Chapter 18: Chapter 18

HARLAN

“Where is she?” Bryiar asked the next morning. “She said she was leaving in a few minutes. It’s been thirty since I left our room. She’s going to miss breakfast altogether.”

I couldn’t wait for her to make it either, because Bryiar hadn’t shut up since she sat down fifteen minutes before.

I shrugged. “I haven’t heard from her today, Bryiar.”

Bryiar huffed.

I continued to eat my food, not all that hungry, but enough that I could nibble on it. Ever walked into the cafeteria alone, and thankfully I didn’t smell Rage on her. She made her plate, avoiding our gazes from across the room, and finally walked over.

She smiled though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Hey, about time!” Bryiar said, kicking Ever’s leg under the table. “You totally missed out on a win yesterday, girl. We kicked the alpha’s asses! All of ‘em,” she laughed. “I should have brought my cell phone, and I would have taken a picture.”

Ever chuckled. “Yeah, I wish I hadn’t missed it either.”

~She could have stayed~, my wolf mumbled.

~Stop it. She can’t fight her wolf,~ I countered.

~Whatever, who asked you,~ he said.

“What’s the matter?” I finally asked.

She looked over with her pretty hazel gaze. “Can we talk after breakfast? I need to tell you something.”

Unable to stop it, my gaze lowered to her neck, and I knew she wouldn’t do it, but my wolf needed to be sure. To be sure she didn’t let the wolf mark her. “You seriously think I would let him do that?” she asked.

I swallowed. “My wolf is pissy today,” I answered.

She frowned and turned back to her plate. “I get it.”

Bryiar looked between the two of us, and suddenly finished eating. “I’m super full. I’ll see you guys at lunch, okay?”

Ever hardly acknowledged her, but once she left, she turned to face me. “Where were you last night?”

~I know she didn’t~, my wolf snarled.

“Where was I?” I asked, my mouth open, my fork full of food. “You were the one with another wolf.”

She rolled her eyes. “Like I asked for this,” she mumbled. “I was blindsided by some lycan at dinner last night. He sat right beside us and started telling me about you joining their fraternity.”

I sat back and dropped my fork against my plate. “Eric said something to you about the fraternity?”

“Yeah, and to be honest, he gives me the creeps, Harlan.”

“The creeps?” I asked with a chuckle. “He’s just cheesy, Ever. What harm can he bring? It’s just a fraternity for the small group of lycans on campus. We’re completely outnumbered.”

She gave me a grim look. “Something isn’t right about him, Harlan. I don’t know what it is.”

“You were with Rage?” I asked, my theories on why she didn’t like him building by the second.

“Yeah, but—”

“But what?” I asked. “Rage didn’t like him, so you didn’t? What did he do that made you uncomfortable, Ever.”

Ever swallowed, and that vein in her forehead throbbed, meaning she was getting more pissed by the second. “He was creepy and passive aggressive. I don’t appreciate the way he walked all the way over toward our table and sat down. He was taunting Rage.”

Turning to face her, I fought back my wolf who blamed everything on Rage. “I’m sure he wasn’t. I’ll talk to him though, okay? Will that make you feel better?”

“Yes,” she said, turning to face her plate. “I’m not making it up.”

“I believe you,” I said.

She took another bite. “I have something else to tell you.”

~Oh boy~, my wolf grumbled.

“What is it?”

“Rage’s pack invited me to their pack house for the weekend, and I said yes.”

My wolf growled, sending a pressure against my skin to shift. She wanted to spend the weekend with him? Alone in his pack house? That was a disaster waiting to happen. It was asking him to mark her and lock her away for the rest of her life.

“Say something,” she whispered.

I swallowed the batch of acid in my throat and drummed my fingertips against the table. “I—I don’t know what you want me to say, Ever? That I’m excited that you’re going to his pack house, because I’m not. I hate the idea of you being so far away from me. I hate that he’ll have you alone for two days. I don’t trust him. I don’t like him, and I’m not going to give you my blessing. The only reason I’m doing this is because I have no other choice.”

Tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes, and she tucked her bottom lip into her mouth. I knew this wasn’t her fault, but I couldn’t stop the feelings that my wolf tossed at me.

His hate fed the dread I had in my heart.

It was a disaster being brewed from the inside of me.

It was a cauldron of hurt.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, standing up and grabbing her plate. She’d hardly eaten anything when she turned and tossed her food into the trashcan. She didn’t even glance back before she pushed through the doors.

