Sawyer

  “Yes…I’m so sorry. We’re all getting separate rooms for the night at a three-star hotel, the Moscow Hotel, and I’ll drive her back home tomorrow morning after we confirm that Queen…the cat is in good condition…She’s here. She’s just a little tired. I’ll give her the phone.”

  I turned to look at Clare, who looked completely out of it with fatigued, dazed eyes. I handed her the phone so she could speak to her guardian, Josie, a woman I’d met when I went to pick Clare up for our second date.

  Unfortunately, before I could get to know her properly and show her my good side, this incident of trying to save Queen happened, and I took Clare on a two-hour drive out of Hawkins Town without getting her permission.

  The good thing was that she seemed to be chill about it and Clare had been careful enough to text her about where she was going before we left town.

  “Yes, I’ll stay safe. Don’t worry about me. I’m really sorry about bothering you like this,” Clare said, her earnest look giving her sickly pale complexion some color.

  I heard Josie say over the phone. “It’s alright. You’re not bothering me. Stay safe. I’m off work tomorrow, so I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  By the time they hung up the call, I was already swiping Clare’s room card to open her room.

  The first thing I did was gesture for her to stay at her door and then examine every single nook and cranny of her hotel room, the closet and the bathroom attached to it for security reason.

  Then I led her into the room. “Koda and I ordered PJs and a change of clothes for tomorrow for all of us. Yours are in that tote bag over there. Do you want to take a hot shower while I order some food? We only ate a few sandwiches in the afternoon.”

  “I’m not hungry.” She answered, as she picked out the pajamas from the tote bag and placed them in her arms.

  “Alright, go take a hot shower first, then.” I said, as if I was agreeing to her request not to eat.

  There was no way I was letting her go to bed without eating, so I immediately reached for the phone in her hotel room and called for room service for a meal for two.

  It took her twenty minutes to take a shower, by which time the food had been delivered.

  During that time, I sat and texted Koda, who was keeping an eye on Queen during the overnight vigil at the veterinary hospital, monitored by one of the staff. He would watch her while I got Clare settled, since she hadn’t been in the right state since she healed Queen. Once I’d settled Clare down, I’d go take a bath, change clothes and then take over watching Queen for the rest of the night with the Vet Hospital’s staff.

  When she came out of the bathroom, it was with wet hair that fell over her robe which she wore over her pjs probably because of her wet hair.

  Although her face was flushed from her shower which made her look much better than when she went to take a shower, she still had a blank expression as I led her to sit in front of the table on which I’d placed two comforting bowls of chicken soup and some sandwiches I ordered.

  She didn’t seem to mind her dripping wet hair, but I did, so I went to get the hair dryer and urged her to eat instead of staring blankly at the chicken soup in front of her.

  “Eat. If you can’t eat the sandwiches, you have to drink the chicken soup. I told Josie that I would take care of you. You don’t want her to think I’m irresponsible and stop us from dating, do you?”

  My words seemed to work as she started taking small sips of the chicken soup as I carded my hands through her hair, blow drying it while trying to give her a comforting head massage as carefully as I could.

  It seemed to work because she looked less blank after she ate a sandwich and finished her bowl of chicken soup and looked up at me like an obedient little doe.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Her hair was already dry, so I pushed the cart of food to the side and helped her out of her robe, looking away from the cleavage showing through the unbuttoned neckline of her pajamas shirt.

  Then I helped her into her bed and tucked her in.

  “Good night.” I said in a soft voice.

  Her voice was wispy as she told me good night.

  I had turned off the light by her bedside and was going to turn off the one on the other side when she grabbed my hand.

  I looked down at her, seeing her clearly because I had really good night vision as a werewolf and there was still a dim light from the other bedside light that was still on.

  “Don’t turn off the light.” She said.

  “I’m not scared of the dark,” she rushed to justify herself. “I just…I’m probably going to have nightmares tonight and this room is unfamiliar and I want…to be able to wake up and realize where I am quickly and…”

  Seeing her this vulnerable made my heart ache. A part of me regretted bringing her with me when I left Hawkins. This way, even if Queen had died, she wouldn’t lose her peace and sense of self to heal her.

