Chapter 115
Heather
Serena nudged her shoulder against mine. "Brunch?
It’s feeling like it’s omelet time."
"I seriously don’t think food is going to fix this."
She scoffed at me. "A good meal can fix just about anything."
Werewolves and their food addiction...
My stomach growled. The traitor.
"I’m going to throw on some clothes." She jumped up from my bed. "I won’t even shower. Give me five."
"Cool." I reached my hand out. "Can I have my ball back?"
She narrowed her gaze at me. "Are you going to bounce it against the wall again?"
"No?"
"No. I don’t trust you with it." She threw the ball in the air and then caught it. "Your bouncy ball privileges have been revoked."
I pouted. "But I had a really bad birthday."
She pointed a finger at me. "Don’t give me that face. It’s not going to work." She closed the bathroom door. "Read one of your steamy romance novels. I’ll be ready in a sec."
By sec, Serena definitely meant at least fifteen minutes. It’d been a while since I’d actually had time to sit down and read a book. I scanned my shelves, picked up a random one, and flipped through.
The scent of forest and wolf filled my senses. I put my nose to the spine and inhaled.
The books still smelled like Brent. When I’d first moved in, he’d brought all my stuff. He even made sure to put all my books in order alphabetically by author and separated by genre.
I grabbed a Christine Feehan book, one of her Sea Haven novels. That series was seriously awesome. I got swept away by the sisters that all had special powers. Kind of like the coven.
That got me thinking. If I’d met the coven first, would I have wanted to be part of it? Would I have drunk their Kool-Aid?
I hoped I would’ve been able to see through it, but it was possible that I could’ve been blinded by their powers.
It was dumb to sit around thinking about what-ifs. That hadn’t happened. I was here with the pack, and I liked my life. I doubted the coven could’ve helped me gain control of my powers so fast. I would’ve been stuck on their land, living in their middle-of-nowhere compound—that sounded terrible.
I liked running with the pack. I liked being with Brent.
No. I loved being with him.
I sighed and tried to focus on the words as I read the first Chapter.
I was fully sucked into the story when Serena popped back into my room. "Ready?"
"Yes. I’m starving, Miss I-said-I’d-be-a-sec-and-meant-half-an-hour."
"Shut it. Not everyone can be as naturally gorgeous as you." She laughed at her own joke.
Werewolves were all kinds of hot. Probably because they all were ripped and had naturally healthy skin and hair.
They looked like the best versions of themselves at all times. When I first showed up, I’d thought I’d walked onto Mount Olympus. Each Were was a testament to perfection. It was sick.
And I was from LA. I was used to people working hard at looking good. But the Weres made it effortless. Tall. Fit. Graceful. My five feet and change couldn’t ever really compete with that, but I didn’t care. I didn’t mind being different. I was used to that.
We chatted about the ins and outs for the watching order of Firefly as we walked to the cafeteria, agreeing that the chronological order, not airing order, was best. The cafeteria was next door to the dorms. I smelled the food before I saw it.
Cooks worked at different stations while workers on the line kept heaping more into the trays of prepared food. It was enough to drive my senses crazy. I ignored whoever was in the room and went straight for the buffet. Turned out, I was hungrier than I’d thought.
We made our way around the stations, loading up our trays until they were piled high. When I turned, I found a mostly full cafeteria.
That was weird. Sundays were usually the most laissez-faire time on campus. People slept in and came and went throughout the day. They were my favorite days for that reason. No packed cafeteria.
This Sunday wasn’t my favorite. Not only were there a bunch of new people, but someone in particular caught my eye as I made my way between the large round tables.
Callista Hoel.
She’d helped her father nearly tear the pack apart a month and a half ago, and she was the whole reason we were having the Tribunal. Sure, I’d attacked her, but she’d gotten in my face. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t tried to kill me in return. If Claudia and Raphael hadn’t stepped in, she might’ve succeeded.
Her father, Rupert Hoel, was still on the run. No one had heard from him since his failed attempt to take over, but that didn’t mean he was gone for good. His wife butted into the whole Luciana thing last night—sponsoring the coven for the Tribunal and at the ceremony—and now his daughter was back from her mandatory leave of absence. That whole family was trouble, and I had a feeling I’d be hearing from Rupert before long.
