Chapter 10
YVAINE
Four days had passed since I’d blocked the number of the parasite renamed Rudolph. Ninety-six hours of being unable to stop thinking about that voice. Four days since my wolf, Zelda, had acted like a promiscuous hound.
That was also the day the ache in my chest had begun. I screened myself. The most plausible causes were heart- or lung-related, but the results showed I was as healthy as a baby elephant.
Tiziano asked if I had met my mate, the other potential cause of the sudden onset of pain.
In our world, it was impossible not to know when you were betrayed by your mate.
Acute chest pain, combined with a literal bleeding heart, was like a trap created by the Moon Goddess herself to catch unfaithful mates.
It was how we knew precisely when Gaius cheated on Makena, and vice versa, every single time.
However, my pain was like a little arrow trying but not quite reaching my heart, just scratching the surface without penetrating. Tightness, a little shortness of breath.
It was at least bearable, waking me up only twice in the week. It also showed up early one morning, as well as once during my lunch break.
“So, he ended the call?” Tiziano asked from my right, shaking his head. “Just like that?”
“What an ass,” Lachlan scoffed from my left.
“That’s what I said, too!”
“An ass with warts. And extra fat!” Tiziano said as he grabbed the remnants of his BLT.
A mini cucumber rolled out, bumping his chest and then hitting the floor before he accidentally stepped on it. Sad ending. His mouth unhinged and widened like a python’s.
The three of us were having a snack break between classes. Students trotted in every direction, chatting and laughing in small groups, or alone with their thoughts and headphones. I told the guys about the mystery man, if only for them to confirm how much of a jerk he was being.
“I could track down his warty ass and shove his phone in it,” Lachlan announced, standing up and brushing off his hands on his sweatpants. The logo of our pack was printed on the side pocket—a comet slashing through two mountain peaks.
A laugh bubbled up in my chest as I hopped onto his back from behind.
“No need. I can do it myself,” I giggled, squeezing his neck with my arms. Having a sibling was and always would be the best gift my parents ever gave me.
Tiziano, grinning at us, walked backward along the corridor. “Remember when Lach hung Creepy Hairy Leeny off the telescope? Mrs. Dimsums from astronomy finally had her proof aliens live amongst us.”
Lachlan, a hand on my elbow, huffed out a growl. “I should have used his hair to mop the whole astronomy department.”
“You should have,” Tiziano agreed while I sputtered, “Should not!”
“No wonder he’s Weepy Leeny when he sees you now.” Tiziano high-fived Lachlan over my head.
“Leeny didn’t do anything. Just a few Post-It notes.”
He was one of the few I’d had the misfortune to call a stalker in the past. Seven in total.
One had dared to crawl under my balcony and sing me a song about some parts of my body resembling vegetation from the rainforest. My dad, in turn, had chased him around the pack until my brother had caught up with him and left him vegetative—his words, not mine.
“I have an idea how to counterattack Phone Guy.”
Phone Guy was what Tiziano called Rudolph. Not that I’d specified that I called him Rudolph.
Tiziano was the evil mastermind of the group, if not the whole pack. If one of us was targeted, Tizzy raised his quills like an enraged porcupine, shot vengeful arrows, and went to war.
“Do you still have his number?” He pressed his fingers together conspiratorially.
“I have it…” I had two, in fact, since that was the number of times I’d had to block him.
“Perfect.” The muscles near his jaw twitched as he smirked with infernal intent. “Consider Phone Guy properly punished.”
While I was in the hospital later that day, humming my way through paperwork, my phone called for attention from the pocket of my white apron. I took out my stethoscope first. With a huff, I exchanged it for my phone.
I peeked at the screen. Didn’t recognize the number.
Instantly, I knew who it was.
“I’m not interested in talking to someone who won’t even say where they’re—”
“Dark Diamond.” He cut me off in a harsh voice. That annoying shiver traced my spine again, and treacherous little hairs on my arms rose. “That’s where I’m from. What do you have to say about that?”
My pack’s main wereball rival. Their current Alpha was in constant competition with the Comet Alpha, also known by some as my father.
“Oh, okay. Good to know. Your production of eggplants surpassed the output from last year.”
I maintained a certain neutrality, mulling over paperwork with the phone tucked between my ear and my shoulder.
“Good to know? Eggplants?” he mocked, unimpressed. “Aren’t you going to insult my pack? My wereball team?”
“Unlike most of you uncivilized primates, I don’t judge an individual based on the pack—”
“Oh, that’s a pity.” His hoarse voice dropped ten octaves. “Do you know what’s bigger than our eggplants?”
“Blocking you now—”
“The applause!” He laughed, prompting shivers to erupt all over my skin. “The round of applause you deserve for your speech!”
“Do you play wereball?” I decided to change the subject, uncomfortable with all that huskiness. It was definitely messing with my weak hormones.
“Yes, like everyone else in my pack. Last time, we broke your ass,” he added with a satisfied tone.
The protective instinct for my pack kicked in.
“Yeah, because the Highlander was in Scotland, and apparently that Terminator guy cheated the whole game.”
He roared out a laugh. My wolf howled and hopped around in my head. Crazy hairhead.
“It’s wereball, bunny. Cheating is just as allowable as masturbating in the middle of the field!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose at his vulgarity, even if his words reminded me of those I used with Tiziano back in class. Minus the masturbation part.
“But you seem to have very strong opinions about it. Are you an expert on the game?”
I smiled in return, then rolled my eyes thinking about it. “I’m not, but everyone in my family is obsessed.”
“Then how come you’re not?”
Biting my lip, I pondered whether to admit the truth to a faceless Rudolph.
Santa Claus’s Rudolph flashed through my head to fill in the blank, and I giggled.
