Chapter 27 #2
“So,” Rudy broke in after our third heated food-related argument about ketchup and why it didn’t count as a vegetable. “You went to that party last night, or what?”
I knew it. The guy was a bloodhound for everything, gossip included.
“Yes, I went,” I sighed, petting Zeus.
I was now upside down on my bed, legs straight up and stretched against the wall, staring at the star stickers on the ceiling.
I loved the position for blood circulation.
Gravity, as much as I thanked her for not letting us float away in the immensity of the universe and implode under tremendous pressure, was also a beast for how much it forced the blood down, clogging veins and blood vessels, giving more jobs to people like Tiziano.
“And? How was it?”
“Fine. I danced, drank, ate two burgers,” I said in a monotone voice, playing with my black moon necklace.
“Wild. Next time, try Sudoku.”
“What’s wrong with Sudoku?”
“Nothing, if you’re ninety and suicidal with boredom. Come on, was that all you did?”
A huff escaped my lips. “And I met my mate.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
Radio Rudolph went quiet for one beat only. “And? How was he? Did he talk to you? Is that why you sounded so sad earlier when I called you? Or did your brain melt after you saw him? Or did your heart stop—”
“Rudolph! My brain is fine, and so is my heart!”
“I’m just saying, sometimes mates can short-circuit the system.”
“And why do you care so much about my mate? Shouldn’t you be thinking about yours?” Before he could answer, I continued; it seemed to me he was enjoying my distress. “Poor victim of the Moon Goddess who has to listen to your gibberish daily.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” he said carelessly. “So, back to your mate, was it love at first drool? Or did he—”
I gritted my teeth. Apparently, Rudolph didn’t want to let go of the subject… Well, then.
“Okay, fine! If you really want the truth, I hated him! He’s the biggest jerk in the history of all jerks, and I thought I might track him down just so I can reject him.”
It wasn’t quite true, but I was blinded with rage and resentment, worn out, and had several hours of Advanced Anatomy waiting for me. Not to mention the lack of sleep.
For a moment, silence followed my words.
I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the phone. He was still on the line.
“Hello? Yvaine calling Rudolph! Christmas is months away, come back from the North Pole!”
Pride swelled at my joke. All for nothing.
“Um, you don’t mean that, do you? Nobody rejects a mate, Yvaine! This is 2025!” He let out a strained laugh.
“I thought about it when my lovely mate abandoned me at the party…after he tried to kiss me.”
“Tried? What do you mean tried?” There was something in his voice that I couldn’t quite put a finger on.
“You seem startled, Rudy. Can’t my mate try to kiss me? Mates usually do that. What they don’t usually do is abandon each other!”
My cheeks flushed thinking about my half-lie. I drummed my fingers against my lips, maybe trying to scare the ghost of that kiss away, but I sighed with nostalgia and desire instead.
No one had warned me about the addiction after a kiss with your soulmate.
Where heart and brain aligned and, for once, agreed to one more kiss…
and then another and then another, until they were consumed.
Like the tragic love story between flame and candle, lovers destined to kill each other in their burning passion.
“Yes, sure he can, but your statement implies that you refused the kiss. Did you?”
“No, I didn’t.” I took a big inhalation.
“And?”
“Okay, it was the best kiss in freaking history!” I bluntly told Lucien, who blew out air that ended in a quick, raspy laugh.
I kicked my feet against the wall. “Still. Doesn’t erase the fact that he ditched me!
There, with my mouth open, catching flies and disappointments! I really did hate him for a second.”
“You know what they say, there’s a fine line between love and hate, Bunny Doc.”
“That’s just a quote to make people feel better when they can’t accept that they’re unwanted and unlikable.”
“Okay, okay.” He chuckled. “So you hate him…except for the part where you don’t.”
“It’s unbelievable! One moment he was there with me, treating me like he…like he…”
“Like he…?” he asked, all husky and male.
“Like he loved me, and then poof! Vanished. Who does that to their mate? Just the biggest jerkiest jerk ever! Oh! And do you know what else he did?”
“What else?”
I pursed my lips for a second; were my love problems just his source of entertainment?
“Well, I found this pretty necklace…”
“On the ground?” He tsked. “Not a good habit, picking up random litter you find.”
“He gave it to me, you antlers owner!”
“Antler what?”
