by JJ King
I stretched and was surprised to find my muscles relaxed after sitting so long on the floor. While Dalia pushed back the screens, I thought about how wonderful I felt, inside and out. It was like a weight had been lifted from me for that short time. It felt amazing, it felt freeing, and it made me realize just how much I’d been carrying these last few months.
“Do you think I’ll be alright?” I asked, slipping the bowl and stick back into the bag and placing it in the corner. Now that the weight had been momentarily lifted, I needed to know there was hope it would stay away for good.
Dalia considered me for a long moment, which I found reassuring. She wouldn’t give me the answer I wanted, she’d give me the truth. “I think so. We caught it early.” Dalia shut off the trickling water feature and turned with a reassuring smile that reflected in her deep brown eyes. “It’s not like you’ve been hearing the voices or anything.” She said it as a statement, not a question, as she strode across the room and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge. “Want one?” she asked, grabbing two before I could answer and tossing one to me.
I caught it easily and untwisted the cap automatically, my fingers gripping the plastic so tightly it spun off without barely a thought. I raised the bottle to my lips and drank long and deep, as my heart pounded painfully in my chest and the voices that had begun to tickle the edges of my mind whispered like the dregs of a nightmare.
Chapter 7
I took a sip of my coffee and tried not to wince at the overly saccharin taste of it. Daniella had been thoughtful enough to order me a drink, so it was the least I could do to drink it. I tried not to shift in my seat, even though the childish part of me wanted nothing more than to fidget under the expectations of this “casual” chat.
“So,” I said, setting the cup down on the table before me. “What were you thinking for the party?”
I focused on the party, not knowing what else to possibly talk to Daniella about, since we hadn’t exactly been besties in the months since I’d started at Alpha Wolf Academy. I tried not to let my eyes harden or hands clench as I remembered just how much of a bitch she’d been to me in those first few weeks. We’d made strides since then to come to terms and most often tolerated each other just fine. Then, after the plane crash, something had shifted between us and I’d thought things would be better. Based on the unease coursing through my body, I wasn’t so sure I was right.
Based on the way Daniella kept shifting her gaze from me to over my shoulder, I didn’t think she was comfortable either. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from glancing back, even though the shivers of awareness still skidded over my skin. We were in the dining room, surrounded by students. There were no assassins here. Viktor wasn’t here. I swallowed the tremor of fear and concentrated on planning my mate’s twenty-third birthday party.
“I was planning on having it at Whistler,” Daniella said, setting her cup down. “But I think it’ll be better to have it closer to campus.” She drummed her perfectly polished nails against her wine stained lips and smiled. “Bash isn’t big on going anywhere at the moment.”
Because of me, I thought, guiltily. I didn’t say it out loud, though, didn’t even give it time to sink into my thoughts before I shoved the guilt away. I was working on rejecting negative emotions and thoughts and, so far, it was helping. Besides, I realized, watching Daniella’s gaze flit away again, the change in venue wasn’t just for Bash or me. Daniella didn’t want to leave. She just had a convenient excuse not to take the responsibility for that decision and was using it. I decided to let it be and simply nodded.
“Any ideas where? You know campus a lot better than I do.” She’d had a full year of school here before I’d showed up and disrupted her life by falling in love with her twin.
Daniella pursed her lips and tapped them as she mulled it over. “We could just use one of the student lounges or the clearing out in the woods.”
The pinched look on her face told me clearly enough that she didn’t like either of those options and I knew that the night would be more special for Bash if his sister was happy. So, I considered what I knew of campus from when I’d searched the maps for the location of The Sisterhood’s meeting hall. I leaned in and kept my voice low.
“Katherine told me that when she was here, they used to throw secret parties right on campus under the administration’s noses. It wasn’t in that location.” I raised my eyebrows to covertly reference the huge room under the education building. “So, there has to be another place. Maybe if I ask her…”
Daniella’s emerald eyes shone. “We could throw a secret party right here on campus!” She grinned. “Maybe a themed party, like the roaring twenties. It could be like prohibition!”
She sounded so excited at the prospect, I couldn’t help but grin back. “If there is something here, I’ll find out. Tonight. I’m supposed to have a video chat with her and Quinn anyway.”
Daniella’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she leaned forward. “What’s that like? Being all friendly with the Alpha family after growing up in the country?”
I didn’t take it as an insult. I could have, I supposed, and I certainly would have just a few months ago, but I’d experienced enough of Daniella’s straight forward way of speaking that I understood she meant no harm with the question.
I considered my response and took another sip of the sweet coffee to give myself time. “It’s weird,” I said, settling on the truth. “The most important person I ever spoke to before coming here was the town mayor and she’s not exactly big shit.”
She smiled awkwardly, probably because she didn’t know what to say to my small-town experience. I was small-town and proud of it, most of the time. Other times it was too overwhelming for pride.
We each sipped at our drinks and glanced away. I fought for something to say, something to add to the conversation about the party but, really, there was nothing that could be done until I talked with Katherine. The silence built until it became a tangible thing between us, a wall of discomfort that I couldn’t figure out how to scale.