I opted for the half-truth. Odd how sometimes you could speak freely and uninhibitedly to a stranger.
“Well, I dislike seeing my brother get beaten up all the time.”
“Beaten up? Then he’s a toothpick,” Rudolph snorted with an arrogant tone.
I was about to say he was none other than the Highlander himself, which was why he got targeted the most, but I hesitated.
That would give him way too much information about my identity.
Highlander meant the son of the Alpha, and if I was his sister, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that I was also the daughter of the Comet Alpha.
Part of me wanted Rudolph to keep talking to me, to get to know my true personality.
He would most likely cower away otherwise.
“Of course not! In fact, he plays in the main team, with a very important role,” I boasted.
“Oh, really? I’m sooo impressed!” He said it in a way that indicated he wasn’t impressed at all. “And who is this brave hero?”
“I don’t need to tell you to prove a fact.” At this, he chuckled.
“Maybe because he’s a giant pussy who didn’t even make it to the main team?”
“Do you hear yourself?” Before he could say yes, I shot back, “Of course you do. You love listening to yourself. Do you know that every mammal comes from a vagina? And yes, that includes you.”
“Are you calling me a mammal?”
His snarky comment didn’t stop my rant. “The vagina is a warrior! It stretches up to four inches in diameter when giving life. It bleeds, it heals faster than almost any other tissue in the body, and it’s self-cleaning!
” I inhaled sharply and continued, “Oh, and the clitoris alone has over eight thousand nerve endings—that’s double the number in the penis, by the way.
So stop making cretinous comments about pussies! ”
“Four inches, you say?” he hummed. “Let me check the width…”
I growled right into the phone.
“I’m kidding!” He let out some more husky laughter. “Vaginas are my favorite too, bunny! I need them to function daily, no need to defend them to me.”
“But you just called my brother a giant pussy in a derogatory way!”
“Weeell, it’s how the English language works.”
“Weeell, it’s wrong!” I said, riled up. “It doesn’t mean you should use the expression like that.”
“Alright. Let’s start a petition to make everyone say ‘You have a vagina’ instead of ‘You have balls.’ Though, my balls are made of iron. You’d love to—”
“To chop them!” I finished for him.
“What, and make all those unmated girls have to host a funeral?”
God, this person’s ego could build an entire town. “Don’t be a testicle, Rudolph!”
“A testicle?”
“Way more sensitive and prone to injury,” I shot back, smugly. “Can’t even handle a slight tap without crumbling into a ball of pain.”
“I bet you don’t tap any.”
Before I had the chance to tell him that I could if I chose to—and I did, at times—he continued.
“So, you don’t like wereball because that giant testicle of your brother gets beaten up?”
I bet he would apologize if he knew who he was talking about. Maybe even ask for an autograph.
“It’s not that he isn’t good, but most players get beaten up during a game. Do you know why?”
“Because it’s fun?”
“Because it’s wereball. I bet the person who invented the game was just looking for a sustainable way to let testosterone-filled werewolves satisfy their need for violence and blood legally, avoiding wars among the packs.”
It was a theory that I fully believed in.
How else could you explain the reduction in violence and feuds between packs?
Werewolves now had the chance to beat others up in the wereball fields—and of course, it wasn’t a real wereball match if there was no extreme fighting between the fans after the game.
It was a modern way to make war and satisfy the inner beast.
The sound of very slow clapping made my lips twitch. “What a great speech! Wow! Can you repeat it again so I can record it and replay it when I want to fall asleep?”
Indignation overwhelmed me, but before I could fight back, he anticipated my next words.
“And no, I never get hit during wereball. I’m the one who smashes everyone else.”
He said it with such confidence that I almost believed him.
“Who do you think you are to speak so lowly of everyone else? His Royal Alpha? The Terminator?”
A pause came from the other side as I braced myself for an inappropriate remark.
“Did you just compare the Terminator to His Royal Alpha?”
“Everyone seems to be doing it at Dark Diamond. And I don’t really understand why.”
“Well, I’d say he’s more like a god than a king,” he said with that mocking tone of his.
“Of course you do.”
“Haven’t you ever seen him play?” He huffed out a laugh. There was something in his voice that I couldn’t put my finger on.
“No, I specifically avoid those matches. And I didn’t know you had a crush on the Terminator, Rudy. Have you already declared your feelings? Has he returned them?” I giggled. I wasn’t sure why I found my own joke so funny. He certainly didn’t, since he remained quiet. Too quiet for Rudolph.
I paused. Did I offend him?
“Rudolph?” I heard a deep exhalation on the other end, as if he’d been holding his breath.
“Yeah, I’m here.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t have a crush on him. Or on any other guy. I’m full-blown straight, if the clues weren’t enough to figure it out, Ivy.”
How was it that my body could detect any change in his voice? From derision to seriousness to genuine interest.
I fired off another question. “And? What’s this? A new phone number?” I was also becoming a master at changing the subject, it seemed. A useful skill to boost a CV.
“Do you know that you’re the only female who has ever blocked me? And more than once?” The disbelief in his tone made my chest puff out.
“Two times, to be exact. Hopefully, more females will learn to do just that. Maybe your ego will downgrade from a Zeppelin to a hot air balloon.”
“As fun as it is to talk to you, Ivy from Comet, I have to go now. Booty call. You know how that is…”
I certainly didn’t know.
“My deepest condolences to the poor female…or male—”
“Females,” he corrected, and I drew in a gasp. “I’ll make sure to remind their vaginas how elastic and powerful they are.”
And that evening, in the middle of the night, I woke up with a sharp pain in my chest.
It was stronger this time, bruising half of my left breast.