We need to talk about this. We need to talk to each other.
SHUT UP!
Kai’s hands slammed so hard into the punching bag that he broke the skin around his knuckles, leaving a bloody print. His alpha went silent. For a moment, everything did.
Then the door opened, and Jude’s bubbly, happy scent wafted into the gym’s air. Kai immediately felt sick to his stomach and tried to ignore him, bandaging his hand and wiping sweat from his face and body.
Jude hummed. “I brought you dinner. We ordered takeout, but you never came. I made sure to order your favorite.”
Kai’s nose twitched as he caught the scent of chicken saag. He shrugged his shoulders coolly as he turned around, trying to feign nonchalance. “You ordered it spicy with rice, butter naan, and their samosas?”
“Who do you think I am, an amateur?” Jude chucked the tinfoil-wrapped naan at him before setting the rest of his food near the treadmill.
Jude wasn’t his bubbly self. He looked awkward and tense, which meant an easy conversation wasn’t about to happen.
When did that change? Kai used to always be able to count on Jude for being laid-back and carefree, no drama, no expectations. Since Sonnet showed up, Jude started expecting too much too soon.
“Geez. Just say what you want, Jude.”
“Huh?”
“You look like you need to take a shit,” Kai growled, tearing into his bread like a feral wolf and taking a seat on one of the yoga mats.
Kai secretly loved yoga. He loved anything that would push his body to the extreme.
Jude sighed a bit at his stubby fingernails. “Sonnet was worried about you.”
“Why?”
She should be pissed off because of what I said to her.
“Because you didn’t come to dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting you to eat with us, but you didn’t even show up. It took me forever to calm her down enough to get her to focus on her own food instead of yours getting cold. I hate it when her scent burns. I hate it even more when her scent is burning because of one of us.”
Kai scoffed. “She’s barely been here. You can’t care that much that soon unless you’re stupid.”
“Or,or, unless she just so happens to be our fated mate. You don’t need to be a jerk with a stick shoved up your…butt.”
“Geez,” Kai laughed, handing one of his samosas over to the love-sick idiot. “You’re taking this no cursing thing too seriously.”
“And you’re not takingherseriously enough,” he clapped back.
Shit.
Kai was tired of arguing with his best friend, so he said nothing. He focused on his food, and Jude focused on whatever was going on in his head. Which was always a lot. That’s how they became friends, because in high school, this idiot was spiraling from a bunch of negative thoughts and had a panic attack. It was by complete accident that Kai found him struggling behind the football bleachers. He was out there toskip class and smoke when he found Jude wheezing and pacing back and forth. From then on, Kai had always been there to help Jude with all his noisy thoughts, until a year ago, when Kai’s own mind got complicated, and he started thinking only of himself.
He hated admitting it, but he began to neglect this pack just as much as Zayden did, so he didn’t admit it. It was easier to blame the lead alpha than to blame himself.
If Mom were still here, she’d know just what to say.
But she was dead, and he was leaving the pack.
He had to leave.
“Kai?” He looked up at Jude, who had a pained expression. Jude always was so expressive. His twisted expression was enough to twist a knife in Kai’s chest. “Your scent is burning.”
“Sorry,” Kai mumbled.
“You can talk to me, you know. About your thoughts. Like you do—did.”
