Chapter 9: Chapter 9

I didn’t see Darius and Eva again on Sunday after they took off after breakfast. I spent most of Sunday training with the men, doing assignments, and later reading by the pool. I still didn’t see them by the time we all went to bed later that night. Not that I care.

Something is making a noise in the room next door…or rather somebody is making a noise. It’s loud enough to wake me up. I lie back in my comfy bed, blinking sleepily. It’s quiet now.

Maybe I was just dreaming.

I’m about to drift back into sweet, sweet oblivion when I hear it again. Oh gosh…what is that sound? It’s coming from Darius’s bedroom next to mine.

A sudden thought occurs to me. Is he having somebody in there? Unless he brought some other female lycan home, the only possible female he can be with is Eva. They have been spending a lot of time together. It shouldn’t be surprising.

Jealousy burns in my chest. I grit my teeth and clench my fist tightly. Nope! Nope! I’m not going to feel jealous. He’s not mine. He can do whatever he wants.

Arghhh!!! I pull a pillow over my face. I can still hear the noise.

Damn him! I pound on my pillow angrily wishing it was his face. Next thing I know, white soft down feathers are flying everywhere. What in tarnation!!!! Great. Just great Penny. You broke the damn pillow!

I blow the tiny soft feathers out as they try to settle on my nose and get into my mouth. I have to sit up after I start coughing feathers. Oh, goddess…I have feathers in my hair and in my throat.

The noise next door stops and I have feathers everywhere. I feel like a fucking chicken!

I’m so pissed off I can throw a tantrum right now.

I’m in such a bad mood this morning. I think I’m going to have a permanent scowl on my face. I return everybody’s good morning greetings except for Darius’s. I have my breakfast

quickly without giving him even a single glance. He tries to talk to me, but I pretend he wasn’t even here. I’m totally ignoring him this morning.

Everybody is giving me a weird look but doesn’t say anything.

Even Caspian is keeping his opinion to himself. I pretend not to notice the look of amusement and that smug little smile on Caspian’s face every time he looks at me. I’m more pissed off than ever at him this morning for giving Darius the room right next to mine. I feel like poking his eyes out with the spoon I’m using to eat my yogurt with. Stupid lycan prince.

Unfortunately, I still have to sit right in front of Darius at the breakfast table. I avert my face to one side so that I don’t have to sit facing him. I know that I’m behaving very childishly, but I’m too pissed off to care. I can feel him staring at me the whole time. His intense glacier blue eyes are burning holes on one side of my face.

Gosh! I feel like smacking his gorgeous face right now!

My class actually starts closer to noon today, but I’m catching a ride with Caspian and Serena this morning to be out of the house as early as I can.

I texted Lily that I’m going to be around campus early today and she’s meeting me at Club Espresso Degree with a cup of Cappuccino that I earned for approaching Daniel on Friday.

The place is busy in the morning. I’m grateful that Lily has already had a cup of my cappuccino ready along with a table for

two by the corner. It would have been quite impossible to get a place to sit at a time like this.

I sit down and blissfully sip my drink. Ahhh…the smell of cappuccino. Both Lily and I open our laptops to start working on our mounting assignments. I’m pushing the thought of Darius away and trying to concentrate on my essay due next Tuesday. Maybe I should take up yoga. Maybe I should’ve gone running in my wolf form and train till I drop instead coming here this morning. I’m still pissed.

I look up to see Lily staring at me oddly. She’s fidgeting and she’s sweating more than normal. I can smell it. Her breathing and heartbeat are odd too.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Why do you think something is up?”

“Lily…”

“You’re funny, you know. Not ha, ha kinda funny, but funny.

You know how can you read people so easily sometimes?

You’re like a witch or something. Not a bad witch, though…I’m not saying..”

Oh gosh, she’s blabbering. Something is up.

“Lily…”

“Okay, okay…but please don’t get mad okay?” She scrunches her face up. She takes a deep breath, blows it out slowly then

she continues, “I sorta hooked up with Daniel that night on Friday.” Her face turns bright red.

I burst out laughing. The look on her face is so funny!

“How do you sorta hooked up with somebody?” This should be interesting. “Wait. Why do you think I would get mad?”

“You mean you’re not mad?” she asks me back.

“Lily, the only person you have to worry about is probably Amanda. I’d say go for it if you’re into each other. He seems like a nice guy…it’s not a one-time thing sorta hookup is it?”

