Strange Love - Chapter 307

The deafening blare of the sirens throughout the halls of all the floors of the Embassy had Russ shooting to his feet and searching the area around them. It had been an awkward tireless day of answering questions for the council and receiving questioning looks from Ry’s family. With an exasperated huff, Russ ran out into the living room. He quickly found Ry who was now bringing a lit phone to his ear as he charged toward the main door. “What’s going on?” Russ whispered?

“That alarm means a prisoner has escaped for the cells down below.” He replied as he waited for the call to be answered.

Russ’s eyes bugged with the information. “Jaden!” His eyes quickly shot to the hallway, but there was no movement there. Fearing for her wellbeing, Russ leaped over the sofa and took off down the hallway. Russ knocked on the door, but when there wasn’t any answer, he quickly pulled it open. “Jaden, are you in here?! Are you alright?” He called out into the dark room. When he still didn’t see her, he ran around to the other side of the large frame of the queen-sized bed. His eyes found her instantly. His heart skipped a beat as he fell to his knees beside the bed. “Jaden?” There curled into a ball on the floor, nearly hidden by the thick frame and bed-skirt, was Jaden. Her beautiful white ears were back, nearly flat against her strawberry blond hair. Her hands trembled as they clutched her head. “Jaden, it’s me Russ…” He crawled cautiously toward her, reaching out as he did and lightly ċȧrėssing her arm. As he drew closer, he could see that it was more than her hands that trembled. It was her entire body. She looked so tiny and helpless there on the floor… gone was the girl who had been so calm in the cellars that night, the girl who had quickly forced her own injuries to mend so she could tend to the others… the girl who had tracked and killed his wicked uncle… “Jaden…” When she didn’t pull away from his touch, he carefully pulled her into his arms. Setting back on his heels he began to rock her in his arms. “You’re alright, you’re safe… it’s only alarms going off in the building… you know, like fire alarms…” When she still didn’t respond, he cupped her face bringing her wide, frightened eyes up to meet his. “You’re safe… I have you…”

Jaden blinked rapidly as the soft, soothing voice of the prince reverberated through the chilly night air. His warm body radiated a heat that her panic frozen body was much in need of. “Russ…”

“Yeah, it’s me… calm down… Everything is alright, I promise.” He pressed her head against his ċhėst hoping the jester would help soothe her, and it must have because she seemed to settle against him placing her ear over his heart and her palm against his sternum.

Jaden forced her focus on the elevated but steady beat of his heart, and the rhythmic rise and fall of his ċhėst against her hand. She closed her eyes willing her own body to sync with his soothing rhythm.

When she seemed to have calmed down, Russ gently and carefully held her out at arms-length. “Are… are you alright now? Do you want to talk about it?” Without thinking, he used the pad of his thumb to brush away the trail of tears that had been left behind.

Jaden stared up into his glimmering cyan eyes in shock. Up until this very moment the only time she’d ever seen this expression on his handsome face was when he’d been in a heated conversation with the mysterious silver-haired man. The wolf inside called out for his touch, but the scared, damaged girl continued fighting for control over the beast.

“Jaden…” Russ whispered, reading the unmistakable dėsɨrė written across her usually heavily guarded expression. He lowered his face closer to hers, able to feel her breath tickle his lips.

‘Bam!’ The slam of the door opening pulled them both out of the hypnotic trance they seemed to have been in.

“Hey, Kid-” Ry’s words were cut off when he met Russ’s irritated gaze from over the top of the bed. “What are you doing on the floor?”

Russ’s gaze moved back down to Jaden, the irritation quickly replaced by concern. Her cheeks were flushed as was the usually pink skin under the white fur of her ears. Her face was hidden in the folds of his buŧŧon-up shirt. “Um… the alarms… well… frightened her… I guess.” He lifted her farther into his arms and pushed them up from the floor, setting her onto the bed and pulling the disheveled bedding around her shoulders.

