Chapter 108: NOT POSSIBLE
CALLUM’S POV
"That was Orin?" Keisha asked, her voice filled with fear.
She was still staring at the empty pavement across the road, her coat pulled tight around her, the hospital lights making everything behind us too bright and the street in front of us too dark.
"It looked like him." She said again. Like she was trying to convince herself it wasn’t.
"It can’t be him." I shook my head, my voice filled with confusion like I was trying to place it together. Could it truly have been him? "Dane walked him to the border. The warning was clear." I looked at the street. But now, all we had was the ordinary moving traffic and the ordinary people and the space where a figure had been but wasn’t anymore. "Bad lighting. Someone with a similar build. That’s all."
"Callum." She turned to me, her face drained of color.
"It was a lookalike." I assured her. "That’s the most likely explanation."
She looked at me.
I looked back at her and kept my face where it needed to be because the alternative — that Orin had come back, that he was standing outside a hospital at half past three watching Keisha specifically — was not something any of us needed sitting in our heads tonight on top of everything else that had already happened in it.
Dane came through the exit door behind us and looked at both of us and then at the street. "What happened?"
"Nothing." I said. "Let’s get Nadia home."
Dane looked at Keisha’s face and then back at me and said nothing. "We’re done here. We can take her home now."
I nodded stiffly. "Okay. Let’s go."
The drive back was quiet.
Nadia was between me and Keisha in the back seat, awake now but not talking, her head leaning slightly against the window with the drained look of someone whose body had been through something and was still accounting for it.
I watched her from the corner of my eye and felt the cold of what could have happened settle properly into my chest now that the urgency was over and there was nothing left to do but feel it.
She was fine.
She was going to be fine.
I kept telling myself that the whole drive.
At the mansion, I walked her upstairs myself and she didn’t argue which told me how tired she actually was. I pulled the door of her room open and she went inside and then turned in the doorway and looked at me.
"Dad." She whispered.
"Go to sleep." I said.
"I know you’re not angry." Her voice sounded drained. "But I know you were scared."
I looked at her. "I was." I said simply.
She nodded. "I’m sorry." She told me for the third time tonight and I felt something cold snap in my chest.
That I could have lost my daughter today. It hadn’t really hit me full force yet. That I could lose my daughter so soon. I never wanted to lose her.
"Stop apologising." I told her. "And sleep."
She looked at me for a moment longer. Then she stepped forward and put her arms around me and I held her for a moment and felt tension leave my body.
She was here. She was fine. Nothing had happened to her.
It was okay.
She pulled back, went inside and I pulled the door gently behind her.
I stood in the corridor and went downstairs. I found Dane in the sitting room and we talked through what needed to be decided — Eliora in the dungeon, the three men who had run and needed finding, Orin’s possible sighting that I brought up because it was worth looking into.
"You think it was him?" Dane said.
"I think we look into it." I said. "Discreetly. Without telling Keisha we’re taking it seriously until we know something."
"She’s already taking it seriously." Dane sighed.
"I know." I said. "Which is why I need us to find out before she starts making decisions about it."
Dane nodded slowly. "And the elders. The council meeting tomorrow."
"Tell them the intruder situation is resolved." I said. "Eliora is a separate matter, her matter is internal, not for council discussion yet." I paused. "And Vera’s message."
Dane went still. "You called her."
"Last night." I said. "She asked about Keisha. Asked if she had been showing changes." I looked at him. "Then immediately changed the subject."
The sitting room was very quiet.
Dane rose to his feet suddenly. "I should go now. I need to check the borders."
I nodded, watching him walk to the door. "Good night."
He walked out after that, leaving me in the silent confines of my home.
Damien stirred inside me, pacing about my subconscious. "Today has been a lot."
I pinched my nose bridge. "Tell me about it. I need to clear my head."
Damien was silent for a second, a surprising feat considering his usual nature. "I think you know what you really want tonight. And I think she would want some company tonight too."
My blood surged hot and ran cold simultaneously.
Keisha.
She would be worried sick.
My mind travelled back to Dane. We should probably go to see her tonight. And keep her company.
I think that’s what we all needed now.
My feet moved before I could stop myself and I found myself out of my house, cold air brushing against my skin.
It felt weird. Leaving Nadia there alone. She was safe, I knew that. But somehow, I still hesitated for a second before leaving.
Dane was near the western gate, boots crunching against the leaves on the forest floor as he took a look around.
I watched him for a second, quiet and still. "Dane." I finally called out.
He startled and swirled around, hand already jutting out to hit me.
I caught it swiftly, a brow raised. "Woah. I’m not an intruder."
He relaxed immediately, withdrawing his hand. "Sorry about that, Alpha. I didn’t realize it was you. Too much clouding my mind. Why are you out here?"
I gave him a knowing look. "Keisha. Let’s pay a visit."