34. Kind of Icky

Chapter thirty-four

Kind of Icky

*AURELIA*

M y heart sinks to the pit of my stomach as I watch Marilou cry. Terry has tears in his eyes, too, his lips quivering slightly. However, much to my shock, Marilou lets out a scream of excitement, jumping right into Terry's arm.

I can hear a guttural growl coming out of Terry's mouth, his eyes darkening. "Mine," he exclaims.

"You two just gave me the heart attack of the century," Nox mutters.

"No kidding," Lion says. "I was terrified for a moment."

The other girls come piling into the room, immediately catching on to what's going on, which is quite the no-brainer considering how Terry is basically glued to Marilou's lips. She has her legs and arms wrapped around him like a cute chimpanzee, still laughing and crying at the same time.

Everyone basically bursts into screams and claps. Jazz and Val take each other's hands and twirl around together. Meanwhile, Tori and Lion toss each other careful gazes. It looks like Tori has cried a lot, and once again, I can see the guilt in Lion's eyes.

Before I can link him to tell him to stop freaking out, and to just do or say anything, Nox elbows him and whispers something to him. Lion and he discuss something, with Lion looking flustered and Nox seemingly annoyed, but eventually, Lion drags his feet towards Tori.

It literally looks like a lamb being led to the slaughter.

Tori stares at him wide-eyed, the shock clear on her face.

He is approaching me, she links me all of a sudden. Goddess, what am I going to do!? Auri, save me!

Why? Don't you want to talk to him?

Of course I want to! But I don't know what to say. He looked so disappointed when we found out we were mates that I suggested we keep it a secret. He was immediately on board with it. I thought he would at least try to fight me a bit…

She was testing him, but as usual, tests like these barely ever work out well. He was on board with it because he thought you were disappointed, I point out.

I guess that's true, too, she admits. I don't know what to do, Auri!

He is your mate, I say. You can figure it out together. But goodness, Tori, you have to talk with each other.

I know, she admits. I… are you mad that I hid it from you?

No, but only if you give it a real shot, now, instead of running away.

"Hey," Lion says, finally having walked over to her and pulling her out of our little chat. "Uh." He looks to the ground, completely flustered. "You okay?"

Nox stares at him from the other side of the room before gazing at me and rolling his eyes. I can feel Arden wrapping his arms around me and chuckling slightly. "Your friends are fun," he whispers towards me.

"Do you like them?"

"Yes," he says. "I'm not too social, but it's easy to get along with them."

I feel happy at that, so happy that I almost forget to do something important. "Stay like this with me," I mutter, grabbing my phone and turning my head slightly for my mark to be seen. Arden's is on display anyway, so I take a selfie and send it to Mom while wishing her a happy new year.

I take another, not-so-juicy photo, and send it to my brothers and dad.

When I put my phone away, I notice Nox staring at me, his eyes wide open. He walks over to us, Jazz and Val following him in a beeline. "How did I not notice?" he exclaims.

"Me neither," Val says.

"Same," Jazz smacks her forehead.

"Well." I grin. "We had some drama to resolve, so it gave Arden and me a good opportunity to fly under the radar."

Jazz and Val hug me while Nox smiles at us. "I don't even know how and when you marked each other," Jazz says.

"And I don't think I want to know," Nox mutters.

"I do, though," Val points out.

"I want the juicy details too." Jazz chuckles.

"Later," I promise them.

Our talk gets interrupted by Terry. "Alright," he says, staggering towards the door with Marilou still clinging to him. "We are excusing ourselves for the rest of the night."

"Happy birthday, girl," Jazz yells when they are about to disappear. "Go get your birthday present. Though, I hope he has an actual present for her, too," she adds.

"He has," I reassure her.

"This reminds me of the one time Eric dressed up as a parcel, with a bow around his… well, you get the image," Val says. "He was lying on the bed like a sex god, wiggling his brows at me."

Arden groans. "I never wanted to have that image in my head."

"Me neither," I agree. "He is my cousin. Literally blood related!"

Val doesn't take mercy on us and starts to tell us more juicy details about Eric. I notice she never really goes into too much detail, still keeping his integrity. I'm happy for her and Eric, though. They are really getting along so well.

To my surprise, Lion and Tori eventually approach us. They are not holding hands or anything, but at least they stopped avoiding each other. "Guys," Lion mutters. "How should I put it… well…"

"We apologize for the drama," Tori helps him out. "We were so sucked up in it, we couldn't find a way out. But Lionel and I will go for a cocktail now to talk a bit." She leans her head back and sighs. "Maybe I should change, though. I feel overdressed."

"No," Lion blurts out. I know him as confident, so it's unusual to see him so confused and out of words. "You look great."

Tori blushes. "Well, then, I will stay like this." She hugs me briefly. "Thank you," she whispers. "For helping me out. And you two," she looks at Jazz and Val "for listening to my whining and giving me some confidence and perspective."

