Chapter 53

Rowena

Every little sound felt like it was amplified by a thousand as I sat in the library, hunched over my textbook. I had been reading the same page for what felt like forever, but each hushed whisper, each creak of the door opening, every buzz of the fly that had taken up residence around my table was deafening.

Groaning softly under my breath, I clamped my hands over my ears in one last desperate attempt to focus. But it was no use; everything just felt so… distracting.

Although, deep down, I knew that it wasn’t the noise that was bothering me. It was Eric.

I couldn’t seem to get the taste of his lips off my mouth ever since Friday night, and it was currently Monday morning. To make matters worse, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about how I had let him kiss me. How I hadn’t pushed him away.

He was my brother. This was wrong, sick, twisted.

And yet, somehow, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was beginning to question all of that.

Eric and I shared the signature Griffith blue eyes, but that was all that we shared. My hair was brown and curly as opposed to long and blonde, my stature was petite rather than tall and slim, and I didn’t have my wolf. No one in the Griffith family was wolfless.

I kept thinking back to those news clips about the missing princess, and how she supposedly shared a few characteristics with me. Was it possible…?

No, I thought to myself. It wasn’t possible. I had seen the ultrasounds from when my mother had been pregnant with me. I was a Griffith.

So why, then, didn’t I feel so bad about kissing Eric?

“Rowena.”

The sound of a familiar voice whispering my name caught my attention out of nowhere. I jerked my head up, calling out, “Eric?” without even thinking.

But of course, he wasn’t there. Instead, my call was met with nothing more than a few harsh looks and a “Shh!” from some other students studying around me. God, I really was losing it.

Realizing that there was no point in trying to get any more studying done, I quickly gathered up my books with what little dignity I had left and slipped out of the library. Only once I was in the bustling hallways once again did I finally let out the breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

And this time, the voice that called my name was real; not my imagination.

“Rowena!”

I turned to see none other than Emma jogging toward me—a face that once would have made me turn tail and run in the other direction, but now caused a slight smile to tug at the corners of my lips.

“Hey,” I said as she caught up to me, slowing to a walk alongside me. “What’s up?”

“My class got out early, and I was hungry,” she said, nodding her head toward the cafeteria. “Join me?”

I shrugged and nodded at the same time, and together we began to make our way to the cafeteria. Once there, I picked out a sandwich and a coffee, and we found a table by the window where we could talk in private.

“They’re still staring at us,” I muttered, trying to pretend like I didn’t notice the gaggle of girls who used to be Emma’s ‘friends’ watching us from across the room.

She had told me already about all of their mean girl behavior, and how they had stopped being friends since she had gotten kicked off of the cheerleading team; as though she was now useless without the social status that the cheer squad afforded people like Heather.

Emma shrugged. “Just ignore them,” she said. “They’ll get over it eventually. I’m glad I’m not friends with them anymore.”

I offered her a weak smile. “You know, I never thought that we’d actually be having lunch together.”

She blushed. “Me neither. And I can’t apologize enough for how horrible I was to you.”

“The past is in the past,” I said, taking a bite of my sandwich. “Let’s just focus on the future.”

Emma smirked. “Speaking of the future…” She slipped her phone out of her pocket, tapped on her screen for a moment, then held it out to me. On the screen was a picture of her and a handsome young warrior with curly red hair and freckles dotted across his nose. Liam.

I couldn’t help but grin. “You’re still seeing each other?” I asked.

She nodded excitedly. “We just saw each other this weekend, and we have another date scheduled for next weekend,” she said. “I can’t wait.”

I was happy for Emma; truly, I was. To see her following her heart and not giving up the love she had for her fated mate was magical.

But, at the same time, I couldn’t deny the way my tears started to mist over when I saw the picture. I tried to blink them away, but it was too late; Emma had already seen them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, leaning in. “You look like you’re about to cry.”

I quickly shook my head, biting the inside of my cheek to keep my lips from quivering. “It’s nothing,” I lied, even though the picture reminded me of Eric in more ways than I wanted to admit.

“You’re lying,” she accused.

“It’s really nothing,” I said, then paused, sucking in a lungful of air. “It’s just… how do you navigate being with someone that’s seen as a social taboo? Emotionally, I mean.”

Emma shot me a confused look. “Do you have a special someone?”

“No, no, I’m just… curious.”

Emma blinked at me, clearly seeing straight through my lie, but nodded nonetheless. “Well, let’s not forget that it was you who taught me to follow my heart, especially with my fated mate,” she said. “But, I suppose it’s always easy to give advice until you’re not the one in the situation yourself…”

“We’re not fated mates. It’s impossible.”

I blurted out the words so abruptly, so suddenly, that it left both myself and Emma reeling. She blinked at me again, and meanwhile, my heart pounded a mile a minute in my chest. But before she could inquire any further, a sudden commotion on the other end of the cafeteria caught our attention.

“Can you believe it? This is so exciting!”

“Oh, I’m so jealous! The cheerleaders get their pick!”

“I wonder if we’ll be able to attend the dance, or if it’s only for the winners?”

Emma looked over at me and shot me a curious look. “Should we check it out?” she asked. I nodded, just grateful for a distraction, and followed her over to the bulletin board by the front door where the others were gathered.

As we approached, I could finally make out what the other students were fawning over: flyers for an upcoming event.

“Huh,” Emma mused under her breath. “A scrimmage between the warriors of different schools.”

“With the grand prize being…” I leaned in closer, pushing my glasses up on my nose. My eyebrows instantly raised upon seeing the details: the winners of each round of the scrimmage would be paired up with cheerleaders for an upcoming dance.

“That’s interesting,” Emma said. “So the cheerleaders pick their dates out of a pool of winners?”

I shrugged. “Looks like it.” It just seemed like another spirit day to build up hype for the championship to me; nothing extraordinary. At least, that was before I saw the list of warriors who would be participating in the hopes for a date.

Emma pointed at the name, which was accompanied by a headshot of a handsome young warrior with striking blue eyes and blond hair.

“Hey, isn’t that your brother?”