Don't Get Eaten

Chapter Twenty Six

Zared quickly walked to the door and slightly opened it. I went to go behind him to see it was both Rissa and Vi standing there. I smile when she catches my eye making him open the door all the way.

She quickly gives me a hug and asks, "How are you feeling? We heard about what happened out there." She lets me go, then we both walk into the room to sit on the edge of my bed.

I just shrug at her. "I'm okay, I guess with the nightmare I couldn't get much sleep, then everything that went down, I just needed some rest."

"Nightmare? What nightmare?" Zared quickly intervenes with furrowed brows as concern warred in his eyes.

He leaves Violet's side, who had been standing with him at the door still, holding onto his arm as if touching him was something she just had to do. I didn't want to get my feathers all riled up but seeing that made me a little irritated. But soon guilt swarms within me cause I knew her feelings for Zared even though she never acted on them, nor stated that she was going to.

So, I don't say anything. And I needed to have another little conversation with him before we both blurt out our relationship status to the rest of the group. We needed to put some ground rules first.

I quickly look away from them and back at Rissa only to become a little startled that she was staring right at me with such an intense stare that it made me swallow hard.

"W-What is it?" I ask a little hesitantly, afraid she was going to blurt out something I didn't want her too.

"What nightmare, Jinsen?" Zared pressed even more, sounding annoyed that I was trying to avoid his question.

I didn't want to replay those images again. Besides, I haven't told the others what my nightmare had been about, and the way Rissa was looking at me was only going to draw more attention to the two of us that I didn't need.

"Jinsen woke up screaming this morning, so we rushed in here to see he was still asleep thrashing about on his bed. He had a horrible nightmare about those things." Vi stated as she shivered at the mention of the creatures.

He swings his head back at me and his eyes were filled with worry and a little hurt. "Why didn't you tell me you had a nightmare like that?"

He immediately comes to kneel in front of me, grabbing my hands into his, not once looking at the other two. My heart melted at him being genuinely concerned and if he knew that the nightmare involved him who knows how he was going to react to that.

I squeeze his hands for a split second then released them from my grip, clearing my throat. He frowns at my action but doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he stands back up and takes a step back. I didn't like the movement, but I also didn't want to alert the other two about us just yet.

"You weren't here. Also, if you remember correctly, you ditched me this morning, so it completely flew from my mind in the condition that we found you guys. The nightmare was the least of my worries by that point."

His features flushed with shame remembering that and all I could do was deflate a little and give him a tiny smile to ease his guilt for leaving me in that state.

"We heard from Seth and Jacob. That poor girl. I wonder who she was." Vi speaks up, stepping a bit closer to Zared again looking a bit sad.

I wanted to roll my eyes at her theatrics. This wasn't the first time she acted like this with a boy she was trying to get to feel sorry for her. Or to get into his pants. And that thought instantly brought a scowl to my face.

He's mine now, sister. You had your chance, now it was too late, so you can fuck off and be a slut with some other dude.

Of course, I don't say any of that out loud, but I sure as hell wanted too damn it. I suddenly get pinched on the side of my leg, making me flinch. I stare at Rissa as she gives me a hard glare then shakes her head as if she knew.