White Tiger (Book 1 in the White Tiger Trilogy)

Chapter 28- Plan An Event

"White Tiger"

2013 Copyright © All Rights Reserved.

Stryder Sweetman.

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Chapter 28

I woke up to a knock at my bedroom door. Well, it wasn't really a knock; Ani just barged right on in. I sprung out of bed and went into defence mode, my fists rose to fight off my attacker, but when I realised it was Ani, I lowered my fists and sat on the edge of my bed.

This morning she was looking pale, more pale than usual, anyway. She sighed and walked over, her eyes flickering all over the room every few seconds, as if Nixon would appear. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to me and slumped her shoulders.

The loss of Nixon was affecting her horribly, there were bags under her eyes, she was acting jumpy, and her hair was a mess- as if she had been running her hands through it.

After searching the room with her eyes again, they focussed on me. She sighed again before speaking in a shaky voice, "Hey Ben, how's it going. I mean, it's not like I’m- no, um, yeah. How are you doing?"

It was shocking how negatively her bond was affecting her with Nixon's absence. She was stuttering! Ani always spoke fast, but somehow her tongue managed to wrap around the words in time- she never stuttered.

She looked like she was going to fall apart at the slightest touch, so I carefully replied, "I'm fine. Did you already have breakfast?"

I avoided asking her for her feelings- clearly she wasn't ok, and I was afraid she would have a breakdown if I did ask.

Unfortunately, she had a breakdown anyway. She began to sob, clutching at my shirt like it was a lifeline. She smothered her face on my shoulder- and even more disgustingly- blew her nose on my shirt.

I shuddered, feeling the gooey slime that originated from her nose seeping through the fabric. I quickly shifted out of it and into a clean shirt, but I could still feel it there.

Gross.

"Ani, sweetie, calm down!" I tried to soothe her, but to no avail.

"Nixon used to make me breakfast!" She wailed.

I flinched at the loud noise right next to my ear before mentioning, "Uh, no, Ani, I make you breakfast. Nixon doesn't, sweetie?"

My mothering instincts were at an all high as I tried to calm her down. My words seemed to work like magic- she immediately stopped sobbing and whispered, "Oh, yeah... That's right..."

"Come on..." I muttered as I helped her stand. She leaned against me as we made our way downstairs.

As we reached the bottom of the stairwell, I caught Ani as she stumbled down the last step, blinded by the tears coating her eyes. I caught sight of Ophelia as she entered the hall. Ani looked up and met her eyes, flinching when Ophelia smirked at her.

Ophelia's smirk widened as she saw Ani's reaction, and I hissed through my teeth at her, I could feel my eyes flashing to Libeth's brighter green colour.

Ophelia rolled her eyes and stalked out of the hall. I frowned at her reaction, I was now her Alpha, but she seemed delusional enough to believe she was superior.

I helped Ani into the kitchen, and left her leaning against the bench. I headed over to the pantry and grabbed some bacon and eggs. Strolling over to the frying pan, I began to heat it, looking over at Ani, to see a guilty look on her face.