Chapter 8: Pretentious Coffee

Ashe’s POV

   Alpha Sean and I walked down the hall out a side door to the packhouse. After training he had wanted me to come to his office and we discussed how we are adjusting. I couldn’t help it, I had to tell him that my sleep hadn’t been great because of Selyna having fitful sleep and talking in her sleep. We discussed the importance of witches’ dreams and he asked me a ton of questions that I didn’t have answers to, but I confessed that Selyna often has dreams involving Damian. I didn’t tell him what kind of dreams or that they were every night, sometimes two or more. She hadn’t gotten emotional like she had earlier in the week since then, but she was more of a wreck than she let on. She has met with the coven daily then she and Kirsty have had lunch a couple of times. I am glad she is warming up to the local wolves. 

    Alpha Sean walks toward the Escalade that Damian and a green haired wolf just climbed out of and I start down the street when I hear “You know my 16th birthday is next week! I am not a child!” loudly coming from the irritating mouth of none other than Kristalle. I turn just in time to see her storm off and the perplexed look that crosses Damian’s face before Alpa Sean places a hand on his shoulder talks to him. Damian looks exhausted. He looks almost as out of sorts as Selyna, almost.

    We have orientation at the university today so it will be a busy one. I walk into the coffee shop and decide to order 2 double mochachinos, with an extra shot of espresso in each and buy a bag of those chocolate covered espresso beans that Selyna has fallen in love with this week. I hope my offering of pretentious coffee (which I admit is now just as much a habit for me as it is for Selyna) will appease the goddess that is my best friend. She really is a goddess, she doesn’t see how guys and girls alike take note of her beauty, she notices even less how the power rolls off of her. She exudes a rare power that just seems to seep out of every pore and roll off of her in waves and it shifts with her moods. When she is angry it feels like something dark and consuming is pushing out and pushing everyone back. When she is sad it feels like someone has ripped my soul away . She is sad and tired more than anything right now. She still hasn’t told the alpha about her dreamlink with her parents, I think he should know, but she is a witch and her parents would be too, so she is right that it is witch business, but I feel like it is important to all supernaturals. I don’t know why, just a feeling that I get. ‘You have always admired her and called her a goddess in your head,’ Phoenix purrs. ‘She is my best friend and yeah, I had a crush on her for a while but our love for one another is platonic. I am her protector whether she knows it or not’ I reply. ‘Something has changed in her ever since that surge in Alpha’s office’ Phoenix states and I have sensed it too. ‘It may be a coincidence but I felt a shift in her, I felt the energy surge as Damian stormed past us’ I voiced what I had noticed but tried not to dwell on. ‘I think he’s her

mate. So does his wof Steele, but the boy is stubborn. It makes sense his aura is nearly as strong as hers’ Phoenix hums. ‘If his wolf thinks she is then she most likely is, but I don’t think either of them can detect it on a conscious level, not until the Harvest Moon Festival anyway’ I sigh.

     I wish I could mildlink Selyna, tell her to come downstairs rather than going all the way up just to come back down. I would text her but my hands are full.“Hey!” she says walking out the front door as I approach. Something about her energy seems lighter than it has in days. “ I got a feeling you’d be here any minute and here you are! Let’s get going and see what this school has in store for us!” she beams. I hand her coffee and gawk at the change in mood. 

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   Orientation was long and boring and while others were dressed to impress I had come right from training, so had pulled on my black asymmetric hoodie over my charcoal tee and black joggers with extra tall, black converse Chuck Taylor’s on my feet. Yeah, probably not as fashionable as I would dress if I hadn’t been training, but I was comfortable. We had eaten all the espresso beans on our walk to the university and I was wanting another caffeine kick. 

     “Hey Sel,  wanna go get another pretentious coffee fix ?” I inquire with a smirk. Of course she is going to, I think witches must have coffee running through their veins, or maybe it’s just her. 

     “ Do ya even need to ask?  You know the way to my heart is coffee?” she laughed. Ya my best gurl is feeling much better today and it makes me wonder why, but I don’t want to  push and possibly bring her mood back down. So I offer her an elbow like a gentleperson should and gesture to the walkway in front of us with a slight bow.

     “After you, ma’lady!” I smirk and she rolls her eyes, but links her hand around my bent elbow and starts towards the coffee house. “You know I am not going to break, you can ask me whatever it is you are thinking. I have had a rough patch with my moods and the lack of sleep, but I feel lighter today.” She can read my facial expressions too well, I didn’t even know my thoughts had shown.

     “So, then I can ask you why the change in mood and you won’t bite my head off or break down crying again?” I ask with trepidation. I rub the back of my neck with my free hand and kick a rock that is our path. I love when she is happy. It breaks my heart to see her sad. She has been through so much and I have a feeling that there is a lot more to come. 

      She pauses , slowing our pace, then turns and smiles “ I don’t know why. I don’t understand, it’s like my conscience was upset about something, but I couldn’t figure it out. That voice in the back of my head just kept pushing me, nagging about something , making me feel sad and angry. Today it eased and a peace settled within me, about an hour before you got home this morning. It must be a witch thing, something energetic. I will bring it up with the coven when I see them sunday.”

   I nod and walk in silence for the next 10 minutes. As we get to  the shop I act the gentleperson that I was raised to be, again, opening the door and gesturing for her to enter with another slight bow. She laughs. How I have missed that laugh this week while she was upset. We get our coffee and grab a table.

    “Sel, what are you wearing Saturday? “ I pull the invitations that Alpha Sean had given me this morning. 

    “These look fancy! Is it formal? “ she gasps in surprise at the embossed invitations. “I hadn’t thought about it much. I hadn’t realised it would be formal, the alpha seems kind of casual in appearance” she adds.

    “Oh, he is actually usually a more casual dresser, but his predecessor, Alpha Dimitri, loved holding formal events and he keeps up the tradition. It isn’t as formal as the 3 Balls that we will be invited to this year, but it is formal enough to warrant a trip into Boston for something nice to wear” I grin and wink. Talking fashion and clothing with my bestie always brings a smile to my face. She may be a badass witch with a tough punk streak, but she’s still very much a girl who loves to dress up. 

     We check the train schedules and finish our drinks before heading off to catch the 5:00 train into the city. We know exactly where we are heading.