I thought he would be with you, this being your first day as luna and all?”

I shook my head. “He was gone when I woke up. He never came back after he left last night because of…because of…the vampires.”

Kyle turned to me fully, exclaiming, “He didn’t?”

I shook my head and wrung my hands.

Kyle’s brows knit together. “That’s strange.” He looked over at Elijah, who seemed just as confused as he was.

“What happened last night?” I asked.

“There were vampires on our territory, but we took care of them all in under an hour,” Kyle said. “Alpha was beyond pissed that he even needed to be there. He said that he was going back to you and to not bother him for the rest of the night unless multiple people were on fire and dying.”

This wasn’t helping my anxiety. All the different scenarios of what could’ve happened to him were running through my head.

What if they didn’t kill one of the vampires, and that one did something to Grayson?

“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. He’s probably just in his office. That’s where he spends most of his time,” Elijah said. “I can take you there.”

My heart leapt out of excitement at the

thought of seeing Grayson. There was already a dull ache in my chest from being away from him for so long.

I desperately wanted to be back in his arms. “That would be great,” I said.

Elijah nodded and turned to Kyle to give him a quick k*ss. “I’ll be back in a minute. Keep making breakfast.”

Kyle frowned but nodded and k*ssed Elijah one more time.

Once at the grand doors of Grayson’s office, Elijah left me, saying that he could smell Grayson inside. I thanked him for guiding me through this enormous house. I knocked a couple of times on the door, waiting anxiously to see Grayson.

“Come in,” I heard his smooth voice reply.

I opened the door and stepped in. I was beyond relieved when I saw him and he didn’t seem to be hurt. His office looked

exactly like how I’d expected: all dark wood, bookshelves, and windows, with a giant desk in the center that Grayson was currently sitting behind.

He looked much more intimidating than I

remembered him.

I stood for a second near the door and

shifted my weight from foot to foot when he didn’t look up at me.

“Hey,” I said, hoping to get his attention.

He glanced up at me for a second and then looked back at the computer screen in front of him. “Good morning, Belle.”

Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting. Usually, he was all over me, unable to keep his hands off me. And he never called me Belle, almost always opting for a cheesy pet name.

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

I hesitated, put off by his behavior. “All

right. You weren’t in bed this morning,” I said. “It was weird not waking up in your arms. I missed it.” I paused. “I missed you.”

I blushed a bit, a little embarrassed by my confession of affection. But I also knew he would love to hear me say something like that.

Grayson glanced at me, then back at his computer again. “Yes, I decided that I had a lot of work that needed to be done after being away for so long, and it was better to get it done now than to wake you up.”

I guess that makes sense. “Oh, okay. Anything I can help with?”

Grayson shook his head, typing away rather than looking at me. “This is nothing that concerns you.”

I sucked in a breath. He’d never spoken to me like that before. “Oh…okay.” I crossed my arms in front of me. I took a

step closer to him.

“Is everything okay? You’re acting a little weird. Did everything go okay last night? Kyle told me that you killed all the vampires.”

Grayson looked at me. His eyes were pitch black, which meant that his wolf was present. Was he…mad at me?

“I’m fine,” he practically growled out. “As I said before, I just have a lot of work to do.”

Okay, what the hell? Should I leave? I was beginning to feel like a nuisance.

“Well, um, didn’t you say that you had plans for me today? Something about showing me around? Should I get dressed and wait for you to finish?”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He ran a hand over his face.

“Look, Belle, I have too much to do after

spending so long in Paris with you. I just don’t have time. Sorry, but can you ask Kyle to show you around?”

The ache in my chest grew at his words, but I tried not to let them affect me too

much, knowing that he was just busy.

Part of me wanted to be angry, but I reminded myself that I shouldn’t have assumed he would want to spend every waking moment with me when we got back to the United States.

He had a job here-a big one. Thousands of people were counting on him.

“Yes, of course,” I said quickly. “I’ll talk to Kyle.”

When he said nothing back, I said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt anything. I’m sorry if I did.”

Grayson nodded.

“Yes. well. maybe we just make a rule

that you don’t come into my office during the day. Then we won’t have to worry about you interrupting any important business. I’ll come replace you if I need

.” He looked turned back to his

computer.

you.

