Chapter 13: Chapter 13

HARLAN

Everlee walked back inside, and I smelled him all over her. She looked frustrated, and like she’d been crying.

I knew it wasn’t about their conversation, but about her turmoil. Every set of eyes in the cafeteria zeroed in on her. I swallowed my pride. “Are you okay?” I asked.

She faked a smile—~to me~. Like I didn’t know her. Like we hadn’t grown up together. “Yes.”

“Liar,” I said quietly.

She glanced over at me but didn’t offer me anything other than a frown. Bryiar cleared her throat and attempted to bring Everlee out of her mood. I tried to listen, but the smell of him lingered in the air taunted me.

It would forever be engrained in my mind. It wafted toward our table, and I half expected to see him coming over again, but he didn’t. He sat back down at his table, his light gaze shifted over toward me, and held.

Tension sizzled in the air between us. I knew he’d touched her outside. He knew, I knew. There was no ounce of apology in his features. Why would there be? He would do whatever he could to win her.

He lifted his brow in a silent threat. He dared me to do something. We both promised we wouldn’t fight, but my wolf begged me to drag him outside and hand him his ass. Clearing my throat, I grabbed my plate. “I’m meeting Kellan at the gym,” I said, turning to kiss her cheek. “I’ll meet you at my apartment later, okay? I want to show you something.”

“Sure,” she said.

She let me out, and I stalked across the cafeteria. The night air was humid, and it threatened to suck the life out of me. The university’s gym was across campus, and it was the one place I didn’t have to worry about running into him.

The alphas had their own gym.

Kellan stood outside, eyeing some girl that hadn’t even noticed him. “’Bout time,” he said. “I didn’t realize it took you that long to eat. Wow, what’s with the doom and gloom?” he asked.

I shoved past him, and into the cool lobby of the gym. “I don’t know how long I can tolerate this,” I said.

Kellan dropped his bag in the corner of the room and sat down to stretch. “I don’t know my mate, so I don’t really understand, but I can imagine. Dude is going to pull out all the stops, which is what you need to do, too.”

I swiped my palm down my face. “I promised I wouldn’t mark her, and I promised I wouldn’t fight him. Everything has to come from a relationship with her. How do you strengthen fifteen years of growing up together?”

Kellan laughed. “Listen, Rage is going to use the newness of their relationship to his advantage. You have to use your childhood, Harlan.”

I rolled my eyes. “I tortured her half of our childhood, Kellan. You helped me.”

He smiled. “Yeah, we were pretty brutal. Even though she beat our asses most of the time.”

I smiled and walked over to the nearest weight bench. “This girl I met, Nat, took me to a professor today. He gave me an old fairytale book about having two mates. It doesn’t look promising to be honest.”

Kellan walked around to spot me. “You’re reading fairytales in search of answers? Dude, you’re desperate.”

I leaned back. “I’m not too ashamed to admit that I am.”

Kellan handed me the bar, and began to spot me, when I noticed him look across the room. “What is it?” I asked, lifting the last rep.

“Some dude is staring at me. I must look hot today.”

I glanced over. The guy was clearly a lycan, his demeanor relaxed, and a cheesy smile on his face. “Look who it is. The lycan king’s son.”

I stalled. “Do I know you?”

He bent down to tie his shoe, and his dark hair fell into his dark eyes. “No, but I know you. Everyone knows you. You’re feuding with the alpha king for Ms. Everlee Allaire, the hybrid.”

Kellan snorted. “Someone get this guy a trophy. He knows his gossip.”

“And you’re the quirky sidekick that’s mateless, and alone,” he said, grabbing his bag from the floor.

Kellan cursed under his breath. “Who asked you?”

I put my palm out to stop Kellan. “Chill out,” I whispered to him. “You need something?” I asked, standing up beside the bench.

He stalled beside us, digging into his pocket, I half expected him to pull out a gun or his phone number. I wasn’t too far off. He flicked a business card between his fingertips and gestured it toward me. “There aren’t many lycans here, your pack is the only reason some of us are allowed. But we stick together.” He looked at Kellan. “Your little friend can come too.”

I looked down at the black card with a room number on it. “Come to what?”

