Page 35 of Kings
Ella awoke to the sound of someone calling her name. Several someones. She didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there, only that she’d woken up in the middle of a clearing with nothing but the pale moonlight on her skin.
She looked down at the familiar silver markings glimmering across her arms, and for a moment, she thought it was an illusion. When she rolled onto her side and pushed herself up, she realized the red tinge to the markings was the blood drawn in the scratches covering her from head to toe. They weren’t deep and intentional like those from a beast, but rather light and haphazard, as if she’d run through a path of brambles.
Her body was sore and heavy, her arms and legs made of lead, like she’d been running for hours, but she felt as if she’d woken up from a deep sleep. Confusion muddied the voices calling her name, growing closer along with the beams of flashlights shining through the woods.
She pulled herself to her feet, pressing a hand to her stomach. It was too early to feel the baby anyway, but she feared for whatever had just happened to them both. Had she shifted? That shouldn’t have affected the baby negatively, but she’d never felt like this before.
After staying in her cat form for days on end, she would sometimes lose track of herself and wake up in a daze that lasted hours, but it was never this strong. The fog in her mind was never this thick, and when she tried to think about what had happened before she’d blacked out, something seemed to push her back.
Ella staggered through the clearing, catching herself on the crumbling, leafless trees she walked past. Her head was still spinning, making it impossible to keep track of direction. She seemed to wander in circles forever when the flashlight beam finally broke through the trees and she saw a familiar silhouette.
Sterling.
“Ella!” he cried, rushing to her as her knees gave out.
She sank against him, trying to stand on her own, but her body just felt heavier than before. His scent, usually so soothing, wasn’t enough to bring her across the void between her body and her consciousness.
“What happened?” he demanded, sinking to his knees to get a better look at her. He cupped her face in his hands, looking her over with fearful intent that made her doubt her original assumption that he would want nothing more to do with her. That he would become as apathetic to her existence as it would have made sense for him to be from the start.
“Ella? Ella?” His voice grew sharper, and she realized it wasn’t the first time he’d called her. She met his eyes and they pulled her in like anchors to the waking world, her hands resting against his solid chest.
During her heat, he and the others had seemed impossibly cool to the touch, her own skin unbearably hot. Now, the roles had switched, and she felt cold and empty. His warmth seeped in through her fingertips even through his shirt, keeping the cold at bay.
“I’m so sorry, Sterling,” she said, her voice slurred and broken. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You were so relieved, and I just…please don’t hate me.”
Her words weren’t coming out right. They were too tangled, and nothing made sense. The confusion on his face confirmed it. He finally shook his head and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly enough that the emptiness in her chest disappeared, even if it was only for the time being.
“Don’t worry about that now,” he murmured, his voice strong and reassuring. If she focused on it, the darkness nipping at her heels retreated a little. He stroked her hair, his own pounding heart beginning to slow as he held her against his chest.
As Ella began to come back to herself, her confusion only magnified, and the humiliation that had chased her from the ballroom came back full force. The recording kept playing on a loop in her head, and she couldn’t stop seeing the look on Bishop’s face.
Disappointment. Betrayal. Fear. Those were all reactions she’d expected, and could handle. What she hadn’t been prepared for was disgust, but there was no mistaking it. Not then, not now in retrospect. She would never be able to forget it, either. It hung there like a painting on the walls of her mind, forever preserving that awful, eternal moment.
Sterling shrugged out of his coat and draped it over her shoulders. Only when the fabric brushed against her skin did Ella realize the cuts all over her stung.
“What happened to you?” Sterling repeated, studying her closely.
Ella shook her head. She wished she had the answer to give him, but she didn’t even know herself.
“Bishop,” she said, sobering even more at the sound of his name, as if speaking it broke some spell over her. She managed to get to her feet and Sterling caught her. “I have to find him.”
Sterling held her by the shoulders, his grasp gentle, but firm. When Ella looked into his eyes, something about the uncertainty there left her more unsettled.
“What is it?” she asked, her voice cracking. “Where is he?”
“Ella, he…” The older man trailed off, looking into the woods behind him. There were other footsteps drawing closer. A search party. He turned back to her, his face still a conflicted mask of stone. “He left.”
The words cut into her like a knife. There was something so final about them. Something she didn’t want to accept, anymore than she wanted to believe that horrible look on his face was truly the reaction to learning he might be a father. “Where?”
Sterling hesitated again, which worried her more than anything. He rarely spoke when he didn’t need to, but he never minced words and he never held back. When he said something, he meant it, and he spoke with conviction. Ifhefelt the need to tiptoe around the subject, it was even worse than he’d feared.
“He hates me,” she murmured, a strangled laugh dying out in her throat. She didn’t know where it came from, only that it seemed to emanate from the same source as the empty cold.
“No. No, that’s not true,” Sterling said, gathering her back into his arms. “It’s not about that.” He paused, as if he was struggling to come up with the right words. He finally looked down at her, his silvery gaze hard with resignation. “Ella, Natalia is gone.”
It took a few moments for the words to sink into her mind, and when they did, they made no sense. “Gone? Where?”
Sterling seemed about to answer when a familiar roar surrounded them, the sound seeping into Ella’s bones. It made her shiver and relax at once. She turned to find a familiar pair of piercing green eyes watching them from the forest before the massive tiger loped out of the shadows.