That’s when a giant ball formed in my chest and pushed its way up into my throat. I could feel the tears threatening to

come out.

Why is this upsetting me so much? I’m not some clingy girl… I shouldn’t be so easily affected by such simple words. “O–okay,” I whispered.

Again, he didn’t say anything, obviously shifting his focus back to his work. That must be my cue to leave.

I took a few slow steps backward, desperately hoping that he would look up and say he was only joking and then take me into his arms. But he didn’t do that. He didn’t do anything besides type on his

keyboard.

I turned and left.

Once I was out of Grayson’s office, I could no longer keep the tears at bay. I had been looked down on and disregarded before, but it felt ten times worse when Grayson had done it to me.

It felt like he had just plunged a knife into my chest and laughed.

One quiet sob escaped my l*ps, and I immediately covered my mouth. I was still right next to his door. I couldn’t let Grayson hear me crying. He would think I was pathetic.

All he had done was ask for space to get some work done, and here I was sobbing outside his door. God, what’s wrong with

me?

When I’d imagined all of the things that could go wrong when I came here, Grayson not having enough time for me

was not one of them.

I’d expected even less to be treated like a bother.

Couldn’t he see how desperate I was for him to help me make the transition into his pack? I knew nothing about any of

this.

And he was the only person here who

was comfortable around.

I

I shook my head, trying to clear the tears away. I will not be this girl. I would not be the clingy, codependent girl I was acting like right now.

I was going to be strong and get through

this.

I was probably just affected by his words so much because of the stupid mate bond.

I squared my shoulders and straightened, wiping away my tears. A new determination ran through me.

I decided to get dressed and show myself around the pack. I thought about asking Kyle to show me around, but couldn’t imagine taking him away from Elijah.

They needed time to catch up. And my newfound independence fueled me.

I started with the floor that I was on and slowly made my way up each floor of what Grayson called the ‘pack house.”

It was insanely impressive, with too many rooms to count and tons and tons of people. I tried to smile and start a conversation with some we passed in the hallways, but no one would look at me. They’d give me short answers and treat me like I was that one girl from class that nob*dy liked.

It was beyond strange.

As the day went on, my spirit felt more broken. This was not the first day living with Grayson that I had been imagining.

A 11 T

All I wanted to do was to go replace him and refuse to leave his side, even if that

meant sitting next to him silently while he worked.

But I held myself back, remembering our conversation from earlier this morning.

I would hopefully see him tonight.

It was late in the afternoon, and I was getting really hungry.

I tried going into each of the pack house’s three kitchens to replace some food, but they were filled with huge werewolves tearing through the pantries to cook.

I was extremely intimidated.

I was so much smaller and weaker than

all of them.

Once when I’d tried to snag an apple off a counter, one of the male werewolves grabbed it before me and took a bite

while making intense eye contact that

said, “Back off.”

I had left immediately after that.

I decided to talk to Grayson about food when I saw him later tonight. Maybe he would take me to the kitchen and show me where everything was.

I had no problem making my own food, but I just needed to know how to get around all of the angry werewolves.

I sat in Grayson’s room for a couple of hours, feeling like that was the only place I could really be without being a bother. I kept reminding myself that the first days were always the hardest–that it always got better. I’d learned that from all of the jobs I’d had over the years.

Maybe I could replace something to do to help out around here and earn my keep since Grayson would be busy during the day. People seemed to always be working and moving.

There had to be something around here that I could do. Maybe tomorrow I could try to replace some books on werewolves and educate myself on this new world that I was now a part of.

When the sun set, my excitement to see Grayson rose.

I had no intention of telling him anything about what had happened to me today with his pack or how horrible I felt.

I didn’t want to add anything else to his plate. Instead, I had come up with a list of everything I liked about his pack, and was going to tell him about that.

After changing into my–his pajamas and getting ready to sleep, I sighed and walked over to his bed, where I plopped down face–first. It was only eight, but I was exhausted.

This had been the worst day ever.

I tried to stay awake for as long as

I tried to stay awake for as long as possible, hoping to get to talk to Grayson, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I drifted off into a restless sleep.

пи