“Anyway, he gave me this…this…precious, pretty half-moon necklace, and I suddenly remembered how we danced and made out at the party…and I couldn’t hate him that much anymore! Argh, he gives me migraines!”
“Whatever you say, bunny.” He sounded more amused than ever, his voice deeper than usual. “Whatever you say.”
“Migraines!”
“Jeez, heard you the first time.”
“Mates are supposed to provide cuddles, lengthen your lifespan—”
“How?”
“With all the sex he isn’t giving me! And the cuddles. Did you know hugs can lower cortisol levels and blood pressure?”
He cleared his throat. Twice. “Didn’t know that.”
For a second, I thought his voice was different. Almost like it belonged to someone else.
“And all these nights without sleep aren’t helping.”
“You can’t sleep either?”
I frowned.
“I mean,” he rushed to add, “I can’t sleep without my mate either.”
“I hope you’re luckier with your mate.” I pushed my lower lip out, my heart needy and sad. I wanted to blame my PMS, but I was in the follicular phase.
“I’m the luckiest beast alive,” he said with an exhalation. “So, he gave you a necklace, huh? Can I see it?”
I grasped the half moon. Mine. “Why?”
“Well…I need gift ideas, and I, err, wanted to see what, uh, how it looks…”
Maybe it was because he stammered for the first time ever, or maybe it was because of his embarrassment, or maybe it was because I couldn’t be upset with Rudolph for too long, but I found myself giggling.
He hummed. “That’s the laugh I wanted to hear.”
I snapped a quick selfie, the half moon nestled against my collarbone, and sent it over. This time, I just smiled and didn’t care about my face being clean of makeup, the dark circles under my eyes, or my hair being piled up in a bun, having resisted anything else since the morning.
He asked if I’d ever taken it off, told me that it looked good on me, and complimented my mate’s taste. However, when I pushed for what gift ideas he had, he dodged and changed the topic.
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he left,” Rudolph offered later, as I sat cross-legged on the floor, hunting down the PDF version of my fifteen-pound book to send him so he could quiz me.
“Oh, definitely. He ran off because Lachlan was there.” I giggled before gasping. “Oh, Stephen! My mate could be afraid of my twin! You’re so right, Rudolph.”
He snorted so loudly that he might as well have bathed his phone with snot. “I don’t think so, and I never said that.”
“Why are you mad now?”
“I’m not mad. I just don’t think our captain is scared of anyone,” he deadpanned. “Let alone some douche with carrot hair.”
“Carrots are healthy! Don’t insult them…or my twin.”
“Bunny Doc, maybe the captain just wanted to mark you with your full consent. Or he couldn’t keep his paws off your tight little dress. Your clever, innocent brain didn’t consider that, hmm?”
My eyes widened. “Why do you think that’s the case?”
He coughed once. “Because I wanted to mark my mate as soon as I saw her. It’s a natural impulse.”
“You sure don’t waste time. Marking your mate right away…” I muttered.
“I said I wanted to, not that I did.”
“Wait, how do you know I was wearing a dress?”
“Don’t girls wear dresses when they go out?” he asked, unimpressed.
“What? Just because we have vaginas, we need to bring them out for some fresh air and a stroll? Aren’t you generalizing a bit?”
“Aren’t you a little feminist!”
“FYI, some of us wear pants, too.”
“Same thing.”
I chuckled before dark thoughts sneaked their way through my mind once again. I sighed. “He probably has a harem hidden deep away in his pack.”
“Ivy, Ivy, are we jealous again?”
“I’m not jealous of his girls!” I hissed, shutting the book and shoving it under the bed before the temptation to peek made me cheat.
“Yet you still felt the need to comment on it.”
True.
“I bet green looks good on you,” he pressed teasingly.
“Hush. So how’s your mate?” I asked, switching gears. He didn’t call me out for it—thankfully.
“Weeell, she’s the most breath-stealing girl out there.”
I smiled at that, leaning back on the bed. “You mean breathtaking?”
“Yep. One look at her and, whoosh, breath gone. She’s got these stunning, ocean-blue eyes that I could just drown in, and I’d die happy. And her hair reminds me of autumn. My favorite season.”
Autumn was my favorite, too!
And my eyes were blue.
Did my mate also think of the ocean when he saw mine?
“I didn’t know you were such a poet,” I taunted, trying to ignore the pinch of jealousy at how sweet he was with his mate. “Drowning happily isn’t something to joke about, Rudy. People can really drown.”
