“Oh, Goddess.” I hear before I glance up at Ava and Jaxon as they stand before us. “What the hell is happening?”
Jaxon’s eyes zero in on mine, and I realise how bad this looks. I shouldn’t be in their house. I crossed boundaries. Blood is everywhere. Evan is in tears.
Ava kneels down when she sees Evan’s arm bleeding through the towel, along with the droplets on the floor. “Goddess,” she mutters again. “We need to get him to the infirmary.”
“What did you do, Caleb?” Jaxon’s voice is near lethal.
I open my mouth to say something, but Ava gets there first. “It’s not Caleb who did this, Jax,” she cries.
Jaxon’s brows furrow. “What?”
“He needs to be checked over.” Ava’s voice is loud, and I nod in agreement.
Jaxon doesn’t take his eyes off me. I stand up with Evan in my arms, his head falling onto my shoulder as his exhaustion starts to get the better of him.
The second we reach the infirmary, I hand him over to the doctors, and it feels like my heart is being snatched from my body as they place him on the bed and usher us away.
My wolf howls at leaving him when he’s like this. I stare down at my bloodied hands. My eyes close in horror at what just happened. I don’t even think I’ve fully processed it, or the fact it was real.
Images from my dream flash in my mind, and I flinch. I didn’t do anything to stop it. I should have stopped it. If I didn’t wake up from the sound of the mirror smashing.
“Fuck,” I curse to myself.
Before I know it, I’m slammed into the wall as my eyes open, and I find Jaxon staring back at me. “You have five seconds to talk.”
“Jax, please…” Ava trails off, but he doesn’t look back at her.
“Talk, Vella.”
41
CALEB
Istare back at Jaxon as his blue eyes flare with a challenge. There’s no point fighting him. I crossed into his territory without permission. He has every right to be angry. They have to know the truth to understand.
“I’m here because Evan is my mate,” I say simply.
Jaxon pulls back an inch with a tense frown. “What?”
“Yeah, there’s your big secret,” I murmur hollowly. “I used a spell to cross into your territory. Showing our relationship in front of my father is too much of a risk, and we’ve been keeping it quiet.”
After a few moments, he releases me, and I twist my head towards the room they took Evan to. Everything aches to the point of despair.
“No one else can know,” I sigh.
“And you didn’t think you could trust me?” Jaxon’s face fills with concern as I glance at him.
“I haven’t told anyone,” I confess. “Not even Felix. It’s not worth the risk.”
He slides a hand through his hair. “What happened?”
“I woke up, and Evan was in the bathroom,” I say slowly as the memory slides through my brain once more. “He punched the mirror and tried to?—”
The words fail me. I don’t even know if I can say them out loud because it’s too fresh, too raw. The blood. So much blood.
“He’s been struggling,” I say, my throat scratching.
Jaxon looks back at Ava, who stands there sheepishly. “What?”
