SWNOVELS Chapter 317
Chapter 317
I barely sleep the rest of the night.
The next morning, Axel unlocks the door carly, but I don’t immediately get out of bed.
I’m not sure if I have the energy or will to face the day.
I wonder what Axel will do if I turn the tables on him and refuse to leave my bedroom, so whether he locks the door or not
becomes pointless.
Around mid–morning, there’s a knock on the door.
I don’t answer, even though I doubt it’s Axel.
He wouldn’t knock. He would just barge right in.
The door swings open a few seconds later and Jessica walks in, carrying a tray with what looks like breakfast on it.
“Good morning,” she says in a soft voice, sending me a hesitant smile, as if unsure of her welcome.
Oh great, now even Jessica is tiptoeing around me.
“Does the entire pack know I’m a nutjob who needs to be locked up in her room?” I ask, pulling a blanket over my head.
I hear the sounds of Jessica setting the tray onto the nightstand next to my bed, then a second later the mattress dips and
Jessica tugs the blankets away from my face.
“No one thinks that,” she says, and now her expression is more sympathetic and understanding.
“Don’t they?” I question bitterly as I push myself upright.
I look at the selection of food Jessica has brought me and realize I’m actually quite hungry.
Probably doesn’t help that I missed dinner last night.
I grab the tray and settle it on my lap as Jessica smiles in approval.
“At least you haven’t lost your appetite,” she says as I start eating.
I don’t bother telling her that when you get abducted and held captive, eating becomes about survival, especially if you don’t
know if or when the next meal is coming.
I learned to eat whether I had any appetite or not.
“Jessica, you can’t possibly think what’s happening to me is okay,” I say between mouthfuls.
Jessica frowns and glances away.
“Aaron said it was for your own good,” Jessica says, and it
sounds more like something she’s reciting, rather than something she actually believes.
“I know I’ve been a bit...erratic since I got home,” I reply, trying to choose my words carefully. “But I don’t deserve to be locked in
my room like I’m some badly behaved kid. It’s not fair.”
I clamp my mouth closed after saying it’s not fair, because actually, I do kind of sound like a whiny kid.
Jessica sighs, and I can see that she does care about what happens to me.
She is my best friend, after all.
“Aaron is Alpha, Emily. Even if he is your brother, we can’t go against what he says. And maybe I haven’t always been Leah’s
biggest fan, but attacking your Luna is crossing a line.”
I duck my head and stare down at my partially eaten breakfast, shame heating my cheeks.
Maybe I shouldn’t have attacked Leah...at least not where there were witnesses.
But Jessica doesn’t understand everything I went through because of Leah.
“I spent ten years locked away,” I say instead of answering Jessica’s statement. “I can’t be locked up in this bedroom all the time.
I need to shift. I need to run. If I can’t do those things, I don’t know how to cope.”
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Jessica reaches over and takes my hand.
“Truthfully, I don’t agree with how they’re handling this,” Jessica says in a quiet voice, probably so she isn’t overheard. “I’m not
willing to defy Aaron...but maybe there are times when I can look the other way, if you truly need to get out for a bit. Just make
sure you don’t leave for long. I hate to think what else Axel might do to you if he catches you sneaking off again.”
“You and me both,” I tell her, my stomach fluttering.
I should be thinking about all the ways Axel might hurt me, and how he locked me in this room last night without caring what it
might do to my mental state.
However, for some reason, all I can think about is the dream I had.
Before it turned into a nightmare.
When Axel kissed me.
And despite knowing I shouldn’t, I find myself wondering if it would feel anything like that should Axel kiss me in real life.
Of course, that’s never going to happen.
Axel barely tolerates me.
He obviously doesn’t care, otherwise he would have resisted Aaron’s idea to lock me up, because he would have realized how
triggering that would be after ten years of captivity.
Besides, Axel might not realize it yet, but we’re basically enemies.
If he ever got that close to me again, I should be less worried about him kissing me, and more worried about him killing me.