Chapter 33
Asher just quietly held her, he had never needed to comfort anyone before so he didn’t know how to comfort her, his blood boiling over at his inability to protect her and her innocence from his world…
“I-I,” Celine gasped out, hiccuping with the force of her sobs, “I tho-thought you were going to get h-hurt…” She pulled back to say, an expressive frown on her face.
Asher’s hazel eyes widened a fraction at the implication of her words, a little smile of relief on his face, “I never get hurt,” He said in a steady voice, going down on one knee to bring them face to face.
Celine tried to stem her tears when Asher did his best to wipe her tears without getting blood on her pale face, soft laughter breaking through her tears. “I’m sorry, you must find me annoying.”
“Is that what you think?” Asher asked quietly, his deft hands undoing the rest of her ropes.
“I cry all the time, I’m easily frightened and I caused you all this trouble-”
“That’s what you think, I don’t find any of that annoying.”
Celine fell silent at Asher’s words, even if all that were true, there was no denying that he didn’t find her appealing. “Are you going to get rid of me?” She blurted out when Asher got to his feet and offered her his hand.
Asher didn’t take away his hand but he didn’t give a response either, his hazel gold eyes going cold. Celine tried to smile through another bout of tears and immediately regretted it when it made the dam want to break even more. “Sorry, it wasn’t my place to ask that.”
Asher really wished he could give her an answer but he had to face the truth that keeping Celine with him was incredibly selfish of him and quite detrimental to her. He hated that she had to be forced to take a life to protect him. He hated how her frail form had trembled in his hold as she cried.
Celine just quietly took his hand without saying another word, resting her head on his shoulder when he picked her up. She tried her best not to look at the lifeless body of the man she had shot so she didn’t notice Jael until they got out of the room she had been locked in. The sounds of guns going off were sparse now but the smell of blood was heavy in the air and it made Celine’s head ache so she closed her eyes and trusted Asher to get her back to the mansion safely.
It had already been pretty late when Nolan broke into the mansion to take her so it meant that she had been strapped to a chair for the better part of the night, it was no surprise that she fell asleep while they were still in the car. What was a surprise however was how quickly she woke up again.
Celine woke up just a couple hours after she slept off, well before dawn. She woke up disoriented, feeling hazy and hot with the onset of a fever. It took her a moment to figure out where she was, the unwelcome memories from a few hours ago returning.
A sharp spike of pain in her middle made her eyes open wide and the wave of heat that washed over her brought with it the realization of what was happening. *She was having her heat.*
She couldn’t believe that she had completely forgotten, it was kind of understandable with the rough two weeks she had had but how could she completely forget that she hadn’t been taking her heat suppressants? She hadn’t even taken them with her when she left Moonstone, but it wasn't like taking them now would be helpful at all.
Celine had only had her heat once before and that was shortly after her mating to Noah but when all he did was get up and leave her alone in the apartment although she was in pain, she didn’t bother making the effort again. She usually stuck to heat suppressants but she had deliberately stopped taking them in a bid to snag Noah’s attention… *but that was years ago.*
She couldn’t even be mad at herself for letting it happen again, especially as she was technically in a similar with Asher. She had already been through so much, it was no surprise that she forgot about taking her heat suppressants in the flurry of events that happened.
She sat up slowly, looking around the room for the first time, it was backlit with dim but warm light. She was actually not surprised to find out that Asher hadn’t spent the night in his room, the longer she stayed with him, the less time he spent in his bedroom. Maybe she should hide away in the guest room, her things were there anyway and it was fully furnished so she would be fine.
Because Celine didn’t think she could handle being turned down while she was having her heat, she reluctantly crawled to her feet, knowing that the next three days were about to be hellish. The rustling sound she made while getting up sent light flooding into the room, startling her but not as much as the sight of Asher standing beside the wall-length curtains.
She just stood and stared at him, knowing that the longer she stayed there, the worse her heat symptoms would get. She knew that the best thing to do would be to go right to the guest room and lock herself in until she was lucid again but her feet were rooted to the ground.
Asher started for her with a look on concern on his face and she couldn’t help but imagine the image she presented. She had suddenly woken up for no reason only to get to her feet and stare blankly into the distance, it was no surprise he had gotten worried.
Celine waited as Asher got closer to her despite how much that was a bad idea, and maybe it was her heat muddling her thinking but she badly wanted to be desired.