Chapter 164. Honeymoon Phase I
Maisie
"May!"
Regina’s squeal echoed across the hallway, so loud, my eardrums nearly ruptured and that was all the warning I got before I was bombarded with hugs and kisses from Regina, Jenny and Juliette, who formed a circle around me, jumping high and low.
"Did you get a tan?"
"Yes–"
"How was Paris?"
"It was great–"
"Did you meet my mama?"
"Yes! And I loved her--"
"Oh my god, did your ass get fatter?"
"No, Jennifer. It certainly did not–"
"How was the honeymoon?"
"It wasn’t exactly a honeymoon–"
"You have to tell us everything! From the trip, down to the sex!"
"Yeah, no–"
"Come now. When have we ever hidden things from each other?" Jenny blinked innocently. "Did they double-stuff you? Triple? Quadruple?" She gasped. "Tag-team?!"
1
Everyone in the hallway that wasn’t already staring in our direction were definitely looking now and I mock-glared at Regina. "Thank you, Jenny. And Regina. For always embarrassing me."
Jenny’s grin was wide as she hooped her hand through mine. "You are so welcome. So, did you do it in the jet?"
I couldn’t hide the blush that erupted all over my face.
Regina gasped. "You did, didn’t you?!" She began making gyrating, dancing movements in the middle of the school’s walkway. "R.I.P to the innocent you were months ago. And R.I.P to your freaking vagina."
2
"Regina!" Juliette and I exclaimed. "Why are you like this?"
She pumped two of her fists. "Because we live vicariously through you, May. Not all of us are lucky enough to get mated to hotshots like yours. Some of us out here are surviving on mediocre, non-magical, non-knotting and uncircumcised–"
1
"Regina!" I snapped.
Juliette was laughing into her hands and I could tell she found this very entertaining.
1
We reached the classroom door and I paused when I saw a shock of familiar blonde hair and that familiar high-pitched feminine laughter.
I didn’t know where to look first. Lana. Or Cole. Or both of them huddled against the door, lips entangled. Cole’s eyes met mine briefly over the top of Lana’s head. He looked somewhat better than the last time I saw him and I wondered briefly if the Queen did help him get rid of the bond.
1
I didn’t feel any different. But to be honest, I’d stopped feeling a single thing where Cole was involved eons ago.
Cole Haye’s emerald green gaze frosted over when they landed on me, and never taking his eyes off me, he reached down for Lana’s butt and squeezed hard, pulling her into him and kissing her harder.
Regina must’ve noticed my befuddlement because she offered, "Alpha Hayes finally gave a date for the wedding. Dad says it’ll happen quickly to hide the oven." Which was just Regina’s nickname for a baby bump. "They’ll be wedded and mated by the end of the month."
Jenny shook her head. "I’m not sure what she’s thinking with that bird-brain of hers, mating with him. Let’s not even speak about what he tried to do to you. He’s still a two-timing douchebag. He celebrated the announcement by getting blown by two brunettes at a party at the lodge."
I guessed some things never changed. Sometimes, I wondered what my life would’ve been like if he had accepted to mate with me. Would the Lycans have walked away? Would they have let it happen if they thought it would have made me happy and kept me safe, even if it made them, in turn, miserable?
1
Whatever the answer was, Yes or No, either option made the complicated tangle of emotions in my chest tighter and tighter, and I knew I was doomed when I felt like I was free-falling headfirst into a romantic entanglement that would, no doubt, eat me alive.
I clutched my hot cheeks, blinking rapidly as I recalled the flight back to Ashbourne earlier, and how I’d woken up curled halfway across Quinlan’s thigh, his fingers scratching my scalp, and my face rubbing against his crotch as I purred softly, like a cat.
I had gasped and risen quickly, and hidden my face for the rest of the flight when I noticed the four of them laughing at me. I didn’t even know how I had ended up on top of him.
"That bad, huh?" Regina crooned.
"W-what?" I asked, flustered.
My best friend’s grin kept growing. "How’s the divorce proceedings going?"
I began fiddling with my fingers. "F-fine."
"Uh-huh," Jenny purred on the other side of me like the devil perched on my shoulders. "And I suppose the jet sex was a part of the proceedings too? And all the sex-ing that followed, too? Let me guess, you’ve decided it’s not so bad after all?"
"Shut up," I squealed, mortified.
Juliette’s arm wrapped around my neck. "Don’t worry. It’s just the honeymoon phase."
"The what?"
"You know, the part where everything’s smooth sailing, and you all can’t keep your hands off each other, and you’re so in love, you’re floating on cloud nine all the time--"
"I’m not in love with them and we are definitely not in any honeymoon phase," I hissed.
Regina’s grin was wolvish. "If you say so."
My next ’pleasant’ surprise was waiting for me when we walked into the classroom buzzing with the usual morning energy.
On the seats beside ours, three bulky figures sat like kings on thrones. Bastian leaned against his seat with predatory stillness, his blue-black hair mussed over his grey eyes. Ryder slouched beside him, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips as he peered unabashedly into Claire’s cleavage as she twirled her hair around her fingers and bit her bottom lip. And Kisten, massive and imposing, barely fitting into his seat, had his arms crossed over his broad chest, eyes narrowed.
As one, their gazes lifted and pinned me to where I stood.
Hard.
The intensity of their combined gazes sent a chill racing down my spine. Something tense spilled into the atmosphere, making the fine airs on my arms stand up. The girls fluttering around them like moths to flame flinched, the aura throwing them off, but the three paid them no mind.
Their focus remained locked on me, unblinking, as if I were the only person in the room.
And I wondered if it had anything to do with the Hunt. My gaze shifted to Bastian’s. I wanted to ask him if... if she was alright. If she survived. It was an urge like a punch to my gut, but I looked away first, making my way over to my seat instead.
What a total buzz kill.
"Since when do we share classes with them?" I murmured.
"Since Regina began tutoring them," Juliette supplied.
I turned my wide stare to Regina, and she brought her hands up in a defensive stance. "Atlas bullied me into it."
"Not true," Juliette muttered with a frown at the three Lycans, and she inched closer into me, almost in a protective manner that had Jenny’s brows arching. "Her grades flunked again below average on her last make up. Atlas offered to give her a redo if she took them off her hands. Which unfortunately means sitting awfully close to them all the time."
Worry knotted my brows as I glanced over at Regina. Regina was one of the smartest people I knew. But her grades flunked like this whenever she was going through mental strain. I felt horrible instantly. It almost felt like I suddenly had way too much going on in my life to be there when my friends needed me.
"Don’t give me that puppy-doggy look, May," Regina sulked, slipping into her seat. "Like I need saving or something."
"But you do need saving." I grinned and leaned over. "Would you like to come visit for a sleepover–"
"Yes!" Jenny and Regina squealed.