“Good thing we aren’t people, then. She’s also the smartest person I’ve ever met. Do you know that she’s also studying to be a doctor, just like you?”
I scoffed. A doctor. Please.
“Correction, dear Rudolph, I’m not studying to be a doctor. I’m going to be a neurosurgeon.”
I wasn’t trying to be full of myself, but doctors only had to study for six years, while I had another five of joy and back-breaking books. “Big difference, you know.”
“Same, same.” He chuckled, and I imagined an evil smirk on his face. “So…what are you gonna do about your mate?”
“What do you think?” I puffed out my cheeks and slowly let the air escape through my pursed lips. “If I reject him—”
“Definitely don’t reject him!”
“Calm down, Rudy! Since when are you such a paladin of mates?”
“Since I met mine,” he deadpanned.
I glanced at the call’s timer—two hours and thirteen minutes. “Does your mate know how much time you spend talking to me?”
“She doesn’t mind. She’s very open-minded, Bunny Doc.”
I stretched my arms above my head. “What’s her name?”
The question wasn’t supposed to be a hard one. For Rudy, however, it seemed it was.
“She’s called, err, amazing.”
“Amazing?” I tilted my head.
“Yeah. I mean, she’s not amazing, but her name is. I mean, her name is as amazing as she is.”
I cackled again at his tangled reasoning. “But what’s her actual name? Or did you forget it?”
“No! Her name is—” He coughed once. “Eniava.”
“Eniava?” I raised a single, perplexed eyebrow. “It doesn’t seem that amazing to me.”
“Yeah, well.” There was laughter in his voice, as if he was plotting with the gang of devils that surely lived in his head. “She’s not from here.”
“You’re making this up.”
He just laughed harder.
“Alright, you done snooping on my mate?”
“I’m not—”
“Or are you chickening out on this video call because you’re not prepared enough, Bunny Doc?”
With a small grin, I fixed my bun, inserted an extra pen into the mix, and checked that I didn’t have a chocolate mustache.
And switched to video.
The screen was dark. The seconds passed, and I watched my reflection prop her chin on her palm. He didn’t say a word. Odd.
I stared at the black screen, waiting, tapping a finger on my lips. Then I blew a raspberry.
“Is your shirt the same color as your hair?”
I blinked, glanced down, then looked back at the screen. “What?”
“They look the same color.”
“Is that your way of asking if I dyed my hair?”
“No. Did you? It’s a nice color.”
“It’s natural.”
“With the light, I can see red tones. I didn’t know you had red tones,” he grumbled, sounding irritated, and I chuckled.
“And I didn’t know you cared about hair pigmentation.”
He huffed a laugh. “I don’t.”
“Should I need a hair change, I’ll be sure to book a salon consultation with you first.”
In the end, we spent the next three hours with me repeating an endless list of names, pointing to fake organs that I showed him on the video, while he corrected me and quizzed me a ridiculous number of times on the spleen. And I had to admit, I’d never enjoyed studying so much in my whole life.
I dreamed of a black animal. I thought it was a wolf, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t see it walk on four legs, but it had black fur and eyes so crimson I thought they were bleeding from their sockets.
All it did in my dream was sit outside throughout the night, moonlight kissing its gleaming fur, gazing up at a window. At the crack of dawn, the great beast disappeared into the woods, leaving behind a long, drawn-out howl, like the last vestiges of night clinging to the dawn of a new day.
Ah, dreams…
When I woke up in Amaia’s bed with her next to me, clutching a pillow to her chest, it was seven thirty in the morning.
I’d slept for five hours. Well, the world would see a grumpy Yvaine today, when she was especially facing off a day filled with classes, a shift at the hospital, and a family dinner.
When I heard the shower start, I realized that Makena was already up, while Tiziano was whistling in the kitchen. I smelled something delicious; he must have been cooking.
To my surprise, I noticed a white box next to the window, which was slightly ajar. I frowned and staggered up, still groggy.
The smell was actually coming from there.
When I lifted the lid, I found several warm almond croissants sitting in a neat line, fresh from the oven. Maybe it was the smell, the pleasant surprise, or the fact that a particular scent lingered there, but my day no longer seemed so bad.
A ripped-off note sat next to it, written in a messy scrawl.
Heard you liked these.
For my gorgeous mate.
Sorry about storming off at the party.
—L.