“We’re not into that kinky stuff,” Kellan said.

“It’s a fraternity of lycans,” he said.

I flipped it over on the back, but nothing was there. “What’s your name?”

“Erick Ward,” he flashed me a smile. “Come by this Thursday. It’s initiation night.”

Kellan gave him a deadpan look as he walked out of the gym. “What a dickhole,” he mumbled, grabbing the card from my hand. “Lycan fraternity, at Werewolf University? Come off it,” he said, going to toss the card, but I grabbed it. He gave me an ~are you serious~ face.

“You never know,” I said, sitting back down on the bench. “We may need lycan friends in the future.”

He scoffed and took his place behind me. “Not those kind of friends. He looks like a skeez.”

~He did, but who knew what kind of friends I would need in the future.~

***

Everlee showered again before she came over to my apartment. She wore a summer dress, the dense humid wind lifted the hem of her skirt around her thighs, and my wolf paced circles wanting her inside with us.

I gripped her waist, and dragged her inside, making her smile and chuckle when I kicked the door shut behind us. “I missed you,” I said into her ear.

“Yeah?” she said leaning into my kiss. “I can remember a time you would toss anything within arms’ reach at my head when I walked into the room.”

I chuckled and dragged her onto my lap when I sat down on the sectional Alpha Allaire bought me for my birthday last year. “I won’t be tossing anything at you now, unless it’s me.”

She waggled her brow, and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I missed you, too. How was the gym with Kellan?”

“Good,” I said, sitting her to the side. “Kellan is Kellan.”

She stood up and started walking around my apartment. “You have no taste, Harlan. No pictures. No nothing. Maybe I should take Mom soon to get some decor for your apartment.”

I laughed, but my wolf loved the idea of her decorating for us. “You’re the only decoration I need for this place,” I yelled over my shoulder. “You want something to drink?”

“A water,” she said from behind me, closer than I realized. “Hey,” she said, turning me to face her. “What’s this?”

I glanced down at the worn storybook and cringed. I hadn’t wanted her to see it just yet. I wanted to ease her into it. I shut the fridge door and handed her bottle of water to her. “About that,” I said, leaning against the kitchen counter next to me. “I met this girl today named Nat in the library when I was looking for something to help with our situation.”

Everlee’s gaze turned up from the worn pages to me. “About having two mates? And you came home with a storybook?”

“Not exactly. There wasn’t anything I could find in the library, so Nat took me to one of her Professors. He gave me this to read. I’ve skimmed through it. Looks a little dark for a fairytale, but he said his mother read it to him when he was young.”

Everlee sat down on the arm of the chair and stared as she flipped the pages. She cringed with each one she read. “This is morbid. It’s…terrible,” she said, fear lacing her voice.

I reached over and snatched the book from her hands. “Hey!” she shouted.

“Let’s not ruin the evening reading bedtime stories from hell, okay?” I asked, pulling her to a standing position and into my arms. “He’s had time with you today. I need it now.”

Everlee sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Okay. You’re right. It’s a storybook. How about some ice cream and South Park? My treat.”

My inner wolf screamed ~yes~, but something Kellan said to me struck a nerve. I was her comfort from home, and Rage would use his newness to his advantage. I didn’t need to let her fall into the same ole routine with me.

I needed to spark a new flame that would burn deeper into her desires. I gave a mischievous smile, tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, and traced my thumb against her bottom lip. “I have another idea.”

She cocked a brow. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“Ever been skinny dipping?”

Everlee’s brow lifted to her hairline. “Skinny dipping? You’re serious. Where?”

I smiled. “There is a pond in the woods a few miles away. I see it when I run sometimes. We could run, and take a dip,” I said, tugging on the hem of her shirt.

Her adrenaline picked up. “I’m down for a quick dip. We won’t get into trouble, will we?”

I laughed. “We’re adults now, Ever. We’re not going to get into trouble, and if we do for some odd reason, I’ll take the fall.”

“Promise?” she said with a smile. “I’ll tell them my lycan mate forced me to strip and swim with him.”

My wolf howled at the thought of her taking her clothes off and being anywhere near me. “I’ll gladly take probation to be this close to you without clothes.”