Chapter 60

KATHERINE.

“What’s happening?” I asked

“There was an event in your school on Friday,” Uncle Lander replied and I drew my brows together.

“What does that have to do with the alliances?” The only thing I did at the event was get a drink thrown at me by Poppy, cry on the balcony and look miserable in front of Theo for the second time. The only Alphas that paid attention to me were the Alphas of Dark Moon – Lenore’s dad – and the ones that were annoyed with me for the scene Poppy caused.

“Everything,” he replied, sounding surprised that I didn’t know what he was talking about. “I didn't know you were friends with Dark Moon’s daughter.”

“Dark Moon's– Ah! …So what does this…” I trailed off as I finally understood why this was happening. I had sat with Lenore’s family during the event. They were seated at the front so a lot of people saw me sitting with them.

“People think there's going to be an alliance between our packs,” he said. “Tell me… is it true?”

“An alliance with Dark Moon?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

He heaved a sigh. “I knew it was too good to be true,” he muttered, making me smile because it reminded me of something my dad loved to say – ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. “How did you become friends with her then?”

I hadn’t told him or anyone from my pack that I was roommates with Lenore because if it got back to the council, they’d definitely want me to try to get an alliance with her pack. I couldn’t do that. I mean, she was incredibly nice and her family was too, but our pack had nothing to offer theirs. There was no reason why they would get into an alliance with us. Now there was no reason for me to keep who Lenore was from him anymore too because the council already knew we were friends.

“…She's my roommate.” The shocked silence that followed after I said that made me press my lips together. “Sorry,” I muttered and he sucked in a breath.

“It’s okay. So how are things going over there?” he replied before I remembered my ‘mate’ predicament.

“I need to talk to Judy.” That was the name of the pack’s seer. “Can you get her number for me?”

“Sure. Is everything alright?”

I nodded before realizing he couldn’t see me. “I just need to ask her something regarding the mate finding thing.”

“Oh. How's that going?”

“Well it's…” Blake’s smiling face from past midnight today popped into my mind, followed by that moment with Theo after he saved me from falling to my death, followed by when Hunter placed his hand on my neck after treating my wounds. I swallowed. “It's going,” I muttered and before he could say anything, I quickly added, “The school's anniversary is coming up.”

“Anniversary?”

“Yeah. Packs are going to be invited so if we’re invited, can Kit come?” I asked, a bit hopeful. It was a long drive from the pack but I missed my brother a lot.

“Sure,” he replied and I sighed in relief.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll send Judy’s number soon and uh… Members of the council want to talk to you.”

“Oh!” That was surprising. They rarely initiated conversations with me. Then I remembered what was happening in the pack. “Is it because of the alliance rumor?”

“Yes, and also about the other alliances we got. I think you’ll like what they want to say,” he replied. “In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing, okay?”

“Okay, Uncle Lander.”

“Girl!” a voice called out and I glanced in the direction it had come from to see Priyanka and Lenore running back. They slowed their pace as they got closer to me while I said my goodbyes to my uncle and ended the call. “We thought you passed out or something.”

“Oh,” I muttered before smiling at the fact that they came back to check on me. “Sorry. I was talking to my uncle.”

They nodded at that before glancing around and I couldn’t help but stare at Lenore as the fact that she was getting married to Theo bounced around in my mind. The fact that he could be my mate came to mind once again and I set my mouth in a hard line before she asked, “Where’s Josie?”

“She went for a run. She said she’ll meet us ahead.”

“Let’s go then. Let us know if you want to stop, okay?”

“Okay,” I replied before we began to run down the path.

****

The Art Faculty building was way quieter today.

I walked down the hallway with a smile on my face, heading to the art studio to see Blake and Hunter. One of the reasons for my current mood was because of the conversation I had with my pack’s council members about thirty minutes ago in which they let me know they were going to start involving me in pack decisions. I didn’t know if it’d be all of them but the fact that I was going to start getting involved in decisions regarding the pack made me ecstatic. The second reason was because I was going to see Blake and Hunter soon. I wasn’t sure if they were in the studio yet because neither of them had responded to my messages yet, but since Blake said the both of them would be here in the afternoon and it was afternoon, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to check if they were here since I had nothing else to do.

When I got to the art studio, I cleared my throat and opened the door slightly before peeking in to see the boys in the room. I couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto my face. They were facing each other and painting on canvases while laughing about something as music played from a bluetooth speaker on a table next to them and after watching them for a couple of seconds, I finally called attention to myself.

“Hello.”

They immediately turned to face me and the way a smile swept across their face made my heart take a pause. “Katherine,” Hunter called while I walked into the studio, shutting the door behind me.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Nice to see you’re still here.”

“Huh?” I replied.

“Priyanka said she’d drop out of the club, then the school if she was you,” he explained, making me snort. She wasn’t far off because the idea had crossed my mind multiple times last night.

“I’m not doing that… yet.”

His smile widened while I moved my gaze to Blake as I walked over to them.

“How was your morning run?” Blake asked as I came to a stop next to their canvases and once again, I felt guilty about not telling him the trail we were going on.

I shrugged in response. “I almost died from exhaustion.”

“That would have been fun to watch,” he replied and I kicked him before remembering the last thing he said to me last night. Then I kicked him even harder while he let out a laugh.

“So what have you guys been up to all day?”