Chapter 27
YVAINE
“Hi.”
It was the only word my tongue could formulate. One syllable. One squeak of dignity after last night’s pre-party disagreement. How he’d ordered me not to go…and how I’d refused to listen.
“Bunny Doc? You alright?”
The deep voice came through a little scratchy, not as cheerful as usual.
“Yes, Lucien.” Full name, just in case he forgot we were fighting. There was a pause. A short exhalation from his end. Not dramatic. Just…soft. I shivered at the way the nightly breeze caressed my skin, like it was his breath instead.
“I, um, rang you last night, but you never picked up. You sure you’re okay?” he investigated further.
A reasonable question, if my brain hadn’t been spinning like a Windows 98 loading screen.
Should I tell him about the encounter with my mate?
The fact that my usual therapists weren’t available did not help.
Amaia was too busy for things like this, Archie lived on the other side of the globe and was off-grid on some excursion, and Makena…
Well, discussing my love life with her when she didn’t utter a single word about her own didn’t feel right.
“More or less,” I admitted, fingertips touching my lips. Could sparks be stored, somehow? Because it seemed to me that my lips were still tingling. Had Logan secretly installed a taser under my skin?
“Listen, I need to talk to you about something,” he said in a firmer voice.
“Cool.” Except my brain was too crowded to focus on Rudolph.
Between my chat with Sillas, the phone call with Dad and Ian, Logan’s Kiss of Doom?, my upcoming exam, and the bloody wereball game between the Dark Diamonds and the Comets, my mind felt like a circus with too many jugglers.
I needed a spa. Or an induced coma. Whichever came first.
“But not on the phone.”
“I dislike this.”
We spoke at the same time.
He pulled in a deep breath. “What?”
“Never mind.” I huffed out the longest sigh anyone had ever sighed, scanning the park to make sure Zeus was still nearby.
Not being bullied by some Chihuahua gang like last time, thinking they could make a fine snack of him but losing a few eyes instead.
My wallet was still recovering from their vet bills.
“Come on, tell Uncle Lucien what’s going on.”
“Just exam stress for this test coming up.” I rubbed my temples, and for a moment, my gaze moved skyward, studying the stars.
Were they laughing at our worries from the eternity of their heavenly home? I bet they would, if they had mouths.
“Alright! Want some help?” At the sound of his playful question, I smiled. If Logan and I didn’t work out, at least I could always hang out with Rudy and his mate.
“Yeah, sure, you could…if you’re willing to listen to me recite hundreds of muscle and bone names, body functions, and—”
I meant to be sarcastic, but my phone-buddy didn’t seem to catch on.
“Sure! If you give me the title of the manual or whatever you use, I’d be happy to help.”
My eyes widened. My brother had once pretended to go unconscious just to get out of flashcard duty. And Lucien was volunteering?
“Come on, don’t joke. It would be super boring for you.”
“And give up the chance to learn about body parts from none other than Professor Bunny Doc herself, future headmistress of the hospital? Never.” His voice had dropped, amusement dripping from it.
Was that flirting or teasing? Both? I found myself blushing at the possible meaning.
“You’re joking.”
“Hmm,” he hummed. “Google says tinnitus affects hearing. Did you know that already?”
I blinked. “I know about tinnitus. Why?”
“Maybe you suffer from it, since you’re not hearing me.”
I scowled.
“When do you want to start? Don’t you usually study with those friends of yours, Tatiano or whatever the douche’s name is?”
“Tiziano, and no.” For some reason, I thought he was making the mistake on purpose. “We’ve finished the group stage. It’s everyone for themselves now. No one has time to listen to the rest of us. I’ll repeat the sermon every night before bed, so my brain has a chance to absorb and digest the—”
I shut my mouth when I noticed my rambling.
“Good thing you got me to help with digestion and absorption.”
I snorted. “Great, Rudy! I might upgrade you to a new nickname for how accommodating you’re being today!”
He chuckled, soft and deep. “I’m flattered. But you didn’t let me finish, Bunny Doc. I’ll help you, as long as we video call.”
At this, I frowned, sensing a plot twist. Obviously, we would need to video call; I would need to point at certain parts of the plastic body in my room and repeat them to him.
“But you can’t see me,” he finished.
“Wait, why? Are you afraid you’ll cause me premature glaucoma at the mere sight of you? Because I don’t judge physical beauty. You had no say in the matter. It’s all genetic, but I won’t sue your parents.”
He huffed out a laugh, and I shivered, rubbing my arm.
