Chapter 106

KATHERINE.

It took minutes, but Noah eventually showed up and when he did, I held my breath. For several moments, he did nothing – just stood in one spot – and I tried to calm my heart which threatened to beat out of my chest before he began to move. “I know you’re here, Katherine,” he said in a sing-song voice and I swallowed while pressing up against the trunk of the tree even more, wishing I could sink into it. He walked forward, then backward, forward again, then backward. When he moved forward again, he didn’t come back for several minutes and, thinking he was finally gone, I allowed myself to breathe properly again. That was a mistake.

“There you are,” came his voice from behind me and I immediately glanced over my shoulder. It was just dirt and roots there, but he was definitely somewhere around the tree and he knew I was here. Before I could react, his face appeared in the gap which served as both the entrance and exit of this crawl space, and I tensed up. I wasn’t ‘that’ worried though because he was bigger than me, so he wouldn’t be able to come in here. “Why don’t you come on out, Katherine? That place doesn’t look comfortable.”

“I’m rather fine here. Thank you.”

“Is that so?” he replied before glancing down at his palm as a small ball of flame flickered to life in it. He returned his gaze to mine, a smile curling his lips, while my eyes widened as it dawned on me that I wasn’t just hiding out of his reach, I was trapped here. I had set myself up to be roasted. Literally! “Come out now.”

My heart pounded violently in my chest as insanity and the reflection of the flame in his hand danced in his eyes. I could stay where I was; threats shouldn’t make me surrender during a scavenger hunt match, but Noah wasn’t being competitive right now. He could just set the exit on fire and claim it was an accident, and it would be believable. Since I didn’t want to get burned to death, I began to crawl towards the exit with my heart in my throat. “Dawson,” a familiar voice stated just as I poked my head out and I looked up to see Blake standing behind Noah with Noah’s flag in his hand before Noah turned around. “You're out.”

I couldn’t see Noah’s facial expression, but I doubt he was pleased to have whatever plans he had in store for me interrupted. Noah glanced at me and a muscle in his jaw ticked before he returned his attention to Blake and said, “I see.” Then he got to his feet and walked away before Blake’s gaze slid to me.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his brows creased, and I pressed my lips together before nodding. I had been annoyed at him, but he did just help me out of a situation that could have gone very bad, so he was temporarily out of my bad book.

“Yeah,” I muttered while he held out his hand and I took it before he helped me out of the crawl space. I looked like a mess – my clothes were wet and stained with dirt – and I couldn’t help but be self-conscious when he gave me a once-over. “Thank you.”

He gave me a nod and began to walk away. “Stick with me,” he said and my mouth twitched into a small smile before I went after him. As I stared at his back, the urge to stop him to talk to him about ‘us’ pricked at me, but we were being watched by the people in the arena, so no. I just hoped he’d stop avoiding me after this.

****

The inter-school competitions had gone by in a blur – Blackwood had won the scavenger hunt competition, the swimming competition, and a bunch of other competitions, so we’d ended up being the one to win the inter-school cup – and today was the last day of the event which was also the day of the jousting match, so we were all in the arena to watch. The jousting match wasn’t a competition, it was just for students to have fun since the inter-school competitions had ended, and Dumein and Staerdale students would be going back to their schools on Sunday which was two days from now. I was looking forward to that day because I was tired of going out of my way to make sure I didn’t run into Poppy, Noah, and his goons – the son of Silver Bow’s beta and the son of Blue Moon’s beta. The first time I’d run into Noah alone, he’d punched me so hard, that spot didn’t heal for hours, and I didn’t want to go through that again.

Cheers filled the arena as someone rode out on a horse, decked out in full armor, while Josie and I paused on the stairs to find where our friends were sitting.

“I’d be giving Blake my favor,” I heard someone on my right say and I glanced at the girl through the corner of my eye.

“What? Me too. What are you giving him?”

“My sleeve. I can rip it off. What about you?”

“…Something lacy.” They both burst into laughter at that while I frowned and returned my attention to the knight just before he lifted his helmet to reveal that he was Priyanka’s brother. I’d first seen him during the swimming competition whose outcome Priyanka was absolutely delighted with. He rode around in the field, right next to the stands, letting people attach their favors to his lance – most from Dumein students and some from the two other schools – and it wasn’t surprising that he had gotten popular fast.

“Priyanka's brother is hot,” I said and Josie snorted.

“She'll kill you if she hears you say that. Say he looks mid.”

“Roger that,” I replied while the second knight rode in. By the time both knights went to their starting lines, the excitement in the air was palpable, and when the trumpet sounded, the knights charged towards each other at full speed. The sound of a crashing lance filled the air, along with the grunts and shouts of the crowd as Priyanka’s brother knocked the other knight off his horse, and I winced.

