Taken by my mate
Chapter thirty-nine

Evadiene

I didn’t hear anyone following me, which gave me a mixture of emotions. If Covyn didn’t require anyone to watch me, I didn’t think he still cared what happened to me. I could still feel the bond, but it was different after I was born from the ash.

I wonder if he still feels it at all.

I went to his office, entering the code to his safe and retrieving my book before gathering the ones I had left beside the chair in the corner. I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin to see Spencer at the door.

He leant against the doorframe and watched me, Sequoia watching him carefully from the side, but she hadn’t alerted me. His ankles were crossed casually one over the other, and his arms crossed over his chest. A man of his size, it was a skill for him to be able to block a doorway like that and not look completely threatening, but it still startled me.

“Holy fudge nuggets, Spencer what the actual fuck. Make some noise or something when you’re spying on someone, you’re liable to give me a heart attack just appearing like that,” I exclaimed, taking a step toward the library doors.

He looked so seriously at me, his hand moving to his chin, and then he smiled. “Fudge Nuggets?”

I failed to hold back my returning smirk. “Holy- fudge nuggets,” I corrected, smiling a little more. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “I don’t care if Alpha took me off being your guard, you obviously still need someone looking out for you.”

“He took you off my guard?” I started quietly, but then scoffed and chuckled in response to his other statement. “Says who?”

He tsked his tongue and held up his fingers. “You fell off a balcony, tried to run away, again, and crashed a car since I was taken off watching you-,” he shrugged, “- odd way to say you missed me but I’ll take it.”

I looked at him, failing at not blushing. “Careful you don’t let Covyn hear you talk like that, he hasn’t rejected me yet.”

“Cross that bridge if it comes to. Let’s get you upstairs before everyone’s leaving dinner and cramping the hallways.” He ushered me from the room, took the stack of books from my arms, and I locked the door behind us.

We didn’t say anything in the hallways, him following behind me like he usually did. I no longer had the bedroom key, wondering at which point in the last hour I had dropped it, or if it was where I crashed the truck, but luckily the door wasn’t locked. Covyn must have come in through the deck to get dressed before he came to the medical bay and not bothered. The deck door was still open and Spencer went over to close it before sweeping the room for anyone who may have snuck in.

“I’m going to shower,” I announced and he nodded.

“I already locked the bathroom window, and I’ll be right here.” He sat in one of the chairs and before I left I saw Sequoia jump on his lap. “Is it demeaning to pet you now that I know?” He asked softly but she pushed her face into his hand. “I guess not.”

Sequoia was a cat and protector first, all of her other emotions often rotating around those basic instinct while she took that form, but I didn’t tell Spencer that; he seemed to figure it out himself. Instead I went to the closet for a dress, and moved into the bathroom to clean up. It felt wrong somehow to grab Covyn’s shirt this time and, even though I had been trying to leave, it felt like a clenched fist turning in my chest.

My skin always had the weird feeling of being new and yet dry after coming from the ash, but the smell was really what would give it away. I scrubbed my scalp with my nails and lathered the soap over my body. Everything hurt less now, all my previous injuries were gone and I ran my hands over my skin to feel for them as I washed. When my hands reached my neck I noticed how no pain remained. I finished the shower quickly, getting out in my towel to rush to the mirror and confirm that Covyn’s bite marks were gone. The raw, inflamed, aching skin was just as smooth and pain free as it had been before I met him, but the ache in my chest remained.

I pulled on my dress before towelling off my hair and heading to see what dinner would be tonight. Everyone was back when I came from the bathroom, all of them placed somewhere around the room. Spencer remained in his seat, Daley and Ellion stood by the windows, curtains drawn, with their own plates, and Covyn sat on the bed with his. Mine was placed across from Spencer on the table between the chairs and my stomach roared loudly at the sight.