Torn Mate by Belle Harper
Huxley
I hadn’t spokento Ada since everything had happened and I kissed her. I kissed Ada and it was like coming to life, everything I had ever thought it would be and more, but my parents freaked out over the whole almost dying a second time thing and they ripped me away before I could even say goodbye. They wanted me to visit the special clinic at Pack Bardoul, but I refused. I needed to see Ada, she would be all alone at school again without Lexi here.
Except she wasn’t there, she missed school and that made it worse. I knew she barely took time off, her grades were amazing. I wished I had her number to call her, ask her how she was, if she needed anything. I still hadn’t asked her out on a date yet. I wanted to so bad… I just…
I didn’t know how.
I got to the Rawlins’ lunch table and most the guys were there already: River, Kenton, and Mason. I sat down without my lunch. I wasn’t hungry.
“Dude, she isn’t here, maybe she’s with those Kiba boys now,” River blurted out. That guy needed an inner voice. One that wasn’t around all the time. I growled to him, my wolf wanting to tear him a new one. River could fuck off right now, I wasn’t in the mood. I was really worried about her. But he didn’t stop, it wouldn’t be River if he did.
“Maybe that Noah changed her mind about his age and everything. You see how older women look at him. He is—” Mason punched River in the arm.
“Ouch, fucker, that hurt,” River whined as he rubbed the spot on his arm.
“It was supposed to. You need to stop, man. Can’t you tell Hux is worried, and not about who she’s dating, dude. He cares about Ada, and you would know what that feels like if you didn’t try and date bitches.”
I smiled at Mason. I was glad to have him as a friend, and he could reign his packmate in… well, sometimes.
“I forgot you made us rush back on spring break so you could go on a date with Olivia,” Kenton spoke up. The look on River’s face was too comical. We had heard all about that “date.” It wasn’t something I ever wanted to hear about again.
“Hey, I didn’t make us rush. One, Mason drives like a little old lady, and two, I didn’t go on a date with her… I just fucked her.”
We all made gagging sounds. I didn’t want to hear that shit. Olivia was a bitch to everyone that wasn’t a shifter, especially to Ada, and I didn’t want my friends doing anything with her. She wasn’t a nice person. But River was on a mission to have sex… a lot. Now he had the taste, that was it. Lucky for us though, Olivia nor any other girl at school was interested in him so he had the one time of losing his virginity to Olivia and she had been ignoring him ever since. I was glad, I didn’t want her coming to our table thinking she could sit with us.
I wasn’t sure how Mason felt about that. I had been meaning to speak to him since River had bragged about it more than once. I wanted to see how he was. I always assumed he was hoping they both find the right girl and it would be the three of them. But River just couldn’t wait. He was impatient, as always.
When I got home, Mom called me into the living room where she was on the couch with her knitting out. She loved to knit, it was one of her hobbies.
“How was school, was Ada there?” I shook my head and she patted the spot beside her before going back to her knitting. I dragged myself over and fell into the spot beside her, arm to arm. My mom wasn’t very tall so I laid my head down on her head, her pretty red hair tickling my face.
“I should have gone and helped her. Her parents weren’t there and she was all alone. It’s all I kept thinking about today. I just left her there.” She dropped the knitting in her lap and pushed away from me so she could see my face.
“Did you see her? Can you invite her over for dinner? I would love to apologize to her in person. I just feel so horrible about it all and I’ve started knitting her a scarf.” She lifted the hot pink wool up from beside her. I smiled and kissed her forehead.
“She loves the color pink, Mom, it’s perfect.” She nodded and gestured for me to get up.
“I know she does, she was wearing pink both times she helped save you. I just didn’t think about her until today, as I was so worried about you. Okay, that’s enough from me. Go. Have fun. Play games or whatever you do in your room.”
I hesitated a moment. Did… did my mom hear me when I “played” in my room? No, I didn’t want to think about that. I quickly rushed to my room, not wanting to think about it because as much as I wish I loved to hear this, well… I heard things not meant for my ears too many times.
She was at school today.River and Mason had messaged me in the group chat that they had seen her and that Noah walked her into school. I brushed that off as him just being friendly… He was nice. That’s what he did. I knew he liked her and she didn’t feel the same way… at least, that’s what I saw. River and Mason thought maybe otherwise. They told me they could smell her arousal when he was flirting with her in the Lovell’s kitchen. That had my wolf prickling to get at them. They knew it was wrong to say that to me, they shouldn’t have been smelling her like that.
When they said he had her tucked under his arm and they looked cozy, well, that’s when my wolf wasn’t as cheerful about Noah caring for her. He wanted to care for her. She needed us to walk her into school. I had to calm down before I saw her, but that fucker was marking her, I knew it. Why else would he tuck her under his arm like that?
I needed to cool down before I saw her. Or before I found him and ripped his throat out. I had never felt this strongly about someone before, I never wanted to fight another shifter over a girl before, but she wasn’t just any girl. This was Ada.
Finally, I caught her between classes. She was in the hallway at her locker. She was humming a tune I couldn’t quite pick up and smiling to herself as she was putting books away. She tucked her hair behind her ear and kept on humming. It made me smile.
“Hi.” She jumped and whirled around, her hand going to her chest. I saw her shocked expression that I had snuck up on her, then she gave me a shy smile and tilted her head, big brown eyes looking up at me through those pretty lashes.
“Hi,” she replied quickly.
I could smell Noah on her. He hadn’t marked her as such, just his scent had transferred to her. I was glad because you would only mark her as yours if she really was. She had told Noah that she wasn’t interested in being more than friends—although her scent and emotions around him said otherwise—so now I was the one confused.
Shit, I didn’t say anything and now this was awkward.
“I didn’t have your number to call you, I…” I got straight to the point then froze. Fuck, I was bad at this. I did well the other night but maybe the stress from the chance I could die had helped me with my nerves. I rubbed the back of my head, trying to think of more words, but I was gone. She looked so beautiful today, just like she did every day. She had curled her hair again and she was wearing a pink hoodie. It was Spring but she seemed to get cold easily. She was so tiny, that could be why.
I tucked my hair behind my ear to see her better. It was as if she was just as locked in a trance with me as I was with her.
“Oh, here.” She snapped out of whatever that was and pulled out her phone and handed it to me. I smiled as I quickly typed my name and number in and returned it to her. Now the ball was in her court. She could call me or message me when she wanted. Or not. I hoped she did.
“Thanks.” She put it in her pocket. I could hear her heart speed up and I felt confident that she was going to use my number, that and the fact I could smell her arousal. She was attracted to me. I felt like I was on cloud nine, floating about my body and watching this from above. The bell rang, and I didn’t want her to change her mind about me, so I smiled and nodded as I walked away.
It was harder to walk away from her now. I turned to look at her one last time and she was staring at me. I smiled with an extra skip to my step. I heard her knocking some books down and I hesitated, wanting to go back, but she was probably embarrassed.
She had my number. I knew I was going to be staring at my phone all day and night.
I hope she texts me soon.