“Clarissa?” I ask. “Can you hear me?”
But all she is doing is staring at Sebastian as he growls on the bed.
She slowly backs away until she hits a wall. It’s like she’s not really here. She’s seeing, but not processing. Hearing, but not responding. My arms wrap around her body, and she slumps into me, her head falling to my shoulder.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” I say.
“These are deep,” Penny says. “This is gonna hurt, Rover.”
Sebastian’s howl fills the hotel room as C
larissa begins to sob on my shoulder.
“Come on. Let’s get you something to drink.”
“I can’t leave him,” she says.
“Penny’s got him for now. He’ll be okay.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
“But him seeing you like this won’t help.”
My eyes connect with Clarissa’s, and she nods in silence. She leans into me as I carry her into the kitchen, her feet stumbling along. She’s only half here with us. Only half present in the moment. Sebastian is growling and cursing Penny’s existence as she tries to patch him up, and every time he howls Clarissa jerks.
“What happened?” I ask as I grab her hands.
“I can’t—it’s too horrible.”
Her hands are trembling, and I bring them to my lips. I kiss them over and over, and I’m shocked when she lets me. She keeps shaking her head. Like she’s trying to rid herself of a terrible memory.
“Did you find out anything?” I ask.
She shakes her head “no” as a tear streams down her face.
I reach out and wipe it with my thumb, my hand cupping her cheek.
She turns her fearful eyes back to mine as her hand squeezes my own. I can see her coming back to me. I watch as she’s pulled back into reality. The shaking in her body settles, and the tears stop coming, but I can still hear Sebastian struggling in the other room.
“Hold still, Beast.”
“Then stop hurting me,” Sebastian says.
“I have to get in there,” Clarissa says breathlessly. “I have to lick his wounds.”
“No,” I say, knowing the connection that will breed. “You can’t.
Not like this.”
“Why do I want to lick his wounds?”
Her eyes flicker from fear to confusion, and my heart aches for her. Urges she has and doesn’t even know why. Senses she experiences getting stronger, but she doesn’t know how to utilize properly. Do I tell her? Should I tell her? Is it my place to tell her?
No. It’s not.
It’s Sebastian’s.
“It’s the Wolf in you, that’s all,” I say.