Alpha Asher and Lola novel Chapter 199

Read Alpha Asher by Jane Doe Chapter 199

When I came back inside the living room, nothing had changed. Zeke was still dancing with Breyona while Giovanni watched with a mixture of irritation and adoration on his face. Tristan continued to glance at Holly, who was curled up on the couch watching the two dance with blush-stained cheeks. Clara and Mason looked like they wanted to join in, while Cassidy laughed at Kendrick’s terrible moves.

Only Asher noticed me come back in, his dark stare soft as it turned to my face. There must’ve been something—some fragment of truth in my expression because his eyebrows slid into a grimace and his jaw tightened.

“What is it?” He asked, coming to my side.

I held the papers in my grasp, still trying to process what the h**l I’d just read. The envelope with Breyona’s name on the front sat at the very top, another hole in my heart because I knew this letter would dampen her mood. It was from her parents, a last farewell to their only daughter before they were m******d.

The single envelope felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

Every head in the room turned to Asher and I, hearing the question he’d asked me and seeing the truth on my face. Tristan was at my side in an instant, followed by Breyona. Giovanni hovered at her back protectively, as though he could shield her from whatever had gone wrong.

“The neighbor just brought this over. Apparently, it was delivered to the wrong house.” I said, my voice low and eyes darting up to meet Breyona’s. “It’s from your parents.”

My best-friend s****d in a sharp breath, her large brown eyes instantly watering. They scanned the papers in my hands, latching onto the envelope that stood out against the tanned pages that had been torn from the book on my family’s history.

“Is that…is that for me?” Her voice trembled as she asked.

I swallowed the knot in my throat. “They left it for you…incase they didn’t make it.”

Her lower lip began to tremble, and she brought her hand up to hide it just as Giovanni pulled her into his arms. I looked up at the Vampire that towered over her, that protected her with the same fervor he protected me with.

“Take her to my bedroom or one of the spares. I’m sure she doesn’t want an audience.” I murmured, handing him the envelope with pain clutching my heart.

Zeke, who had been hovering on the outskirts, cocked his head. “Those papers are from the book, aren’t they? What do they say?”

I gave a small shake of my head, one that said, ‘not here.’ It’s not that I didn’t trust everyone else in the room, but my insides were so shaken that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to utter the words around this many people.

Mason’s voice rang out, snaring all of our attention. He had his arm around Clara’s shoulder, but his words weren’t just directed to her.

“Mind if we grab some of those leftovers you got stashed away? I’m starved.” He said, rubbing his toned stomach. There was a knowing look on his face, but it was laced with sympathy that told me he understood completely.

Clara hummed, holding back laughter. She batted her eyelashes at Mason, making him smile. “You’re always hungry, but I could use a snack too. Alcohol gives me the munchies.”

Kendrick nodded, oblivious to the tension in the room. “I second that. Plus there’s never a bad time for a burger.”

“Go ahead and dig in.” I said, forcing a smile onto my face.

Mason and Clara headed into the kitchen with Cassidy and Kendrick following closely behind. The blonde in charge of hosting tonight’s sleepover had a concerned look on her face, and clear reluctance in her eyes as she left us alone.

Holly appeared around Tristan’s shoulder, tapping it gently to get his attention.

“I think I’m going to go with them. I could use another blood bag.” She whispered, her eyes flickering over the rest of us.

Tristan nodded, something in the depths of his icy gaze thawing as he looked down at my half-sister. “Giovanni put them in the ice box in the garage.”

Once Holly had padded out of the living room, leaving only Asher, Zeke, Tristan, and myself, I knelt down in front of the coffee table and spread the papers out for them to see. Asher flicked on the television, cranking the volume up to drown out our voices.

They were made of the same thick material as in the book. Even the writing and ink were the same, elegant, and lilting as someone with an expert hand painted them across the page. The frayed edges only proved further that they were the missing pages, but it did nothing to explain how they’d gotten that way to begin with, or who had taken them.

Each one of the guys passed around the sticky note that was attached to the front, their eyes skimming over the last words of Breyona’s parents before they were k****d.

“The witches are the ones that k****d them, so it stands they most likely had the pages to begin with. We need to prepare for the possibility that they already know.” Tristan pointed out, his mind on the same track as my own.