It was stupid to be blindsided by the sight of Callista, but I’d totally forgotten that she would be here for the Tribunal. Or maybe I’d been hoping I wouldn’t see her. We’d kind of made peace with each other before she left, but I still didn’t trust her. It was one thing to forgive, but another to forget.
And now she was sitting with Brent. My Brent. Her hand was on his arm.
"Calm down," Serena said. "No need to rip her throat out again. We all know Brent’s yours."
I took a breath. "Yeah, but does she know that?"
"She’d be dumb to not know that now."
Serena was right. I’d forgiven her, so I needed to stick by that. The only reason she was bugging me was because I hadn’t seen her since she left, and her parents were trying to make my life miserable. This was not the time to act like a jealous girlfriend. Even if I kind of was one.
Brent looked up, and his glowing eyes met mine. He scooted away from Callista. I don’t like what you’re feeling right now.
"Me neither," I muttered to myself. Jealousy sucked. It made me feel petty and weak and insecure. I didn’t like it one bit.
There’s nothing to be jealous of. You’re my mate. It’s not a secret.
Sorry. I started toward him. I’m feeling a little unsettled after last night, and she’s not bringing out the best in me.
Brent pushed out the chair next to him. As soon as I sat, he brushed his lips against mine. "I was going to come get you in a few if you didn’t show up."
"Really?"
"Yeah." He held up his phone. "You barely made it." The countdown had less than a minute on it.
"Why the time limit?"
He sat back in his chair. "You wouldn’t eat on our run again. You’re still going too long between meals."
Ripping into a live, fur-covered Bambi wasn’t something I wanted to do, no matter how natural everyone else thought it was.
I kissed his cheek. "Thanks."
Serena plopped down next to me. "Hey, Callista."
"Hey." She drew out the word a little too long for it to be mistaken as anything nice. "Well, I’m going to get going. Good to see you Brent." She put her hand on his arm again and squeezed. I wanted to rip her hand off her body.
I shoved a giant bite of omelet in my mouth to keep from talking to her.
"See you, Heather."
"Mmm-hmm," I said around my bite.
Brent leaned back in his chair. "You’re kind of adorable when you’re jealous."
My cheeks heated. Shut up, I said through the bond. I glanced over to Serena, who was nodding and staring off into space. "How’s Donovan?" I said when I was done chewing.
She jumped a little in her seat. "Oh. He’s fine. He’s on his way.
Sorry, was I doing it again?"
"Yeah, but I’m just as bad."
"He wants to talk to you two."
I dropped my fork. I didn’t like the sound of that. "Anything bad?"
"He didn’t say."
Perfect. The way the last twenty-four hours had been going, chances were on a scale from one to ten the news ranked somewhere around fifteen, a.k.a. mega-terrible. I just knew I wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say.
Before I could worry too much, Donovan appeared at the table and settled into the chair next to Serena. He didn’t say hello. Instead, he put his arm around her, drawing her close. "How’re you two doin’ today? Feeling okay?"
Brent stiffened beside me, and I put a hand on his leg. "We’re going to be okay, provided that we don’t have the same problem next month."
Donovan sighed. "I can’t promise anything. What I can say is that Luciana’s up to something."
I clasped a hand against my chest. "No! You don’t say?"
The side of his mouth tilted up. "All right. I get it. But I want you to be prepared for what may come. Don’t be afraid of fighting for what you want."
I met his gaze and couldn’t look away. "Even if it puts other people in danger?"
"Yes."
I shook my head. No way. "That’s too selfish. I don’t know that I could do that."
The only sign that Donovan was pissed was the sudden glow in his blue eyes. "Fine. Don’t completely ignore the good of others, but don’t be a martyr either. I’ve seen that look in Luciana’s eyes before. Seen it in others, too. I know this is going to come down to a fight. It’s just a matter of how big."
I broke his gaze. Not because it was too intense, but because I was confused. How was I supposed to know what move to make when he was contradicting himself? What was right? "You really think it’s going to be a fight no matter what?"