Kidnapped in Sister’s Place and Emotionally Numbed: The Tragic Twin Cuts All Ties Chapter 08
Veyra was in the Pack Council’s detention center.
Academy security cameras caught the whole thing: her accelerating toward me, the impact, the getaway
attempt. Evander saw it happen.
Under Pack Council law, she was looking at two charges: attempted murder and fleeing the scene.
But Mom and Dad wanted me to change my story.
Their version went like this: I’d been unstable from the trauma, run into the road on my own, and tried to hurt
myself.
Veyra just couldn’t stop in time.
If I backed that story, attempted murder would drop to an accident. Veyra would walk.
Saline dripped into my arm, cold spreading through every vein.
“So she runs me over, and I’m the one who’s supposed to get her off the hook?”
Mom grabbed my hand, then flinched. My skin was ice.
“I know this is hard. But Veyra is still your sister.”
“We’ll handle it ourselves: bring her home and discipline her our way. She’ll apologize. However you want.
Isn’t that enough?”
I pulled my hand free.
Every joint in my body throbbed.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I’m not speaking for her. I’m pressing charges.”
Mom shot to her feet.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“What’s going on in here? She needs rest. Everyone who doesn’t need to be here, get out.”
Mom tried to argue, but Dad took her arm and pulled her toward the door.
Evander stayed. He didn’t speak for a while.
“Don’t listen to them,” he said quietly. “Do whatever you need to do.”
Then he turned and walked out after them.
I caught a glimpse of something in his fist. A moonstone pendant.
The one I’d given him. The one he’d returned. The one I’d thrown away. He must have dug it out of the trash.
A doctor stepped up to my bed.
“Still in pain? Can you move at all?”
I flexed my fingers.
“Is the academy so desperate they’re pulling psych interns into the surgical ward?”
Kaelis pulled down his mask and grinned.
“You know, most people say thank you when someone kicks their family out of their hospital room. You just
roast me.”
He leaned in close, scanning my face.
“Good. Face is intact.”
“You’ve got the worst luck of anyone I’ve ever met. Discharged a few days ago and already back.”
“Starting to think you just missed me.”
“Get over yourself.”
“See? That right there. So warm. So caring.”
He went through my chart for a while. Then sighed.
The injuries weren’t life–threatening on their own. But my body was still wrecked from the wolfsbane the kidnappers had pumped into me.
After two rounds of serious damage back–to–back, I was healing at half the speed of a normal shifter.
“Rest. No training grounds until I clear you.”
“Eat real meals. More protein. Less coffee. And stop using energy bars as dinner.”
“You’re annoying,” I muttered.
Kaelis just looked at me. His face gave nothing away.
I didn’t know what I’d said wrong.
I didn’t figure it out until that evening, when he showed up carrying a thermal bag.
Beef stew, still steaming. Fresh bread on the side.
For the two days I was in that bed, Kaelis brought me three meals a day. Every single one, on time.
His excuse was that he was just doing his job: saving a patient too stubborn and clueless to feed herself.
“They formally charged your sister.”
I chewed a piece of beef.
“You’re pretty invested in this.”
“Overheard your parents with their lawyer this morning.” Kaelis sat down beside the bed.
“They got Veyra out on bail.”
I stopped chewing.
“Oh.”
“But I made a few calls and had her bail revoked.”
“They won’t let her stay. They’ll get her out again.”
“That’s fine. I’ll just have her locked up again.”
He said it like it was a sport.
“When’s the trial? Need a good lawyer? I know one. The guy you’ve got doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”
“No. I’m good.”
Incompetent was the last thing Tobias Wren was.
He was an old friend of my grandparents on my mother’s side.
“Alright. But if you change your mind, I’m here.”
He tugged at his white coat.
“I am, after all, your knight in a lab coat.”
I didn’t dignify that with a response.
Kaelis wasn’t stupid.
Nobody does this much for free. He wanted something.
I said as much.
The grin slid off his face.
“Does everything have to come with strings attached?”
“Otherwise, why bother?”
Something like disappointment crossed his face.
“Fine. Yeah, I’ve got my reasons.”
“What do you need? I don’t like owing people.”
He stacked the dishes back into the thermal bag.
“I don’t need anything from you. Not yet.”
“Then what is it?”
He held my gaze. Then, slowly, the smile came back.
“If I told you now, you’d say no.”
“So I’ll wait until you’re ready to owe me one.”
