Page 13 of Feral
The other male gulped so hard Ella could hear it. As much as her feline instincts wanted to enjoy the fact that Sterling was defending her, she had never seen him like this. He looked calm on the surface, but she could feel his rage like a silent volcano ready to blow. Brad seemed to sense it, too, given the way he was standing there frozen like the teacher had a spell on him.
For a second, Ella wondered if he did.
“There won’t be a third time,” Sterling said, his smooth voice sending a shiver down Ella’s spine. It seemed to have the same effect on Brad for entirely different reasons. “Do I make myself clear?”
Brad nodded, not even casting a glance at Ella this time before he turned and ran.
Ella finally took a deep breath. “Thank you. I’m sorry you had to intervene.”
Sterling turned around, his eyes still glowing with anger, even though somehow she knew it wasn’t directed at her. It was intimidating nonetheless. “You’re not the one who needs to apologize.” His voice softened with concern as he looked her over, and she tried to tell herself that whatever she saw in his eyes was nothing more than that. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him.
He took a step closer, and when he reached out to touch her cheek, she froze. “That oaf hurt you,” he muttered bitterly, running his fingers lightly over the mark that must have already formed.
“I’m okay. Really,” she insisted. Her heart was in far more danger of giving out from his touch than anything Brad had done to her. “It’s nothing.”
He seemed to want to argue, but she could tell there was something else. Something he wanted to say.
“Is everything alright?” she finally asked.
Her question seemed to break him out of his distraction. “Everything is fine,” he said, a bit too quickly to be convincing. “Did you need something in the office?”
“I’m supposed to pick up my new uniforms,” she answered, noting his look of confusion. “It’s a long story.”
Sterling nodded, taking his keys out of his jacket pocket. He unlocked the door to let her in, but when she followed him into the empty office, she couldn’t help but feel like he was lost in his head.
He turned on the lights and gestured to the door up ahead. “They’re probably in the storage closet. Take whatever you need.”
“Thanks,” Ella said, walking into the closet. Sure enough, there was a stack of freshly pressed uniforms waiting on one of the shelves beneath a paper marked with her name. She took the clothes and walked back out to find Sterling standing where she’d left him, staring off into space.
“Mr. Bryant?” she called worriedly. When his eyes met hers, the look in them did nothing to reassure her about whatever was bothering him. “Are you sure nothing is wrong?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Quite.”
“Okay,” she said, slipping past him. She stopped in the door, hesitating. “Will I see you for lessons this morning?”
He didn’t answer right away, and that made her more uneasy than anything else.
“About that. I think it’s best we suspend our sessions for the time being,” he said with the certainty of a man who had already rehearsed his words. Ella tried not to let her heart sink, but it was already in the pit. “Until this whole matter is sorted out.”
She didn’t have to ask to know which “matter” he was speaking of. She’d expected him to want nothing to do with her once he’d learned of her humiliating circumstances, but this was coming out of the blue.
“Sure,” she said, her voice breaking no matter how she tried to keep it steady. “I understand.”
He frowned. “Ella…”
She had already gotten halfway out the door, and while she stopped, she couldn’t bring herself to look back. “Yes?” she asked, trying to hold in her ridiculous emotional response until she could get off on her own. The last thing she wanted was for him to see the moisture in her eyes.
He hesitated again, but at length, he said, “Have a good day.”
Ella swallowed the laugh of dismay in her throat. “You, too,” she murmured, fleeing the room.
There was absolutely no chance of that now.
Chapter 7
Ella
