Page 39 of Wicked Dove (Institute Thirteen #1)

THIRTY

ELODIE

Even in my dreams, I’m haunted by the guys across the hallway. They might let me out of their sight, but it doesn’t stop them from consuming my thoughts.

After Kael’s outburst yesterday, and Thorne finding me out at Institute Three, I was highly anticipating something from Rion too, just to complete the day, but to my surprise, he never showed.

A part of me is a little disappointed. Not that I would ever admit that out loud, but after dreaming about him and our moment in the shower, the feeling lingers in my soul.

I don’t stand a chance of getting back to sleep now.

Reluctantly, I roll off, grumbling at the light that peeks around the edges of the curtains. I glance at my new cell phone to check the time, only to find three notifications on the lock screen. I freeze. They’re not from the latest apps I downloaded, but from the camera app Ocean helped me set up.

Gulping, I reach for the device, my thumb hovering over the notification for a moment before I find the courage to tap it and see what awaits me. As the screen loads, I swipe my tongue over my bottom lip nervously before the recording comes to life.

The time reads as a little after midnight. I’m fast asleep, coated in shadows, when a sliver of light casts over me. It looks as though someone’s opened the door. My heart races as I wait, but no one seems to step into the frame, and after thirty seconds, the door closes again.

I frown, replaying the footage, but sure enough, nothing appears that I missed the first time.

Confused, I move to the recording time stamped at two-fifteen.

This time, when the door opens, it closes quickly behind them, and I can see a pair of black boots hovering at the edge of the frame.

It feels like an eternity passes before they inch closer, coming to a halt at the foot of my bed.

Whoever it is, they’re wearing a sweatshirt with the hood in place, shielding them from the view of my camera. Panic clings to me as I become acutely aware that I am also in the frame, yet I was unaware of their invasion into my personal space.

Uncertainty wars inside of me, but a moment later, they step back, the door opens and closes swiftly, and they’re gone again. I sigh with relief, my gaze darting from my cell phone to the foot of my bed. There’s no one there now, but a shiver still runs down my spine.

I try to shake it off. Do I like anyone being in my space like that? No. Are they harming me? Also no. I don’t know how to feel.

Taking another deep breath, I skip to the third and final timestamp, which was just before four in the morning.

This time, when the door opens, the hooded figure shuts the door behind them and trudges to the side of my bed without pausing.

My breath lodges in my throat as I watch them take a seat beside me on the bed, reaching a finger out to tuck a loose curl of hair back off my face.

My cheek prickles from where they touched me, and my eyes are wide in disbelief as I silently scream at myself to wake up, but I don’t. If anything, I could swear I nuzzle into their presence.

What the hell?

Sitting up, I lean against the headboard as I try to zoom in on the figure in the frame, but it’s impossible to see who it is. Could it be someone from across the hall? It could literally be anyone from the entirety of The Vale.

I shiver.

Why on Earth do we not have a lock on that door?

At the exact moment I consider the security measures we’re lacking, a knock sounds from our door and my skin tingles with anticipation.

I glance at Ocean, and she doesn’t even budge at the noise. At least I’m not the only one.

Brushing my hair back off my face, I kick the covers off and swing my legs over the side of the bed. Another knock sounds before I can even stand up, and I hurry toward the door, hoping not to disturb Ocean.

With a deep breath, I open the door just a fraction to find the wolf who has been haunting my dreams.

“Rion,” I breathe, and he grins at me, leaning against the door frame in just a pair of shorts. His chest is on full display, every muscle glistening, and I don’t know where to look.

“Hey,” he says with a grin, and I yank my gaze from his pecs to his eyes, but I know I’m already busted.

Clearing my throat, I quickly try to change the subject. “Hey, have you been in my room?” I blurt, and he frowns.

“No. Why?” he asks, and I shake my head.

“Never mind. What do you want?”

He purses his lips, mischief dancing in his eyes as he nods at me.

“You.”

I can feel my skin tingle at his teasing, but I try to hide it the best that I can. “I’m going back to bed. Goodbye, Rion,” I whisper, moving back a step to shut the door, but he stops me before I get a chance.

“Petal,” he breathes, and I rake my teeth over my bottom lip.

“What?”

“Come to my bed,” he murmurs, making my stomach clench as I scoff.