I was considering making my excuses and leaving when the click, click, click of heels on the wooden floor alerted me to the approach of the bitch squad. Loosing an audible sigh, I turned my head to see Seraphina leading her group of cronies towards our table.
“Your minions are here,” I mumbled to Daniella, whose eyebrow simply arched up at the dig.
“Daniella,” Seraphina said in the fake nice tone reserved for the very best of bitches. “We were looking for you everywhere. What on earth are you doing here?” She looked me directly in the eye and sneered for a split second, then her perfect toothy smile returned.
Daniella took her time answering. She kept her gaze level with Seraphina’s as she finished the last sip of coffee and put the cup down on the table. “I was in the mood for coffee,” she explained simply, keeping her smile cool and polite. “Why were you looking for me?”
Seraphina’s laugh rang out and echoed off the walls of the dining hall. “Why, to start planning for your birthday party, of course! You didn’t think we’d forget, did you? I mean, you have been a bit withdrawn lately, but that’s understandable given what you’ve been through, poor dear.”
I felt Daniella’s hackles rise. If she’d been withdrawn from the group, it was probably because they thought it was a good idea to call her a “poor dear.” Daniella was nobody’s “poor dear.”
“I’ve actually just been planning the party with Elena,” Daniella said with a flash of teeth.
“Ohhh,” Seraphina drew out the word and looked back and forth between us with surprise darkening her blue eyes. Calculation replaced the surprise a moment later as she regarded us. “I see.” She fluttered her pretty eyelashes, obviously extensions, and motioned to the chair I was already sitting in. “Well then, I should join you. Elena.” Seraphina arched a haughty eyebrow. “You don’t mind grabbing another chair, do you?” It was said with a glaze of sweetness that came off faker than her
fucking eyelashes.
My heart raced wildly, thundering so loud it almost drowned out the sound of her annoying perky voice. I dug my nails into my palms under the table and forced oxygen into my lungs as I tried desperately to recall the sound of the singing bowl and the peace it had offered.
My awareness sharpened to a pinpoint, focused solely on keeping the part of me that was still wild under control. My emotions were a funnel for it, Dalia had explained. The angrier I was, the sadder, the happier, it was all a possible trigger.
So, I focused on my breath and the floor beneath my feet, and the twinge of pain from my nails cutting into my palms that centered me, and my awareness began to return.
What I returned to was a scene straight out of Mean Girls.
Daniella was on her feet, shoulders drawn back and eyes glinting as she stared down Seraphina. Her wine stained lips might as well have been stained in blood with the icy dressing down she was delivering to the person who had once been her best girl friend on campus while the rest of the voiceless peons stood shaking behind the blood red Seraphina.
“Perhaps next time, you should remember your place, Seraphina, or,” Daniella offered a smile that dripped with vitriol, “remember mine.” Her gaze darted to me and I saw a moment of fury in her eyes along with asked permission to out my real status on campus, in North American, and in the world.
I shook my head with the slightest movement, so little that anyone else would have missed the gesture, but Daniella understood. She turned her laser gaze back to Seraphina and took a step forward, forcing the flustered girl back. “My life, my actions, my choices, are none of your business, do you hear me?” She said each word separately like punches to the gut.
Seraphina sputtered, losing actual spit as she stammered out words of shock and outrage to which Daniella just raised a hand and responded, “Now, fuck off, Seraphina,” and turned away.
“Let’s go find Bash, shall we?” She smiled brightly down at me and held out a hand.
I stared at it for a split second before sliding my palm into hers. She gave a tug that brought me to my feet with a laugh that bubbled up, surprising me with its lightness. I searched for the darkness that had been creeping up a moment before and found it all but gone. Gratitude swamped me.
We strode away with heads high and shoulders back, her being the epitome of class, me pretending to be Sylvie LaFlamme. When we stepped through the wide doors of the dining hall and rounded the corner, disappearing from the bitch squads stunned sight, we doubled over in laughter and raced away, side by side, thick as thieves.
My heart leaped with joy as we ran, darting around students and older faculty who shot us disapproving glances that just made us laugh harder. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, dark hair billowing behind as she grinned like a child who just happened to be running on Louboutins. I’d never seen her look so free or so happy, not even when she was with Bash.
We stopped when we made it down the steps of the building and turned towards a little alcove outside with benches and flowers. Thankfully, not the blackberry patch, I thought with a wild giggle.
I collapsed on a bench and shook my head, not quite believing the scene we’d just made, Daniella and I, two opposite sides of a feud that had started the moment we’d laid eyes on each other.
“That was epic!” I said, locking away the memory of seeing the look of utter shock on Seraphina and her bitch squad’s faces when Daniella had verbally smacked them down publicly. “But I thought they were your friends?”
Daniella threw her head back and laughed. “Those bitches aren’t anyone’s friends. They’re just minions without a single coherent thought between them.” Her shoulders slumped. “They were useful and convenient, but they have never been my real friends.” She made air quotes around “friends.”