“It’s going to be crazy if someone dies here,” Josie muttered and I nodded in agreement while people cheered for Priyanka’s brother as he took off his helmet again. I began to clap too before I spotted Priyanka walking towards us, pouting at my hand, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ugh,” Priyanka groaned as she faced the field after she got to us.

“He looks mid.”

She gave me a look that said ‘damn, right, he does’. “I know, right? Geez, finally, someone with eyes,” she added and Josie gave me a thumbs-up behind her while I tried not to laugh.

“Where are you going?” Josie asked her just as I spotted Lydie walking out of a row and heading for the exit, and my brows snapped together. I hadn’t spoken to her for over three weeks – since she left school to go check on Chelsea – and my brows snapped together.

“To get snacks. Come with me.”

“I’ll be right back,” I muttered to Josie and Priyanka absent-mindedly before going after Lydia. I caught up with her in the hallway and when I grabbed her hand, she didn’t react to my presence in any way after facing me.

“Lydia, hey,” I started and she blinked at me again before the corners of her mouth turned up.

“Hey, Katherine.”

“How's Chelsea?” I asked and her smile widened.

“Oh, she's fine. She's staying at her cousin's. She's a bit burnt out because of school, so she won't be back for a while.” She sounded cheerful when she said it, but it also sounded like she’d said it a lot of times so she was just parroting it.

“Oh-kay,” I muttered, slightly drawing my brows together. “Did she say why her phone is switched off?” I added and she bobbed her head.

“Yeah. She’s fine.”

“I asked why her phone was switched off.”

“Oh… Okay,” she replied.

“Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she replied before pulling her hand out of mine. “I have somewhere to be.” With that, she walked off while I stared at her, wondering what was wrong.

The sound of people cheering even louder than they’d been doing and chanting Blake’s name made me glance at the screen in the hallway to see Blake riding into the arena. I set my mouth in a hard line. I’d thought we’d have a chance to talk after the scavenger hunt competition, but I’d been wrong and I’d seen him several times since then. He obviously wasn’t interested in talking about what we were and I was beginning to believe that he’d never be. It was heartbreaking.

I watched him ride past sections of the stands while girls called out to him, wanting him to accept their favor, and he finally stopped to accept a favor… from Lenore. I tipped my head to the side as she got to her feet and tied her scarf on his lance while a smile played on her lips. I shouldn’t think much of it. They were friends and Josie was going to give Hunter her favor too, but I couldn’t help it. She was what my uncle would consider to be on ‘Blake’s level’ and would be the perfect candidate for Blake’s Luna to his pack’s council. It made me unsettled despite the fact that she was already engaged, and that feeling only tripled when he rode off to the starting line with just her scarf on his lance.

****

“She’s not going to breathe fire on you if you ask Katherine,” Helena said and I groaned at the thought of doing what they wanted me to do. What everyone in my pack wanted me to do.

“The worst she can say is no,” Tiffany added as I pressed my lips together, debating whether I should actually listen to them. They had found out I still hadn’t talked to Lenore about an alliance with Dark Moon, and had called to convince me to.

“What if she laughs at me?” I muttered, trying to find a reason to not do it.

“What the fuck? Will you die if she does?”

“No?”

“There you have it,” Helena stated and I heaved a sigh before glancing at the full moon outside my window. It was currently a couple of minutes past nine pm and the dorm and the area around it was quiet since most, if not all, of the students were at the party the school was throwing to conclude the inter-school competition. I didn’t go to it since no one I knew was attending, but there would be another tomorrow, and we’d all be attending that one.

“I won’t blame her if she laughs at you. You believed she was getting married to her cousin,” Tiffany said and I grimaced at the reminder.

“She won’t laugh at you. She’s nice. You told us that,” Helena cut in. “You’re an Alpha, Katherine. You need to do Alpha stuff, and this is Alpha stuff.”

“Word. Word,” Tiffany added and I snorted before getting off my bed.

“Okay, I’ll go talk to her now.” At that, they both began to clap and I shook my head sideways while a smile played on my lips. “You’re both ridiculous.”

“We’ll call you in five minutes to ask how it went.”

“That’s not even enough time for me to get to the dorm she’s at.”

“...Ten?”

“An hour.”

“Do you plan to crawl there?” she sighed while I put my shoes on.

“An hour,” I repeated.

“Yeah, yeah. Talk to you in an hour.”

“I’ll call you instead,” I added.

“Sheesh. All these rules.”

“Talk later,” I replied before hanging up and making my way towards the door.