Mated to Her Alpha Instructor (Eileen and Regis) novel Chapter 215

Chapter 215

Eileen

The morning light was too bright.

I woke to it streaming through the gap in the curtains, painting golden stripes across the rumpled sheets where Regis still slept beside me -which was unusual. He was always up before dawn, his internal clock tied to patrol schedules and training routines that didn’t care about things like mating celebrations or fruit wine hangovers.

But this morning he was sprawled on his stomach with one arm flung across my waist, his face pressed into the pillow, breathing deep and even. The mate mark on his shoulder blade–still visible where the sheets had slipped down–caught the light, and I felt a surge of affection so strong it made my chest ache.

Then I remembered Nina.

I’d meant to check on her last night. Had wanted to, knew something was wrong from the way she’d barely spoken at dinner, the tension I’d seen in every line of her body when Morgan and I had tried to reach out. But then Regis had pulled me into his arms with that rare, unguarded softness that only came out when he’d let his control slip, and I’d…

I’d let myself be distracted. Put my own comfort ahead of my friend’s clear distress.

Some friend you are.

I eased out from under Regis’s arm as carefully as I could, holding my breath when he stirred and mumbled something incoherent into the pillow. But he didn’t wake, just rolled onto his side and burrowed deeper into the blankets. I just quietly pulled on yesterday’s dress.

The hallway was quiet, most of the household still sleeping after last night’s celebration. My footsteps sounded too loud on the polished wood floors as I made my way to the guest wing where Nina’s room was. With each step the guilt twisted tighter–I should have come last night, should have insisted, what kind of person chooses romance over checking on someone who’s clearly struggling-

I knocked on her door. “Nina? It’s Eileen.”

Nothing.

I knocked again, harder this time. “Nina, I’m sorry I didn’t come by last night. I wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

My hands were shaking when I picked it up.

Had to return to camp. Dr. Hawthorne needs help. -N

The words blurred as I read them once, twice, three times, trying to make them mean something other than what they obviously meant. But there was no other interpretation. Nina was gone. Had packed up her few belongings and left sometime in the night while I’d been wrapped up in Regis’s arms, too caught up in my own happiness to notice my friend was in trouble.

“Regis.” I didn’t realize I was already moving until I was halfway down the hall, the note clutched in my fist. The bond between us flared bright as I pushed urgency and fear through it, a wordless come now, need you, something’s wrong that had him stumbling out of our room in his undershirt before I’d even reached the door.

‘Eileen? What-

“Nina’s gone.” I thrust the note at him, my voice coming out higher than I’d intended. “She left. Sometime last night, she just–she left.

I watched him read it, saw the moment his expression shifted from sleep–fogged confusion to sharp alertness. He was already reaching for his clothes, pulling on trousers and boots with the swift efficiency of someone used to emergencies. Did the servants see her leave?