√THIRTEEN

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN.**

By the time I made it back to my hostel, Karina and the girls were already in the room, lounging around like they’d been waiting for hours.

"We've been waiting for you," Karina said from where she laid on her bed, a bowl of cereal in her hands.

Yuri, in particular, had a tense expression when she saw me. She jumped off my bed and rushed toward me. "You lied to me about not liking Draken Gallagher," she said, slightly out of breath.

I ignored her and made my way to my bed, where Tennessee was sprawled out, absorbed in her phone. I greeted her, sitting down with a sigh. Then I glanced at Yuri, who was still standing there, waiting for an answer. "Good afternoon to you too, Yuri."

She blinked and then sheepishly sat down on the floor next to Karina's bed. "Right, sorry. Good afternoon, Eline,” she said, and without wasting any more time she got right back to it. "So, what happened between you and Draken? I've seen the photos on social media. Dylan showed them to me— everyone's talking about it."

"Look, it's nothing," I said, trying to downplay the situation.

Karina looked up from her bowl of cereal and chuckled before using her leg to poke Yuri. "Give it up. She isn't going to tell you a thing. I mean, I already tried asking her about everything that happened but she keeps saying nothing happened between them and Draken just helped her home."

"Because that’s all that happened," I snapped, my frustration bubbling over.

It wasn’t a lie, but the truth was far more complicated than they’d ever believe. What was I even supposed to tell them? That the moon goddess made a mistake and made me—a werecat—the mate of a werewolf, Draken?

Tennessee finally set her phone down to join the others in staring at me, waiting for some dramatic confession.

I ran my fingers through my curls and sighed, feeling my cat side meow. "I'm sorry for raising my voice. I am just tired of being the subject of school gossip. I just want to live my life without having the whole school in my business. I don't even like Draken. Can we please drop it?"

Karina gently placed her bowl on her bed and slid down to the floor next to Yuri, Tennessee soon following. "Come join us, Eline," Karina said, her voice soft but insistent. "Let’s have an inner circle moment."

With a resigned sigh, I joined them on the floor and we formed a small circle.

"Eline," Yuri said, giving my hands a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry for being insensitive. Instead of asking how your day went, I was just curious about you and Draken. My bad."

"We all are," Karina added with a genuine smile. "We shouldn't have pushed so hard…you know we'd never pressure you to talk about something you're uncomfortable with, right?"

"I know."

"You'd also not keep anything a secret from us, right?"

I felt my stomach sink at Karina's question. I was keeping a lot from them. I didn't know how they would take the news of everything going on in my life…and I didn't want to ruin the friendship that we had formed between us even if it meant lying to them. "Of course, I can never lie to you guys," I lied.

Karina pulled us into a group hug. It was warm and comforting, especially after the day I'd had.

"By the way, there is a hockey game this weekend," Yuri said, breaking the hug with a grin. She stood up from the floor to pick up her bag and pulled out three tickets, handing one to each of us. "Dylan got us all tickets."

"NYU would be playing with Cortland university?" Tennessee asked, eyes glued on the ticket which held most of the information about the match. She looked up from the ticket frowning. "Aren't the students known to be violent?'

"Yeah," Yuri smirked. "But that’s what makes it fun."

Cortland university was a private university in New York. It was mostly known as a hub for rich and violent students, and their Hockey team had a reputation for being brutal, both on and off the rink. There had been many rumors about the school, one of them being that some students owned *wild wolves,* which were seen lurking around the school. Cortland University also happened to be NYU rival university.

"This game is going to be one to forever remember," Tennessee chuckled, stowing her ticket in her pocket. "Those players are ruthless on the ice, but somehow, they never get suspended or banned. Money must do wonders."

"*Hm.* I doubt they could take down Draken," Yuri said.

"How do you know that?" I asked, curious.

"Have you seen him play?"

"No."

"There's a reason why he's captain. He's a monster on the ice rink. He's never been taken down or defeated, and some even doubt if he's human because of how well he plays." Yuri explained.

*Some even doubted if he's human…* because he isn't. I knew that too well. "That's impressive," I said, trying to sound casual.

"I just want to go check out the hot guys at the game," Karina said, making us all laugh. "You're not going to bail on us, right, Eline? I mean, Dylan got us these tickets. I might not like him, but I can at least appreciate the gesture."

I’d never been to a hockey game before, but I didn't want to miss this one—even if it meant seeing Draken again after I had told him off. "I won't. I promise."

They all smiled.

"I need to take a shower," I announced to the girls as I stood up.

I placed the ticket on my study desk and took off my clothes. I wrapped my towel around my chest and was about to enter the bathroom when I received a text from my phone. I picked it up and checked the message.

**‘Tribeca, opposite chambers st; That's the address of the meet up. We hope to see you there tomorrow night.**

**~Topper.’**

I sighed as I dropped my phone back and entered the bathroom. As I switched on the shower, I thought about his and Brianna's offer. I knew it would be a great opportunity to relate with other shifters just as myself…but I was also scared. Scared of discovering a much larger world than the one I grew up knowing. I was scared…scared of a world that involved Draken Gallagher. I didn't want to get involved with him more than I already was. I didn't want to keep seeing my name in the tabloids. Even worse, I was scared that I didn't want to reject the mate bond between us.

"Should I go or not?" I asked myself as I let the warm water wash over me. "I shouldn't go if I don't want to get involved with Draken. That would be the best choice."

But I was only kidding myself. The next day, after my evening classes, I changed into a simple floral gown and told Karina I was visiting family in town. Instead, I took an Uber to the address Topper had sent me.

Once I got to the front of the building in the address, I couldn't help but marvel at how huge the building was before sending a text to Topper. His family was ridiculously wealthy; that much was obvious.

"Eline," Topper yelled as he came out of the building. *Finally,* I had been waiting for a while and during my wait, I debated returning back to my hostel. "Glad you made it."

"Hey," I returned his greeting.

"Ready to meet everyone? Well, you already know some faces, but you know what I mean."

I forced a smile and nodded. "Yes, I’m ready."

I *wasn't.*