  “It’s fine. You don’t have to justify yourself. I’ll leave the other light on.” I assured her.

  She nodded silently, but still didn’t let go of my arm. She seemed to be hesitating on whether to share what she wanted to share or not.

  I covered her hand, holding my arm with my other hand, trying to show her that I was here for her if she wanted to tell me anything.

  “Let's say…” she started, “Let’s say that, hypothetically, someone did something irredeemable with their instinctual magic and hurt someone…maybe ended a life…in self defense! Do they deserve to ever work in an industry that saves people?”

  She looked up to catch my gaze and held them with eyes that were welling with tears as a sob escaped her lips.

  I sat beside her bed and embraced her, hugging her as tightly as I could without squishing her just to make her feel warm and comfortable. I didn’t know who tried to harm her causing her to use her instinctual magic, but I knew that she was a good person and since the Supernatural Council had been involved in making her transfer to Hawkins high school possible, I knew that she had definitely been judged as not guilty for whatever she had done.

  I couldn’t undo the harm and torment she was going through, but I could ease it with my words and my own story.

  “Yes. If someone did something irredeemable with their instinctual magic in self-defense, they can use that magic to help people. You may not believe it, but when I was younger, after my mom died, I lost my way. I got involved with the wrong crowd online, dark web type of people and organizations. I helped them steal money, commit felonies, and I only realized how far I’d fallen when someone deceived me into helping a known terrorist organization. That organization killed two people because I gave them access to a private database that I shouldn’t have even touched with my instinctual magic. When the Supernatural Council judge saw my case, he first had them test me for any signs that I had taken any pleasure for those people’s death and then made me sign a twenty-year contract to work for the Supernatural Council, Tyate Organization and any other legal supernatural organization that liaised with the Supernatural Council.”

  I took a deep breath, released it and raised her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss on her palms before continuing, “Right now, I’m still working for those organizations, making up for my mistake. Whatever you did in self-defense, you can work to clear the slate by helping as many people with the same instinctual magic you used to hurt someone. In that situation, it becomes your duty.”

  She nodded, looking at me without actually looking at me as she murmured, “My duty.”

  I sighed. “Listen, our instinctual magic is not a bad thing. It’s like a sword that can be used to hurt people or save people. It’s just a mere instrument. Everything depends on how you use it.”

  She lowered her gaze to her hand where our fingers were interlocked and suddenly sat up, sitting closer to me and pressing a kiss on my lips.

  It was a chaste kiss on the lips, but something about it felt so profound, as if it’d led to us forming a deeper connection somehow.

  “I like you….I like you so much.” She met my gaze after she confessed but looked away after as if she expected me to tell her I didn’t like her.

  I held her chin and made her meet my gaze. “I like you very much, too.”

  Her light blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark room as we sat there and stared at each other, for only the Moon goddess knew how long.

  Seeing that she no longer looked so dazed, I hesitated. I wanted to ask her for something, but even though I felt so connected to her now, I didn’t want to ask her and get her answer now while she was being so emotional.

  “Do you…do you, maybe, want to make things official? Be my girlfriend? Don’t answer now. I just…couldn’t help asking.”

  “Yes! Yes, I’d love to be your girlfriend.” She replied, a small smile curling the sides of her lips.

  Looking down at her full cupid bow lips that looked super tempting in the lighting of the hotel room, I moved away from her, letting go of her hand.

  Before I left, I reassured her. “If you think we’re going too fast tomorrow after you think about it some more, you can choose to say no tomorrow. There’s no rush. We can choose to enter into a committed relationship later.”

  Then I left hurriedly.

  Returning two minutes later to take the cart with my own chicken soup and sandwiches away.

  That night, I took a hot shower, ate my dinner and then relieved Koda of Queen watch duty. I completed some of my piling work while checking up on Queen who was rapidly improving throughout the night that by morning, she was meowing normally again and had started eating again.

  Because I didn’t sleep at night, Koda was the one who drove us back to Hawkins, as I slept in the back seat of the car with my head on my new girlfriend’s shoulders.