Chapter 20 Friendship
Sienna
“You alright?” Cole nudged me, snapping me out of the trance I’d been in since the start of the lecture. “You’ve been a total zombie for the past week, Sienna. Ground control?”
I heaved a loud, dramatic sigh. Cole had basically become my shadow at school, which was fine by me. He was better company than anyone else in this place.
Keisha, surprisingly, had been lying low, sticking to her role as an instructor and acting like she hadn't tried to mentally torture me on day one.
“Hey, I’m talking to you.” Cole waved a piece of bread in front of my face like I was some kind of glitching robot.
I leaned back against the bench and snatched it out of his hand, taking an aggressive, spiteful bite. “Can I sleep at your house today?” I swallowed the bread and looked him dead in the eye. “Our sleepover never actually happened.”
Cole’s eyes lit up, a huge, genuine grin breaking across his face. “Seriously? Hell yes. “
After classes, Cole led me out to the parking lot. He stopped next to his car and just stood there, looking at me with a lopsided grin.
“I’m not the Alpha. Open your own door,” he said, chuckling as he headed for the driver’s side.
I rolled my eyes at him, but I didn't argue. I pulled the door open and slumped into the passenger seat, folding my arms tightly over my chest.
Cole glanced over, raising an eyebrow at my posture. “What, sulking because I didn’t open the door for the princess?”
I didn’t even give him the satisfaction of a reply. Honestly, just hearing the word “Alpha” made my mood tank even further. Over the past week, Sev and I had barely shared a glance, let alone a conversation. It was deliberate on his part—a cold, calculated distance that felt like a slap in the face.
I turned my head to stare out the window instead, watching the scenery blur past. We drove through the main part of town and eventually pulled into a subdivision. The houses here were massive, managed to look both expensive and historical at the same time, keeping that same medieval vibe the rest of the town had.
“Here we are,” Cole announced as we turned into a drive and passed through a massive gate. We didn't pull up to the front door; instead, he drove down a ramp into an underground garage that looked more like a showroom where dozens of high-end cars were lined up.
“Of course you’re rich,” I muttered as I hopped out of the passenger seat.
“Guilty as charged,” he joked, falling into step beside me as we headed for the interior door. “This way, princess.”
We climbed the stairs and walked straight into a massive living room where a woman with a sharp pixie cut was curled up on a leather sofa, mindlessly tossing chips into her mouth while staring at a screen.
“Oh, look at that. You finally brought a girlfriend home?” she asked, her eyes lighting up with mischievous energy. “And she’s actually beautiful. Well done, Cole.”
“She’s Sienna, the friend I told you about,” Cole corrected. “Sienna, this is Yuri, my sister. Try not to let her scare you off.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” I said, my voice coming out stiff and formal. I’d never really been a guest in a friend’s home before, let alone met the family.
Suddenly, a guy walked into the room, mid-stride as he dried his hair with a towel. He was completely topless, showing off the kind of lean, muscular build that seemed to be a requirement for werewolves in this pack. A smug smirk played on his lips the second he spotted us. “Girlfriend? How cute.”
“That’s my brother, Gaven. He doesn't know how to find a shirt,” Cole muttered, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the stairs. “We better get to my room before the rest of the pack descends on us.”
“Exactly how many of you are there?” I asked once we were safely behind his bedroom door. I sat on the edge of his bed, surprised by how much it reflected him—it was clean, organized, and smelled faintly of a sweet aroma.
He laughed, rummaging through a dresser. “One sister, five brothers. It’s basically a war twenty-four hours a day.”
I couldn't help but smile, a sudden, sharp pang of nostalgia hitting me as I thought of my own brothers. “Yeah, I can imagine the mess.”
“Here.” He tossed a bundle of fabric at me. “Take a shower. We’ll head into town after you've washed the Academy off you.”
I caught the clothes, looking down at the heavy grey hoodie and matching joggers. “I thought you guys only wore that traditional, old-world stuff.”
He shrugged. “It’s nighttime. Besides, what’s the Alpha going to do? Imprison me for wearing fleece?”
I shook my head, a small laugh escaping me as I headed for the guest shower. After I was done and Cole had taken his turn, I sat on his bed, feeling a weirdly satisfying spark of rebellion.
I hadn’t told a single person at the mansion where I was going. It wasn’t like I knew where Sev was every second of the day, so why should he know my business?
“Let’s go,” Cole said, appearing in the doorway.
He led me down a narrow, iron spiral staircase that bypassed the main living area, dumping us out near the kitchen and a side exit. He was clearly avoiding a second round of interrogation from Yuri and Gaven.
The town center was close enough that we just walked, the cool night air refreshing after the stuffy classrooms. We stopped at a small shop with a buzzing neon sign that read Leon Frost.
“Oh, this is actually incredible,” I said, taking a bite of the frozen treat as we wandered toward a nearby park.
“Right? I wouldn't lead you astray on the important stuff.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes. The park was completely deserted, and the stillness seemed to make Cole jumpy; he kept glancing at me, his mouth opening and closing like he was rehearsing a speech he wasn't sure he wanted to give.
“What?” I finally snapped, stopping under a dim streetlight. “You’ve been looking at me like for the last ten minutes.”
He heaved a long, heavy sigh and looked around at the shadows. “Well... doesn't walking alone at night with a man you’ve only known for two weeks in a totally empty park scare you at all? Logically?”
“Now that you’ve put it like that, yeah, it sounds a little bit like the start of a horror movie,” I admitted. A look of genuine, pained worry flashed in his eyes, and I couldn't help but laugh. “Why would I be scared of you, Cole?”
“Usually, people are more cautious,” he muttered, his gaze fixed on the ground.
“I’m comfortable with you because you’re not—” I stopped abruptly, my internal filter finally waking up, but it was too late.
“Straight?” he finished for me. He looked up, his expression completely serious, the playfulness gone.