Page 32 of Stray
“You do that,” Mr. Bryant said dangerously. “I’ll stay with her.”
Dr. Smith cast a suspicious glance over his shoulder, but even he didn’t seem willing to challenge the other male. He left the room and Ella felt herself immediately relax.
“I’m so sorry I got you involved in all this,” she said, hugging herself.
Mr. Bryant slipped out of his blazer and draped it around her shoulders. His scent blossomed around her, and while the fire within had quelled somewhat, it came roaring back with a vengeance.
There was no mistaking it, his scent and his mere presence had a bizarrely powerful effect on her. It was more than just being an unmated female around an unmated male. It ran so much deeper, and with him, there was none of the fear that accompanied the interest she took in other males.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he said, his tone surprisingly gentle. He took a seat in the chair across from her, and she found herself wondering if he needed the distance to clear his head as much as she did. It was a bizarre thing to think that someone so composed could be affected by such prurient things, but even the most refined shifter was still a slave to his instinct. And male, for that matter.
“May I ask you something?” he ventured, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Of course.”
“The Hill family… Did they treat you well?”
It was such a simple question, and yet there was no simple answer. No right answer, even. Either she lied and risked that those keen gray eyes would see right through it, as they did everything else, or she told the truth and had to live with the consequences.
Before she could come to a decision, he nodded knowingly, as if she had already answered. “I thought as much.”
As gentle as his tone was, there was an edge of danger to it, as there had been with the doctor. She would’ve been unnerved, if not for the instinctive sense that his anger was not directed at her.
“I’m just a stray,” she repeated. She had to remind herself, because the world around her seemed to have forgotten that fact.
But it would never change. A stray would never be accepted, Empress or not. The moon might’ve chosen her, but that didn’t mean her fellow pride mates ever would. She knew better than to get her hopes up like that. Better than to see this as a blessing rather than the curse it was. Rather than a target on her head.
Mr. Bryant watched her closely, and she found herself wishing she could see what was going on inside that mind of his. He was so hard to read, so self-possessed, yet so kind in unexpected ways.
He seemed about to say something, but before he had the chance, the door opened again. To Ella’s relief, it was the secretary, but she still couldn’t help but feel a pang of resentment.
Now she was always going to wonder what he was about to say.
“The headmaster has requested her presence in his office,” she said, glancing nervously between them.
“Give us a moment,” said Mr. Bryant.
The secretary seemed startled by the order, but she followed it nonetheless. Ella got the feeling that Sterling Bryant was not a man who was accustomed to being refused anything.
When the secretary shut the door, she turned back to him, her heart racing with apprehension once more. He moved closer, and for a split second, she found herself wondering if he was going to proposition her. As absurd as it seemed, there was no mistaking the lust she’d seen earlier in his eyes. In fact, if she really looked, she could see a glimmer of it even now, simmering behind his cold intensity.
“What is it?” Ella asked, her voice breathier and weaker than she had hoped.
Mr. Bryant stopped just short of being close enough to trigger her instincts all over again. His mere presence was doing that enough as it was.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” he began, his voice low and gentle. “If you want to leave this place, I know that Natalia would make arrangements for you. You don’t have to go back to the Hills.”
His words took Ella by surprise. “But you said —”
“Some things are more important than academics,” he answered. “If I knew you had settled for wasting your first time on someone you didn’t care about in a place like this, because of my words, I would never forgive myself.”
She was left staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights. No one had ever said anything like that to her. Certainly not someone like him. And somehow, she could tell that he meant every word. It was a kind of knowing that just resonated deeply within her, unmistakable even though she scarcely understood it.
“I want to stay,” she finally answered. “I can’t say this is how I thought it would happen, but… I don’t want to run away again. I just want to get through this, for me.”
He watched her for another moment, as if trying to discern whether or not she was telling him the truth. He finally nodded. “In that case, we had better see what the headmaster has to say,” he said, opening the door.
Ella followed him out, and she realized that that the hungry glances of the other toms they passed on the way were no longer at the forefront of her mind. Next to Sterling, she felt safe, no matter who was around. She felt safer than she ever had.
