“My little chompy pie has been sneaky sneaking out every night?” I exclaim with great anguish.
“Calm down,” Xander snaps, throwing a football at my head.
I angrily swat it away, and it bounces off the Rec room wall and lands clean in an armchair. I give Xander a significant look when that happens because, see how great I am? Scythe sits in another armchair away from us, staring into a glass of whiskey as Lyle stands with his arms crossed, frowning out the window. Aurelia is back upstairs now, and the other students aren’t allowed in the Rec room this late. The rest of the wolves are still outside on their full moon run. Scythe and Xander gave her the urn with what’s left of her powdered femur. She went still and soft and asked to be alone with it for a while. I love her so much, it hurts to see her hold something that came with such great pain and I told her I wanted to kill Flores Drakos, only he’s already dead, which is great. So instead, I can help her build a shrine for it maybe. “I grew it back just fine,” she’d said, patting her new thigh. “With Xander’s help.” she smiled at the dragon bugger. “This was a part of me once. I want to keep it.”
Now in the Rec room, I want to hurt someone.
“You don’t get it.” I point at Xander. “She’s onlyjuststarted liking you, but she tells meeverything. In fact, this mightbebecause of you. I’m going up to ask her right now!” I ram my shoulder into Xander as I make my way past him, but he blocks me with two hands.
“Think about it, Sav,” he says gently. I narrow my eyes at him because why is he cooing to me like I’m a rabid dingo? Xander’s glowing eyes glow brighter, and that only happens when he has an idea. “She’s been secretive lately, don’t you think? She might not take well to us asking her outright. If she’s wanting to try covert manoeuvres, maybeweshould try covert manoeuvres too.”
I rub my chin. “You mean like…play the same game as her?”
Xander grins. “You get me.”
“So we follow her!” I say excitedly. “We see where she goes and spring out of the bushes and be like, “Gotcha!”
“Maybe,” Xander says.
“I liked it better when you two were enemies,” Lyle grumbles. “I don’t like this approach, but I agree she needs a gentle hand. She’s been sensitive.”
“My chompy is notsensitive, she ate a whole crocodile!” I say to Lyle, holding my hands out to remind him how big crocs are. “There’s a lot going on, is all.”
“She’s holding her cards close,” Scythe interjects. “I can’t blame her. While I would prefer she came to us with every and any issue, the truth is we are still working out our dynamics as a pack.”
“And there is thatbasilisk-sized outstanding factor,” Xander mutters.
“She’s having dreams again,” Scythe says. “I can’t imagine what memories she’s being shown.”
“I bet they’re not mermaid dreams,” I say darkly, peering out the window as if the gum trees will give me some clues.
“She really should have come to us,” Lyle mutters under his breath. “I don’t like that she’s keeping secrets.”
“Worrywart,” I say. “And what would you have done? Sabrina’s twerking therapy would work better thantalkingabout it.”
Lyle rounds on me, offended, just like I wanted. I dance away from the window, heading towards Scythe for safety. “We’re going to find out, don’t worry your big lion’s mane over it. Xander and I willstalkMiss Chompy tomorrow night, and Bob’s your uncle, we’ll know everything.”
“She’s not going to be happy about being followed,” Lyle says. “It may ruin the foundations of trust we’ve worked hard at setting.”
I groan, but Scythe nods. “You make a good point, Lyle.” But then the corners of his lips twitch, and my brows fly up in surprise. “However, our regina also knowsusvery well.”
Chapter 51
Savage
Ispend theentirenext day giddy with excitement. As expected, the queen of my heart is tired after her nighttime hunting, and she sleeps in until midday. I wake her up with a grin two inches from her face and warm cheese croissants. She’sstarvingand wolfs them all down with cute, happy sounds. Scythe appears with a bottle of water and electrolyte powder, and Lyle rubs Tiger Balm into her newer knee. Xander even appears with a lavender-scented heat pack.
We are nothing but supportive mates. And if our regina wants to secretly go out in the middle of the night doing unknown things and then lie about it, then I willhappilysupport the entire business. I’ll get her an ABN numberanddraw a logo.
Aurelia’s Secret Interesting Organisation. A-S-I-O. Completely unique.
During the day, I wonder about ways I can help her. My regina is very quiet for her part, and I feel like she’s in pain about something and I don’t think it’s her bone powder. I discreetly sniff her all over to check for physical injuries, but nothing comes up, so I know it’s either a brain-pain, or a pain of theheart. My vision goes blurry as I realise her little heart might be hurting.
“You can’t kiss hearts, that’s morbid,” I say out loud as we sit in Raquel’s room where the wolf anim still sleeps.
My regina frowns at me. “Spell morbid.”
“Easy one,” I say. “M-O-R-B-I-D.”
