Chapter 53 - The Call

The first of his friends who decided to give him a chance was none other than Rory. It was just Sunday when he called, and when Evan saw his name on his phone screen, he was excited. Rory was the only one to whom he could explain the whole situation, that is if he gave him a chance.

"Hey, Ro," he greeted, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. He didn't want to get his hopes up ahead of time when he didn't know if Rory would give him a chance. Moreover, Evan had no idea if anyone had told him what had happened. Their group chat had been empty for the second week, but he had no doubt that they were communicating with each other differently.

"Hey E," his voice sounded normal, which made Evan nervous. He didn't know if he should prepare for the fact that he would have to defend himself right away, or if Rory was just calling him normally. Maybe he even had another supernatural problem.

"Why are you calling?" He decided to get straight to the point before his thoughts started eating away at him. His friend on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then sighed, and Evan immediately understood that this was no ordinary phone call.

"I heard about you and Kieran," he began, but his intonation suggested he wasn't done yet, "I also heard that you didn't explain to anyone. I kind of thought you might for me." So Rory thought it was a supernatural problem and he was right.

"Are you at home?" Evan asked him instead of answering. He had to make sure no one overheard their conversation. Although no one in Walley Lane knew him, it was still a risk.

"Yeah?" Rory was clearly taken aback.

"Alone?" he asked another question. Evan himself was just now alone at home, as his parents were with some of their friends, so he didn't have to worry that he would overhear their phone call.

"Yeah, I'm alone," he confirmed. It looked like nothing was stopping Evan from confiding in him. So he took a deep breath, curled up comfortably in the blanket, and for the first time, began to explain the whole situation to someone who was not directly involved in it.

"I broke up with Kieran," he said, although Rory already knew that. "I couldn't be with him any longer, and in fact, I shouldn't have gotten together with him at all."

"Why?" Rory immediately cut him off as if he was afraid that Evan was going to leave that detail out. Not that it was just a detail.

"It's complicated," Evan sighed. "Werewolves and dating don't go together. Most werewolves find one partner for life when they're still teenagers." He was a perfect example of that.

"I've been reading something online," Rory admitted after a moment of silence. Evan's face turned into a grimace, imagining what his friend could find on the internet. He also once tried to find some information in the same way, and most of the things he found were short stories from humans that were full of perversions.

"I don't know if I want to know what you found," he stated, hoping that his friend wouldn't pull any questions about sex in wolf form on him.

Rory cleared his throat, and from the awkward silence that followed, Evan figured he was right about what his friend had probably figured out.

"I didn't want to question you, but honestly I should have. I've never seen so much written porn." His answer made Evan laugh, and Rory immediately joined in.

"There's one thing I'm curious about though," Rory was the one who decided to continue the conversation first, "and I wanted to know if there was any truth to it." He then paused, waiting for Evan's reaction.

"You can ask me anything, Rory," Evan assured him before adding, "You already know my biggest secret." It was true. Whatever else Evan could tell him didn't even make up for the fact that he wasn't really human.

"Do wolves really have soul mates? It's the only thing that was the same in all the stories I read. I mean, they weren't called soul mates, just mates."

Evan was surprised, even though he knew about it before. He had no idea where people got this information from, but he personally thought that some of the unconventional pairings, as they called human-wolf pairings, had leaked it.

"Yes, werewolves have mates," he didn't deny.

"And Kieran is not yours." It was not a question but rather an affirmation. At the same time, it was this sentence that brought them back to the original topic of their conversation.

"No, he isn't. And before you ask, I know who my mate is," he decided to confess right away before he started to panic.

"Okay," Rory was obviously trying to encourage him to say more.

"I always knew I had a mate somewhere. Wolves have a special ability. I shouldn't tell you, but it doesn't matter anyway," despite the seriousness of the conversation, he chuckled shortly.

"Once a year we get to look through each other's eyes for a few seconds. We never know when it's going to happen or what we're going to see. It's completely random and you don't know if you're going to see something that will help you figure out who it is right away or if you're going to see something useless. It's really random," he tried to explain as best he could to someone who had no idea about it before.

"That's so cool," Rory said almost dreamily. Evan never thought of it as anything special but hearing it from a human's point of view must have been really interesting. Magic was truly fascinating in its essence, and Evan only knew a fraction of it.

"What did you see?" there was undisguised curiosity in Rory's voice.

"A lot of things from the useless ones to his name. It even happened to me once that we were watching the same series at the same time and it took me a while to realize that I was no longer watching with my own eyes," he revealed. Evan thought it was pretty fascinating himself, so he had no doubt that Rory would be thrilled.

"Shit," he responded exactly as Evan expected, "That sounds so amazing, E. I was already quite envious of you, but now even more so."

Evan laughed at his enthusiasm, determined not to spoil his joy with all the disadvantages he had managed to come up with in his lifetime.

"In the last vision I had, I saw a diner in North Hallson and a guy I know. Since I knew his name, it wasn't hard to guess who he was," he began explaining again.

"So he's from North Hallson?" Rory asked.

"No, just his cousin, who he temporarily moved in with." Evan didn't like the thought that the moment this school year was over, Ryan would have to go back home. Although, he had found himself thinking about going with him several times in the past few days. After all, nothing was keeping him at Marwell anymore.

