Chapter 16
YVAINE
“Yvaine!”
Lachlan barged into my room with his typical grace, interrupting my nighttime reading of the Neurology Journal.
My idea of a downtime book.
I used a wrinkled grocery receipt as my makeshift bookmark.
“Where’s Lachy?” He was already digging through my drawers of medical books, fake human body parts, and surgical equipment.
“In the closet, right door.”
LuckyLachy was the name I’d given his wereball jersey with the blue number three, also known as my good luck charm to wear at every university exam.
Amaia scooted closer to me.
Lachlan yanked his hoodie off the hanger, then turned to Amaia and me on the bed. Zeus scurried all around his feet. It was his witching hour; it happened every day at this time.
Jersey in a fist, all grins, he bent over, scratching Zeus behind his pointy ears. “Hey, Z! More indigestion today?”
“We have a trash system now thanks to him,” Amaia said. “Keep the trash in high spaces, as if he were an actual bear. They’re from the same family, in a way, bears and Zeus, so it makes sense. That they both like trash. Not that they are trash, just scavengers.”
I thinned my lips to hide my smile, staring at my joined hands where they rested over a picture of a brain on the journal’s cover. Amaia always word-vomited all over him.
“So, are we going to the wereball conference together? Maybe we can get a snack before.” Draping the jersey over his shoulder, Lachlan plopped down on the bed next to Amaia. A deep flush of pink settled on her cheeks, and she gripped her tea mug with white knuckles.
“I doubt it, Lach. I have to finish this article by tomorrow.” A long, dragged-out sigh accompanied Amaia’s words.
Outside our apartment, we only ever spotted Amaia in the library. Our quality time was studying together, and adventurous moments were laced with finding new, quiet spots on campus to set up camp—like hidden corners next to old statues in the university’s many halls.
“Alright. And you, Vy?” Lachlan turned his bright smile on me, clearly not surprised by Amaia’s refusal. He’d probably asked her out of courtesy, knowing she’d say no. “Are you in?”
I took my agenda, finger scrolling down the list of things I had to do. I wrote down Snack with Lachlan from 3 to 3:20 p.m., before the call with my supervisor.
“Great!” He bent and left a kiss on my cheek. Amaia blushed.
I snapped the two sides of the agenda together. “Aren’t you in a good mood today?”
He shrugged with one shoulder. “I always am.”
“No, you’re not,” Amaia added.
“Hey…” he mumbled, brushing strands of dark hair out of her eyes.
“Yvaine is in a terrible mood today!” she blurted out.
I didn’t even bother with her. She was always like this—had to say something when she felt embarrassed, which only happened with Lachlan. I only let it pass because I found it adorable.
But it was true. I was in a dark mood that somehow resembled the weather outside.
And I had no real reason for it.
Exactly. It had nothing to do with the fact that I had received a certain text, from a certain male.
I checked my phone for the umpteenth time.
Zero messages.
Instead of replying to Sillas’s two unread texts, I reread the latest conversation with Rudolph.
The day after the date with Sillas, I had texted Rudy, but no answer had come. For three straight days.
Until this morning.
And to say that what I’d read took me by surprise was an understatement.
Been busy the last few days. Found my mate.
That explained why he hadn’t called or texted.
I should have been happy for him, for having found his other half. And I was. I just couldn’t justify my heavy heart. I liked chatting with Lucien. I’d given him a nickname, used my time and energy to build up our friendship, as new as it was, and now he had no time to spare? Unfair.
Our heads all whipped toward the door as it burst open. I pretended not to see Lachlan and Amaia detaching their hands.
“Daddy’s home!” Tiziano called.
My eyes swept up and down his figure. “Why are you dressed like Rambo?”
“And why do you smell like burning weed?” Amaia added.
Tiziano blew a playful kiss at Lachlan, who caught it and glued it to his cheek. “I’m just checking that you kids are okay, of course!” His gaze cut to me. “Have you done your dirty business in the sexy tutor’s personal office yet?”
“No, and I won’t.”
“But your kink—”
“Ssssh!”
I leaped up and promptly covered his mouth with my hand, which he licked. Taking in his appearance, I plucked a few blades of grass from his hair and a…feather? I tossed it into the trash can, but Zeus snatched it up and scurried away under the bed, probably to analyze it.
Tiziano looked like a camouflaged soldier that had just returned from a secret mission—and my speculation likely wasn’t far from reality.
He fluffed his shirt. “Smell this? The marvelous, acrid scent of victory?”
“Was there a game we missed?” I felt glad we could have, for once.
“Nah. The Dark Diamonds won a game—” Tiziano winced like he’d just ingested rat poison. “—and we had to make sure to remind them who the real Alpha team is.”
He thumped his chest.
“If you’re about to turn all Tarzan, avoid spitting in our teas again.” Amaia covered the mugs with a notepad.
“Tarzan is a monkey man!” he tossed back. “We are wolf beasts!”
“Lachlan! You sent out your Ultras to bully people?” I scowled.
My twin, with a satisfied grin, glanced my way. “I didn’t. They have their own will.”
