The Pull Between Us

Caroline's POV

Jarek's question was sitting pretty well within me till I found my voice again.

“I don't know what you mean.” I responded, pulling the sheet tighter around me and I had to avoid the question even more. “Is there something you need from me?”

He looked at me for a moment longer and it made me uncomfortable. Then he said, “No,” He turned around and walked back down the corridor without another word.

He moved slowly down the hall. He was too composed for someone who just knocked on my door in the middle of the night and asked me something that had no clean answer I could give.

I watched him until he was out of sight…

I stood in the open doorway, staring at an empty space and convincing myself that what I strangely felt with Jarek was just residuals of what had just happened with Alex — that my body was confused and my emotions were at an all-time-high — That was it and nothing more.

I closed the door and turned back into the room. “Alex? He is gone.” I whispered, staring at where he had hid before I went to get the door.

But, unfortunately, Alex was gone.

Immediately, I noticed the chair by the window was empty and the window itself was hanging open.

I noticed the curtain moving slowly in the night breeze and there was no other sign that he had been there at all except for the warmth still present on the other side of the bed where he had been a few minutes ago.

I stood there for a while and said nothing because there was no one to say anything to.

***

Three days in the Alpha's Quarter settled into a pattern that I didn't choose, but I adapted quickly to it because adapting was one thing I had always been good at.

Jarek gave me tasks the way someone hands over a list without looking up from what they are already doing without explanation.

And I carried them all out because that was the agreement and because getting busy was easier than thinking too much about Alexander because it has been three days since I had seen him.

And these made me question the pull I had towards Jarek — It wasn't going away.

It was there when I passed him in the corridor and it was there when I brought him things he asked for and it was there when I stood in the same room as him, trying to steady my focus on something that had nothing to do with the way he occupied the room.

I kept pushing it down and telling myself the same thing I told him last three days at the door that night — It was all a confusion and nothing else but that.

Yet, it was getting harder to believe whenever I was around him and underneath all of it, every single day, I thought about Alexander.

I thought about where he would have gone and why he left in the first place without goodbyes.

I thought he panicked, but it has been three days, what would have gone wrong?

I wanted to ask Jarek, but I knew too well that it wasn't a simple thing to ask and I knew how it might sound coming from me.

But not knowing was building curiosity within me and after several days of carrying it, I finally decided I would rather deal with the consequences of asking than keep carrying it the way I had been.

I found Jarek in his study room in the evening a few minutes to dinner. He was seated behind his desk with papers spread in front of him and his attention was fully on whatever he was reading.

I knocked on the open door, he looked up, and I walked right in without permission.

“I need to ask you something.” I said.

He waited without saying anything and I went on.

“Alexander.” I said, watching his face carefully. “I haven't seen him since the night of the ceremony and I was wondering if you knew where he was since you're his brother.”

Jarek stared at me for a long moment and said absolutely nothing.

His face didn't give anything out, he didn't blink and as always, the silence stretched out long enough that I almost said something just to fill it.

But before I could, he slid a piece of paper across the desk towards me.

“Copy the contents into the record book on the second shelf.” he ordered, then he stood up and walked out of the study without a word about Alexander or anything else.

I stood there staring at the paper he had left me and then tilted my head towards the empty doorway. Shortly, I thought to myself that silence from someone like Jarek was never actually empty.

He knew something… But I just don't know what that is…

But, I knew that something was wrong somewhere and whatever he knew about Alexander he had decided I was not going to hear it from him.

I copied the contents into the record book exactly the way he asked and made sure every line was clean before I closed it and returned it to the shelf.

Then I gathered the paper and straightened the desk the way I had learned he liked it.

When I was done I walked out and pulled the study door closed behind me.

As I turned around to leave, Sienna was standing in the corridor with both of her friends positioned slightly behind her like they had been waiting and they had arranged themselves for it.

“What you did after the ceremony has been confirmed.” she said. “You're evil and pathetic and everyone already knows about it. Alpha Jarek will make it public soon enough and when he does, all of us will be there to watch.”

I didn't respond — I didn't know what to say. I just held her gaze and she turned around and left without looking back.

Even when she was not in sight, her words stayed within me all down to my room.

I locked the door behind me…

There was only one thing that could have reached her ears and it sounded like what had happened between Alex and I.

I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the wall across from me. 

Did Jarek know what happened that night? Or I'm just over thinking things.

But one thing is sure, if he knew what happened, my life would be plunged into hell and I would call on death, but I won't see it.