“I must have left the ringer off.”
He pushed off the wall and rounded me. “Something’s wrong,” he said quietly.
The throbbing in my navel turned thunderous. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling his stress or my own. “Why don’t we sit down?”
He dropped down onto the couch and placed his forearms on his spread thighs.
I tugged on the hem of my crop top, trying to extend it beyond my navel, but the pale turquoise cotton just sprang right back up. I folded my knees beneath me and perched on the opposite side of the couch, hoping physical distance would make this easier.
“Something happened between you and Liam, didn’t it?” There was a tremor in his gravelly voice.
“No.” I shook my head, and my loose hair fluttered around my shoulders. “Nothing happened between us. When I was away, I . . .” I forced my eyes to stay locked on his, knowing that if I looked anywhere else, he would sense the lie before it even left my lips. “I didn’t miss you, August. Not in that way.”
Shadows rushed over his features. “Really?”
“I’m sorry for leading you on. I feel terrible right now. But I’m hoping we can move past this and stay friends?” My voice was so steady I sounded both convinced and convincing.
August didn’t speak. He just stared as though waiting for me to say: gotcha, didn’t I?
When I didn’t utter those words, or any others for that matter, he got up. “Well, I . . .” He cleared his throat, gaze on the dining table and the open course catalogue. “I’ll just show myself out.” His tone was so heavy I almost leaped off the couch, but Evelyn’s words held me in place.
He’d understand in time.
“Will you leave Boulder now?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He glanced over his shoulder at me, eyebrows almost touching from how deeply his brow was furrowed. “You probably want me gone, don’t you?”
“No,” I replied so quickly his eyebrows jolted up. “Don’t leave on my account, August.” I gripped my bottom lip between my teeth. My heart was beating so fast I tasted metal.
He didn’t move for a long moment, neither toward me nor toward the door. Did he sense my lie? Finally, his hand curled around the handle.
Before he stepped out, I said, “If you want me to return the money you put in my bank account, I’ll-”
“Don’t add insult to injury.” Tendons strained against the bronzed skin of his neck.
My teeth elongated into fangs that sank into my lip, drawing blood. I swallowed down the salty taste of it, battling back my wolf before she could rise and take control of my human body.
August’s nostrils flared. Could he scent my blood? Was he wondering why I’d lost control? Maybe he assumed I was anxious for him to get out of my house.
He shut his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I guess I’ll see you around.” The tether that linked us swung like a jump rope. “Good luck with college,” he added tonelessly.
“Thank you.”When he opened his eyes again, they shone as brightly as the bloated moon hanging over Boulder. He looked at me one last heartbreaking time, and then he left, the door snicking shut behind him. I held my breath as his heavy footfalls pounded the stairs, and then held it some more as his car engine rumbled.
Only when it petered out and the world turned silent did I unbolt my bloodied lips and let my pain pour out of me in great heaving sobs.
I spent all of Tuesday in bed. I told Liam I’d suffered from food poisoning, and he let me take the day off. The following day, though, I got up and drove to the gym at the crack of dawn. When I reached the building, Liam, Lucas, and Greg were already there, waiting for me.
Lucas dragged his blue gaze up and then down my body. “What the fuck did you eat, Clark? You look like hell.”
“Thanks, Lucas. Exactly what I rolled out of bed to hear.”
Lucas smirked, but then his smirk vanished when he turned toward our Alpha. I didn’t meet Liam’s gaze, afraid he would see that it wasn’t my stomach that had made me sick but my heart. I bet he knew-wouldn’t be long before the entire pack knew. I just hoped he wouldn’t see it as an overture to make a move on me.
Why couldn’t I have stuck to my plan about not dating any man for at least a year?
“So the Sillin . . . How much am I taking, Greg? And how long before we can test the results?”
Greg handed me an insulated pouch containing two pill packs. “Take two pills every day at exactly the same time. From the minute you stop taking them, you’ll need about ten hours for your werewolf gene to reactivate, give or take an hour. Oh, and store them in the fridge when you get home.” He unzipped a leather satchel and took out a syringe. “I’m going to take some of your blood now, and then again in two weeks to check for traces of Sillin.”
“Okay.””Not afraid of needles, are you?”
“No.” Still, as he took my wrist in his dry hand and brought the syringe to the inside of my arm, I looked away.
When the pointed tip slid beneath my skin, I cinched my eyes shut. The uncomfortable pinch soon subsided, and then it was done, and Greg said, “Call me if you notice any side effects. There shouldn’t be any, but just in case, you can reach me at any time, day or night.”
I nodded and took the business card he extended my way.
“I guess you won’t be needing a bandage,” he said.
Sure enough, my skin had already patched up. Only a bead of blood remained. I swiped it away with my thumb. “Should I take the Sillin now or after my torture session?”
“After,” Liam said, shrugging off his black hoodie. He wore nothing underneath. “Since we won’t have another opportunity to train in fur once you start taking those pills, we’re fighting as wolves today.”
As Greg left, the heavy door clanging shut behind him, I looked around for a place to change. The loft space didn’t have locker rooms, but it did have a questionably clean bathroom stall.
As I started toward it, Liam called me back. “Ness, you’ll be shifting out here. You need to get used to it.”
I must have gone ghostly pale, because Lucas chuckled. “In the other packs, females and males shift together. Didn’t Sarah tell you?”
“She did, but-”
“I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable,” Liam added, hooking his thumbs in the elastic waistband of his sweatpants.
“I promise that on the day of the duel, I’ll shed my clothes in front of everyone, but please don’t ask me to do it today.”
My desperation must’ve rang out loud and clear, because he relented. I scurried into the bathroom that stank of dried piss, leaving the door ajar so I could get out after the change. I kicked off my sneakers, yanked off my leggings and exercise top, and piled everything neatly on the sink top even though it wasn’t much cleaner than the beige-tiled floor.
Once I’d morphed, I padded out into the gym on four legs. Liam was already in fur, three full hands taller than I was. Only Lucas remained in skin. He was sitting on a bench, curling massive dumbbells.
Justin’s the one you’re going to have to keep in your line of sight at all times, Liam said.
My ears perked up. You think he’ll attack me?
He’s not supposed to, but it’s Justin we’re talking about. He might attack you to distract me.
But that wouldn’t be fair . . .
If you’re expecting fairness, you signed up for the wrong duel.