8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
J essica
Ander laughs.
I'm halfway across the courtyard with a coffee in one hand, half listening to Sophia complain about her community rotation, when the sound makes me stop.
Thirty feet away, under the covered walk, Ander Ardent has his head tipped back and he's laughing.
Actually laughing.
I've known this man for a year. I've seen him irritated, cold, pissed off, and once silently furious through an entire dinner. I've seen him look at people like he could have them removed from the building without ever raising his voice.
I've never seen him like this.
There's a woman standing beside him, dark blonde and about our age, maybe a little older, wearing a fitted coat and flipping through a folder while she talks.
Whatever she said to make him laugh, she doesn't seem particularly impressed with herself, because she keeps reading while Ander looks at her with a smile still hanging around his mouth.
Then she reaches over and straightens his collar.
He lets her.
He doesn't move away or give her one of his looks. He barely seems to notice, which somehow makes it worse.
"Jessica."
"What?"
"You stopped walking."
I start again. "No, I didn't."
"You definitely did."
"I'm drinking my coffee."
Sophia follows my eyes toward the covered walk, then looks back at me.
I take another drink. "Who's that?"
"Who's who?"
"You know who."
Her mouth twitches. "Linnea Vane."
"Okay. Who's Linnea Vane?"
Sophia takes a bite of her pastry, and there's just enough hesitation before she answers that I lower my coffee.
"What?"
"She and Ander grew up together. Their families are close."
"How close?"
"Close enough that everyone assumes they'll get married eventually."
I nearly stop walking again but catch myself this time.
"Married."
"Eventually."
"To each other."
Sophia gives me a look. "Generally how it works."
I look back at them.
Linnea has moved closer to show Ander something in the folder, their shoulders touching while she points at the page. Ander says something I can't hear, and she smiles without looking up.
My stomach twists.Which is ridiculous.
Ander isn't my mate. He's never so much as hinted that he wants to be my mate, and half the time I'm not entirely convinced he likes me.
"Good for them," I say.
Sophia makes a noise.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You made a noise."
"I breathed."
"You breathed judgmentally."
That gets a smile out of her, which is annoying because now she thinks she's right about something.
"I thought wolves had fated mates."
"Some do. Most don't."
"I know that."
"Do you?" Sophia glances at me. "Because you've got two of them and you've been here five minutes."
"I've been here a year."
"Exactly. Five minutes."
I ignore that. "So Ander just marries her?"
"I didn't say that. I said everyone expects it."
"What's the difference?"
"A fairly important one if you're Ander."
That pulls my attention away from the covered walk.
Sophia shrugs. "Their families have been close forever. Linnea's family is old, rich, politically useful, all the things Great Houses like. They've known each other since they were kids, and everyone decided a long time ago that they'd make sense together."
"Did Ander decide?"
"I have no idea."
"Did she?"
"I don't know that either."
"You're surprisingly short on information for someone who just ruined my morning."
"I didn't ruin anything. You asked."
I did.
That's the irritating part.
I look over again, and this time Ander is already looking at me.
The smile is gone.
His eye twitches and there he is again—the Ander I know.
Linnea notices where he's looking and turns toward us.
"Oh, shit."
Sophia follows my gaze and immediately changes direction.
"No."
"We're going this way."
"We were not going this way."
"We are now."
"Sophia."
"Linnea!" she calls.
I'm going to kill her.
Linnea closes the folder as we approach. "Sophia Dimitriou. You still owe me for the seating plan."
"I improved the seating plan."
"You put my uncle beside his ex-wife."
"You said you wanted people to mingle."
"For the first time in twenty-three years, they did."
"And it was better, " Sophia insists.
Linnea turns to me, and I brace.
I've had four weeks of this. People recognize me, their eyes get a little wider, and then I get some version of what was it like? Or, worse, can you do it now?
"I've been wanting to meet you," she says.
Here we go.
"Sophia says you made Faris lose an argument in public."
I look at Sophia.
Sophia looks away.
"I didn't win. She used my own essay against me."
Linnea smiles. "Faris doesn't do that often. She much prefers to use her own words against people. Good for you."
She holds out her hand. "Linnea Vane."
"Jessica Miller."
"I know."
And that's it.
No direwolf. No bear. Nothing about April or the Council. She turns back to Sophia and asks how her community rotation is going.
I take a drink of coffee.
Well, shit.
I was prepared for a lot of things. I wasn't prepared to like her.
Soren joins us a minute later, appearing beside Ander so quietly I don't notice him walk up. He gives me a nod, and I give him one back.
Linnea turns back to Ander. "Are you coming tonight?"
"I said I was."
"You said that last year too."
"I came."
"An hour late."
"I was busy."
"You were hiding."
Soren makes a sound beside him that might actually be agreement.
Ander looks at him. "Don't."
Linnea laughs and reaches up to straighten Ander's collar again. "There. At least try to look like you want to see your family."
"I don't."
"I know."
And that's the part that gets me. Not the hand on his collar. Not even the fact that he lets her do it. Again.
It's the I know.
She says it without asking why, and Ander doesn't explain.
