√ELEVEN.

**CHAPTER ELEVEN.**

As I walked back to my dorm, I felt the stares before I even saw them. Eyes that followed me down the hallway, lingering on me just a little too long. I didn't understand why until I reached my door and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass. The dress. That stupid, ridiculous dress with its scandalous cutouts. I’d forgotten I was still wearing it. No wonder everyone was looking at me like I’d just escaped from a celebrity scandal. Great, now even the Duke and Duchess Gallagher probably thought I was some kind of call girl. And Aurora, it made sense why she thought I was her brother’s one-night stand. Fantastic.

I exhaled heavily and knocked on my door, eager to escape the judgmental eyes.

"I'm coming," Karina's distant voice replied, her footsteps growing louder as she approached. She opened the door with a grin and let me in. I headed straight for my bed, collapsing onto it. It wasn't as grand as Draken’s bed, but it was home, and that was enough.

I could feel Karina's gaze as I rolled onto my bed. I knew she had questions, but I didn't feel like talking. What was I supposed to say? That Draken Gallagher, a werewolf, was my mate? That I got shot multiple times by his *surprise* twin brother who used me as a test subject to see if werecats had nine lives? Or that Draken drove me home, and maybe he wasn't so bad after all?

There was a dip in the mattress as Karina sat beside me, her hair in a messy bun and a facial mask on her face. "I saw you through the window," she said, crossing her arms. "Draken dropped you off. Tell me, Eline, how was it? Was it painful? Oh my, was it your first time?"

I groaned into my sheets. "I wish I never went to that party," I mumbled.

"But, why? Did you not enjoy the time spent with Draken?" Karina questioned, and I was beginning to get irked by her relentless assumptions about me having had sex with Draken — it felt like being pestered by a chihuahua. "You were totally out of it yesterday night, so Draken told me he'd take care of you. Trust me when I say that, I was surprised. I didn't know the two of you knew each other. I brought your phone and purse back to the hostel. Give me the gist, Eline."

Karina tugged my hair in a bid to make me raise my head. She succeeded. I rolled over, meeting her eyes. "Nothing happened, Karina. Draken was just being a good host. I fell asleep in his room. That’s it."

"No shit, Sherlock," Karina sounded unconvinced. "Are you forgetting something, Eline? Draken offered to take care of you in your drunken state! You stayed over at Gallagher's mansion."

I nodded, crossing my legs on the bed. "I even met the Duke and Duchess."

"Tell me you're joking," Karina screeched.

"I'm not. I saw them this morning during breakfast," I replied, trying to keep myself from recalling the events at the Gallagher mansion.

"And Aurora? Did you meet her?"

"In the flesh."

"Stunning?"

"Just like on TV."

Karina screeched again, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she inched closer. "You had breakfast with royalty! That's every girl's dream!"

I didn't bother to correct her—it would just lead to more questions. "Yeah, sure," I muttered.

"Back to you and Draken, give me all the spice."

I rolled my eyes at Karina, shrugging her hands off my shoulders. "Like I said, nothing happened between us. He just happened to be a good host, allowed me to sleep over, fed me breakfast, and drove me back to my hostel."

Karina bit her lips and eyed me suspiciously, looking me up and down. "You expect me to believe Draken passed up a chance with a sexy lady like you?"

*Sexy?* I was far from being *sexy,* but I didn't tell her that. "Not like I'd have allowed anything to happen anyway," I said instead. "You know I'm not a fan of his, Karina. Just drop this. Nothing happened between us."

"Okay, okay. I believe you," she said, removing her facial mask. She pointed to my study desk. "Your phone and purse are there. You need to shower—you stink of Draken."

I hummed in response and watched her head into the bathroom. I wanted to sleep after everything that had happened; showering could wait. Even though I had told Karina that I wasn't a fan of Draken, after the little talk that had happened in the car, I was beginning to question the credibility of my words. If anything, I was getting fond of him. I wondered if that was because of the mate bond.

Draken was my mate…I groaned into my sheets one more time at the thought.

The next morning, my ringtone woke me. I groaned, rolling out of bed to grab my phone from my desk. My eyes were still blurry, so I couldn’t see who was calling. I picked it up anyway.

"Tell me why there's a picture of you and Draken Gallagher trending on Twitter," said a voice without even a hello. I recognized it instantly—Elena Kadesh, my older sister.

"Elena?" I rubbed my eyes and checked the caller ID. *Yep, it was her.* "Do you know what time it is?"

"Time to spill some tea, Eline," she replied. "Why's there a picture of you and Draken Gallagher trending on Twitter?"

I frowned. "What?" I questioned, wondering what she was saying. I looked over at Karina's side of the bed and saw she had woken up and she was currently scrolling through her phone. "What do you mean I'm trending on Twitter?"

"Check it out, ASAP," she insisted, sounding impatient.

I took the phone off my ear as I went over to Karina's bed. "Can you check what's trending on Twitter, Karina?"

She passed me an apprehensive look before quietly doing what I had requested of her. "Isn't this a picture of Draken and you right in front of our hostel?!" She exclaimed, standing up from her bed.

Karina's eyes widened as she shoved her phone into my face. There I was, clear as day, sitting in Draken's car, outside the hostel, still wearing that scandalous dress. There were other photos, too—me at the party, looking like a hot mess. The internet detectives were already piecing together their version of events. The dress was the key evidence: the same dress at the party, the same dress when Draken dropped me off. To the gossip-hungry public, that was enough to prove we’d hooked up. Hell, I was still putting on the same dress since I had forgotten to shower yesterday because I didn't want to wake up.

That also happened to be the longest nap I'd ever taken.

"Holy crap," I muttered, returning Karina's phone.

"So?" My sister's voice blared through the speaker like an invigilator but in a playful tone.

I sighed, placing the phone back to my ear. This wasn't going to be easy to explain. I knew no amount of explanation would make her believe that nothing had happened between Draken and me, at least, nothing sexually. "We didn't do anything. He just offered to bring me back to my hostel because I got drunk and dozed off at his place."

"Eline? How old am I? Six?" Elena wasn’t buying it.

"I'm serious, Elena," I tried persuading her.

"So you didn't sleep with that sexy stud?" She teased.

"No!" I affirmed.

"But are you sure that's all that happened?"

I wanted to tell my sister everything. To tell her more importantly that I, as a werecat, had a mate that was predatory to me in nature. However, I couldn't do that since Karina was present. Besides, I knew it would be better if I told her face-to-face because I also needed to tell her there were other shifters besides werecats. "I have *eight*…out of *nine*," I blurted out to her.

"Come home next weekend," her tone had shifted from playful to serious. "I'll be telling Mum and Dad about this. I'll message you."

I hung up the phone as Karina immediately came to my side. "You stink terribly," she noted. "You need a bath, and you need to change out of that dress."

"You should have woken me up yesterday."

"But you were sleeping so peacefully like a pup, I didn't want to disturb you. You seemed like you needed that sleep."

She was right. I needed that sleep after all the craziness at the Gallagher's mansion. But before I could head to the bathroom, my phone buzzed with a message from an unexpected number. It was from Topper.

Why had Topper messaged me?