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Willow puts the car in park in her designated spot in my parents’ driveway. We don’t normally drive cars in Jasper, since almost everything is within walking distance, but our parents prefer we drive if it’s nighttime or it will be late when we get back. Too bad our douchebag leader, Orion, doesn’t understand the meaning of fair and just treatment of pack members. They don’t feel as though Orion would protect us, especially because we are females in the pack. They aren’t wrong—we all know that he looks down on the females of the pack, specifically the younger ones like us. How he looks at us sometimes, well, it literally makes my skin crawl. It’s disturbing. You can almost hear the thoughts running through his mind.

My heart clenches when I think about telling my parents. All the nights of Warrick coming over on the weekends to watch football with my dad. My parents even have shirts with his number on it they wear to every home game. My mom would gush every time Warrick would wrap his arm around my shoulders. To say that he had my parents wrapped around his finger would be an understatement. My mother would swear by the goddess that on our eighteenth birthday we would find out we were mates. She talked about it so much my dad would complain about it and I would roll my eyes when she would start up again.

Shaking those thoughts from my mind, I climb out of the car. “I don’t want to tell my parents yet that Warrick and I aren’ttogether anymore. I think they thought we were destined to be mates or something. Let’s just go with telling them you guys wanted to stay the night. I’ll tell my parents tomorrow.”

They both nod their heads in understanding. Pushing the door open, I follow the sound of the news playing in the living room to find both my parents sitting in their recliners. Mom is working on some crochet project, while Dad is working on a crossword puzzle. They both glance up when we enter the living room.

“You’re home early,” my mother's comments when she realizes it’s us.

“Hey, Mr. S and Mrs. Mae!” Willow smiles warmly at both of my parents.

“How many times do I have to ask you to just call me Mae, Willow?” My mom smiles fondly at her.

No matter how many times my mom asks, Willow never calls her by her name without the formal title. Even my dad has asked that she call him by his name, but she refuses. I think, at this point, they’ve become her nicknames for them.

“Hello, Liam and Maeve! The game ended, and we decided we wanted to do a slumber party, which is why we are here so early. We weren’t feeling the celebratory party tonight. Is it okay that we stay with you guys tonight?” Hazel asks them sweetly.

“Of course, dear, you girls are always welcome to stay here. Should I be expecting you all weekend, then?” my mom asks.

“Not sure on that one, Mrs. Mae, but I would say you could probably bet that bottom dollar of yours on it,” Willow winks at her.

Dad finally finishes the last word in his puzzle and looks up at me. “I saw Warrick scored the winning touchdown tonight. That boy will get lots of scholarship offers, if he hasn’t already.”

My dad has always loved football and has been a fan of a pro team for as long as I can remember. He has always supported our local high school team, but this year, with Warrick and our QB’s matchup, our team is going to the State Championships for the first time in its history. He has already bought us new shirts that match and has Warrick's number and last name across the back. The hotel room is booked for the night, dinner reservations with Warrick’s parents, and the whole shebang for it. All Mom and I heard about is how he just knew this would be the year we win it all. Preaching hours upon hours about the draft stock and Warrick’s numbers. Leaving both Mom and I ready to pull our hair out.

“Yeah, I’m sure that he will. Let’s hope that he can score a few more during the postseason to secure an even better position in the rankings. Not that he will need it. He is already a 5 star recruit going into the final game of the season,” I say to him with a fake smile plastered on my face.

Don’t get me wrong. I am mad at Warrick, but I could never wish ill will upon his career. He has what it takes to go all the way to the pro league. What he does within his relationships off the field should have no real bearing on that, even if I’m the one who has to bear the consequences of it.

Hazel, noticing the turn in my mood, changes the subject and says, “Well, Liam and Maeve, if you don’t mind, I have some juicy gossip that I heard at the game that I want to dissect with the girls. Goodnight.”

As we leave the living room, both my parents say “Goodnight” in unison. Sometimes, the whole fated mates being in sync thing is freaky and scary. I can’t imagine someone being so in tune with me as we speak at the same time or know what the other is thinking without them saying. I can’t even imagine someone hearing all the thoughts running through my mind. There are things I fantasize about, dream about, and often think about that I would never want someone else to know. It’s the invasion of privacy that comes with it, like nothing of you is on your own anymore, even your darkest secrets are revealed to your mate. Don’t get me wrong, the theory that you would know your mate at a completely different intimate level is thrilling, but terrifying.

Some mates are blessed with the ability to talk to each other in their minds, but it’s rare. Nobody knows how the blessing is bestowed, but some say it depends on the bonding process and how the goddess chooses to bless it.

My bedroom is exactly how I left it this morning. My wall of bookshelves full of all the books I have read over the years, since as far back as I can remember. My mom jokes that when she was reading bedtime stories to me as a baby, she didn’t know that it would one day take up a whole wall in my room. My parents gifted my first bookshelf to me when I turned 10. By that time, I had stacks and stacks of books strewn all over my room. My dad decided that it was time that I had a proper place to store them. Now seven years later, I have four bookshelves and seven stacks around the room.

Falling onto my bed, I bury my face into my pillows. “I could just turtle here, right? Cover myself with the blankets and refuse to come out? Can I just stay here until graduation?” I mumble into the pillow.

Giggling, Willow smacks my butt. “No, I am pretty sure Mr. Williams would notice his star pupil not in attendance and send out the search party for the girl who never misses a second of school.”

“It’s just not fair. Why does everyone else get to skip school but I can’t?” I continue to mumble into the pillow.

Feeling the bed dip on my right side, the gentle brushing of my hair comes before Hazel softly says, “You ready to tell us what happened?”

“No,” I whisper.

She continues to stroke my hair as she says, “You will feel better once you let it out. That way we can all move on.”

“Fine,” I say, pushing myself up to the sitting position. Pulling my feet under my thighs, I drape my fuzzy knitted blanket into my lap. My fingers begin to pick at each other and I try to pull at a hangnail instead of looking at them.

“After I left you guys, I was caught up in the crowd streaming onto the field. I couldn’t see past the towering teen boys in front of me, so I decided to get out of the crowd so I would have an easier time finding Warrick.”

I let out a shuddering breath, “I couldn’t see him, which I thought was odd since we always meet on the field after a game – specifically a win. I stopped the first player I saw heading to the locker room to see if he had seen Warrick. He shook his head and walked off. I noticed the group of guys he normally hangs out with and a group of cheerleaders hanging off of them. I thought maybe they would know. But when I asked, they all just looked at each other and laughed.”

Heaving out a heavy sigh, I continue. “Then Jared said some horrible stuff about how I should run home to my books where I should be waiting for him. How Warrick will come to me when he wants me.”

“That mother fucker is getting kicked in the dick on Monday morning. I don’t care if I get suspended from school. What kind of misogynistic shit is that?” Willow is winding herself up again.