Chapter 155: Limits hallway
Tabitha’s POV
Life goes on in the next few weeks and I try to focus on classes instead of the growing tension at home.
On my third week in Kaelara, I stay late to finish a project. By the time I reach the parking lot the sun is already sinking. I spot the car that usually fetches me and walk toward it.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was—” I halt when I notice a different man sitting behind the wheel. “Gerald?” I blurt in surprise.
He glances at me through the rearview mirror and nods. “Good afternoon, Miss Tabitha.”
“Wha—Why are you the one picking me up?” I ask as I look around the unusually empty seats. “Where are the brothers?”
“They’re busy with something,” Gerald replies. “They asked me to fetch you instead.”
Something about the way he says it feels rehearsed. But I let it go and just nod.
“Okay, thank you.”
Later that night, I have dinner with Mom and Alpha Emery. The brothers are nowhere to be found as well. Their chairs remain empty and no one mentions their absence. When I go to bed I stare at the ceiling and wonder if they are out on some scouting mission.
That must be it. Maybe they’ll be back tomorrow.
They are not. The next morning Gerald is the one who drives me to school again.
I don’t see the brothers during breakfast. I don’t see them when I come home in the afternoon either.
“Gerald, where are they really?” I ask as he drives me back to the estate.
He tightens his grip on the wheel. “They’re busy, Miss Tabitha. That’s all I know,” he says stiffly.
I don’t believe that’s all he knows.
Later, I sit on my bed and finish my homework. I feel off and I can’t explain why. I didn’t see them at dinner again. The mansion feels too quiet without their voices filling the halls. Evren is not much of a talker, but he has this strong presence that you can’t ignore. Luca is the kind of person who makes you believe nothing can truly spiral when he is around. Reed is a storm that barges into every space and somehow makes it feel alive. Jace is pure mischief with a heartbeat and the house feels hollow without his grin flashing around every corner.
Damn, I sound so pathetic for missing them after just one day apart.
When I glance out the window, I notice the full moon hanging in the sky. After I finish my homework, I turn off the lights and go to sleep.
Only to wake up in the middle of the night.
Sweat beads on my forehead as I roll around the bed and try to find a comfortable spot to chase elusive sleep. Even with my eyes tightly shut, bubbles of voices swarm my mind as if tiny whispers refuse to quiet down and keep brushing against my thoughts.
‘Tabitha…’
At first I think it is just a dream but then I hear it again…
‘Tabitha…’
Whispers. Faint voices calling my name inside my head. My eyes snap open.
I am drenched in sweat. My hands are shaking and my head is pounding. There is a tight feeling in my chest that makes it hard to breathe. It feels like something inside me is clawing at a locked door.
What is happening to me? I sit up and press a hand to my chest.
My hands are shaking as if I just ran a freaking marathon. What the hell? I take a deep breath but the weird feeling stirring deep in my gut just won’t leave.
Something’s wrong with me, and I don’t know what.
Shaking my head, I throw the covers aside and decide to get a glass of water. Maybe that will help.
The mansion is silent as I walk downstairs. I move carefully and try not to make noise. After drinking water in the kitchen, I head back toward the stairs.
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, a sharp tug tightens in my chest and pulls toward the east wing, subtle at first but impossible to ignore. I try to brush it off and take another step toward the staircase, but the sensation only intensifies. It feels like an invisible rope winding around my ribs and drawing me somewhere I’m not supposed to be.
I stand there for a few seconds, telling myself to stop being dramatic, but my feet move anyway. I grit my teeth as my legs carry me down a corridor I’ve never bothered to explore before.
Shit, what am I doing here?
The hallway grows darker with every step I take, and the chandeliers here dimmer and spaced farther apart, shadows swallowing the walls until I have to fish my phone out of my pocket and switch on the flashlight. The beam cuts through the dark just as a voice breaks the silence.
“Miss Tabitha?”
“Oh shi—!” I nearly drop my phone.
One of Alpha Emery’s guards steps out from the far end of the hall, his expression serious but not unkind.
“What are you doing here at this hour?”
“I—uhm, I couldn’t sleep,” I say quickly, forcing a shrug. “I was just walking around. Clearing my head.”
He studies me for a moment before nodding toward the darkness behind him.
“This wing is off limits, miss. It’s best you head back to your room.”
I hesitate for a moment, but the serious look in his eyes clearly indicates that he’s not up for any argument from me. But the pull in my chest still faintly there, urging me to push past him, but I can’t exactly butt heads with one of Alpha Emery’s men without raising questions.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I—uh, I’ll go back to my room now.”
He gives me a curt nod before leading the way back to my room. By the looks of it, he’s making sure that I won’t go back to that off limits hallway.
Strange.
“Good night, miss Tabitha,” the guard says when he walks me back to the grand staircase, then he leaves.
I watch him disappear into the darkness before I climb upstairs. Each step feels heavy as if I am walking away from something important.
When I pass by a window, I glance outside. The full moon is still high in the sky. It looks bright and watchful.
And for some reason, it feels like it is watching me.