Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Riley woke up to the sound of knocking on her door. Her whole body throbbed in pain and her chest felt like something was trying to break out of it. She grabbed her head, groaning as she sat up. The room was dark for some reason, only a dim light from the window guiding her as she mustered the energy to stand up. "Riley?" Of course it was him. She tried to ignore the concern that laced his voice as she forced herself to walk to the door and unlock it. She pulled it open and looked up into his gorgeous face. His ocean blue eyes were filled with worry as he scanned her up and down. "Are you ok?" he asked softly. "I was trying to let you rest, but I can tell you're not feeling well." She took a deep breath, leaning towards him slightly, enjoying his scent. It seemed to help soothe the pain that radiated through her body. "Just worn down," she murmured, leaning against the door frame. "I just needed to rest a little before lunch." "Riley?" He raised an eyebrow. "It's almost eight in the evening." "No," she scoffed, turning to look at the window behind her. The sun was gone, the dim light in the room was coming from the moon. How did she sleep that long? "You slept through lunch and dinner. Patrick told me to let you rest, but I was getting worried." He rubbed his chin and she heard the soft scratch of his stubble. She was filled with an urge to reach out and touch his chin herself just to see what it felt like. She balled her fist at her side instead. "I asked them to set a plate of food aside for you," Kent said softly, bringing her focus back to his eyes. "I can run down and heat it up for you if you want." Food did sound good. Now that she was up and moving, she was starting to feel better. Maybe the sleep had helped. "Sure," she said, "that would be nice." He smiled slightly. "I'll bring it up to the sitting room. Give me like ten minutes." After he left, she shuffled into the bathroom, grimacing at the sight of herself in the mirror. Her hair was sticking up almost every which way, looking like a family of racoons had recently taken up residence there. She grabbed her hairbrush and started working the tangles out, slicking it back into a ponytail. I can't believe you let our mate see us like this, Rose lamented. Probably for the best. The less attractive we are, the better. Nice to see you're feeling better too. She could feel Rose's annoyance but she shut her out as she slipped on her sneakers and headed into the sitting room. She sunk into an oversized armchair, leaning her head back to look at the ceiling. She smelled Kent before he said anything. He handed her a plate of warm food and sat down on the couch next to her armchair. "Thanks," she said, taking a bite. 1/3 He nodded, looking away for a moment. With a heavy sigh, he turned back towards her. "There's something I wanted to say." She froze mid-bite, the fork lingering half between the plate and her mouth as she turned to look at him. He looked at her for a moment. "I'm sorry..." He paused, running a hand through his hair in obvious discomfort. "About yesterday and what I said to you. I was being a jerk." She frowned. "Did Patrick talk to you?" "Yes," he admitted, "twice actually. He chastised me right after it happened and then again this morning." He sighed. "He was right though. I was just being a d**k. You didn't deserve that. I saw you spar. You're an excellent fighter and I didn't mean to diminish you or your abilities." She watched him for a moment. "Patrick said you acted like that because your dad put a lot of shitty ideas in your head." Kent flinched as though he had been struck. He looked across the room before looking back. "I guess you could say that. My relationship with my dad was complicated." She nodded. "I get that. My dad wasn't the greatest either." Kent ran his fingers over the arm of the couch again. "Regardless, I was wrong to suggest you weren't good enough to spar with me. And I really am sorry." She could feel the sincerity in his apology and it made a small part of her soften. She smiled slightly at him. before turning back to her food, unsure of how to respond. See, Rose chided, he's a nice guy. Paul used to apologize too, Riley reminded them both. And it was true. Paul would act like a d**k and apologize over and over. He'd bring her flowers and gifts and pretend that it would never happen again. Until it did. Because it always happened again. "Did you find anything of interest in the reports?" Kent asked, breaking Riley out of her thoughts. "I didn't make it through all of them honestly. I might just wait until Penny has them all ready so that I can go through them all at once. I'd prefer to start as far back as I can." "That makes sense." He turned his head to watch her. She ate quietly, trying to ignore how good Kent smelled sitting so close to her. She forced herself not to look in his direction, even though her body and wolf begged her to do so. She reminded herself of Paul, of all the promises that he didn't keep, all the apologies he never really meant anyway. Reminding herself that mates were not the fairy tales she had been promised as a child. "Any thoughts about what you would like to do tomorrow?" he asked as she leaned forward to place her empty plate on the table. She sighed, leaning back and draping her arms over the sides of the chair. "I have a couple thoughts, but it will depend on how I feel in the morning." She closed her eyes to avoid looking at him. "Are you sure you're feeling ok? Our hospital is good. You could get checked out." 2/3 Chapter 17 "I'm fine," she snapped. "It's just stress. There's a lot that's happened in the last couple days. I just needed a break. I'm feeling much better." She could feel his eyes on her without looking. "You should take care of yourself. If you need another day or so, I understand." "I'll be fine," she assured him, keeping her eyes closed, She felt sparks erupt on her arm as Kent reached out to trail his fingers up the bare skin of her forearm. She jerked her arm away as though it burned, opening her eyes and sitting upright. She felt his hurt surge through the bond and hazarded a glance at him. He was no longer looking at her, but rather staring out the window in front of him, his jaw clenched. She watched a muscle in his cheek jump. "I should go to bed," she said after a moment. "You should," he agreed tersely, not looking at her. "I'll see you in the morning." "Good night, Kent." She felt bad as she stood up. She briefly considered apologizing, but decided against it, leaving the room quickly.