CHAPTER NINE: THE ROAD BACK

SAGE'S POV

The next morning I sat at the long dining table with Crystal beside me. The table was huge and covered with more food than I had ever seen for breakfast.

There were plates of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, fresh fruits, pancakes, waffles, hash browns, toast, and bowls of different jams and spreads.

It all looked perfect and smelled amazing, but it also felt overwhelming. I stared at everything and wondered who was supposed to eat all of this, not to mention that touching anything from his house only reminded me of how real it all was.

Crystal, on the other hand, looked thrilled. Her purple hair was put in some odd braids and she was dressed like royalty.

Her brown eyes were wide as she reached for a strawberry and popped it into her mouth. “This is insane,” she whispered, her lips giving away to a wide grin.

“Look at all of this. Sagy, I feel like a fucking queen."

Giving her a small smile, I poked a hash brown with my fork not wanting to ruin the atmosphere. Yes, I was hungry but finding the appetite proved harder.

Taking in a deep breath, I took a bite of the hash brown only to freeze. It was crispy on the outside and soft inside, perfectly seasoned. I had never tasted hash browns this good and I took another bite without thinking.

“See? Even you cannot pretend it is bad.” Crystal pointed, letting out a small giggle

She turned to the two maids who stood quietly near the wall. “The food is really nice. Everything tastes amazing.”

They both blushed and one of them, a younger lady with her hair tied up nodded. “Thank you, miss. I'll go inform the chef, he'd be very glad to hear that.

Crystal waved her hand. “You two should sit down and eat with us. There is more than enough here for everyone.”

The maids looked at each other, then shook their heads politely. “That is very kind of you,” the older one said, “but our food has already been dished out in the kitchen. We are fine, thank you.”

Crystal looked like she wanted to press but decided against it turning towards me. She spread some strawberry jam on a piece of toast and took a big bite.

“Oh my god, this jam is so good. It tastes like real strawberries, not that sugary stuff from the store.”

I could not help smiling, for the first time since yesterday, I started to feel like maybe I could actually survive the next few months here with Crystal around.

She made everything feel less heavy. “Thank you for being here with me. I do not know what I would do if I had to go through all of this alone.” I whispered, suddenly feeling the urge to cry again.

Crystal rolled her eyes, bumping shoulders with me. “No way. I should be thanking you. Because of you I get to live in a house this large and eat food like this every day. This is the best thing that has happened to me in years.”

Her words made me laugh and it felt good. She started talking about her workplace for some minutes, then it slowly turned to the clothes I needed to pick up.

“Do you think Dante is going to come with us while we pack? He has been so possessive about you and the baby. I would not be surprised if he insisted on being there the whole time.”

Her words made my stomach turn and I sat upright trying to ignore the feeling. I had been doing so well and now I had a certain asshole's voice stuck in my head.

“No. I do not want him anywhere near me more than I have to be. The less I see of him the better.” I muttered stabbing a slice of pancake with my fork.

Crystal nodded and we kept eating until our plates were almost empty. Just as we were rounding up, a maid informed us about the cars waiting for us.

Soon we were in the back seat of an SUV heading outside the pack, with the men Dante had assigned in another car behind us.

We first stopped at Crystal’s small apartment. She only had a few boxes of clothes and personal things, so it did not take long. The men helped carry everything down quickly loading it into the trunk.

Then we turned onto the road that led to my old apartment building. The minute the car pulled over in front of my apartment building I couldn't help but feel like something was very off.

I couldn't pinpoint it but the feeling only seemed to grow. "Are you going to open it or do we have to stay here?" Crystal yelled pulling me out of the daze.

“I'm sorry. I just felt a bit....distracted," I whispered to her my eyes not leaving the building as she got out.

“Are you okay?" Crystal asked, her face tight with worry as she pressed her palm against my forehead. "You're fine right? You don't feel sick?"

"I'm fine," I groaned out pushing her rose-scented hands off my face. "I've just got this weird feeling." She nodded giving me a wary look.

Not wanting her to worry more than I was already doing, I looped my arm around her taking her towards the elevator. The two men who had come with us walked behind us carrying empty boxes.

The closer we got to the apartment the more evident the feeling got. And by the time I stood at the door, it was so much that I couldn't stop my body from shaking.

I pushed the key into the lock I pushed the door open to be met with a neat living room. Pushing the door I walked in letting the men follow.

Don't pick anything here, my room's this way. Most of those are my roommates' stuff." I muttered, walking towards my room.

I pulled out the key about to push it into the lock when my door gave way. The feeling came back hard and swallowing the lump in my throat I pushed the door open.

My jaw dropped and a gasp echoed past me, obviously from Crystal. My room was a complete mess, the drawers lay on the floor with mountains of my clothes.

My bed was torn into shreds, it looked like a murder scene just without the blood.

Papers and books lay thrown across the room. Crystal gave me a weary glance that meant we were thinking the same thing. Someone had been here.

One of the men who had followed us stepped into the room behind me and saw the mess. His face changed immediately and we watched him pull out his phone.

“We need to phone Alpha Dante,” he said in a low voice. “Now.”