Chapter 59 Oh No…
Grace woke to emptiness.
Her hand reached out automatically, fingers searching across cool sheets for the warmth of another body. Finding nothing, she gripped the fabric instead, her eyes still closed as she tried to convince herself she was imagining the absence beside her.
But the bed was cold. It had been cold for a while, suggesting that Enzo had left hours ago rather than minutes.
Grace’s eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim light filtering through the curtains. The room was silent except for her own breathing. No sound of water running in the bathroom. No rustling of clothing being put on, she felt no presence at all.
She sat up quickly, the sheets falling away to reveal skin marked with the evidence of the past three days. Hickeys covered her neck, her shoulders, her chest. Some were fading to yellow and green. Others were still dark purple and fresh. Her body ached in ways that were both pleasant and uncomfortable, muscles sore from constant use.
Three days. They’d barely left this room for three days.
After Enzo had marked her, after her body had gone through whatever transformation the bite had triggered, they’d ended up here. In what Grace assumed was Enzo’s room within the pack compound. And they’d spent those three days tangled together, unable to keep their hands off each other.
The mate bond, Enzo had explained between fevered kisses and desperate touches. The mark had completed it, had locked them together in a way that demanded physical connection until their bodies adjusted to the new reality.
Grace had been too overwhelmed by sensation to question it much. She was too caught up in the need that the mark had created, the pull toward Enzo that felt impossible to resist.
But now, sitting alone in his bed with evidence of their time together covering her skin, Grace felt that pull differently. It was still there, humming beneath her skin like a live wire. But instead of drawing her to where Enzo was, it just made his absence feel more acute.
‘Where is he?’
Grace slipped out of bed, wincing at the soreness in her thighs and lower back. She grabbed one of Enzo’s shirts from the floor, pulling it on. It fell to mid-thigh, the fabric carrying his scent in a way that made the bond in her chest tighten with longing.
She waited. Maybe he’d just gone to get food or deal with pack business. Maybe he’d be back any minute. After all, he’d always come back for the last few days.
Minutes passed. The room remained empty and silent.
Grace’s stomach churned with something that felt uncomfortably like anxiety, she told herself she was being ridiculous. Enzo didn’t need to tell her every time he left a room. They weren’t joined at the hip despite what the past three days might suggest.
But he’d marked her and had claimed her publicly as his mate, he had tied their lives together in ways Grace still didn’t fully understand. Didn’t that warrant at least a conversation before he—
“What am I even thinking?” She exhaled, cursing after that.
After twenty minutes of waiting and feeling increasingly foolish for doing so, Grace decided to go look for him.
She found clothes in drawers that she assumed were meant for her, though she didn’t remember them being brought in. Simple pants and a shirt that fit well enough. She dressed quickly, running fingers through her tangled hair in a futile attempt to make herself look less like she’d spent three days in bed.
The pack compound was larger than Grace had realized. During the past three days, she’d only seen Enzo’s room and the attached bathroom. Now, stepping out into a hallway, she was confronted with the reality of living in a place where dozens of wolves called home.
The hallway was empty, which Grace was grateful for. She wasn’t ready to face people yet nor was she ready for the questions or judgments that would inevitably come.
She wandered down the corridor, following it as it opened into a larger common area. Several people were there, mostly women of various ages. They all stopped their conversations to stare when Grace entered.
Grace felt her face flush under their scrutiny. She could imagine what they saw. The mate mark on her shoulder, visible above the collar of her shirt. The hickeys covering her neck. The fact that she was wearing clothes that clearly smelled of Enzo.
She was very sure that they knew exactly what she’d been doing for the past three days.
Grace approached the nearest person, a middle-aged woman with dark hair that was pulled back in a severe bun. The woman’s expression as she watched Grace approach was one of barely concealed scorn.
“Excuse me,” Grace said, her voice coming out smaller than she intended. “I’m looking for Enzo. Do you know where he is?”
The woman’s lip curled slightly. “Lorenzo left this morning. He’s gone on a mission.”
Grace felt her stomach drop. “A mission? What kind of mission?”