Lily is now staring at me with wide eyes. Lily is a very pretty half-Asian. She’s also very sweet. She might be boy crazy, but she’s not the type to go for random hookups. If Daniel hurt her, I might have to kick his ass.

“You’re telling me I had been worrying for nothing?” She shakes her head. “I thought I was breaking a girl code or something. Well…I guess if you’re living with that hot gorgeousness of a god, you wouldn’t care about mere mortal men. I know I wouldn’t.”

I think she’s referring to Caspian. I’ve given up on trying to convince her that nothing is going on between us. I think Caspian did too much damage on that one.

“So, you and Daniel? Wanna share any juicy tidbits?” I’m glad to be able to focus on something else instead of keep thinking about Darius. Darn it! There I go again, thinking about him.

“Yeah. Well, at the party, we went out back for some fresh air and we talked. We just clicked, you know…” she sighs dreamily.

“We went up to his room and talked some more. Then we made out,” her face turns red.

“Then what?” I ask eagerly. I know I’m being nosey, but hey, I’m not getting much action, might as well listen to some.

“Then he sent me home. He asked for my phone number and we’ve been texting yesterday and talked on the phone last night.”

“Uh…that’s sweet…but when you said hooked up, I thought….”

“You thought what?”

“Uh…nevermind. It’s nothing,” I say quickly. Oh boy, so much for a hookup story. I think this is why I like Lily so much. She’s so innocent, it’s cute. Daniel sounds like a keeper so far.

I walk out of my last class for the day with Lily, Amanda, and Keisha. Daniel comes up to meet us just outside one of the buildings on our way to the campus central food court. He’s grinning almost shyly at us. Lily has a shy smile on her own lips while her cheeks are tinged rosy pink. Oh, these two are so adorable! I could pinch their cheeks!

“Daniel!” exclaims Amanda wrapping her arms around Daniel’s waist, pressing her cheek against his chest. “You wanna grab the best Mexican food in town for lunch? I know a place. We can go there now. I can drive us there.”

It’s obvious her invitation doesn’t include us. Lily’s smile drops.

“Uh…” he glances uneasily at Lily, trying to disentangle himself out of Amanda’s arms. “I don’t feel like Mexican right now….but I want you to meet my friends, Mason and Cooper.”

I have to hold back my laugh. How very clever, He brings his wingmen along.

Both Mason and Cooper are tall. Not as tall as the lycans, but they’re an inch or two over six feet tall. Both Mason and Cooper play football. I think I saw Cooper at the party the other night.

Cooper is a flirt. He flirts with all of us girls, but before we even reach the food court, he got Amanda and Keisha distracted enough that Daniel is now able to walk behind us, talking quietly to Lily.

“So, Penny…how come I’ve never seen you around before?”

Mason asks me with a big smile. His blue eyes twinkling.

Mason is nice and I can see it right away that he’s interested. I wish I was interested in him as well.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve seen me around, maybe you’ve just never noticed me before.”

“Nope, I’m pretty sure I’ve noticed you if I’ve seen you,” he disagrees.

“Okay,” I answer. I’m not sure if I should flirt back when I’m not attracted to him. You’re only attracted to him if his name

was Darius and he looked like Darius, sounded like Darius, smelled like Darius. Stupid Penny!

His eyebrows lift up. “Okay?”

“Yea, okay.” I laugh. Screw attraction. I’m only looking for a distraction. If only it doesn’t come with a heavy dose of a guilty conscience.

By the time we reach the food court, I’m laughing at Mason’s remarks. He’s quite a funny guy. He seems confident enough by now to place his hand on my back.

As soon as we step in the food court, I stop on my track, causing the others to stop as well.

My heart starts to pound faster and my stomach clenches only when he’s around. Darius. His tall frame is leaning casually against the back wall. His hands are tucked into the pockets of his dark blue jeans. His gray henley is tight across his broad chest. The sleeves are pushed up to his elbow. My breath catches in my throat.

He stands out. Of course, he does. He’s a lycan. No human man could ever look as good or exude such power, danger, and masculinity as he does. He’s causing quite a stir with the women in the building. Most of the girls here are staring at him, but his eyes are trained solely on me. It looks like he’s been watching me for a while through the glass window even before I got into the building.

“Wow!” breathes Keisha from behind me.

“Uh, don’t tell me. You don’t know this one either, Penny?”

says Daniel jokingly.