"Anytime, honey." Val smiles.

Jazz leans forward. "Go get your wildcat," she whispers.

"That was corny." Tori giggles. "Well, let's see what happens."

She and Lion wave at us one more time before they leave together. I have no idea how these two will work their issues out, but at least they are talking.

I can hear Arden's phone vibrating in his pocket. Not letting go, he keeps one of his arms wrapped around me while grabbing his phone with the other. For a moment it's silent, then, "Oh," he says. "No way!"

His reaction piques my interest, and I turn around. "What happened?"

"A message from Gustave," he says. "Seems like they wrapped up things now, and he went home and did some work."

"On New Year's Eve?" Nox asks. "No, wait, forget it. He is a genius too, right? For him it probably wasn't even work."

Arden nods. "Yes, you might be onto something."

"So?"

"He found the meaning of the rune."

"No way!" I exclaim. "What does it mean?"

"It means peridot," Arden explains.

"Isn't that a gemstone?" I ask.

Arden nods.

"Do they all have the same rune tattooed?" Nox wants to know.

"We don't know that yet," Arden mutters. "But it for sure has to mean something."

*LIONEL*

Tori and I return to the party and choose to sit at a small table, as far away from the noise as possible, to talk. But for half an hour we sit in awkward silence, each with a drink in front of us.

I gaze at her, for the first time really looking at her. When she came down the stairs tonight, she took my breath away. She has always been beautiful, everyone in the pack finds her cute, but tonight she is wearing a daring, tight red dress, showing her cleavage, combined with red lipstick that makes her look more like a queen than a sweet princess.

"You… you really look beautiful, tonight," I say to break the awkward silence, but my voice cracks and sounds hoarse, making it more awkward.

"Is it not too much?" she asks.

"No, you stole the spotlight tonight," I say. "You were the first one I noticed when you girls came down."

Her head perks up. "Is that so?"

"Yes."

"You're making this up." She chuckles. "Jazz and Aurelia are a lot hotter than I am."

"I only saw you," I mutter.

Oh fuck, I sound pathetic.

"I..." Tori shifts around nervously "I didn't react well when I found out you were my mate. I'm sorry I freaked out."

"I was worse," I say. "Listen…" I pause. "If this is about Aurelia, it's not… it was before I moved to Silverlake, and we never felt—"

"No," Tori heaves. "I couldn't care less. Maybe I should because everyone keeps going crazy about our previous body counts, but I wouldn't mind if you fucked half of the pack as long as you are loyal to me now. Do you mind that I'm not a virgin anymore?"

"No," I say bluntly.

"It's just…" Tori groans in frustration. "I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting the fireworks, the anxiety, the overblown draw to something new. But we..." she gestures at us in frustration "we have known each other for so long. It's just… gross." She looks up in shock as she says the last word. "Not that you are gross, Lion, you are very handsome, I mean—"

"I get it." I nod, feeling shockingly relieved by her words. "It's so weird! Kind of icky."

"You think so, too?" She blinks. "It is icky, isn't it!?"

"Yeah, what was the Moon Goddess thinking? It's like she wants me to bang my little sister."

Tori giggles. "She is insane! I mean, this is creepy!"

"Yeah, absolutely." I pause. "But I guess it could be worse."

She glances at me. "I guess that's true," she says. "And now?"

"How about we go on a couple of dates?" I offer, anxious she will shoot me down. I don't want her to reject me. It still feels weird to be fated to her, but I don't want to lose her either. When she came down that staircase tonight, and I caught sight of her, it felt like I was seeing her for the first time. She wasn't just Terry's little sister anymore, but Tori, a beautiful girl from my pack.

"Okay," she says, simply. She smiles while she sips on her drink, looking happy.

I swallow thickly. Shit, this is so difficult. I've only met girls I train with so far, and I never really dated, just had flings, so I have no idea how to date. "I-I heard you like Lego," I start with a conversation, saying the first thing that comes to mind.

"Oh!" She beams. "Yes, I do! I wasn't aware you knew."

"So, did you buy something here?"

"I did. I actually bought the Eiffel Tower," she says. "And a Disney castle. Val took me to a place where they had a sale."

"That's a pretty cool hobby," I say.

"What do you like to do in your free time?"

"You will find it silly," I say.

"Not at all. Tell me!"

"I collect stones and turn them into crystals," I say. "Buying polished stones is easy. I like to do that myself… polish them."

"I didn't know," she says, surprised. "That sounds pretty cool, too."

For the next hour, we chat about things we like to do. Tori has always been in my circle of friends, but she was always closer to Aurelia and Terry than to me. I never was truly interested in her because I thought she was shallow and too… simple. Now I feel like the biggest idiot ever. I was the one who was shallow.

There are so many things I don't know about her yet.

She is cute when she excitedly talks about something that interests her. Her eyes light up, and a beautiful smile spreads over her face.

Maybe the Goddess didn't make a mistake, after all.