"Are you together?" Rory managed to surprise him with a question and Evan had to remind himself that he still hadn't explained everything to him, otherwise, he would be mortified that his friend thought he was able to cheat on Kieran.

"I didn't cheat on Kieran," he stated straight away. "No, we're not together. I met him a few months ago, and I've been trying to avoid him, so I wouldn't jeopardize my relationship with Kieran." Which he clearly failed to do.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that." Rory only now seemed to realize what he had said. "So what changed?"

"It's hard to explain. We are literally soul mates. It works exactly as it sounds. Our souls work like magnets and when they are in a small distance, they will do everything to be together. Avoiding your mate is practically impossible. Trust me, I found that out first-hand," he sighed. He didn't regret meeting Ryan, but sometimes he wished he had approached it differently from the beginning.

"So you were dating Kieran while your soul longed to be with someone else," Rory stated. It sounded terrible out loud like that, but it was true.

"Yeah, pretty much," Evan agreed, hoping Rory would understand. He obviously needed to think about it, as the phone went silent again. However, Evan did not want him to come to false conclusions, so he decided to explain further as best he could.

"I still love Kieran, but I started having feelings for Ryan too, even though I didn't plan on it. I never acted on them and tried to spend as little time as possible with him, hoping they would go away. But that didn't happen, and I found out that I am complicating life not only for myself, but also for the two of them, although they didn't know about it," he said, and then he too paused. He blurted it out so quickly that he didn't realize what he had said at first. He never admitted his feelings for Ryan out loud. At least not until now.

"So Ryan." He didn't even realize he hadn't told Rory his name before. It made him realize that even though Rory didn't know his name, he knew a lot more. He just didn't know if he remembered.

"You've actually seen him before," he admitted. "At the Depot, he sat next to me when you wanted to talk." Although Evan didn't remember everything from that night, he didn't forget this detail.

"Wait," Rory didn't seem to expect that answer and was clearly thinking about it now. A chuckle escaped Evan. He had no doubt that Rory was trying his best to remember, as his focus at that moment was on Evan and the conversation that awaited them and not on his company.

"Black hair, charming smile, pretty hot?" The description fitted him perfectly, but Evan's insides clenched with jealousy for a moment. It was illogical and Evan had no reason to be jealous at all, but his wolf felt that no one else had the right to think about Ryan like that.

Panicking in his thoughts, Evan didn't realize a growl escaped his mouth.

"E?" Rory's voice sounded uncertain, but he still managed to get Evan out of his head, and he quickly realized what he had done. Despite the fact that his friend did not see him, he turned red.

"Sorry, wolves are pretty territorial, and I didn't even realize..." he spat out almost stuttering as he felt embarrassed. He didn't know what kind of reaction to expect from Rory, but he certainly didn't expect him to burst out laughing. The sound of his laughter caused Evan to calm down and stop panicking.

"I'd say I want to meet him, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea," he said amused.

"Don't worry, I'll be tame. I'll be happy to introduce you to him the next time you're here. I'd say we'll pay you a visit, but I don't know if it would be a good idea to disturb the witches' grounds," he admitted. Wolves didn't like it when a stranger stepped into their territory, and he had no doubt that the same was true of witches.

"Tell me about it," Rory sighed. Apparently, the situation hadn't improved that much since he knew the truth.

"It didn't go well?" Evan asked. Their conversation took a different turn again, but Evan didn't mind at all that he wasn't being talked about anymore.

"It's complicated," he began, and Evan found it funny how they both started the conversation the same way.

"I thought it was bad before when I thought I was crazy, but I feel like it's even worse now. I try to act like nothing has changed, but I feel like scolding Alex every time he's not careful in front of me. He still hasn't explained anything to me, and it's his fault that I even know about it. Who shows someone the supernatural world and then doesn't explain anything?" he sighed again, and Evan couldn't help but agree.

"Maybe you should confront him?" he suggested. Evan didn't like confrontation himself, but Rory was different. Although he was younger than him, he had the courage for both of them.

"At first I wanted to, but then I told myself that two can play this game. The other day, the power went out, and I said in front of all our friends that they don't mind anyway, since they can light themselves. I didn't see their expressions, though, but I was having fun," he snickered.

"I'm quite sorry I didn't see it," Evan admitted. Rory was resourceful, so he had no doubt that this wasn't the last time he'd teased them like that. They had no idea yet what they had caused.

"I want to hear all the ironic remarks you come up with later though," he added, and Rory was more than thrilled to agree.

"I'll keep you updated, but the same goes for you," his friend warned him.

"Deal," he immediately agreed, knowing that otherwise he would only get information from their friends, and they weren't very fond of him right now. Plus, he was quite curious about new knowledge about witches since he only knew the basics about them.

Their conversation was cut short as the doorbell rang on Rory's side, and it was no longer safe for them to communicate. So they promised to text each other and quickly said goodbye. Despite the premature ending, Evan was glad for their conversation. Rory was on his side, and his list of friends was expanded by another person. Although he lost the war, he won another battle.

With that thought in his mind, he focused on his phone screen again and found the conversation with Angie to tell her the good news.