Chapter Forty-Nine

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This chapter has 1166 words in it. SORRY FOR ANY SPELLING ERRORS. If you find any little stars at the end of any sentence, it's because while I'm writing, I go back and re-read what I've written to that point and I put a star at the end of the sentence I've already read so I know that that part has already been checked. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING SEBASTIAN TO 70,000 READS! I LOVE YOU ALL TO THE POINT OF INSANITY <3

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By the fourth day, Roy had healed almost entirely, aside from his eye. It was growing back, like he said it would, but it was an agonizingly slow process and made him so exhausted that he couldn't move from the mattress.

Isaac always insisted on sharing my mattress, and I always slept on one side while he slept on the other. Every time I woke up, though, I found myself pressed against his chest with his arm slung over me. It unnerved me, and I tried to take certain measures to ensure that we didn't end up that close together. I grabbed more blankets and fashioned them into a wall, but when I woke up the next morning, I was in the exact same spot I had been in day after day.

Isaac, however, didn't mind at all. He teased me relentlessly for it, and made halfhearted jokes about how I wanted him instead of Sebastian. As the days wore on, I grew more used to his bright attitude and eventually, I started to understand why he was so convinced that I felt something for him. I became more aware of him wherever we went, and the guilt that used to accompany thinking about him was gone. And, despite his easy banter and teasing, I saw how his eyes followed me, too.

Isaac taught me how to make his special soup, and he went out and hunted whenever I wanted fresh meat. We were content, even Roy, but we all knew we couldn't wait for Sebastian forever. It was getting colder, and we were running out of supplies. Roy didn't need to eat or drink, and I knew Isaac could keep us up to our heads in various meats, but we only had so much of the other things. If the lake nearby froze, we'd have no immediate source of water unless we melted it, and what would we use to gather the ice? We didn't have an ice pick, and even if Isaac could punch pieces off, he'd get frostbitten, or worse.

I tore the cooked meat into small chunks and dropped them into the large pot Isaac found, and poured some canned chicken noodle soup in with it. It was one our last can; Isaac said we should start putting the less perishable food back and saving it, because we needed to leave before it got much colder.

Suddenly, a pair of large arms were around my waist and I jerked away, almost spilling the pot of half-made soup. I whipped around and glared as Isaac laughed loudly, his sandy hair brushing the middle of his forehead as he bent forward and held his abdomen. It grew longer every day we were at the abandoned house, and I liked the shagginess of it, but I missed the way it used to curl at his ears. I reared my leg back and let it fly at his shin.

He caught my ankle and yanked it upwards, making me topple backward. Before my head could bang against the counter, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back up. He was still laughing, and he walked out of the room with his face beet red, muttering about how that was "too easy". I turned back to the meal I was making, glaring at the pot as I threw more ingredients in. I held it over the tiny, contained fire he showed me how to make, and soon, the whole tiny house smelled delicious.

I grabbed the bowls we usually used and scooped them into the pot, one at a time. After I wiped the soup off of the edges of them, I walked into the living room to give Isaac his. I got to the doorway and found him, but I nearly dropped both bowls onto the ground.

Isaac was standing in the doorway with his back to us, talking to Sebastian.

I stared and stared, wondering if what I saw was real. They talked quietly, calmly, but I didn't miss Isaac's tense arms where he had them braced against both sides of the doorway. It looked like he was trying to keep Sebastian from coming inside. With a start, I realized it was because Roy was still slumped on top of Isaac's mattress in the living room, and it broke me out of my daze. I turned and hurriedly placed the bowls on the tiny kitchen counter, and rushed over to Roy. He saw the urgency in my face, and understanding dawned in his eyes. I grabbed his arm and we ducked out of the room, leaving out the back door. He was sluggish, by a vampire's standards, and he stumbled forward and held himself up against a tree.

"Go," He said, his voice stronger than it was just a day before. I nodded and turned back, getting inside and closing the door.

Isaac was still talking to Sebastian, and I saw his arms relax; werewolves had a much better sense of smell than vampires, and where Sebastian wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference between the smells in the living room, Isaac could smell Roy's absence. Vampires couldn't really trace the scent of other vampires. I sprawled out across the mattress Roy was on, and scooted around a little bit at a time, carefully trying to mask his scent with mine.

Sebastian stepped inside, and his eyes immediately caught my face. Elmer had found his way onto the mattress with me, and I was grateful. It wouldn't add much to my scent, but it'd still help cover Roy's up.

He walked over slowly, watching me, and for a moment, I was certain that he smelled Roy all over the house. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead, and relief spread throughout my body. He didn't know. Isaac watched him kiss me, his eyes hardening and his arms crossing over his chest. When Sebastian leaned back up, he held out a hand. Fighting the urge to blurt out my maybe-feelings for Isaac, I took it, watching the werewolf in the room get noticeably tense. *

"Where have you been?" I asked, not bothering trying to mask the accusation in my voice. He sighed.

"I was captured not far from here. I was outside, looking for a water source, when a group of people found me. I tried to escape, but I couldn't." His voice was soft and I watched him carefully.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes. I've healed since then," He reassured.

I went and retrieved mine and Isaac's food, and we ate it in silence.

It was obvious that Sebastian was lying to me. He told us there was a lake nearby when we first got to the house. He could easily overpower hundreds of humans, but a group of them were too strong? And even if they did capture him, he'd have all sorts of tatters in his clothes and he definitely wouldn't look away as he spoke.

Sebastian was gone for a reason. And I was going to find out why.

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