Chapter 7 Behind The Locked Door

ADELINE POV

Reid’s attention shifts from the bruises around my throat to the door, but I need him out before Sloanne lets herself in. 

“You need to go.”

Rime snarls. “No! Our mate!” 

His brows pull together. “What?”

“Window. Now.”

Another knock rattles the door.

“Adeline!”

I flinch before I can stop myself. My eyes go to the door, but for one second, I can’t make myself move. I have to open it. If I don't, she'll—

“You don’t have to open the door if you don’t want to,” he says. 

“You don’t understand.” 

The longer I make her wait, the worse this gets. I hurry toward the door. “It’s Sloanne.” 

His expression changes, not with fear but confusion. “So?” 

I stare at him. So? 

He says it like her name is nothing. Like Sloanne standing outside my bedroom isn’t enough to make every instinct scream at me to fix this before she gets angry.

The doorknob rattles. “Adeline, open the damn door!” 

“Let me out.” Rime bristles. 

“She’s getting angry,” I whisper. 

“So let her,” Reid says.  

My heart beats faster. “You don’t know what happens when she gets angry.” 

His eyes stay on mine, steady and suddenly much more serious. “Then tell me.” 

The pounding starts again, harder this time. “You’re really testing my patience, Adeline. Open the fucking door!” 

I reach for the handle. 

Reid moves before my fingers can touch it.

His hand closes around my wrist, stopping me, and with one step he shifts between me and the door. The movement is so quick that I barely register it until I’m standing behind him, my hand still caught loosely in his.

“Reid—”

“Don’t. Open. It.” 

My breath catches. He’s close again. Too close, especially with the bond still burning beneath my skin from the rejection. Pine, frost, and woodsmoke surround me until I can barely smell anything else. 

“She’ll break the door.” I shake my head violently. “I have to open it.” 

His fingers tighten around mine, not enough to hurt, just enough to stop me from reaching behind me again. His eyes stay on mine, steady while everything inside me feels like it’s shaking apart. 

“Don’t open the door.” 

My heart pounds against my ribs. I stop breathing. His forehead nearly touches mine.

“Stand your ground.” 

Something inside me gives. Not the bond. 

Me. 

For years, standing my ground has meant standing alone and waiting to see how badly I’ll be punished for it. Reid says it like there’s another option. Like I could say no and someone might actually stay. 

My fingers are still caught in his, and sometime in the last few seconds, my other hand has found the front of his jacket again. I should let go. 

Sloanne pounds on the door once more. “Adeline!” 

That should be enough to break whatever is happening between us. It isn’t. 

He leans closer slowly, giving me every chance to move. Then he stops. 

His jaw tightens, and something flickers across his face like he’s suddenly fighting with himself. His fingers flex around mine before loosening again, careful not to hold me any tighter. 

For a second, his eyes close.

When Reid opens them again, they’re darker. 

His nose brushes mine. His breath ghosts over my mouth, warm and unsteady. “I’ll stand with you.” 

His eyes drop to my mouth, and this time I know exactly what he wants. 

“He wants to kiss us. Our mate!” Rime vibrates inside me. 

He leans closer, slowly enough that I could stop him. 

I don’t. 

I forget how to breathe. Pine, frost, and woodsmoke flood my senses until I can’t think about anything except him. For the first time since I learned Reid was my mate, it doesn’t hurt. It feels like relief. 

There’s barely an inch between us when Sloanne slams her fist against the door. “ADELINE!” 

I jerk back. Reality snaps back so fast it almost hurts.

Reid’s breathing is uneven. His eyes are darker than before, fixed on me with a hunger that makes the bond pulse all over again. He swallows hard, like he’s forcing something back under control.

“You don’t have to open it if you don’t want to.” His gaze drops to my throat. “Was it Sloanne? Did she hurt you?” 

Yes. 

A lot. 

She hurts me a lot. 

The answer rises so quickly that for one terrifying second, I think I might actually say it. 

My throat closes instead. 

Reid is still watching me, and that almost makes it worse. 

I look away before my face gives me away. 

“You need to go.”

“Adeline.”

“Please.”

Reid doesn’t move. I can feel him studying me. “Not until Sloanne leaves. I’m not leaving you alone with her.” 

Another bang rattles the door. “Adeline!” 

My eyes burn. “I need you to go.” I hate how small my voice sounds, but I can’t stop it. “Please, just go!” 

Reid goes still. His gaze flicks toward the door, then back to me. For a second, everything in his expression says no.

Whatever he was about to say disappears when he looks at me. His jaw tightens.

“I don’t like this,” he says quietly.

Another second passes before he finally steps back. “But you asked me to go.”

Relief and disappointment hit me at the same time and I feel ridiculous. 

He crosses the room, but before climbing out, he looks back at me. “I’ll see you at Crown Training Camp.” 

Then he disappears through the window. 

I stand there for half a second longer, trying to get my breathing under control. My fingers touch my lips before I can stop them.

He didn’t even kiss me.

Somehow, that makes it worse.

I unlock the door. Sloanne shoves it open before I can step back. “What took you so long?” 

“I was changing.” 

Her eyes narrow. Then she goes still. Her nose lifts slightly. “Why does it smell like an Alpha here?”

“Maybe you’re smelling one from outside.” I shrug even though my pulse is hammering. “The window was open.” 

Her eyes narrow and move toward it. She studies me long enough that I have to fight the urge to touch my throat. “Whatever. Come help me pack.” 

Sloanne owns enough clothes to survive several different lives. I kneel beside her suitcase, folding another expensive sweater while she decides between two pairs of boots that probably cost more than everything I packed combined. 

“Not that one,” she says without looking at me. “It wrinkles.” 

I unfold it and start again. 

By the time she finally decides she’s done, my shoulders ache and half her closet is somehow inside three suitcases. 

“Take those downstairs.” 

I say nothing. When I finally get back to my room, all I want is sleep. But I notice something on my desk. A small tin sits beside the Crown Stick. It’s healing salve and beneath it is a black skate box.

Reid. 

“He came back,” Rime says. “Open it.” 

I pull the lid off. A brand-new pair of hockey skates sits inside. It’s my size. 

I shut the box, grab the healing salve, and toss both into the trash. 

Rime makes an offended sound. “Adeline.”

“No.” I cross the room and pull the curtains shut over the already-closed window. I don’t need Reid Callahan taking care of me. 

REID POV

I don’t go far. 

I can’t go far. 

“Go back,” Sverre growls.

I look up at Adeline’s dark window.

She told us to leave.

“Sloanne must have hurt her.”

Maybe. I can still see the bruises around her throat and how she froze at Sloanne’s name. 

Months ago, I noticed her worn-out equipment and thought something didn’t make sense.

I walked away anyway.

Tonight, I didn’t want to.

But Adeline asked me to go, and the look on her face made it pretty fucking clear I wasn’t wanted there.

I link Kellan. His answer comes a few seconds later. “What?”

“I need you to find something for me.”

“That sounds ominous.”

I ignore that. “Find out if anyone’s been targeting Adeline, or if anything’s been happening to her at home. Injuries. Rumors. Anything.”

“What the fuck? Is she really your fated mate!?” Kellan blurts. 

I look back at the dark window above me. 

“Just find out.”