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I didn’t want to deal with people like that. Not right now. There was too much on my mind. From Matthyw to this Marriage Law to my father possibly getting married again, there was too much to consume and not enough time in the day to go through it all.
“I take it you heard about the new girl?”
I glanced to my left, my eyes taking in a flash of pink hair.
Embyrlyn.
Embyrlyn was someone I admired since I first met her during my first year at the academy. She fit in with everyone, from the high class Alpha royals to the maids who worked for the academy. There was something so alluring about her, something both bubbly and friendly, that I didn’t know anyone who didn’t like her.
Plus, her hair was naturally pink. Which was just so cool.
Her face was flushed and sweat beaded between her collarbone. She must have been here a while, probably training.
My lips curved and I tilted my chin down.
“I don’t know who hasn’t,” I said, brushing a lock of hair that somehow escaped my ponytail out of my eyes.
“Have you seen her?” Embyrlyn asked, shimmying out of her collared shirt. “I hear she’s frail, with wide, sunken eyes and hollow cheekbones.”
I giggled despite myself. “I doubt it.”
“Me too,” she said, flashing a warm smile. She bumped my shoulder with familiarity before shrugging into a tank top. “How are you?”
I sighed. “Tired,” I replied.
“Out late last night, hmm?” Her emerald eyes sparkled with mischief. “You’ll have to take me on one of your late-night excursions one of these days.”
If I was talking to anyone else, I would have lied to her and denied I went anywhere in the first place. I would have claimed a girl of my status wouldn’t risk such a scandal. But I knew Embyrlyn. We had been training partners for the last three years. It wasn’t like she could tell I lied – she was so gullible, it was hilarious – but it was also difficult to lie to her. Whether that was because of her natural warmth or her innocence, I didn’t know. But I trusted her, one of the few people in my life I could trust.
“I’m not sure you’d enjoy it,” I murmured, thinking back to the cold, autumn night, Matthyw’s fingers on my face. I shuddered and turned, closing the locker as a way to hopefully mask it from her. “I wound up losing the courage to do what I set out to do.”
“And what was that?” she asked as she pulled on her pants, jumping a couple of times before kicking her feet through the holes. She frowned, wiggling her toes, before taking a seat on the bench to pull on her socks.
“Honestly, I don’t even know,” I said through a breath. I took a seat next to her and stretched out my legs. “Would you laugh at me if I told you I wanted a kiss?”
Embyrlyn paused as she laced up her shoes. She took her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, thinking.
“Honestly, with everything going on, no,” she said finally, dropping her voice slightly even though there was no one else around. “I mean, I wouldn’t anyway, no. With everything going on in the world, with decisions being made based on what people assume is in our best interests, it’s important to maintain personal agency over ourselves…as much as we can, anyway.”
It was more eloquent than I expected from her, but that shouldn’t surprise me. Embyrlyn was the smartest wolf in the Fire pack. It was one of the reasons she had been assigned as a special teams division, which meant she went on classified missions based on what Master Grey needed. No one outside the special teams knew, exactly, what was expected but the three black patches that decorated her right arm were enough to know her designation.
“I say, kiss who you want to kiss, and don’t worry about it,” she finished with a grin.
I couldn’t help but smile as we headed out of the locker room. The truth was, there was only one person I wanted to kiss, and there was a good chance he had no interest in kissing me. I was much younger, much more innocent, and his best friend’s daughter. Who was I to want him?
And yet…I fiddled with the necklace hanging from my neck and closed my eyes briefly. I could still feel his fingerprints, like they left an imprint on my very soul.
I didn’t want to, but…
I sighed. No. This was some kind of trap, a cruel trick. Nothing else.
“Who would you kiss?” Embyrlyn asked, flicking her messy pink ponytail over her shoulder.
We crossed the grounds to our favorite corner, far away enough to not be disturbed by anyone else. Embyrlyn began to tape her hands up while I pulled on thin black gloves.
“If you could,” she added.
My cheeks pinched at the thought. Before, I would have said no one, but now…