“So, you and your crazy minions went to Dark Diamond and played pranks like bored teenagers?” Amaia mumbled, not removing her eyes from the mountain of papers all around her.
“We did.” Tiziano laced his fingers behind his head, then pouted. “But we had to leave.”
“But why—”
“Didn’t you hear what happened?” He cut me off, raising his brows.
I shook my head.
“When we went, Dark Diamond was chaos.”
Oh.
It certainly wasn’t what I expected to hear.
“Uprooted trees in the middle of the road, scattered pieces of cars everywhere, injured wolves. The whole place was upside down.”
Lachlan sighed with contentment, relishing in it. “I hope the Terminator lost a limb.”
I chewed on my lip. “No way! What do you think happened?”
“Someone from another wereball team, maybe?” Amaia proposed.
Tiziano huffed out a breath. “I don’t think so. Wereball doesn’t reach those destructive levels. It’s mostly healthy hooliganism.”
“Sure,” I mocked. “Because throwing car parts and rocks at each other is healthy.”
“Maybe it was a rogue group?”
We frowned. Rogue attacks were a rarity; our territories were clear.
Without thinking, ignoring Tiziano and Lachlan chatting about the upcoming games, I tapped out a text to Rudolph. Swallowing my pride, since he still hadn’t replied to my congrats-on-finding-your-mate messages, I read it over.
Hey, I heard that something happened in your pack. Just checking if you’re okay.
Send.
And, of course, nothing.
Not that I expected an instant reply. Meeting a soulmate would leave any werewolf busy. And we didn’t need to talk all the time. He’d need time to adjust to his new life with his mate…
The rest of the evening went by peacefully and uneventfully.
Until 3:00 a.m. struck like a demon. My phone buzzed.
I fumbled for it with one eye open. Zeus crawled out from under my second pillow and yawned. I yawned in sympathy.
“Hello?” I croaked.
“Well, well, weeeeeeell!” I flinched at the noise. “If it isn’t the little Highlander’s cheeky chicky chick.”
It all sounded too loud and too Rudy for the time of the night.
I sat straight up. “Rudy! You’re alive.”
“Miss me already?” He had a rough voice, like sandpaper.
My heart began to leap irregularly in my chest.
But he sounded different.
Something was off.
“Why’ve you been texting me so much, huh? Are you that bored there? Or maybe your little date was a total shitshow?”
I struggled to keep up with all the questions, realizing he was just being rude—nothing new, but still. I ignored the part about the date, however, because it was none of his business.
“I’m a caring person, unlike some people. I was worried.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m super good. Healthy as a horse. Never been better. Why wouldn’t I be? And why the hell do you care, Bunny Doc?”
I considered my answer, trying to figure out why he was acting off, but my sleepy mind wouldn’t help me this time.
“I heard there was an assault on your campus…” I trailed off, fiddling with the blanket, only realizing my mistake too late.
“Ohhhh, and how would you know that, Miss Encyclopedia?”
What mean energy. Shouldn’t he be happy that he found his mate? Or calmer, more at peace? Maybe she’d turned him down or something. Or maybe she was underage. That happened sometimes.
“I heard about it. We live in the twenty-first century. News flies.”
“Oh, by news, you mean your bunch of loser Ultras who were planning to pull some dumb crap? You can tell them I sniffed them out already,” he said in a drawl. His voice reminded me of Gaius’s a few nights ago.
Oh.
Rudolph was drunk.
Ding, ding, ding!
“How do you know they’d planned something?” I sighed, not wanting to talk to an angry drunkard with love problems. I didn’t sign up for werewolf therapy at three in the morning.
“We do the same. Just better. More creatively than your discount pack, Ivana.”
My jaw clenched so tightly, my teeth ground together.
“Okay, I’m sorry I checked on you. I didn’t mean to—”
“Apology accepted.”
Thumping bass and high-pitched laughter blasted through the background. I yanked the phone away from my ear.
Some sloppy voice inserted itself. “You promised us a dance! We’ve been waiting for our turrrrrrn, like you told us.”
Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little.
“Already cheating on your mate?” I prodded. “Why am I not surprised?”
“What if I am? Huh? Why do you care?” Then came a muffled, “You. Get me another beer. Make it two.”
My eye twitched at how primitive he was acting.
“You’re drunk, Lucien,” I said flatly. His breath caught. “Go to sleep. We’ll talk later.”
“Smart as ever, my nasty little rabbit.”
Something in his words—perhaps the sarcasm, perhaps the fact that he had interrupted my sleep for the umpteenth time—made me snap.
“I’m not a rabbit, and I’m not yours, Rudolph!” My eyes blazed in the dark. “You found your mate, remember? So why don’t you go torment her instead of blowing up my phone?”
A low, dangerous growl came across the line. It made every hair on my neck stand on end.
“Alright. I’ll do just that.”
“Great. Give her my condolences!”
“Fine!” he snarled.
“Fine!” I growled in return, slamming my fingers into the phone to end the call, wishing it was his face.
I let out a hysterical, semi-muffled scream when I noticed my screen was once again cracked.
Damn Rudolph and his superpower of irking me with just a click of his tongue.