Chapter 42
“What did he do to Dad, Uncle?” Marian demanded; her pupils like needle points as she paced the room, her gaze fixed on Gravan.
Gravan stared at her, assessing her posture, her breathing.
“Where did you go?” he asked softly, gazing intently at her taut face.
“I…what do you mean?” Marian stuttered, blinking, but still pacing left to right directly in front of her uncle.
“You’ve been crying, princess. It’s only been a few hours since I last saw you, fast asleep. And now, your eyes are red,” he explained calmly, keeping his tone and manner steady in the face of the highly charged she-wolf before him.
“Nothing in your dorm could have upset you so much,” he continued as he watched her. Speaking slowly, drawing out his words, forcing his princess’ mind to slow itself down.
“You don’t go out, don’t visit others, and no one would have visited you. So…where did you go?” he concluded patiently, raising his chin slightly.
Marian stopped pacing.
She stood facing her uncle, standing barely three feet away from him.
As she gazed up at him, she wanted to tell him everything. Had it been ten minutes earlier, she would have leaned against him and whispered it all.
But that was not why she had run here.
“Uncle –”
“YOU tell ME first, Marian. Then, I’ll tell you what you want to know,” Gravan stated firmly, interrupting her protest.
Marian sank onto the sofa on Gravan’s left.
She rested her head in her hands and told him everything that had happened, skipping over the more intimate parts.
At some points, she became animated and bounced around; at others, she was still as a statue.
She told him how she had awoken and had needed to see Reyland.
How she had found him by feeling for him.
How Dinka had not yet returned.
How she had spent a few hours with Reyland, felt faint, and had eaten in his home.
How Dax had entered and demanded that Reyland only see her in the pack compound, and how Reyland had asked her to leave.
“And so, you cried?” Gravan asked skeptically, as he leaned his broad back against her living room wall, his bright blue eyes steady on her flushed profile.
Marian was seated on the sofa, facing away from her uncle.
She had just narrated the last two to three hours of her life, and her head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice.
Her forearms were resting on her knees as she leaned forward, staring into space.
She remained silent.
“Did you…Did you DO anything to him? Marian?” Gravan asked gently, carefully, his jaw tightening as he watched her.
Marian’s head snapped up. She faced her uncle with a clear expression.
“No, Uncle,” she responded flatly.
“Did he…do anything to you?” Gravan asked hesitantly.
Gravan and Marian were close, but she was still like a daughter to him, and if push came to shove, a little sister.
His steady gaze wavered, but he kept his eyes on hers.
Marian paused for half a breath before she replied.
“No,” she said firmly.
Gravan pushed off the wall, exhaling harshly. He ran his hand through his short blonde fringe, exasperatedly.
“Marian, please, this is important. You need to tell me exactly what has happened,” he pressed, his lips slightly turned down at the corners.
“If you can't be honest with me, things could get out of hand,” he continued, speaking faster now.
“Please. Talk to me, Child,” he stated, almost pleadingly.
Marian stared up at her uncle, and her eyes filled.
She wiped her eyes roughly with the back of her hand, turning away from Gravan.
She stood, paced, then sat back down.
Exhaling, she sat back and gazed up at her uncle.
She told him everything. Step by step. Leaving out only the matters relating to Reyland’s privacy, specifically, his body parts, and not being too detailed about her fondling.
She didn’t need to tell a man who was like a father to her details about her ‘almost’ sex life.
Gravan listened, his face never once changing, until she got to her confession to Dax and Reyland.
Here, he nodded slowly, shifting his eyes away from her for the first time since she began the full version of her story.
When she arrived at the end – the goodbye to Reyland and her promise to find him again – Gravan’s arms were folded, and he was staring out of the window.
“When I got here, I presented myself for reinstatement,” she commented as he faced away from her.
“Yes, I know that part,” he stated quietly.
Marian nodded.
Someone must have linked him, she mused
But that doesn’t matter.
Not right now, she concluded in her mind.
“Now you, Uncle,” she said formally, sitting upright, gazing expectantly at Gravan.
“What did the Alpha do to my father when I left?” she asked, her tone steady, no hint of the heated excitement she had twenty-odd minutes ago when they both entered her sitting room.
Gravan swallowed as he kept his gaze outside the room.
“Marian, what I’m about to tell you happened a long time ago,” Gravan began slowly, his voice even.
“It happened ten months ago, Uncle,” Marian retorted, her tone matching his.
Gravan’s eyes narrowed at her. He pressed his lips together.
“You have to listen to me. This is not the time for any nitpicking. Don’t splice my words, and don’t use your imagination. Do you understand?” he asked patiently.
“Take in the facts,” Marian stated neutrally.
“Yes,” Gravan replied, straightening as he gazed at her, still standing by the wall beside the widow.
“No emotions,” Marian continued, confidently stating things she had learned from Gravan himself during their many training sessions from their far-gone past.
“Yes,” Gravan replied, his voice hard as steel, his gaze cold as he stared out the window. His tone sounded like he was taking her words as advice to himself.
Marian stood.
“Tell me. Uncle,” she stated calmly.
As Gravan spoke, Marian’s head filled with a sound she could not clear out.
Her vision turned red, and the next time her eyes opened, she was in her bedroom with no feeling from her neck down.
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When Marian opened her eyes, it was dark outside, and Reyland was seated beside her bed.
His seat was a short distance from her bed, about five feet away.
He was facing her, sitting on a medium-sized sofa, leaning to the side, his feet planted firmly on the ground as he stared at her.
Quiet. Not moving. Not blinking.
“What…happened?” Marian croaked, gazing weakly up at him.
Reyland’s face was grey, his lips a thin line, and there was blood on his cheek.
Marian wanted to wipe it away, but she could not move.
As she stared at him, his eyes filled.
Marian’s mind spun.
Reyland!
Why?
No!