Chapter 18

RUBY

I panic and duck underneath the windowsill, wrapping my arms over my head to stay hidden. Who was that woman? I think of her perfectly shaped limbs, the easy way she attached herself to Caleb. But mostly, the fact he let her.

Who is she to him?

I shake myself out of my thoughts. He isn’t my mate. And after the fight we just had, he’s barely my fiance.

We are two shaky allies with the same goal, and our relationship is nothing more than that. If he wants to spend his time with models and whores, who am I to stop him?

I sigh and lean back against the wall, hearing Caleb’s car engine finally start and pull out of the parking lot. He was gone, it was none of my business, and I needed to get home.

As soon as I walked out the entrance to the palace, the sky opened up and began pouring rain. “Seriously?” I shouted, groaning. I pulled my sweater off my shoulders and it held it up over my head like a makeshift umbrella.

It did nothing to keep the rain out of my eyes, and I could barely see where I was going. When I finally paused to wipe the droplets from my face I realized I had taken a wrong turn and was going in entirely the opposite direction.

This street corner looked familiar, with the library on the left and an open park just across the intersection. When had I been here before?

The sky lit up in a brilliant flash of lightning and thunder, a series of horrifying images raced through my mind.

Daniel’s eyes open and glassy, without any life behind them.

His blood pouring from an open wound in his chest, where an arrow protruded.

The grass under his body turned scarlet as he exhaled his last breath.

The memories were nearly too much and I wanted to scream. I spun around wildly in the rain and ran to escape the memories of my past life. I had to get rid of them, I had to stop seeing this!

I ran head first into someone, and collapsed backwards. My head rolled on the ground, dazed as a man’s voice asked, “Ruby? Are you alright?”

I squinted, brushing the rain and tears from my eyes. He bent down towards me, delicately lifting my chin to face him.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah, Ruby, it’s me, are you okay?”

I imagined his body, broken and bleeding, and I burst into sobs. I threw my arms around his neck, sinking into his embrace. He slipped forwards, his body caging me on the ground.

He let me stay there for a moment, the stress of my fight with Caleb, the panic I’d felt seeing the place he was murdered in my past life washing away. It felt good to be held like this.

“Come on, let’s get out of the rain, okay?” He said, pulling me off the wet cement.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He gently smoothed out my hair. “I’ve been worried about you, Ruby. You’ve been acting strange recently, and now you’re marrying Caleb…”

I sighed. “It’s complicated.”

Daniel shook his head, “Complicated enough you can’t tell me about it?”

“I don’t think there’s any way I can really explain it to you.” Even though I desperately want to, I thought to myself.

“Look,” Daniel said, his tone sounded angrier than I had expected. “I protected you when you were engaged to Lucas, let me protect you now that you’re engaged to Caleb. I’ve already gotten the Lycan King’s blessing to keep you safe.”

“Daniel…” I started, but he cut me off.

”Is he forcing you to do this?”

“What? No, Caleb—“

”Ruby, I don’t trust him. I’ve sworn to keep you safe, and if he is bullying you I won’t let him hurt you. I don’t know what happened that changed your mind about him, but I promise I will go after him if he does anything out of line.”

“Okay,” I said in a quiet voice. I knew Daniel so well, and I knew there was no way I could stop him from trying to take care of me. There was no point.

But I also knew that I couldn’t let him die. Even if he wouldn’t realize it, I would do everything I could to protect him.

History would not repeat itself.

He seemed satisfied with my answer, and put an arm around my waist to guide me down the street. “Come on, let’s actually get out of the rain.”

“Do you want a drink?” I asked, looking up at him.

He smiled, “I could definitely use one.”

“My place, take the next left.”

It took about twenty minutes to walk to the apartment on Caleb’s property I had been living in since Lucas attacked my parents’ home. We stumbled in through the front door, drenched and leaving soggy footprints all over the floor.

I went to the linen closet and got us both towels, “I just have some red wine, is that okay?” I asked from the bathroom as I wrung out my hair.

“That’s fine,” Daniel called back.

In a few minutes we were sitting on the couch, the only piece of furniture in the living room. I had brought a few boxes of my things with me, but hadn’t had the chance to put things away with the chaos of the last week.

We clinked glasses, and I downed the whole thing, immediately reaching for the bottle to pour myself another round.

“Woah, thirsty, huh?” Daniel said, taking a drink from his glass.

“You have no idea,” I said, groaning.

“Remember the time when we were kids and snuck into your father’s liquor cabinet?” Daniel asked, chuckling.

I snorted, overcome with a fit of giggles. “You couldn’t walk in a straight line. When my father came home you put your hand out to shake his and punched him directly in the stomach.”

I downed another glass and refilled it.

Daniel laughed, “That wasn’t nearly as bad as you, you started hiccuping and it lasted three hours!”

I threw my head back, relishing the memories. Things were so much simpler when it was me and Daniel, growing up in Prenia without the worries of the future of werewolf weighing on our shoulders.

I finished my next glass, and realized the bottle was empty, so I got up to get another one from the cupboard, but the room began to sway under my feet.

Had I had that much already? I wondered.

“Woah,” Daniel said, leaping up and catching me.

“Was I about to fall?” I asked dumbly. I couldn’t stop myself from grinning.

“Well, you certainly weren’t standing up straight,” he responded, smiling back.

His arms were warm, and they were wrapped around my back, and his hair was such a nice shade of rich brown.

I heard the door handle jiggling, and wondered who could possibly be visiting at this hour.

“I think bachelorette parties usually have a few more guests.”

CALEB

What a treat. I come home from a hard day’s work and my fiance is embracing another man. Great.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked, and the two of them jumped out of each other’s arms. “

“Oh, hi Caleb.” Ruby said pleasantly. “This is Daniel, he’s my warrior, we were growing up together, he’s a good friend.”

She looked blasted out of her mind. I took a deeper whiff and nearly coughed, the place reeked of alcohol.

”You, out, I have business with my fiance.” I said, gesturing for Daniel to leave. He looked somewhat familiar, but I did not want him on my property any longer than he had to be.

“Excuse me? You still call yourself her fiance after neglecting her like this? She wouldn’t have been so distraught today if you had done your job as her future husband.”

“Oh that’s what you think, is it?” I said, threateningly. I narrowed my eyes and squared my shoulders. I was at least five inches taller, and much broader than this “warrior.” I didn’t want to have to start a fight, but if it was the only way, so be it.