“Oh… I see… Well, whenever you get her settled down, we need to talk with you… Peg’s waiting in the living room.” Ry muttered. He backed out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Russ’s attention moved from the door back to Jaden. “Do you need anything? Maybe a bottle of water?”

She didn’t say anything as she gripped the blanket tightly around her, unable to meet his gaze. She nodded her head as she squeezed her eyes tightly closed.

“Alright…” Russ said releasing his hold on the sides of her arms. “I’ll be right back, ok.” He hurried from the room and down the hallway. Ry and Peg’s eyes both met his as he stepped into the small kitchen. “I’m getting her water… Then I’ll be back out…”

Ry nodded. “Take your time, kid… Is… is she alright?”

Russ shrugged, “I’m not sure. She hasn’t said anything, but she has stopped trembling and crying… unless she’s started back…”

Peg nodded toward him. “If she’ll let you, stay in there with her… Marcus has escaped…”

Russ scrunched his brows. “Then shouldn’t we leave this place?”

Peg shook his head. “No, this is the safest place for you right now. Traveling right now would make you an easier target. Besides, the Embassy has one of the best security teams you’ll find anywhere.”

Russ’s brows tented. “Well, that’s a scary notion considering how easy it was for us to break into the cells last time we were here and now that bastard being able to break out…”

Peg pursed his lips. “It was an inside job. There’s no way he could have escaped on his own. Just like the two of you wouldn’t have succeeded in breaking into there without Ry’s knowledge of the area and the extra help.”

Russ remembered all the steps Ry had taken getting them inside the cells. “Then who?”

Peg shrugged, “We’re not sure yet. I’ll probably be forced to spend the better part of the night scanning all the security systems to see if I can detect how it was bypassed and able to pull any traces of the individual behind it.”

Russ furrowed his brows. “Couldn’t your dad work his truth mojo on everyone here tonight to at least narrow down the suspect list?”

Peg let out a heavy sigh. “It’s a possibility, but I doubt we’ll be able to get the approval for such a thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Approval to use such means outside of a judgment would have to be approved by the other ruling gods. Even if they were to deem it worthy of their time to approve such a thing, it wouldn’t work on some of the council members.” Ry filled in.

“Oh…” Russ muttered, turning his focus down to the bottle of water.

“Don’t worry too much about it, kid. Just stay alert and keep an eye on the girl.” Peg added, seeing the helpless irritation on his face.

Russ nodded and turned back down the hallway.

Peg chuckled as he heard the click of a door down the hall. “Is that the same kid or did you kidnap a doppelganger? You must have scared him straight last night.”

Ry frowned. “Yeah… maybe a little to straight… Anyways…” He shrugged. “I guess it just goes to show how powerful Jos’s curse really is…” He walked over and flopped down on the sofa. “The kid says the pull has eased quite a bit since meeting the girl. He thinks he’s imprinted on her… It would explain why Jos’s curse didn’t seem to affect his father as much as it has him. Of course, all we have to go by is journals…”

Peg took a seat in the opposite armchair. “I would guess that the previous king would have mentioned something about it in his journal had it affected him.”

Ry shrugged. “Maybe he did, and we just haven’t come across it yet…” His eyes held Peg’s. “So, you’re not going to ask about last night?”

Peg shook his head. “Not my business…”

Russ closed the door softly as he walked back to where she still sat on the edge of the bed where he’d sat her. “Here’s your water.” When she didn’t move to take it or even meet his gaze, he set it on the nightstand closest to her. “I’ll just leave it here for when you want it…” His eyes moved over her, but she was still staring at the wall in front of her and clinging to the blanket he’d placed around her. He let out a soft sigh as he turned and stepped past her. “Alright, well let me know if you need anything else… I’ll leave you be-” He’d just stepped past her when something caught his sleeve. He glanced around at it. Short, chewed fingernails dug into the fabric.

“Stay… please…” She whispered, not taking her focus off the wall.

Russ tented his brows as he studied her in silence. The faint blush from earlier had returned to her cheeks, giving her pale features a lovely color. “Ok…” He turned and set beside her on the edge of the bed placing both his hands between his thɨġhs and squeezing them tightly in nervous restraint. “Do… do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head, but still avoided his curious eyes.