The woman shrugged, clearly uninterested in explaining anything to Grace or talking to her. “Pack business. Nothing that concerns you.”
“When will he be back?” Grace asked, hating how desperate she sounded.
The woman’s eyes swept over Grace, taking in the marks on her skin with an expression that made Grace want to cover herself. “Not anytime soon. He’ll be gone for more than a few days at least.”
The words hit Grace like a physical blow. More than a few days, he’d left without saying goodbye. Without even leaving a note or a message or anything at all.
He’d just left.
“Oh,” Grace managed to say. “Thank you.”
She turned to leave, to retreat to Enzo’s room before she embarrassed herself further. But she could hear whispers starting up behind her as she walked away.
“Did you see her? Covered in his marks like a common whore.”
“She actually thought he’d stay with her. Poor deluded thing.”
“Of course, he left. What did she expect? She’s not part of the pack, not really. Just a mark he claimed on impulse.”
“He didn’t even tell her he was leaving, that should tell her everything she needs to know about her place here. How embarrassing…”
Grace bit down hard on her bottom lip, using the pain to keep tears from forming. She would not cry and give these women the satisfaction of seeing how much their words affected her.
But they did affect her. Cut deeper than she wanted to admit.
Because they were right. Enzo hadn’t told her he was leaving, he hadn’t thought to wake her up and explain where he was going or when he’d be back. He had just left her asleep in his bed like she didn’t matter enough to warrant a goodbye.
Grace made it back to Enzo’s room and closed the door behind her with more force than necessary. The sound echoed through the space, emphasizing how empty it felt now.
‘What did I expect?’ Grace asked herself harshly. ‘That marking you meant he actually cared? That three days together meant something real?’
She’d been a fool, she’d let the mate bond and the physical need cloud her judgment and had convinced herself that what was happening between them was meaningful rather than just biological imperative.
Enzo had marked her because he’d needed to prove a point to the council. Had needed tangible proof that she was his mate to protect her from their judgment. Everything that came after, all the days spent tangled together, that was just the bond doing what bonds did.
It didn’t mean he actually wanted her. Didn’t mean she mattered to him beyond being a problem he needed to solve.
Grace started gathering her things. She didn’t have much. The clothes she’d been wearing when she was brought here, stained with Enzo’s blood were nowhere to be seen and maybe that was a good thing. A few items she’d been given since then, there was nothing that felt truly hers.
She moved mechanically, finding nothing she could even take along, making it painfully clear that she didn’t belong here.
She tried not to think about where she’d go. Tried not to acknowledge that she had no home to return to, no family who wanted her, no safe place waiting.
Uncle Matteo was dead.
And being the idiot she was, it was at this moment that she realized just how desperately she’d wanted to ask Enzo how he’d died.
‘Idiot!’
Common sense was already giving her a story from the scene she’d arrived to see that day. But she wanted to hear his side of the story.
Still, she couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t remain in this room, in this compound, waiting for Enzo to come back and decide whether she was worth his time, attention, or just his dick.
Mid thought, she felt an overwhelming feeling of nausea.
It came out of nowhere. Her stomach lurched violently, and Grace barely made it to the bathroom before she was throwing up into the sink.
The heaving was intense, her whole body convulsing with the effort. Grace gripped the edge of the sink hard enough to make her knuckles white, tears streaming down her face from the force of it.
When it finally stopped, Grace stayed hunched over the sink, breathing hard, trying to steady herself. Her mouth tasted terrible and her throat burned.
‘What the hell was that?’
Grace straightened slowly, catching sight of herself in the mirror.
‘Oh my God, I look terrible.’
She looked terrible and felt terrible. Her skin looked pale and drawn, with dark circles under her eyes that suggested the past three days hadn’t been as restful as they should have been.
But it was more than just exhaustion looking back at her. Something felt different, her body was trying to tell her something and Grace was almost afraid to acknowledge what it might be.
Her hand moved without conscious thought, dropping to rest against her lower abdomen.
‘No. It can’t be…’
Grace stared at her reflection, at her hand pressed against her stomach, and felt horror wash over her.