Chapter 55

Alaria

The sun rose far too quickly.

And though somehow I had learned to love warnings today, I had hoped that it did not come too quickly. I wanted this to end. I thought that maybe if I did not go out, I was not going to see him. It was just not going to be real.

I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried.

I’d spent most of the night pacing my room like a restless ghost, replaying every second of the kiss I never should’ve allowed.

My lips still felt bruised.

My thoughts? A mess.

My chest, well, that ached more than I wanted to admit, in a way that I disliked more than anything else.

I was avoiding him.

Avoiding the villa corridors where he might be.

Avoiding the kitchen.

Avoiding the garden.

Avoiding everything that looked remotely like him.

Kai had made a joke at breakfast. Something about the Alpha being “in one hell of a mood,” but I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t need to.

B