It left me sitting in the booth feeling lonelier than ever before.

***

My classes were a blur. I’d taken notes, and when I looked down at my notepad at the end of the class, I hadn’t remembered writing any of it. My mind kept traveling back to Ever spending the weekend with Rage.

My wolf grew more pissed every time it crossed my mind.

By the time I made it to my apartment after classes, I was exhausted from fighting him. I wanted to shift and give him a break, but I decided not to.

I just needed some shuteye, and I’d be better. I wanted to call Ever over before she was whisked away to Rage’s pack for the weekend, but I wasn’t sure she wanted to see me or not.

She looked sad, and hurt at what I’d said to her, but she needed to understand that it was torture for me. I grabbed a water bottle from my nightstand and noticed the fairytale sitting on the edge of my chest-of-drawers.

I hadn’t looked at it since the night Ever skimmed over it.

The thought made my stomach sick.

~Just read and see what it says,~ my wolf said. ~It won’t hurt.~

Using my water bottle like a basketball, I tossed it into the trashcan nestled into the corner of my room. The worn pages crinkled when I turned them, and gave in, dragging it onto my lap as I sat on my bed.

~You’re the one that told me it was just a book~, I replied, opening the pages.

~Exactly. It’s just a book, so read it, I’m bored,~ he said.

Rolling my eyes, I turned to the second page.

I skimmed over the part I’d already read and flipped to the third page. There was a huge black wolf drawn on the page, with a crescent moon on his forehead. On the adjacent page was a lycan, big and black, he snarled at the reader.

My hands began to grow cold when I flipped to the next page.

~Two loves. Two souls.~

~One wolf. One death.~

~The little wolf was caught between the two roads that parted. Either way, she would rot from the stench of love departed.~

~The loves will battle to and fro, fighting to be their savior’s beau. Being she was one of each, many moons she will seek, for answers on who to love.~

~For answers gifted from above.~

~Stop,~ my wolf whined. ~It’s so boring.~

I closed the book, giving in easily to his request to put the book down. I didn’t like the coincidence of the story.

I didn’t like anything about it.

Part of me wanted to take the book back to the professor, and never look at it again. But something told me to keep it. Something inside.

Putting it on my desk chair, I walked toward the bathroom for a quick shower. I needed to wash away the grime of the day, and that depressing book.

When I finished, I felt her before she knocked. I answered the door in my basketball shorts and a frown. “I thought you were leaving.”

“I am,” she whispered. “I wanted to tell you bye, and at least try to settle whatever this is before I left.”

I opened the door wider, allowing her inside. She stalled beside me and wrapped her arms around my neck. My wolf relaxed, and though I didn’t want to, I relaxed with him. “Why don’t you go home for the weekend? See mom and dad?” she asked.

It wasn’t a bad idea, but it felt like a cop-out for her to suggest it. “I don’t know,” I said, pulling back. “I know they’re probably glad to be alone, ya know?”

She rolled her eyes. “They have forever for that. Go see ‘em. Talk to dad.”

~Talk to dad.~ Was she suggesting I get advice? I didn’t know, but I didn’t pry. I wanted to avoid creating another argument. “Are you going to the game with Kellan?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think I am.”

“That’ll be fun.”

I smiled. “Yeah, it will be. Sorry I can’t take you.”

“Maybe next weekend?” she asked. “There is a game two parishes over. We can make a date to go there.”

“I like that,” I said, bending down to kiss her softly. “You better go,” I said through tight teeth. “I need to call Kellan, and you two need to get on the road.”

She looked nervous as hell, and I felt her heart thumping wildly. “You’re nervous?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said exasperatedly. “I’m not used to a traditional pack. I’m a hybrid. What if they’re mean?”

I laughed. “Rage is one of your fated mates. He won’t let anyone hurt you, and if he does, you better take him off the list of takers before I do.”

“You’re right,” she said, nodding. “I’m overreacting.” Her gaze shifted toward the clock. “I better go. Please have fun this weekend, and don’t worry about me.”

~Yeah right,~ my wolf mumbled.

“Go,” I said, tasting the acid in my throat. “Be careful.”

“I will,” she said, kissing my cheek. I watched her leave my apartment and walked down the sidewalk. My entire body longed for her, but I swallowed it down.

Because I knew Rage felt the same dread when she came to see me. And next weekend, I wouldn’t let him have a chance to take her away from me.