Chapter 128

Cassie

An hour later I made my way down stairs on clean bare feet and the feel of the woven rugs under my toes was amazing. I found Scarlett in the second room I looked into. Curled up on a plush leather sofa with her feet curled up under a patchwork quilt and a steaming cup of tea in her hand. Hovering in the door way I stared at her. She looked perfectly at home in this place. Like she had done this a million times before. There was something that looked like contentment on her face, almost like all of her sadness went away when she was here. In the place her dead mate built for her with her dead baby's things upstairs. It didn't make sense to me but then again it didn't need to. I couldn't see or feel their ghosts. Not like she clearly could.

Here she could feel close to them and I didn't want to interrupt her.

"All clean?" She asked, finally lifting her head.

"Yeah." I wiggled my toes in the rug and sighed. I was clean-er but not spotless. It would take days of bathing to be fully scrubbed clean from the last few weeks and mentally? Mentally I don't think I would ever be clean.

"Come and sit with me. I thought you might have fallen asleep so I haven't made a fresh pot." She motioned to the low wooden table between the sofa and the two leather chairs that faced her. There was a flowery white and green teapot sat in the middle of a tray. Along with a few sandwiches.

It was nothing elaborate , simple bread and ham but my stomach rumbled like it had just smelt the most delicious Michelin star restaurant food.

"Sit down, pull over a blanket and relax."

Gratefully I sank down. The room that had been my home for the last few week had been bigger than this and the furnishing had been more luxurious but that had been a prison. This felt light and airy. Probably thanks to the window that she had opened slightly to let the cold night air in.

It felt good to have actual cool clean air on my face even though it made me shiver. I pulled another patchwork quilt over me and went back to staring at the sandwhiches. The bread looks fresh, the butter creamy and the sliced ham? My mouth watered and my belly rumbled loudly making me blush.

"Help yourself."

My eyes flicked up to Scarlett. "Are you sure?"

"Yes Cassie I'm sure. There's more food in the kitchen and you are welcome to that as well. When was the last time you had fresh bread and -"

Tears welled up in my eyes. "Cathy used to bring us bread , that's what got her killed." I sobbed.

"That's not what killed Cathy. You are not to blame and neither is she. You have to remember who the enemy is. Now eat up. And when you are full we can talk properly and make a plan."

Reaching down I piled a small china plate with several sandwiches. They were all the same and after the first nibble I wolfed them down so quickly that it felt like a ball of bread had formed in my throat. Not that I cared. The food was everything I needed and more. This whole place was.

Scarlett was my angel. But then I'd had a few of those recently and all of them had died horribly. I didn't want that to happen to Scarlett as well. I couldn't go through it again.

"So." She lifted her eyebrow in amusement as I demolished the last sandwich with a small burp.  "Ready to talk an figure things out?"

"Yes." I said instantly.

"We don't have to discuss things now. If you are too tired." She let her eyes travel across my face and I knew from the bathroom mirror that I looked like death. "Our enemies will still be enemies tomorrow, and you look like you need to sleep for a week."

"I could but I don't have that much time. Tonight I'll sleep and tomorrow we will begin fighting back. But for that to happen we need a plan."

Scarlett stared at me like she was seeing me for the first time. "Have you always been this strong?"

I shrugged. "My life hasn't exactly been easy. I mean I - well my father." Pain ripped through my chest. He didn't deserve for me to grieve for him but I did anyway. "I guess I've always been self sufficient. I get things done."

Scarlett nodded her head thoughtfully. "I can see that but you do realise that even with a plan we can't go marching off to war. Hell you have two new borns to care for and."

"I think tonight we just need to figure out who is our friend and who is our enemy. " I admitted with a rueful smile. "And try and figure out where Julian and Ian have got to."

"Well your father and Duncan are the enemy."

My head snapped away. "Just Duncan now, my father is dead."

"I'm sorry."

"He wasn't blood. But he is gone. Our enemy is Duncan."

"Well that's bad enough for sure. What about the Lycans? They were arriving when we were escaping. Do you know if they are friends or foes."

I shrugged as I sipped my tea. "I have no idea I've never met a Lycan before. I didn't even know there were some in this country. But goddess help us if they are enemies because if the stories are true-" trailing off I shuddered. "I may know some non wolf shifters who will help us but I don't want to send word until I speak to someone."

"And I know a few rogues." Catching my look she grinned. "You are not the only one whose father was a loser. Mine fathered almost twenty pups who weren't with his wife. But I am close to my extended family now. They can be trusted."

"Ok good." I chewed my lips . "Oh."

"Oh?" Scarlett's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "What do you mean Oh?"

I didn't know how I had forgotten him. I hadn't even thought of him once but he was my friend and I knew we could trust him. I'd been trusting him for years.

"Forrest." I mumbled.

"Forrest?" Scarlett parroted back. "I haven't seen or heard of him in months."

My heart sank into my stomach. Where the fuck was Forrest?