Chapter l226

Chapter 0226

A guard was seated in a chair just inside my bedroom door. He looked nervous, his eyes darting all around. Behind him, Mark was standing tall, arms crossed. His features were stern. In front of him,

Nicholas was pacing like a caged animal.

“Let’s go over this again,” Nicholas said. “In the middle of the night, you allowed someone who looked

like Piper to enter her rooms.”

The guard bounced his leg nervously. “That’s right, Sir. I’ve been told that she sometimes keeps strange hours, and that I shouldn’t ask too many questions.”

That was true. I had sneaked out a lot to meet with Nicholas and Julian, for our investigation. Or once, to k*ss Nicholas in the hallway. Although that hadn’t been my intention when I’d left the room.

Nicholas continued on, undeterred. “And when you saw this person last night, you allowed them into this room without asking the identifying question. Is that right?”

The guard swallowed hard. “That’s correct, Sir.” Above all else, this was the guard’s biggest failure. At

the very least, he owned up to it.

“He’s new to the rotation, Sir,” Mark said.

“I know he didn’t mean harm, but the cost could have been…” Nicholas glanced over at me, where I

attempted to distract Elva with her toys.

I knew what he was thinking. Jane could have killed me and Elva, or kidnapped one or both of us. We’d

been totally exposed, vulnerable, lying here asleep all night. Neither of us had been roused by my sister’s

silent footsteps.

Fortunately, after careful review of the room, the only thing that seemed to have been disturbed was the missing fabric.

“I deeply apologize, sir,” the guard said. “Whatever punishment you deem necessary, I will accept

without question.”

“Punishment is not the issue. The issue is what could have been lost if…” Nicholas sighed. “No. Head

back to the barracks while I decide what to do with you.”

The guard jumped to his feet and nearly tripped in his eagerness to follow his prince’s command. When

he was out the door, Mark slowly closed it again.

Nicholas leaves where he was to come to my side. He sits down beside us.

“Here, Nick–lass.” Elva hands him the doll she’s holding. “I have another in the closet!” She springs to her

feet and heads off to find it.

Nicholas looks at the doll, then lowers it. Instead, he holds one arm open for me, and I easily move

closer, slotting in at his side. He drops his forehead to my shoulder and for a moment, we just hold each

other.

I exhaled a shaky breath as some of the tension I hadn’t realized I’d held escaped my b*dy. In Nicholas’s

arms I felt safe in a way that I hadn’t all morning.

But I was angry too. My sister and my wolf had been so close, and I just slept straight through it.

“I let her get away,” I whispered.

“This isn’t on you, Piper. She never should have been allowed to get this close.”

“But she did. And I didn’t even wake up.”

“Piper…” He said it in warning, a warning based in concern. He must have known what I was going to say

even before I did.

“We have to find Jane, even if that means using the tunnels again.”

“She didn’t come through the tunnels. I asked for confirmation from my men.”

“It doesn’t matter. That’s our only lead. We know she’s connected to Terry.”

“We should wait,” Nicholas said. When I opened my mouth to argue, he quickly continued. “I’m not

saying never, but we should think about this first.”

“We have to act. Who knows what she’s planning? She was in here with Elva.” My voice breaks. “What if she is planning something with her? Nicholas…”

“Okay.” He squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll go. But not until tonight.”