Page 32 of Cost of Courting

I get her inside and take her straight to the bedroom. Edric rips back the quilt, and I carefully lay her down. She looks tiny in the bed.

Fragile.

Our Selene. She never looks fragile. Strong, fierce, wild, untamable. But never fragile, never broken.

I’m angry at myself that it took so long to realise she was in trouble. We waited like idiots for her to come to us, and, all the while, she was in her bed, alone, hurt.

The door bursts open, and Bailey shoves into the room, almost tripping over a silent Kingston. His blue-green eyes are wild and focus on her with an intensity that makes me want to purr.

“What happened?”

“No idea,” Edric says tersely.

Bailey closes the distance, and, surprisingly, none of us make any sound of protest. He hovers his hand over her black sports bra, looking at the mottled purple and black bruises.Some of the bruises clearly look like hand prints, I think, on her back, I saw the outline of a shoe.

“How long has she been like this?” Edric asks and starts picking at the seam of his jeans absently.

“Luna said she came back early in the morning. Yesterday.” Bailey sits on the edge of the bed but withdraws his hands. I don’t know if he’s afraid to touch her or if he’s worried he will hurt her.

I move in close to her and brush her hair back. Surprisingly, her face is very unmarked. Only slight swelling on her cheekbones. That means what was done to her was done on purpose.

“Did she get jumped?” Kingston growls.

I shake my head. “Not sure, but look at her knuckles. She fought back.”

Bailey is silent, staring at her with an expression that has me wanting to shake him.

“What is it?” I ask instead.

“Luna says that this happens once a month or so. She comes home late and sleeps for a couple of days.” Bailey gets up and paces away, putting distance between us, physical and emotional.

I sit on the edge of the bed and turn her hand over so I can stroke her palm. The skin has callous’. Her fingers are dry, and, around her cuticles, the skin is split. There’s blood encrusted under her nails.

I smile and shake my head.

“What?” Edric demands.

“It’s like it’s always been with her. Look at her hands. All of her can change, but look, her hands are exactly the same.”

Edric pauses and shakes his head. “You’re losing it, Mael.”

I’m not, but they don’t need to understand it. I see it. Selene is the same. She’s not lost.

And if she’s not lost, we can find her again.

I lean down and press a kiss to her palm. It’s the first time I’ve kissed her. My whole life she was there, standing beside us, and we never saw.

The dark past flickers at my mind, and I struggle to remain here, present with her.

“Do you remember the time she beat up Murphy?” I ask instead.

“She had him on his knees begging in ten minutes,” Kingston says with a chortle. “I was so damn proud.”

“She’s our little fighter.”

“So, I don’t understand. How do you all know each other?”

Bailey is cautious of us. He’s not happy about being an omega. We got that loud and clear from his very vocal and offensive rejection earlier. I’m too stunned that he’sour…well, I don’t know what he is, but another one? It’s so ironic that this one, too, rejected us out of hand.

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