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“Bullshit,” I tell him. “You haven’t smoked in months, Everett. Something’s going on, and you need to tell me what it is.”
My voice shakes a little and the slip of fragile emotion makes me even madder.
He’s lying to me, and I need to know why.
“True mates don’t lie to each other,” I snap, when he doesn’t answer quickly enough.
“It’s Oscar,” he admits, finally meeting my unflinching stare. He slouches and rubs at his left temple.
I bite back the urge to fire out questions. He’s talking. He’s going to tell me what I need to know. I just have to give him a chance to get it out. I cross my arms under my chest while I watch his expression contort. He frowns and his down-turned lips get all pouty and pensive, before he lets out a sigh and his muscles relax.
“He had a blackout,” Everett admits. “A few nights ago.”
“A blackout?” I ask, not able to connect the dots. “How? When? Was he drinking?”
Everett shakes his head. “He wasn’t drinking. He blacked out when he shifted form.”
Oh Goddess, no. “You’re sure he wasn’t drinking?”
He frowns. He’s not sure, at least not completely.
“There’s no alcohol in the mansion,” he tells me after a pause. “I got rid of everything, remember.”
I think about what he’s telling me, and it doesn’t make any sense. When Oscar got sober, he admitted he was afraid to shift forms, because he had blackouts whenever he did. He isn’t fully connected to his wolf because he doesn’t trust that side of himself, but we’ve been working on it together and they were starting to connect. He wasn’t having blackouts anymore.
“He’s been shifting for a few months now with no trouble,” I tell him, wondering what changed.
Everett shrugs. He feels helpless. I can see it in his eyes. This is why he was smoking.
“Something must have caused the blackout.”
“Maybe, but what?” he asks. “We were all together, like usual. He seemed relaxed. We all were. There were no threats nearby.”
I shake my head. I remember that night well. My wolf had fun chasing and being chased by our mates. There was nothing strange about Oscar’s behaviour. Nothing different happened before we headed out to the woods. There’s nothing to explain why our Omega might have blacked out.
“He told you, after?” I ask, trying to remember what happened when we shifted back. I think I was talking to Noah. If Oscar was upset, I completely missed it.
“He didn’t have to,” Everett tells me. “I saw it on his face.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell him. “Together.”
“I hope so,” he says. “I really fucking hope so.”
Chapter Three
Cheryl
IarrivetomyShifter Magic class fifteen minutes late. It’s not hard to pick my Omega out in the sea of faces. Violet, Vi for short, has a long mane of vibrant red hair. It’s impossible for her to hide in a crowd. She’s saved me a seat as usual, and she doesn’t seem surprised by my tardiness. I guess I’ve gotten a little too used to the leniency the academy offers me as an Alpha. I really should try harder to be on time. Unfortunately, I might be all out of bargaining chips to use on Oscar now. I doubt I’ll be making it on time tomorrow.
“You missed the project announcement,” Vi whispers as I take in the white board.
As if the workload wasn’t heavy enough, we’re being assigned a project to work on over winter break. I can see why most of the Alphas at Lunar Academy don’t bother to show up much.
If it wasn’t for Vi, I wouldn’t be here every day. She’s under my protection, I’m her Alpha. She was fragile when we met. Couldn’t be around other shifters without her anchoring object, which is a heavy-ass hardback book of fairy tales her dad used to read to her as a child.
Now, she’s got a Beta girlfriend, and they’re the best friends I have in this place.
So, of course, they’re pack, and Everett gave them a room at the mansion.
