Chapter 116

I met with Aimee in her dorm room. As she opened the door, she looked up and down the hallway before yanking me inside.

Then she began to pace.

“This nurse… Irene came to my mom’s house and asked all kinds of questions about the two of us. And Brent. She wanted to know if Mom thought it was weird that Brent apologized to me seemingly overnight. It wasn’t overnight! I’d waited a long time for that apology!”

Fear tangled my chest into knots. Nurse Irene had said similar things to me the last time I had spoken with her.

Aimee continued, “The nurse wanted to know if I’d manifested a wolf yet. I’m not old enough! But she was adamant, because then she wanted to know if I’d shown any signs of having a wolf ability. How could I do that if I don’t have a wolf?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Then, most outrageously, she started talking about a ghost baby. What does that even mean? My mom was too polite to kick her out, but Mom said the nurse was so intense, it freaked her out. Why would she go to my mom?”

“I know the nurse you mean,” I said. “I’ve met her a few times.”

Aimee looked at me in surprise. “Did she interrogate you too? What does she want?”

I frowned. I didn’t want to share my secret, but Aimee was so clearly afraid, I wanted to protect her.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Nurse Irene overheard me talking during my last checkup.” I spoke carefully, trying to think of the best way to avoid saying the full truth. Although, Aimee had been careful with my pregnancy secret. She’d likely keep this one too.

I wasn’t sure, though. The threat of ending up in a research facility would be enough to make even the most loyal friends question themselves.

“I was asking my cousin hypothetical questions about some wolf abilities.” I licked my lips. “Like projection.”

Aimee’s eyes went wide. “Projection?”

I nodded. “Nurse Irene overheard and assumed I was actually talking about someone I know.”

Aimee watched me. The steadiness of her gaze bore down into me, like she could see straight into my soul.

“Nurse Irene thinks someone projected a ghost baby to get Brent to apologize to me,” she said, piecing it together much too fast for my liking. I winced without meaning to. “Is that… even possible?”

“I think so, I guess.” I fumbled over my words. “But projection is not an ability that should be advertised. Did you know that if someone develops it, they get sent to a research facility? And they never get to leave for the rest of their lives?”

Aimee paled, even as her eyes narrowed. “Then it’s a good thing we don’t know anyone with that ability.”

I nodded, too aggressively.

“Though if I did know someone with that ability… Someone who only used it to help me…” Aimee said carefully. “Then I hope they would know that I would protect such a secret as if it were my own.”

So she knew, then.

I closed my eyes, not wanting her to see my fear. Though her assurance did soothe me somewhat.

“Nurse Irene was asking about you, too,” Aimee said. “She might already suspect…”

I wrapped my arms around myself.

Aimee came closer to me. “I’ll do what I can to keep her off your track.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. But my fear remained palpable. I could only imagine what it would be like in that research facility, being exposed to experimentation.

Never being able to leave.

I didn’t sleep very well that night.

The next night, Asher and I attended a party in the lounge of his dorm, as we’d done several times in the past. After all, we were still fake dating.

This time, however, the awkward air that had formed between us after the ‘mate’ misunderstanding lingered, weighty and uncomfortable.

We stood next to each other. Asher brought me a cup of water. Occasionally, he would tap me on the shoulder and point toward something funny across the room.

But we didn’t speak. We didn’t hold hands. We might as well had been two strangers existing in the same space.

It was unnerving, and I hated it. But I didn’t know how to fix it. We’d both already apologized, but it did little to mend the break between us.

It was like, my suggestion of pretending to be mates had snapped something in Asher, causing him to retreat all the way inside of himself.

His reaction to my suggestion had been visceral. The only explanation that made sense to me was that Asher’s wolf already thought we were mates, and when it had received what it assumed to be reciprocation, it had pushed all its instincts into the forefront of Asher’s brain.

Asher had insisted before that his wolf was just confused. He’d assured me that it was harmless.

But this reaction proved differently.

If Alphas mated for life, and Asher’s wolf assumed I was his mate… didn’t that endanger Asher of being tied to me forever?

As a friend, shouldn’t I pull away from Asher myself, before we became too irrevocably bonded?

I waited for a quiet moment, then I turned to Asher and said, “Maybe we should break up.”

He looked at me, the first time all night. With his mask fully in place, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all. Even his eyes, the usual gateway to his emotions, were closed off behind a wall of ice.

I nervously weaved my fingers together. “Since Alphas mate for life, and your wolf is so confused… wouldn’t it be better for us to end it now?”

“No.” Asher looked away again.

I tugged at his arm. “Asher.” He couldn’t run from this. We’d delayed long enough. His wolf’s confusion was beginning to cause serious harm. “I can’t tie you to me like this. Not if it means forever.”

His voice quiet, he asked, “Why not?”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. He couldn’t… want to be tied to me? No. That was ridiculous.

“Because you deserve to find your own happiness,” I said, ignoring the way the words stung inside of my chest.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Of course, I’m going to worry about you. Asher!” I tugged at his sleeve again, reclaiming his attention. “Please. Let’s break up.” I don’t want to hurt you anymore.

He shouldn’t be tied to me for the rest of his life just because he wanted to protect me.

He watched me with a cool indifference. The barrier around his emotions was thick.

“If that’s what you want, I won’t keep you trapped,” he said.

That wasn’t how I meant it! Nothing about being with Asher had ever made me feel trapped. If anything, being with him had helped me soar. Spending time with him, touching him, watching him thrive outside the quiet corners of our rooms, had given me both strength and inspiration.

I didn’t want to let him go. But how could I keep him caged?

He couldn’t be my mate for life. Because he would never romantically love me.

It wouldn’t be fair to him.

“It’s what I want,” I said, to save him.

“Fine,” he said and glanced away.

Just like that, I guessed it was over. My heart hollowed out some, already lonely and he was still beside me.

Just then, the DJ switched to a slow song, and couples began to pair off to dance.

Swallowing down my regret, I asked Asher, “What do you say? How about one more dance before the end?”

I wasn’t ready yet to let him go.