Eleven Nights to Ruin Me

Chapter 56: He Was Different

Nina didn’t know when she fell asleep.

One moment she was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the door, and the next the morning light was bright against her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open.

She sat up fast, her head turning to her side.

The pillow beside her was undisturbed, the bed on the other side still straightened like no one had touched it. Nina stared at it for a second, then got up and went to the window and pushed it open.

The noise hit her before anything else.

Below, the servants were moving, clearing the courtyard of the rubble of the previous night.

Nina’s blood went cold as her eyes fell on two servants carrying a dead body on a stretcher. His neck was mangled, his face bloody.

A woman ran up to them, and when her eyes fell on the body she dropped to the ground, her scream loud in the quiet.

Another stretcher passed with a man whose leg was wrapped in cloth that had already soaked through at the center. He was screaming. Nina’s hands gripped the windowsill. She watched until they turned a corner.

The air against her face felt too cold. Her throat went dry.

She turned from the window and went downstairs.

The front of the pack house was worse. Glass across the ground from windows that hadn’t made it through the night. Doors hanging off at wrong angles. People standing in groups with their arms around each other or just standing, their faces blank and empty.

A woman stood against a pillar with her hand pressed over her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

Nina stood in the middle of it and looked around.

"My lady."

Moreen came toward her at a run, her face breaking with relief. "My lady, there was a full moon — I tried to come to you, the guards held us back, I told them you were outside, I told them —" She stopped and looked Nina over quickly, her eyes moving fast. "Are you hurt? Are you —"

"I’m fine," Nina said.

Moreen let out a long breath.

Nina looked past her at the courtyard. "Have you seen the Alpha?"

"No, my lady." Moreen shook her head. "But the pack house is in chaos. There hasn’t been a full moon in a long while. He must be with the council." She dropped her voice. "It was bad last night. Worse than anyone expected."

Nina looked at her for a moment. Then back at the courtyard.

"Go find out where he is and tell me. Now."

Moreen nodded and turned, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

Nina stayed where she was. A servant moved past her with a bucket full of blood, head down, not looking up.

Nina watched a woman lower herself to the ground beside an injured man, pressing cloth to his arm, talking to him in a low steady voice.

Something shifted in Nina’s chest.

This was the reason.

This was the reason she cursed them.

Her hands folded at her sides, her fingers pressing into her skin.

There was no way they could live among humans.

But he was different.

Nina’s eyes watered as the memories of the previous night came back. He didn’t hurt her. He found her and he carried her home and he didn’t hurt her.

She pressed her lips together and stood there without moving, her chest squeezing so tight it was painful to breathe.

"Luna." Moreen came back panting.

Nina turned her head slowly. "Did you find him?"

"The Alpha just returned to his quarters."

Nina’s eyes lifted once. Then she turned around. freёweɓnovel.com

She didn’t stop walking until she was standing in front of his doors. She looked at the handle for a moment, then pushed it open.

He was in the middle of the room, buttoning his shirt. His hair was damp and unsettled, falling across his forehead. He turned at the sound of the door and his eyes found hers.

Nina stayed in the doorway, her hand on the handle.

She held his gaze and waited. For something. For his face to shift, for recognition to move through it, for anything that said he knew what had happened in that field last night. She waited through one second, then two.

He said nothing. Just looked at her for a moment, then turned back to his shirt.

Nina stilled. She swallowed and crossed the room, closing the door behind her.

"Is there a problem," he asked, without looking at her.

Nina stopped just behind him, her eyes on his back.

He finished with his buttons and turned to her.

She raised her eyes slowly to his face.

The same shade of grey. She’d recognise them anywhere.

She searched his face, but there was nothing there. Not a single thing, as though last night hadn’t happened at all.

Her hands closed into fists at her sides and then she forced a small smile.

"You didn’t return last night," she said. Her voice came out softer than she meant it to.

He glanced at her once and moved to the vanity. She watched him pick up his cufflinks, work the first one through, then the second. Then he turned.

"Do I have to tell you everything I do?" he said. There was something in his voice that wasn’t warm.

Nina stood in the middle of the room, the color slowly draining from her face.

She stared at his eyes but they lacked the warmth she’d seen the previous night.

Did she do anything wrong?

Her fingers pressed together at her sides.

"Thank you," she said. "For last night."

Rodrigo looked at her, a line forming between his brows. "For?"

Nina’s heart dropped one slow beat.

"I thought you saved me—" she said.

Rodrigo was quiet for a moment, then he tilted his head. "Why would I save you?"

Nina froze.

It wasn’t him?

Her fingers trembled, her eyes finding his.

She took a step forward. "You don’t have to lie to me," she said. "I know it was you."

A moment of quiet.

Then he blinked. "I’ll ask the guards to take you to the infirmary if you’re feeling sick." His voice was flat. "I did not see you last night."