“Does that usually work on girls?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried,” he admits, a shimmer of something in his gaze, but I brush it off.

“Why don’t I believe that?”

He shrugs again. “Come hang out with me,” he pushes, and I gnaw at my bottom lip.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I decide, my voice weak and my certainty waning. He’s easy and fun to be around, and right now, my bed doesn’t seem like the safest place.

“It’s just me. I want to watch this new movie, but I don’t want to watch it alone.” He pouts, but it’s the loneliness that I see in his eyes that makes me pause.

I must be insane.

“You better have popcorn.”

Butter popcorn after brushing my teeth is not the vibe. Neither is lying in Rion’s bed again, but this time, he’s right beside me. Maybe it is a vibe and I’m struggling to fully appreciate it, or the movie, with him this goddamn close.

I’m acutely aware of his every breath as the action movie plays on his television.

I have no idea what’s going on, but I could probably hazard a guess at how many little freckles he has smattered across his chest because I can’t stop looking.

I don’t think I’ve managed to look away for more than two minutes.

Nineteen freckles. That’s my final answer.

I need to get out of my head. We’ve been here for over an hour now and I’m still on edge from his proximity.

“Petal, you can’t keep staring at me and running your tongue over your bottom lip like that. It’s killing me,” Rion mutters, making a show of adjusting his cock beneath his shorts, and I press my thighs together as I refocus on the television, refusing to meet his stare.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper, hoping to keep my voice even, but it still hitches with the lie.

“Of course not.” He’s amused and I hate it.

Sitting up, I shuffle back to lean against his headboard in an attempt to ease the tension rippling around us.

He cocks a brow at me, I spy it out of the corner of my eye, and I sigh.

“Why did you tell Professor Drayker about my father?” I blurt, aware that the movie is completely lost on me at this stage, but I’m quickly enraptured by how he stiffens when I turn my attention to him once again.

He clears his throat as he runs his hand through his hair. “I didn’t, I just asked her to help me find him.” There’s something in the lilt of his voice, but I can’t place it.

“Why?” I ask, still confused by the whole thing, and he shrugs.

“She was my guardian.”

The second he says it, I remember what Kael told her when we were in her office. It was when he was referring to being my guardian. That makes more sense, I guess, but it still doesn’t feel right. Not with how much of a bitch she was.

Nipping at my bottom lip, I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. I consider admitting that wasn’t the vibe I got from her at the time, but despite how much I feel it in my gut, I don’t say a word about it. Instead, I remain focused on the man I hate most in the world.

“Did she find him?” I ask, my stomach tightening as I wait on bated breath for his answer, but he shakes his head.

“No.”

I’m torn between wondering why he needs to find him, and what he would do if he did, and the fact that if the professor can find him, maybe that could be my way out of here.

My stomach tightens further, seemingly not liking the idea of running so much now. I try to squash that feeling down too. I’m a ticking time bomb at this stage, tamping everything away so no one can see it, and I definitely can’t acknowledge it.

“She wasn’t the help I needed anyway,” he murmurs after a moment, drawing my gaze to his, and I clear my throat.

“Did you tell anyone else?”

He looks at me funny, his lips pursing for the briefest moment before he tilts his face at me. “Did I tell them what, specifically?”

“What you saw,” I breathe, and he shakes his head.

“No, that’s not my story to tell,” he says, and the tension in my shoulders eases.

I should say thank you, but I can’t find the words. Instead, he wraps his hand around my ankle and tugs me back down the bed so I’m lying beside him once again, and I gulp.

He leans on his side, hovering over me, stealing every breath I have as he inches closer and closer, until there’s only an inch between our lips.

My pulse quickens in my ears, and my body moves of its own accord.

I lift my head to eliminate the remaining distance between us, but before I can feel his full lips against mine, he rears back, putting distance between us.

Embarrassed, I throw myself off the bed in panic, watching as he swipes a hand down his face.

I don’t speak, I just move, darting for the door desperately, but then his voice cuts through the air.

“Don’t go.”

My hand curls around the door handle. I can’t bring myself to look back. “I don’t think staying is a good idea.”

“It is, I just… no kissing.”

I almost snap my neck to look at him. The loneliness I saw in his eyes earlier is there again, but this time, it’s interwoven with glimmers of pain. The deep-rooted kind, the leave-scars-forever kind. My kind.