“Depends on the point of view…” he drawled, cheeky. “But do I really need to give you a reason after I offered my amazing help, Bunny Doc?”
I thought about it for less than a second.
This man’s nerve!
“As long as you can see me and the fake plastic corpse I’m pointing at so you can correct me if I’m wrong, we’re good.”
“Okay, it’s a date. In fifteen?”
I checked my watch; it was getting late.
“Twenty-five, maybe…” He snickered. “I can head home now! It’ll take me twenty minutes…”
Wait, Zeus needed his snack.
“Oh crap,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?”
“I have to feed Zeus!”
I swore I heard goddamn mutt, but I wasn’t sure.
“You busy now? I can call you back later.” I put my phone on speaker to free my hands. Someone had stepped on the blackberry bush, and two branches were bent wildly. Rude. I took off my elastic band and tied it around the branches to keep them up.
“No, no, I’m free,” he said. “My roommates are out. I’ll just make some snacks while I wait.
” His tone was light, and the smile on my face grew.
I never experienced boredom with Rudolph.
It was like having a remote psychologist-slash-personal-jester.
Plus, the fact that he had his own mate didn’t make me feel guilty about talking to another guy for so long.
With my insane commitments and maniacal workload, I never even thought of asking Rudolph to meet up in person. Plus, his pack was an hour away.
“How come you didn’t go out with your friends?”
“Didn’t feel like it.”
“Because you found your mate and the one-night stands are over?” I teased.
“Yeah,” he deadpanned.
I paused. “But where is she? How come you never spend time with her?”
“She has to study. Big exam coming up. I was about to ask her to meet…” He trailed off, then exclaimed loudly, startling me a bit, “SO! Did ya go to that party last night?”
My stomach clenched at the thought of last night. Before I could decide what to answer, however, I heard a husky curse and a ruckus in the background. It sounded like pans and plates colliding. On someone.
I chuckled, glancing at the screen for a second. I pictured Rudolph covered in pots and pans, wearing a colander for a hat.
“Are you alright there, Rudy?”
“Yeah,” he hissed like the cat he wasn’t. “My fucking roommates never clean up their shit.”
“What are you planning to cook?”
“Steak. And chicken.”
I made a face. “What? Do you mix them?”
“Listen, I mix different types of meat when I can’t decide what to eat, and right now, I don’t want to decide. I’m starving.” He lowered his voice as if he were referring to something else.
“And the vegetables?” I asked, more to change the subject than anything else.
“What about them?” he countered casually.
“Well, first, you should eat four different kinds every day to stay healthy.”
“That stat is probably for humans, not werewolves, Bunny Doc.” He chuckled while I rolled my eyes. His words reminded me of my dad whenever I tried to add more greens to his red meat diet. Eggs were the closest thing in his diet to veggies.
Besides, there was some truth in what Rudy stated. Not enough werewolves studied science, so much of our data was based on human statistics and research.
“But if you die from scurvy, your mate might have to find someone else!”
It was meant to be a joke, but the reindeer didn’t laugh.
“Are you still there?” I asked after a moment, watching Zeus trotting closer with a fat moth clutched in his mouth and a satisfied expression on his furry face.
“It’ll take more than some stupid green leaves to kill me,” he growled. Did he know vegetables could be other colors, too? “But before I die, I’ll make sure to fuck her so hard she won’t be able to mate with anyone else. For the rest of her life.”
“The exaggeration! And it’s not just about sex, Rudy.”
“No, you’re right. I’ll dip her in a pool of my scent for so long that my scent will replace hers.” This time, he snarled louder.
Yikes, he was clearly quite possessive of his mate.
Poor girl.
“But as a precaution, um, what veggies do you recommend, Bunny Doc?”
I pursed my lips, holding in my laugh. My mood had improved from a dull, cloudy day to a sunny one with rainbows within just ten minutes of hearing his voice.
We chatted for a while, with me scolding him and the grown-up pup on the other line making fun of me.
He had the power to infuriate me in one minute and make me die of laughter the next.
“No! Lucien! If you dump half a cow’s worth of cream into a soup, the calcium in it will bind to the iron in the vegetables!
You’re literally canceling out your veggies!
” Trying to explain anything to Rudolph was a mission in itself.
I figured he was a terrible student, one who never listened or constantly contradicted the teachers.
“Got enough iron in me to build a spaceship,” he boasted with an ego bigger than a wereball arena.
And just like that, the image of my mate crossed my mind. Ugh, he had iron levels off the charts, I was sure.
Shut it, Yvaine. Shut. It. Down.