Chapter4: Runaway Mate

I learned the meaning of forever while staring into those green eyes, which I now realize belong to my mate. There is no emotion on his face to let me know what he’s feeling despite our wolves trying to break out of our bodies just so they could get to one another and hit up Bonetown.

My green-eyed mate is just standing there, cool like a high school bad-boy in a leather jacket and sucking on his cigarette, like this bond thing has no effect on him whatsoever, even though I saw the utter horror of recognition in his eyes when we first acknowledged each other’s existence before he could mask it again with post-adolescent ennui. We are two people destined to be together, yet an ocean separates us.

“Hey, you all right?” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

His closeness only made the bonding scent stronger. Deep within me, Alera is beside herself with excitement and begging to get out. My proximity must have affected him, too, because his nose crinkled and he took a leap back like I was on fire.

I swim back up to sanity and realize I’m freezing again. Damn it. Meanwhile, Alera won’t stop whining for her mate while I mutter back cold to her.

“Thank you for looking after my friends.” I pull my hands into the sleeves of my ski jacket.

“Whoa, are you that cold?” One of his friends asks with concern and begins to remove his jacket as though he means to hand it to me. My mate gives me the stink-eye.

“No thanks, I’m all set. I don’t need to owe you anymore favors. Anyway, thanks again. See you around. Toodles.” With that geeky little goodbye, I ran for my car without looking back at him.

I start up the engine and turn the heater on full blast before high-tailing it out of there. First, I drop Gia off at her house, sneaking her through the back door where her brother Evan was waiting for her with a grim look on his face. Then, I head home with Cora in the back seat, praying to anyone who is listening that my parents haven’t returned.

Our two-story house is still dark, except for the light on the front porch, which I left on, along with the one in the kitchen. Thankfully, my parents haven’t arrived, so I drag Cora out of the car and into the house where I dump her on the bed in the guest room after removing her shoes.

“Man, that bitch was heavy,” I mutter under my breath as I trudge back to my room. Alera scoffs and tells me to quit bitching and get back into bed so we can rest for the evening. As soon as I’m under the covers, my thoughts go back to him.

I know I ran away like a coward, but we were in danger of exposing our matehood to the others, and I’m pretty sure neither one of us knows what to do with this new information yet.

Morning comes around and my parents are still AWOL. They haven’t returned, but Cora is at the kitchen table sipping her coffee across from me and already in uniform.

“So… rough night?” She gives me an awkward smile.

I can practically hear the gears turning in her head and recognize the guilt on her face. I decided to bust her balls a bit.

“Yep. Looks like we’re taking the bus today.”

“So…” Her smile was becoming uneasy.

I raise my eyebrows. “So…”

I know what she is aiming to ask me, but I wasn’t willing to help her out. Nope, not this morning.

“Who brought me home?”

I clucked my tongue. “Poor Jem. I really think you ought to call him this morning. You called him up late last night and screamed at him that you slept with someone else because he refuses to give you dick.” I sip my coffee.

“Oh, my God, Jem!” Fumbling with her phone, she starts to tear up.

“Uh-oh, bad joke,” Alera tells me, making me feel bad. I clap my hands and crack up, exaggerating my movements so it’s clear to Cora that I’m only kidding with her.

“Nothing happened, you bimbo. I picked you up and brought you home,” I assure her as she wipes her tears with the backs of her hands.

“You bitch.”

I snatch my bag from the table and make a mad dash for the door to get out of the house. I look back over my shoulder and see her struggling to lock up the house so she could run after me and no doubt tackle me to the ground.

“I hate you, you dumb cow,” she screams, slapping my arm.

“Bitch, please. That’s not what you said last night.” I grab her elbow and we make a run for the bus stop, getting there just as the big yellow school bus drives away. “Goddamn it.” I kick a pebble.

“Don’t you ever do that again, you mad goose,” she says, trying to catch her breath.

I laugh at her. “Then don’t get your ass drunk on a school night.”

A sweet-looking Corvette sneaks up behind us and the window slides down. “You ladies need a ride to school?”

It’s one of the dudes from last night.

“I’m Jay.” He takes off his sunglasses. “Future Beta.” His friend on the front passenger side raises his head and howls.

“What an asshole,” Alera grumbled in my head.

I scoff. “Good for you. Your parents must be really proud.”

The window of the back passenger seat rolls down and that damnable musky forest scent invades my nostrils again. I grab Cora, who is still trying to catch her breath beside me, and use her as my shield, hiding like a coward behind her.

“What the hell, Ada?” She looks at Jay, then her face scrunches up in disgust.

Clearly, it’s not Jay I’m hiding from, and I don’t know why I’m even trying. If I can smell him, he can smell me. Plus he’s already seen me.

Cora flips her hair and glares at Jay. “Ugh, do I know you?”

Jay clutches his heart. “Ouch. You wound me, my lady.”

I bite my lower lip, trying to avert my gaze, but I can feel his heated stare on the side of my face. What is his problem? Why is he looking at me? I peek at him and see the same female from last night clinging to him in the back seat.

“So… Do you ladies wanna ride with us or not?” Jay coos, winking at Cora.

“This guy is an idiot,” Alera tells me with a huff.

I see the city bus about to pull up and take Cora’s hand, taking a step forward. “And what? Sit on top of your heads? No thanks, asshole.” I ran toward the bus, dragging my friend along with me.

As the bus pulls away from the curb, we hurriedly find seats. I put my hand on my chest to calm my beating heart. I peek out the window and see their car slide into a lane next to the bus and all their windows are down. I try to avoid their stares, even when they start hooting and hollering. I especially avoid the one in the back seat.

Cora squeezes my arm. “Why are they harassing you? Did you—”

“Nope.” I face the front, though I can still feel his gaze on the side of my face. “I did nothing and I have no idea why they’re harassing me. They’re just bullies, I guess.”

“Aww, I think our mate is coming after us.” Alera is near bursting with squealing.

Oh, boy, are we doomed. Unless his stares mean nothing. I mean, they probably don’t.