Oddly enough, Cindy and her gang had left me alone. Or to be precise, I hadn't seen her for the last five days. She and her cronies hadn't come to school for rehearsals, and as much as I was curious as to what had happened to her, I considered myself lucky and didn't bother to ask anyone. With Cindy's absence though, Davina decided to come back to school for good. It seemed that her so-called 'fever' was only because she was afraid to face Cindy and the pregnancy rumor turned out to be true.
"I didn't know that he was Cindy's boyfriend," claimed Davina although I didn't one-hundred percent believed her because Cindy had been parading him around in nearly every party we'd been into. But Davina was my friend so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. "We fell madly in love, Xy, and before I know it, I'm pregnant."
She sobbed and I put my arms around her, trying to calm her down. "Hey, it's okay. You experienced great love, you both love each other. That's more than anyone could've asked for." Without realizing it, I started comparing Davina's relationship with my tragic, inconsequential relationship with Brett.
"Xy, I'm so story about Brett. I couldn't believe he did that to you. I thought he was one one of the good guys, who knows he's such a--a--"
"Asshole?" I provided.
Davina nodded. "Yeah."
"It's cool, Dav. I always thought something was missing in our relationship. It wasn't meant to be." We fell into a comfortable silence, deep in our own thoughts. I looked up and my eyes met hers. "So what are you going to do now? Have you given it a thought?"
"I don't know," she breathed out.
"Okay, then we'll figure it out, okay?" I looked at my friend and suddenly felt really bad for her. She was only eighteen and she was scared. "Please don't cry or I'll start crying with you and I doubt Mrs. Lambert will like that."
That made her laugh. She brushed away her tears and smiled. "Thanks, Xy."
"What are your plans for Halloween this weekend?" I asked her, trying to shift the subject so we both wouldn't go all sappy and got kicked by our Biology teacher.
"I'll probably stay at home and read some books." Davina sighed. "No booze for those in the pudding club, right?" Then she looked up to meet my eyes. "How about you? Are you going with Eros again this year? I know you guys always have plans on your own."
Since I couldn't possibly tell her that I was going to a party in the packhouse where all werewolves in the pack would be invited, I only gave her a small smile and a "maybe".
Mrs. Lambert came in, carrying two books under her arm and a cup of coffee in her other hand. She apologized for being late and soon the class started.
* * *
As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I couldn't help but ponder Eros's question. 'Are you sure you're human?' Even though I had answered him, 'Hell yeah, I am!', after a while, I had this unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. My dad was a werewolf and my mom was a human. I could be human or werewolf but I'd like to think that since my dad was half human half werewolf while my mom was fully a human I would have a seventy-five percent chance of being a human. I frowned then quickly shook the thought out of my head. I was a human and I was happy that I was because a small part of me hoped that one day I could pretend that I was just another normal girl and that this all was just a dream.
"Hot damn!" I heard someone yell and looked up to meet Trish's eyes. "Girl, you look damn hot! Are you sure you're that witch girl from Harry Potter and not a slutty version of Scarlet Witch?"
"Her name is Miss Hermione Granger," I told Trish, rolling my eyes. "Plus I'm not a redhead. Can't be Scarlet Witch even if I want to unless you got a wig stashed somewhere for me to wear."
"Don't think I'm a nerd but even I know that before she became Scarlet Witch, she was Wanda Maximoff and she was a brunette just like you," teased Trish with a wink. "Anyway, what do you think?" She did a little twirl and then looked at me over her shoulder, her brows wiggled as a mischievous smile formed on her red lips.
Trish was dressed as a sexy Catwoman. Instead of doing it the way Anne Hatheway did in The Dark Knight Rises, she went for Halle Berry's version and was wearing vinyl lingerie paired with leather pants and killer heels. And of course, she had a cat mask headpiece on and was also carrying a whip. I was pretty sure the guys would be all over her. "You look really hot," I finally said.
"Hot enough for anyone to commit a sin?" asked Trish, tilting her head to one side.
I laughed. "Maybe." I checked my makeup and my costume one more time before I turned around and said, "Shall we?"
We went downstairs where the huge space had been turned into dance floors. There were so many people here and the sight sort of imbalanced me especially since usually it was empty. I took in all the great costumes until my gaze landed on a familiar dark head and my heart stuttered unwantedly in my chest despite all common sense. A sexy nurse sauntered over and hooked her stethoscope around Ryker's neck and pulled him down. I looked away, not wanting to see them kissing, and faced Trish instead.
Trish nudged me with her elbow. "I see you've found your man." She threw a meaningful look in the couple's direction.
I rolled my eyes. "You know he's not my man." Then I brought my attention to Ryker as the sexy nurse casually ran her manicured fingers along his broad chest.
"Fine. Alana's man then." Trish rolled her eyes and even though she was speaking of the truth, I felt a little pissed which was crazy because I didn't have any feelings for him. Hell, I hated the guy. "Although it's odd that they're not sneaking around like they used to."
"Sneaking around?" I asked curiously. I wasn't sure I was going to like the sound of this.
"Yeah, well, Alana was the one doing the sneaking. Ryker was just working in his office then she snuck from the back and barged in his office." Trish rolled her eyes again. "It's understandable but still, it's not something anyone wants to be around with."
"How's that understandable?" I snorted.
"The Alpha is a hot commodity around here even before he became the Alpha. I heard that before he was so hooked on Alana, so many girls tried to get him but he never got serious with any of them. He was very carefree, fun, and such a rake. So different compared to his brother, Walker."
I heard that from Eros the other day but I kept listening to Trish, hoping she would spill more information about Ryker and the Ethereal. "Walker seems like the responsible brother," I commented and subtly gave her the bait.
"Yeah, he truly was. His death was so sudden. It took everyone by surprise."
"How did it happen? I thought he was already sick." That last part was a gamble since I had no clue about Walker's cause of death and neither had Eros.
Trish opened her mouth but the noise from the door prompted her from saying whatever she wanted to say. We both turned and saw my best friend, Davina, walking inside in a sexy devil costume.
"Dav!" I was so excited. "How did you get here?"
Davina ran towards us and threw her arms around me. Once we let go, she pointed at Ryker and said, "Your new boyfriend invited me. I've only been to the North once. I didn't know you guys could throw a great party."
"Oh, trust me, all the fun is in the North," said Trish with a wink.
"Dav, this is Trish," I introduced them. "Trish, this is Davina."
We went to get a drink in the back of the kitchen where a bar had been set up on the island. While Davina was trying to get the bartender to give her a non-alcoholic cocktail, Trish leaned into me and said, "Seems like Ryker is hellbent on separating us, huh? I wonder what's gotten into him."
I matched her low volume when I replied, "You think he invited Dav here to separate us?"
Trish stared at my eyes. Her chocolate brown eyes held mine and her expression was deadly serious. "I have been coming here to check on Dmitry since five years ago and they've never invited an outsider before you, Xy." Trish shook her head. "Never."
* * *
A/N: what do you think? Is that truly the reason behind Ryker's action?