Christian’s POV
Cat’s eyes follow me as I walk to the kitchen, pour a glass of water, and down it in one go. She’s still watching me as I walk back into the living room and across to the balcony. I search the dark forest beyond with my eyes. Sara is out there somewhere, with that idiot.
Cat finally speaks. “You want to go after her. Don’t let your pride stop you.”
I look back at her and make a face that suggests she has got it all wrong. She hasn’t. “What? Why would I want to do that?”
She gets up from her perch on the armchair and approaches me. “You are no fun when you are like this, Chris. Why haven’t you rejected her yet, again?”
I told her about my bond with Sara. She is the only person I’ve told about it. Cat and I have a long history. She is my childhood friend turned friend with benefits. If there’s someone who knows too much about me, it’s her.
“I was going to,” I say, though I can’t tell you exactly when I was going to do it.
Sure, when I first found out about the bond, I was determined to end it right there and then. But my wolf Ian was an ass about it and now here we are. To be honest, though, it’s no longer about Ian not wanting me to reject her.
“But now you don’t want to lose to Levi,” Cat finishes up my unspoken thought. “Jeez, what are you, eleven? When will this stupid competition between you two end?”
“In our graves?” I suggest.
My pack, River’s End, and Levi’s, Silver Creek, have always had a good relationship, and our families got together often enough for Levi and me to become close. You could say we were friends, but…it was not all rainbows and roses.
We spent most of our time together competing over everything, like a pair of sibling rivals. It didn’t help that we went through most of our training as boys together. I didn’t want to disappoint my father, and Levi didn’t have much choice but to be the best. Even the most mundane of tasks turned into a fierce competition between us.
We have grown past the stupid competitions, but when I found out that Sara had a bond with Levi? It seemed like the ultimate prize. The only race that matters at this point.
“You don’t even want a mate,” she reminds me. The same way Sara reminded me this afternoon. It seems like so long ago when I had her in my arms, all soft and female and… Ugh.
Why did she think it was a good idea to go with Kai to the party? Is she so naive that she cannot tell his intentions?
Or was she so eager to get away from the sight of me and Cat that accompanying Kai sounded like the better alternative? I’d wanted to make her jealous…I suppose that worked. But not if she ends up in Kai’s arms at some point at that party.
“You’ve never wanted one,” she adds.
“Can you imagine the look on my father’s face when I take an Omega home as my mate?”
My father has a lot of expectations for me, and mating well is one of them. He doesn’t yet know that I’ve never intended to take a mate. He also doesn’t know that I’ve always planned to get rid of her as soon as she showed up so he couldn’t force me to mate with her.
But since she has turned out to be an Omega, why pass up the opportunity to piss him off well and good? He wants me to take a mate? He’ll get what he wants.
Cat shakes her head. “Come on, Chris. Aren’t you being a little too unfair to the poor girl? First, you pursue her only to beat Levi to it, and then mate her to piss your father off?”
“That’s if she chooses me. She has every chance not to.”
“And are you going to be straightforward about your motivations with her? I doubt she would consider you if she knew why you are suddenly panting after her like a dog on heat.”
“Am I supposed to care?”
She groans. “Damn, I almost forgot how cold you can get.”
“I haven’t had this much fun in ages. Let me be.”
“This will be so funny if you end up falling for her.”
I scoff. That has to be the most ridiculous thing she has ever said. “Yeah, right.”
She sighs, as if she is so done with me, and then leans in to give me a quick kiss. “I gotta go. I’d suggest you hit the party before Kai bewitches your lady love. That guy works fast. Take your medicine.”
“Will do, thanks.” I needed a special antidote to deal with the lingering poison, and I had Cat bring me some discreetly. I don’t want my father to know what I’ve been up to. He’d gladly snitch on me to the school and I don’t look forward to the consequences.
Cat leaves, and I get ready to head to the party. I’m putting on my shoes when the door opens and Kai steps in, a limp Sara in his arms.
“What happened?” I ask, eyeing the unconscious girl in his arms. Is she sleeping or passed out?
“I don’t know,” he says, walking in and pushing the door shut with his foot. “One moment she was fine, and then…” He shrugs.
I hold my arms out. “Give her to me.”
“I’ve got her,” he tells me, walking past me and towards her room.
I abandon my shoes and hurry after him. I go past him and open her door. As he walks through, I ask, “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing!”
“No? You didn’t spike her drink or something?” He has been dying to get into her pants since the day she got here. As far as I know, she hasn’t given in. Did he take her to the party so he could get her drunk and do whatever he wants?
He shoots me a glare as he places her on the bed. “I would never do that. Fuck you.”
“Care to explain what happened to her, then?”
“She said she wasn’t feeling well earlier. Maybe that’s it.”
“She was lying,” I tell him. Walking to the bed, I reach for her wrist and feel her pulse. It’s shallow and slow. I place a finger under her nostrils. So is her breathing. I press the back of my hand to her forehead, then her cheek. Too cool. “She has taken something.”
If he says he didn’t do it, I’ll take his word for it. But she has been drugged.
“I don’t understand. We all drank from the same keg. I feel nothing.”
“Did you get the drinks yourself?”
“Yes, but…”
“But what?” I prompt when his eyes peel wide.
“Viola. She got us drinks once.”
I could facepalm right now. “Viola, the girl who has been tormenting Sara since her first day here?”
“Yes, but we exchanged drinks. Sara was suspicious, so I took hers and gave her mine. If that’s when she was drugged…”
“You were Viola’s target?”
His face scrunches up in confusion. “Why would she do that?”
Good question. But not my concern. While Kai works out why one of his harem wants him incapacitated, I rush to my room for my medicine chest.
At River’s End, healing is our main specialty. As the Alpha’s son, I easily got the highly coveted chance to apprentice with the chief healer when I was fifteen. I was his student for three years. So, while I’m not a certified healer, I have a good idea of what I’m doing.
When I get back, Kai is sitting beside Sara on the bed, gently stroking her hair back.
“Don’t touch her,” I growl, hurrying up to get to her and get him away from her. I place the chest on the bedside cabin and reach for his arm to pull him from her side.
He jerks his arm out of my hold and doesn’t budge. “Why not?”
“Don’t try me.”
“Because she is your fated mate?”
My brows pull together. “What?”
He stands so that we are face to face. “She told me.”
That would have come out at some point, so whatever. He still needs to move.
“You know, but still want to try me?” If he thinks he can toy around with me like he does with Levi, he has another thought coming. Levi might seem more frightening than me, but he is also way more patient. It’s not a lot of patience, but
“I have a bond with her too,” he says.
“Yeah, right. I don’t have time for your stupid games, Kai. I need to see to her right now or she’ll be in danger. If Viola used enough sedatives to knock you out, imagine their effect on her.”
He looks back at Sara, lying so still on her bed. And then he steps away. “No problem. You can ask her when she wakes up.”
He isn’t lying, is he?
Him, Levi, and me? What kind of fuckery is this?