Rightfully Hers

XXVI

JADA WARREN

"Are you okay, Julian?" Isabelle's eyes were liquid gentleness, oozing with care for my best friend. He sent her a guarded smile and nodded stiffly in response.

The doctors had run tests on me three days ago and had deemed me clear to leave the infirmary, telling me to keep my wounds clean. I felt fine for the most part, but my body temperature was worryingly higher than it normally was, although I was assured it was the wolf blood in my system. Still, it made my skin crawl. I had always been a prominent Hunter, the transformation was proving not as simple as I'd hoped.

It was roughly seven and we had just finished eating when Isabelle told us it was time to see Isaac. I know Julian did not want to be apart of this altercation at all, but he chose to come anyways, needing some sort of closure.

My heart ached for him. He had already lost a mate, to lose someone he finally allowed himself to be open for, it had to be excruciating for him. He made it extremely difficult to talk to him, he'd mastered the art of blocking people out to the extent that even I was having trouble.

We used to always use our connecting door to sleep beside each other at night, to talk by ourselves. He had locked the door, leaving me unable to get into his room at night. He woke up earlier than anyone else, trained before everyone else, and then locked himself in his room until dinner, where he avoided eye contact with everyone.

Isabelle sent me a heartbroken expression. How do we help him? She asked me softly through our link. I was still not used to the mental communication, but I managed to keep my unease at bay. I didn't want her to worry about me, not now.

I think this will help him, I responded back truthfully. I'll speak to him tonight, if all else fails. He did the same thing with Lilah. It's his way of coping.

I hope you're right, she sighed, I hate seeing him like this.

Of course I'm right, if I know anyone, it is Julian.

We stopped speaking then, and she unlocked the prison doors that led into the basement. The door guards standing at the bottom of the stairs nodded their respects to the three of us, and we walked by them swiftly.

The cells were not similar to human prison cells in the sense that the cells here were large rooms with silver doors and handles on both the outside and inside. There was a small slot to put their food trays at the bottom of the door, but no other opening whatsoever.

We walked through two hallways of silver doors before Isabelle reached for a handle with her leather glove on. She unlocked the fingerprint lock with the bare hand and opened the door loudly.

Isaac was sitting in the corner, looking rougher than I'd ever seen him. His hair was matted to his face with sweat and grime and the bags under his eyes were dark and heavy. He glanced up with a startled cry, pushing himself farther into the corner. The bruises lining his cheekbones, the marks along his arms, and his busted lip only proved why he reacted the way he did.

I saw Julian's fists clench tightly at his sides, and he jaw clamped shut. When Isaac pried his eyes open and saw the three of us, his face melted into desperation.

"Finally!" He sobbed, "I know-"

"Sit at the table, will you?" Isabelle asked, her voice fluid and demanding. Scared by the Alpha, Isaac scrambled hastily to his feet and stumbled into the chair on one side of the table that was positioned in the room.

There were two chairs on each side, and Isabelle sat down across from Isaac, looking directly at him. I slid into the seat next to her before realizing, and I immediately stood up and motioned for Julian to sit while I pulled the chair on Isaac's side around.