Page 144 of UNAwere

‘You’re practically Jude Briggs, the way you smell this morning.’

I shake my head. ‘I promise you, we didn’t do anything last night.’

‘I didn’t say you did,’ she defends. ‘I was just asking if you’re both being safe.’

‘We’re taking measures to make sure we’re not alone.’ Except last night. My cheeks redden at the memory of him groaning against me in the garden.

Jeepers. We were so stupid.

‘You’re being bonded to the alpha today.’ Bernie’s voice breaks me from my thoughts, and I gape at her, startled. But she’s still putting my clothes away, and it’s like she just casually mentioned the weather, and didn’t just drop a truth bomb on me.

‘Today,’ I agree.

‘Are you ready?’

‘As ready as I can be, for one going into a sexual relationship with a guy she just met.’ I think about how I’ve never been sexually attracted to men without knowing them first. Or without the help of alcohol. And then I consider asking Hannah for some liquid courage later.

‘It’s strange,’ Bernie agrees. ‘And it must hurt. Knowing you can never be with your mate.’

I make a noise of agreement. I’m a big fan of Bernie’s. But her pointing out the obvious on the morning of the biggest decision of my life makes me want to take some points off our friendship tally.

‘I should probably speak to Jude,’ she says, sighing. ‘I’m sure he’s not going to be very pleasant today.’

Before I can say anything, Hannah comes through the door. She rolls her eyes when she sees her mother and then comes and sits on the end of my bed.

‘You know,’ she starts, ‘I realised I made a very big mistake last night. About halfway down the road. And Keith didn’t want to turn back around.’ She cocks her head to the side, eyeing me. ‘Do you know what I might be referring to?’

I throw my head back, groaning. ‘We didn’t do anything.’

‘Really?’ She sounds generally surprised. ‘Are you sure?’

‘You can smell him, too, right?’ Bernie says from the wardrobe.

I grunt. ‘We kissed. Maybe. A little bit.’

Hannah shakes her head. ‘You two are hopeless.’

‘You left us alone,’ I say, shovelling toast and eggs into my mouth. ‘This is as much your fault as it is ours.’

Hannah chuckles. ‘Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night.’ She sobers, then. ‘But please tell me you didn’t actually have sex?’

‘No.’

‘Good. I pegged you both as smarter than that, and I’m glad to see I was at least right.’

‘What are you doing here so early, anyway? It’s, like, seven.’ I put the tray back on the bedside table, resting back against the headboard.

Hannah raises her brows, as if the answer to my question is obvious. ‘To get you ready for your bonding ceremony.’

Hannah makes me take a long bath, filling the water with an unscented soap. When I’ve soaked until I’ve pruned, she helps me change into the ceremonial dress: a long, cream linen thing that wraps around my body, leaving the glands on my neck, shoulders and inner thighs exposed. It wraps like a bodysuit and then drapes over either side of my legs to my feet.

And then each of my glands is rubbed with an oil that smells like liquorice.

‘That smells really strong,’ I murmur, scrunching my nose. A dizziness rushes through my head all of a sudden.

She glances up at me from where she’s kneeling in front of where I stand. ‘It’s anise oil. This scent is like a drug to Weres.’

‘Really?’ I raise my brows. ‘So like… catnip for cats.’ I pause. ‘Wolfnip?’ I frown, shaking my head. ‘No. Werenip?’