I wipe my hand on my jeans as he pushes his shoulder off the wall and stalks his way unhurriedly over to where I’m standing.

This is not the first time that he reminds me with just his looks and the way he moves that he’s a dangerous predator.

His eyes are slowly surveying and assessing the humans around me. There are eyes following his every step

“If you don’t want him, can I have him?” asks Keisha with a nervous laugh and I turn to give her a deadly glare before I can stop myself.

“Persephone,” he says, his expression voids of any emotions.

His intense glacier blue eyes move to look at Mason who quickly removes his hand from my back in a hurry. I don’t blame him. It’s a gut reaction. Sub-consciously humans know danger when it’s staring them in the face.

“Darius,” I return, narrowing my eyes.

His eyes are regarding me intently. “We’re leaving.”

“You are. I’m not,” I mutter, tipping my chin up stubbornly.

Holding his intense stare challengingly.

A cold smile forms on his lips. His eyes light up with an answering challenge. The look on his face is telling me that I’m going with him one way or another. I should have known.

Lycans thrive on challenges. Challenges excite them.

Stupid lycans! I am seriously considering kicking him in the nuts right now. I know I wouldn’t win a physical fight with him.

I’d probably injure my foot instead of his nuts if I attempted that. His nuts are probably made of stone. Gah!!!! Stop thinking about his nuts!

Instead of giving him more challenges, I turn around and walk out of there, giving my friends a stiff smile.

A sleek black Mercedes coupe is waiting at the curb.

He opens the door and ushers me in before I could protest. He slides in the driver’s seat and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“For goodness sake! Why can’t you just leave me alone

already?” I explode. “You’re free to sleep with anybody you want, why can’t I do the same?”

He suddenly barks out a short harsh laugh. It sounds almost chilling. “I wish I was free to sleep with somebody that I want.

You have no idea, Malyshka,” he mutters bitterly under his breath. I glimpse a tortured look that flashes across his face before he turns to look away.

I just stare up at him. He’s looking straight ahead out of the front window of the car. I can only see his profile now, but he looks angry and bleak and almost sad. What does that mean? Is he talking about Polina?

That tortured look on his face is haunting. I’ve seen a lot of looks on his face, but never that one. Is she the one that he craves, but cannot have? I thought he had her already. What

happened? That thought hurts, but I understand the feeling well. Suddenly I feel overwhelmingly sad for him.

I touch his arm gently. His muscles jump and tensed up at my touch. In fact, his whole body tensed up. It’s as if my touch hurts him. Does he find my touch repulsive? I pull my hand back quickly. The thought hurts. So much.

When he turns to look at me, his eyes are shining brightly with anger and other emotions that I don’t quite understand.

“Is that what you really want?” he asks me suddenly. “Do you really want to sleep around with other men? You want to be with other men?” This time there’s no mistaken the hurt and jealousy in his eyes.

I don’t understand him. I can usually figure boys out with no problem. I usually know what boys want. I know exactly what they want to hear. Boys are mostly simple creatures with basic wants. This man though confuses me to no end.

I can’t let my sympathy for him cloud my judgment though. He has his life, he can’t run my life as well. I have to live my life the way I want to, especially since he chooses not to be in it.

“What I really want shouldn’t be your concern…”

“But it is. It’s my fault. If it’s not for me, you would’ve wanted to wait for your mate. I don’t want you to do this because of me,” he interrupts. “You will wait for your mate.”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself. Don’t you ever stop to think that this has nothing to do with you? That maybe I want to do this

because I want to? Maybe I need the experience to please my mate one day?”

His skin paled, for a second he looks almost sick. There’s that tortured look again. Then he closes his eyes and turns his face away to look outside.

He’s sitting there gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles are turning white. If he doesn’t ease up soon, I think he’s going to break it.

“If he has you, he doesn’t need anything else. He doesn’t need your experience,” he mutters under his breath, almost in an inaudible whisper. So low, I almost missed it.

What does that mean? Why is he saying this? Why is he saying something like this when he clearly doesn’t want me? Why would he do this when he’s clearly in agony, yearning for some other woman?

I can’t believe we’re sitting here discussing my sex life. This is beyond bizarre.

I don’t know what else to say. My heart clenched painfully. It hurts to know that he craves someone else, but how can I hate him when we’re in the same boat? We’re both wanting

someone we cannot have.