Chapter 6 #2
The quiet part is loud.
I hear Sybil’s sharp inhalation. Then, “Oh, Selene,” she says softly. After a moment she adds, “Are you happy?”
“Um…” I take in my ring again, my stomach feeling fluttery. “Yeah, I think…I am.”
She screams again. “I’m so happy for you! Even though Memnon still is an asshole, and also it was massively rude that you didn’t invite me to the wedding—”
“It was more of an elopement situation.”
“—I’m still happy for you. But if Memnon reverts to being more of a demon than a sex god, just tell me. I now know some shifters.”
“Is this a murder-for-hire situation?” I say. “Because if it is, Sybil, I’m flattered.”
“You should be,” she says.
It’s quiet for a beat before I ask, “Do you need me to pick up any of your assignments while you’re gone?”
I swear even in the silence following the question I can sense Sybil’s mood change, growing more forlorn.
“That’s sweet of you, but I’m in contact with my instructors. They’re emailing me the assignments and lecture notes. Apparently this happens more often than one would think.”
This being her transformation from woman to werewolf.
“Okay,” I say softly, treading lightly here, “well, let me know if that changes. I can always help.”
“It’s strange to even hear you offer a favor like that,” she confesses.
Because these sorts of casual, detail-oriented memories used to often get eaten up by my magic. I have notebooks full of banal reminders like picking up or turning in assignments.
“Yeah,” I agree, feeling funny about the whole thing. A little sad, a little happy, and a little conflicted that I feel so, well, conflicted.
“Anyway,” I say, subtly pivoting the conversation, “if shit gets weird over there, call me and I will come. I don’t care what the rules are, I will be there for you. I’m not afraid of you shifting on me.”
I’m actually low-key terrified, but my love for my friend far eclipses that fear.
“Deal,” she agrees. “In unrelated news, Kane’s been super moody recently.” As she speaks, her tone brightens, clearly enjoying the subject change. “Aggressive, edgy, prone to partial shifts.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because it’s obviously about you.”
I scoff. “How can you possibly believe that?”
“Come on, Selene, do not delude yourself. The guy has been pursuing you ever since you showed him a scrap of attention at that one party.”
“Yeah, he’s also been handling a lot of really shitty pack situations over the last several weeks. We’re all on edge.”
“Yeah, but Sawyer told me that Kane believes his wolf chose you. Apparently that’s a big deal. And then you said no. Alphas don’t get told no that often. And a certain someone isn’t taking it well.” Sybil sounds far too pleased about that.
I laugh. “Enjoying someone else’s suffering is not nice.”
“I can enjoy his or wallow in mine. And I’ve already wallowed plenty.”
I shake my head, still smiling.
“It is too bad that it didn’t work out between you two,” Sybil says. “We could’ve been witchy wolves together.”
I stop myself from making a face at the syrupy-sweet future she’s envisioning.
“Look who the clingy one now is,” I say instead.
“Whatever, go enjoy your demon sex. You’ve earned it, you deviant.”
“I will. Howl at the moon at least once for me.”
She cackles, then hangs up.
Before I set my phone aside, I flop onto my bed, making Nero’s body bounce a little in the process. He gives me a disgruntled look. Honestly, this is the least I can do when it comes to irritating him.
Wrapping an arm around his neck, I take a selfie and send my mother the obligatory proof of life photo, along with the accompanying message:
Selene Bowers
Still alive!
This was the agreement she and I came to after she learned of some (but definitely not all) of the shenanigans happening on campus that directly or indirectly involved me.
She wanted to leave the extended trip she and my dad were taking around Europe, and I didn’t want that.
So now I send her proof that I’m alive and she can blithely drink her way through several foreign countries. My mom texts back:
Mom
Smartass
Also, cute kitty
“Awww, she thinks you’re cute,” I say aloud to my panther.
Nero gives me a supremely annoyed look, then proceeds to shift out of my arms so he can lick his own butt.
I guess that’s how he feels about that. Another message comes in.
Mom
Soon you won’t have to send me these texts—we’re coming home in two weeks.
I nearly drop the phone. Two weeks?
See, the thing is, there’s a lot that I still haven’t told my mom.
Like the fact that I no longer lose memories when I use my magic.
Or that I lived a whole previous lifetime I can now also remember.
Or the fact that I can now recall all of this is because a two-thousand-year-old sorcerer I woke from enchanted sleep lifted the curse I accidentally placed on myself all those years ago.
Oh, and that sorcerer happens to be a bloodthirsty warlord who also assumed I betrayed him, so as payback, he framed me for murder and forced me to marry him, but not before I made him my magical servant for a period of time.
Oh, and we’re soul mates.
And that’s not even touching on what’s been happening on and off Henbane campus.
I glance at my ring askance.
I should’ve fucking taken the annulment when it was offered to me. How am I possibly going to explain this to my parents? My stomach knots up as I send my mom a final text.
Selene Bowers
Can’t wait