Of course he doesn't. She's known him since he was a kid. She probably knows every person he hates and why, which family dinners he avoids, and which ones he shows up late to.
And apparently that bothers me. Which is ridiculous. You cannot get butterflies over every hot guy who looks at you, Jessica.
Especially this one.
Ander has shown exactly zero interest in me. He's not my mate, he's never acted like he wants to be, and there's a beautiful blonde standing beside him who's known him since he was six.
So get over it.
My stomach gives another stupid little flip.
Great. Glad we settled that.
"Jessica?"
"What?"
"We're going to be late."
"Right."
Someone from the administration building comes looking for Ander and Soren, and the two of them leave with him. Ander looks back once before they go inside.
I pretend not to notice.
"I need to grab something," Sophia says.
I look at her.
She smiles.
"You don't need anything."
"I'll see you in class."
"Sophia."
She's already gone.
Which leaves me standing under the covered walk with Linnea.
For a few seconds neither of us says anything.
I should leave.
"So," I say. "You and Ander."
Oh, Jesus Christ.
Linnea looks at me.
"Forget I said that."
Her mouth curves. "No."
"Please."
"It's fine."
"It's really not."
"We've been getting that question for years."
"Sophia said everyone thinks you're going to get married."
"Everyone includes our families."
"Are you?"
"There's no engagement, if that's what you're asking."
"I wasn't."
"You were a little."
"Yeah."
She shifts the folder under her arm. "We've known each other since we were children. Our families are close. For a long time everyone has assumed that if neither of us found a fated mate, we'd probably end up together."
I look toward the administration building.
"Do you want to?"
Linnea is quiet long enough that I regret asking.
"Sorry. That's none of my business."
"No, it's not."
"Right."
She smiles a little. "But I don't know."
I look at her.
"I love him," she says.
My stomach drops so fast it's embarrassing.
"I've known him since I was six. Of course I love him." She looks down at the folder for a second. "I just don't know if that means I want to marry him."
"Oh."
"It's hard to know, I suppose, when people have been telling you how it's going to end since you were little."
She says it with a hesitation that keeps me from asking anything else.
Her phone buzzes.
"I have to go."
She starts toward the administration building.
"Linnea?"
She turns.
"It was nice to meet you."
"You too, Jessica."
I make it until after class before I see Ander again.
I'm coming out of the history building when I spot him on the path, alone now. I consider taking the long way back, decide that's ridiculous, and keep walking.
He doesn't.
Ander stops directly in front of me.
"Can I talk to you?"
"That depends."
His eyes narrow slightly. "On what?"
"Whether you're going to be pleasant. I've had a long day."
"I'm serious, Jessica."
"So am I."
For once he doesn't rise to it. He glances toward the building behind me, then lowers his voice.
"Stay away from Linnea."
For a second I just look at him. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"Yeah, I did. I'm giving you a chance to try again."
His jaw tightens. "She has nothing to do with this."
"With what?"
Ander says nothing, and I wait long enough to make it clear I'm not going to rescue him from whatever ridiculous conversation he's decided to start.
"This should be good."
"Leave her out of it, Jessica."
"Out of what? I met her. We talked for five minutes."
"You asked her about me."
Oh, fuck him.
“I was perfectly nice to her."
"I didn't say you weren't."
"Then what exactly are you worried I'm going to do?"
His eyes stay on mine, and suddenly I understand what he's worried about. Maybe not all of it, but enough.
"You think I'm going to interfere."
"No."
"That's exactly what you think."
"I think you should leave it alone."
"Your future marriage?"
His expression hardens.
"Right. Got it."
I step around him, but his hand closes around my wrist before I make it past. Warmth tears up my arm so fast that everything else disappears. This isn't butterflies or attraction or any of the other stupid things I've been telling myself all afternoon. I know this feeling now.
Ander drops my wrist like I've burned him, and the look on his face tells me he knows it too.
Oh, no.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Jessica."
"How long?"
"Don't."
"How long have you known?"
His eyes finally meet mine, and there's my answer.
I take a step toward him. "And you're out here telling me to stay away from Linnea?"
"She doesn't deserve to be dragged into this."
" This. " I point between us.
His jaw locks. "Linnea has been part of my life since I was six."
"I know."
"Our families—"
"I know."
"You don't know anything."
"Then tell me."
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
"Does it matter?"
"To me? Yeah. It fucking matters."
He looks away, and that hurts more than it should.
"Fine. Marry Linnea. Don't marry Linnea. Do whatever the hell you want, Ander. But don't come looking for me and tell me to stay out of something when you're the one who just put me in it."
I turn away, angry enough that I almost make it down the path before he speaks again.
"Jessica."
I stop.
"I've known since the first day in the dining hall."
That gets me to turn around. He's still standing exactly where I left him, except some of the fight has gone out of his face.
"And you weren't ever going to tell me."
His expression closes again. "I wasn't planning to."
The warmth under my ribs pulls at me even from here, which feels particularly unfair considering I would really like to punch him.
"And how's that working out for you?"
His eyes meet mine.
Not well. He doesn't have to say it.