The smile slipped from my lips. “Then, who do you have?” I thought of Sara and Bethany and now Rory. I didn’t know how I’d manage to stay sane without them.
Daniella blinked slowly, as if only just realizing something. She frowned, chewed her lip, then raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t have any friends.”
“Of course, you do,” I said automatically, picturing the hordes of people who fawned over Daniella all the time.
“No,” she replied, drawing out the word. “I don’t. Not really. I have Bash and he’s always been enough. Other than him, I have minions.” She quirked her lips to the side and shrugged.
Sadness for her, for the loneliness she must feel struck me hard, followed immediately by a dawning of realization for why she’d hated me at first sight. Bash was her world and I was a door crasher. I blew out a breath, considered holding back as I’d been for months now, then went with instinct and spoke from the heart.
“I love your brother more than I thought it was possible and he loves you.” Daniella looked up with eyes that sparkled with emotion. I licked my lips and forged on. “Which means you and I have no choice in this world but to love each other, too.”
Her lips quirked up as she studied me, saying nothing for a moment that seemed to drag out. Butterflies of nerves danced in my stomach. It was nerve wracking to expose your throat to a predator.
Daniella nodded slowly, still eyeing me. “I hated you from the moment I saw you in Bash’s arms, you know.”
The butterflies died a painful death then sunk like stones in my belly.
But she wasn’t finished. “It was the spark in his eyes that did it.” She looked off as if remembering it. “I’d never seen him look at anyone like that before. Not even me.” Her voice dipped low.
She was jealous, I realized with a start. I opened my mouth to comment but snapped it shut when she echoed my thoughts.
“We’ve always had this connection between us. Many twins do, I guess. But it doesn’t matter if others have it, too, what we have is…” she shook her head and smiled, “so special I can’t even put words to it. I don’t think I could survive without him.” Daniella pushed up from the bench and began to pace. She fidgeted with the emerald ring she wore, the feminine version of one Bash wore as well. Her eyes were damp when she looked up at me again. “He might be your soul mate, but…”
“He’s the other part of your soul,” I said quietly, finishing her thought. “I know.” I stood up and reached for her, to stop her pacing and calm her fears. “I’ve always known, which is part of the reason why it was so hard to know you hated my guts so much.”
She winced.
“But knowing and feeling are two different things,” I continued, seeing the regret on her face. “And after the crash…” I breathed out a sigh. “You were there, you felt it.” I hoped, anyway. She’d felt something, I knew that, but I wasn’t sure if it was the same thing I’d experienced.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, settling something nervous inside me, “I felt it, too.” She chewed her lip. “I’ve never heard of a connection like that outside of a mate bond before.”
I shrugged. “Neither have I, but, honestly, before I met Bash, I wasn’t exactly sure soul mates were real.”
“Seriously? You’ve never met any soul mates?” She looked disbelieving.
“I have,” I said contemplatively, remembering Sara’s and Bethany’s parents, whose love was unquestionable. “But my parents aren’t, so I guess I was just a bit jaded.”
Daniella sat on the edge of the bench. “My parents are soul mates, but my grandparents aren’t, so I know what you mean. Did your parents know who you really are?” she asked in a whisper then looked around to make sure no one was close by.
I took a deep breath and sat next to her. “Yes, they knew my entire life.”
“And they didn’t tell you?” Daniella said in a quiet voice edged with annoyance. It felt good, I realized, hearing her indignant on my behalf. She was the other half of my mate’s soul. Part of me craved her approval. “Assholes,” she mumbled beneath her breath.
“No,” I defended them automatically, feeling the clutch in my stomach at the insult. “
They’re amazing and they love me like their own. I never felt anything less than loved.”
She didn’t say anything, just looked out at the people wandering by and waited for privacy again. The silence grew between us again, giving awkwardness time to settle in.
I scanned the students who swarmed by and realized with a start that class must have just let out to have so many people roaming. “Shit,” I grumbled, pulling out my phone to see the time. “I’m going to be late for class if I don’t beat it.” I took a step towards the path and stopped, then turned and inclined my head. “You coming?” I asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do even though it felt weird coming out of my mouth.
Daniella paused for a beat then nodded and fell into step beside me, chasing the awkwardness away. Our relationship wasn’t perfect, I was well aware of that fact, but it was a hell of a lot better than it had been back in September.
We stepped out onto the stone path being criss crossed by students and faculty alike and matched our pace to the flow. I considered asking her to meet for another coffee tomorrow but remembered I was meeting with Xavier about the book and fell silent again.
I was just opening my mouth to ask if she’d be up for joining Bash and I for a movie when Daniella’s hand shot out and grabbed me by the arm. She jerked me so hard I stumbled and went flying with her behind a bush on the corner of the science building.
My heartbeat exploded painfully, thundering against my ribs as every survival instinct I had went on overdrive. I scanned the crowd with eyes wide with fear. “What? Where?” I asked, breathy and terrified.
Daniella’s fingers tightened on my arm, tugging me around as she pointed at a group of guys standing at the far end of the building, chatting and laughing. “There,” she hissed, pointing at them. “The one with the long black hair.”