Danae’s POV
The nurse came in looking from Galen to me.
Whatever she saw made her approach the bed cautiously.
“Is everything all right?”
His expression changed before she finished asking.
The fury disappeared beneath concern so smoothly it frightened me more than another threat would have.
“I was just going,” he said, perfectly controlled.
At the door, he looked back.
“I’m sorry.
It just hurts so much.”
For an instant, remorse caught at me.
Rejection caused real physical agony; I’d just watched it pass through him.
Then I remembered Drusilla, the child, five years of carefully maintained lies.
Pain didn’t undo any of it.
The door shut.
Only then did I release the breath I’d been holding.
“Are you sure you’re all right, miss?” The nurse checked my IV, then the monitor.
“Yes.
We had a disagreement.”
My trembling made a poor accompaniment to the lie.
She plainly noticed, but she didn’t press.
“Your observations are good.
The doctor should be happy.
The food poisoning appears less serious than we first thought.”
Food poisoning.
That was what this had become in the official version.
“Can I leave soon?”
She made a note on the chart.
“Probably today, once the doctor discharges you.
Ashgrave.
You should be able to get back to normal.”
Normal.
I nearly laughed at the word.
I couldn’t think of a single part of my life it still described.
“Thank you.”
When she left, Eirwen dropped into the chair beside me.
Her face was pale.
“His eyes,” she whispered.
“Dana, that was terrifying.
I’ve never seen him look like that.”
“Neither have I.” My voice still shook.
“But the rejection’s done.
Properly, this time.”
She took my hand and squeezed.
“What happens now?
You can’t go back to the apartment.”
Beyond escaping the wedding, I hadn’t planned anything.
The preparations had swallowed most of my savings, and last night’s drinks had taken another bite.
Even the rental deposit belonged to Galen on paper.
There was no money waiting there for me to reclaim, no obvious place to start.
“My parents, maybe.
Just for a while.”
Eirwen shook her head.
“That’s the first place he’d look.
They don’t need to be dragged into this.”
“There isn’t much left to choose from.
I spent almost everything on a wedding and a night at a bar.”
I rubbed my temples.
A headache was building beneath my fingers.
“How could I have been so stupid?”
“Stay at mine.”
Relief spread through me so quickly it almost hurt.
“Are you certain?
This is werewolf trouble.
I don’t want it following you around.”
Her smile had a stubborn edge.
“Bit late for that.
I’m already neck-deep.” Another squeeze of my hand.
“You’re my friend, Dana.
This is what that means.”
My eyes stung.
“Thank you.
You’re always there when I need you.”
Three days later, she was there again—far too cheerfully.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty!”
I groaned and pulled a pillow over my head, burrowing into the guest bed.
“No.
Too early.
Go away.”
“It’s half past eleven.”
She confiscated the pillow.
“You’ve spent three days hiding in this apartment.
Time to join the living.”
I squinted up at her purple blouse, high-waisted jeans, carefully arranged curls.
Makeup, too.
She looked suspiciously prepared for something.
“Why are you dressed like that?”
“We’re going out.”
She crossed to the window and opened the curtains.
Sunlight flooded in, making me wince as I reluctantly sat up.
“I don’t want to.
What if Galen’s there?
Or someone else from the Ashmoon?”