“Oh… ok…” His eyes moved to the remote on the nightstand. “Would you like to watch a movie or something?”

She nodded.

He caught her chin, carefully turning her face up to meet his. “I… I’ve never seen you this quiet… You’re kinda scaring me…” He searched her eyes. “I know you don’t know me well… but you can talk to me… if you need to… I’ll not judge or anything… and…” He hesitated for a few seconds before finishing. “And… we will be married before long…”

She frowned as she held his penetrating gaze. {I can’t admit the real reason for my sudden discomfort around him… can I?} Deciding against it and focusing on her initial reaction he’d walked in on, she said. “The… the day my kingdom was attacked… the alarms that went off were very similar.”

“Oh… I see… I’m sorry…” He reached out holding both her arms. “Is… is it alright if I hug you?”

She nodded, quickly lowering her head not wanting him to see her blush yet again.

He held her for several long minutes, resting his chin on her head. “Thank you for sharing… I know it took a lot of strength and trust… I appreciate it.” He released one of his arms from her. Turning and lifting the remote, he powered on the TV and began flipping through the channels. He glanced from the glowing screen down to her. “Is there anything you’d like to watch?”

She shrugged slightly, not wanting to draw his attention to the arm he still had draped around her in fear he’d moved it. “I’ve never really watched much TV… besides I’ve not had access for the past three years… so…”

Russ laughed awkwardly. “True… I guess it wouldn’t really be the same things available here even if you had.”

She nervously smiled back at him. “No… I guess it wouldn’t.”

“Hum…” He released her as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. A smile curved his lips and climbed to the top of the bed leaning his back against the headboard and spare pillows. He patted the spot beside him. He waited until she was beside him. He slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer against him, his eyes trained on the TV as he scrolled through the app options. “You know, I used to be scared of thunder when I was younger. Anytime it was storming my sister and guardian-s… would pile up on the couch and watch anime all night until the storm either passed or we all fell asleep.”

Jaden smiled as she risked a glance up at him. “That sounds nice.”

“It was… I miss it… Things were a lot easier then.” He answered, not taking his focus off the screen.

Jaden fought against sleepiness as she watched the light from the screen reflect off his beautiful eyes. He’d settled lower in the bed nearly pulling her upper body onto his ċhėst as he watched the show with childlike joy. She couldn’t help but be captivated by the youthful animation of his eyes and lips as he laughed along with the show, completely enthralled in the story… A story she couldn’t decern a single detail of…

His smiling eyes met hers. “Well, what do you think?” He asked as he squeezed her arm lightly.

“Beautiful…” The words slipped from her lips before she’d even realized she’d said them out loud. A deep blush burned her cheeks as she turned away quickly. “The art, I mean… It’s… it’s nice art…”

“Hum…” Russ furrowed his brows as he moved his attention to the screen. “I mean, it’s pretty typical for anime… but I guess if you’ve never watched one before… I guess I could see that…”

She kept her eyes averted. “Yeah… well, it is a first for me…”

He chuckled, “If you like the art of this one, I’ll have to put one of the more impressive ones on next.” He cupped her chin gently bringing her face back around to his. His smile shifted to worry. “Unless you’re getting tired…”

“Oh, no… I’m fine…” She quickly answered.

“Alright.” He lifted the remote again. In just a few clicks another anime began to play, this one with beautiful music, vivid colors, and detailed backgrounds.

Though she tried to fight it sleep crept up on her. A shift in the bed roused her. He was leaving again. She threw her arm across his ċhėst as her nervous eyes sought his out in the dark room. “Stay… just for tonight…”

Russ swallowed hard. “I… Um…” He searched her troubled eyes and no matter the internal struggle and torment being so close to her had caused all night, he found himself lying back in the bed. “Ok…” She quietly tucked herself back against his warm body, resting her head on his outstretched arm.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

“Yeah… anytime….” Russ muttered, holding her loosely in his arms.