Third Person’s POV;
“Correction: I was missing you already” Cora added with a tight smile.
“What was the favor about, Elijah?” Layla asked curiously.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Can you keep my cell phone with you? If my mate calls and asks to come here, I want you to bring her here and help her settle down until I come back” Elijah requested gently.
“What about me?” Cora asked offended for not being included in such an important task.
“I meant, YOU and Layla helping her settle down, little demon. I don’t need to ask for favors from you” Elijah said smugly.
“You don’t need to ask for favors from me either, Elijah. I will definitely do that for my future Luna, even without you asking for it but I heard she needs time to make her decision of coming here or not” Layla said in a muddled tone looking from Elijah to Liam.
“Well baby, you see, our Alpha thinks that his mate will ask to come here by tomorrow and he is strangely quite sure about it” Liam explained gently to Layla, he turned and shook his head while looking at the still confident expression of his best friend.
“What? Why are you so confident?” Layla asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, I know my mate well” Elijah said confidently.
“You met two days ago” Layla replied in a dead-panned voice.
“Still, I know her, Layla. I want you to be there for her when I am unable to protect her. You already know that there is a traitor among us. I cannot trust anyone when it comes to her other than you. Only you can protect her” Elijah said now with a serious expression so Layla nodded in affirmation.
“No problem. If she asks to come by tomorrow, I will be there for her. Rest assured I will help her to settle down even after you return” Layla said with a small smile making Elijah relieved.
“Thanks Layla. Keep my cell phone with you, all the time. I have a feeling that she will most probably call by the evening” Elijah said making the rest of them look at him in wonder.
“Today?” Layla and Cora shouted in shock.
“Yeah, just a gut feeling” Elijah said shrugging his shoulder like its no big deal.
“Why don’t you call her before leaving?” Layla suggested but Elijah shook his head.
“If I hear her voice now, I will become weak. I won’t be able to leave without meeting her and I don’t have the luxury of time to travel to the exact opposite direction in the south side, and then come back towards north to move towards the border” Elijah explained already missing her terribly.
“That makes sense but what if there is an important call other than your mate?” Layla asked with a serious expression on her pretty face.
“Ignore it. I have broadcasted a text to all pack Alphas that I won’t be able to reply for a while. It’s just my mate that I am concerned about. Also, where would I keep my cell phone anyways after I shift?” Elijah said with a raised eyebrow.
“You have a point” Layla nodded in agreement.
“Let’s leave then. We are getting late” Elijah turned towards Liam and he nodded.
Giving a curt nod to both Cora and Layla, the guys left the room with the speed of light.
“I hope they come back soon with the least damage possible” Layla said wishing for the best of the results.
“The entire vampire kingdom is crawling on that land but I hope so too” Cora replied feeling helpless but not hopeless.
…………
Meanwhile at the Blue House;
It’s been a while since Oliver left but Rose was still standing at her place looking at the door. Oliver’s painful eyes and hurtful words pierced a dagger through Rose’s heart.
She never wanted to hurt Oliver but she was not ready to play with his feelings as well. Also, she didn’t want to hurt Elijah too. Her one lie can destroy three lives and she knew that well.
“It’s for the best”
She said under her breath and removed her cell phone once again to call Elijah but put it back in her pocket again.
She sighed exhausted by the rollercoaster of the emotions she was experiencing from the moment she came back to the town. She knew if she called Elijah now, he will definitely guess that something is wrong with her and she had no energy left to explain the situation.
She sat on her bed for a while rethinking her decisions. Her mind was overflowing with thoughts. She started questioning herself.
‘Am I being too rash?’
‘Do I really like Elijah or is it just a crush like Oliver said?’
‘Why am I feeling empty without him?’
‘Am I crazy to develop such profound feelings for someone I met just two days ago?’
‘Am I only physically attracted to him?’
No matter how many times she asked herself, she only got one answer that she likes him more than she should.
She made up her mind to call him but then someone knocked on the door. It was her mother who was there to call her for lunch.
When she went to the dining room, Oliver was nowhere to be seen. Aunt Stella was worried about him for acting so strange all of a sudden.
Everyone tried to call him including Rose but his cell phone was switched off.
Eva and Nova were a bit too chatty about Elijah and his royal family which Rose clearly ignored.
Laina and her mother were also not there as they didn’t feel like eating.
Theodore, on the other hand, was not even looking at Rose like before. She tried to talk to him but he only replied with either ‘Ok’, ‘Yes’ or sometimes with a little nod.
‘Back to normal, aren’t we?’ Rose thought sarcastically.
Her entire family thought that because Oliver and Rose were best friends, they are having a hard time adjusting with the truth.
Oliver’s dad proudly assumed that his son must be feeling sad because he was the oldest son of the family and he couldn’t protect them today. He proudly announced that Oliver would be a great hunter after him. Rose fought the urge to roll her eyes in front of everyone.
Rose lost her appetite and came back without eating anything.
After coming back to her room, she lay on her bed looking at the ceiling. Everything in that basement reminded her of Elijah. The moment Elijah’s thoughts swarmed her head, all the negative energy and stress was automatically kicked out of her brain.
It was like he was her own dose of serotonin.
She placed her head on the pillow where she placed Elijah’s head earlier. She couldn’t help but smile.
She checked the time on her cell phone and it was already past 4 pm. She was shocked at how the time flew by so quickly and then remembered Elijah’s pack’s sudden visit to this House which was the reason for the delayed lunch. Her thoughts were once again focused on how time went by when he was here.
“Elijah! Elijah! Elijah! What the hell are you doing to me!” Rose shouted while punching the unarmed bed.
The mattress quality wasn’t top notch and she felt like it was punching her back.
“Woah! What is this thing made up of?” She rubbed her hand which was hurt by the mattress.
She turned around and slept on her stomach while going through her phone.
At first, she thought about waiting for his call but then her inner feminist took over.
“I am a strong and independent woman! I don’t need a man to call me! I can very well call him and…” She said in a strong voice but then a thought crossed her brain,
“Elijah never forced me for anything. He must be thinking if he calls me, I might think he is forcing me now. I must call him. He must be waiting for my call” and with the newfound inspiration, she dialed Elijah’s number. She waited for him to receive the call but it was past three rings and he didn’t receive it.
‘He must be busy in his princely matters. I should wait for him to call back’ She thought and was about to disconnect it when the call was received.
Feeling the butterflies doing kickboxing in her stomach she shyly said,
“Hello?” her cheeks turned pink only at the thought of hearing his voice.
But she heard a glass-breaking voice behind her ear when she heard a female’s voice.
“Hello, who is it?” The girl asked in a sleepy voice.
‘Who is that? It sounds like a girl in her teenage years’ Rose thought momentarily in disbelief.
“Is Elijah there?” Rose asked with a shaky voice.
Rose’s heart started beating a bit faster. She was dying with curiosity and anxiety to know who that girl was and why did she receive his call.
“Nope, that’s why I received the call” Cora replied, there was just a ‘duh’ missing at the end of her statement to make her sound like a mean girl.
“Who are you?” Rose asked sternly.
“The one who will ascend to the throne if he dies” Cora replied and chuckled at her own joke.
‘Phew, so that was her sister’ Rose took a deep sigh of relief.
“Cora, what are you doing with Elijah’s cell phone?” came a female’s voice from a distance.
‘Who in heaven was that? Her voice was so charismatic!’ Rose thought but again felt a bit anxious with the turn of events.
“Some girl called my brother, sister-in-law, I guess” Cora replied with a big yawn at the end.
‘WHAT? SISTER-IN-LAW?’