Ember

The rest of the week passed by relatively quickly and uneventfully- at least where Kane was concerned. We lived in the same house but I rarely caught even a glimpse of him, could in fact count all of those glimpses on a single hand. He also wasn't coming to art class any more, but Jett told me he'd dropped out of that class to fit in pack duties and catch up on assignments he'd neglected while losing his mind over me in wolf form. (His words, not mine.)

The reason had been plausible yet I still couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that told me Kane was avoiding me. But why?

Was he having second thoughts about us and decided establishing distance early on would make the future split easier? No, he wouldn't have gotten all jealous over Victor if that was the case.

Was he annoyed about not being able to share a room? Not spending any time with me seemed like a dramatic response to that. On the other hand, hasn't he always been a bit of a drama queen?

"What do you think?" I asked Mitsuki.

Mitsuki was the latest addition to our pack, a self-professed hermit, gossip and lover of hugs. I was thankfully spared from her usual avalanche of hugging today though. She was too preoccupied with cleaning.

"Give me a minute to think about it," she said, wiping at a window. The place was already clean and organized down to the neat row of snacks on the living room table, but she's been insistently cleaning already clean surfaces and straightening already straight things. I would have left her to her cleaning if I had someone else to talk to but there was no one available, Ian was still MIA (I was starting to worry even though Fiona was with him) and I didn't want to bother Jett after Tyra bailed on him. He was constantly staring at his phone, waiting for her to call I suspected. I was hanging out with Victor a lot but I didn't want to freak him out with my problems when we were just starting to become friends.

That left Mitsuki.

Plus, I kind of wanted an excuse to check up on her. She was new to the pack and I heard from Bluebell that she hadn't left her apartment once since I went to Faerie. She's been inside for a month, that couldn't be good for her. Werewolves were social creatures, they relied on each other to survive. Maybe I could lure her out for a walk...

"This place is already clean," I ventured.

"Cleaning helps calm me down," she replied.

I cleared my throat. "Is hearing about my problems stressing you out?"

She shook her head. "I was in the pack's group chat earlier, some fool named Darius was being insensitive and talking trash about Thomas." She pressed her lips together, scrubbing at the glass with more force than necessary. "We get it, he's jealous Helen likes Thomas but that doesn't give him the right to be mean to the poor guy. I hate scumbags."

Looks like I'll be paying dear Darius a visit soon.

"Darius is always saying insensitive things. You should ignore him," I said, popping an M&M into my mouth. "Want to go for a walk? Blow off some steam?"

She shook her head.

Vengeance might be the best lure. "Or we could go to Darius' place and menacer him."

"Menacer him?" Mitsuki asked, stopping her mad wiping.

I shrugged. "I've been trying my hand at French since I met the crazy Canadian alpha." I also had a lot of time on my hands while I was searching for a part-time job and living off a boyfriend who was avoiding me like the plague.

Mitsuki folded the washcloth and put it away, pulling out a feather duster. "Forget Darius. Let's focus on Kane."

"Is it normal for a werewolf male to act this way after he mates?" I asked, folding my legs.

"How are you feeling about him this moment?" she asked.

"Like I want to punch him for avoiding me."

"Then no, it's not normal." She raised her feather duster in the air. "Get him drunk and interrogate him."

"He wouldn't fall for it," I protested.

"Tell him you want to play the stripping game, a piece of clothing goes off for every bottle he finishes."

"How do I get him to play a game if I can't even get a hold of him?"

"Then strip all at once when you see him and jump him."

I snickered. "What if he punches me instead?" I joked.

She moved the duster like it was a sword, slashing it diagonally with ridiculous sound effects. "Punch him back. Love is a battlefield after all."

My phone started ringing. I dashed for my bag, digging it out with my heart beating in my throat. Was it Kane? Or Ian?

Unknown caller. Most likely Ian then.

I picked up, but it wasn't my best friend. It was the place I'd gone to yesterday searching for work. The call didn't last long but I was shocked by the end of it.

"What?" Mitsuki asked.

"That was the place I applied for a job. The manager just told me Kane told him and all the other werewolf businesses not to hire me."

Mitsuki gasped. Picked up a broom and handed it to me. "Forget the battle. This means war, girl."

***

It was five PM and according to Jett our dedicated alpha was in the garden right about now, dedicating his time to furthering his knowledge on business matters so he could best attend to the pack's interests, taking care of paperwork- werewolves had to provide official documents to another alpha in other territories if they wanted to visit- and then he was out checking up on any troublemakers (Darius probably saw him more than I did, tsk) before retiring for the day. All without seeing me once.

I was starting to realize my idea of living in separate rooms might've been the worst idea ever.

But that didn't excuse his avoidance of me.

Or the fact that he was trying to keep me from getting a job for who-knows-what reason.

Needless to say, by the time I made my way to Kane, I was shaking in fury, fright...and loneliness.

I was lonely. Would it always be this way?

Not if I had a say in it.

I threw open the door to the greenhouse, locating the source of my problems in the middle of the room. Kane stood up from a table covered in books and paper, rushed over to where I stood in the doorway. He peered down at me, and had the audacity to SMILE.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

I haven't punched him in a while, I thought. "You told everybody not to hire me."

He wasn't smiling anymore. Good.

"That's it?" He rolled his eyes, turned away from me.

WHAT?

"You've been avoiding me and now you're ignoring me?" I caught his wrist. "I ought to-"

"You told me you wanted to take things slow," he said sharply.

I barely managed to stop myself from cursing at him. "Take things slow, not pretend like we've never met before."

He shook my hand off. "I don't know how to take things slow."

"Duh."

"Let me read your mind then," he suggested, taking back the hand he'd shrugged off.

I pulled my hand away. "No mind reading. All you have to do is be yourself."

His expression shuttered. "You won't like that."

I scoffed, "When I said we should compromise on things, I didn't mean you were the only one doing the compromising. Don't you trust me?"

He clenched his jaw. "I don't trust myself with you."

I hesitated. Frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We're taking things slow, my way," he clarified.

"You just said you don't trust your way," I smirked.

"Go away, Ember." He started to move back to his desk, froze when he sensed me coming. But I was on him before he could dodge, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his torso.

"I'm not letting go until you let me win this argument," I said.

He raised a hand to the arm I had across his collarbone, a finger tracing the skin on my wrist slowly. I had a sudden image in my head of him grabbing me by the arm and pitching me forwards onto the table. Probably shouldn't have watched so much WWE with Jett last night...now that I thought about it, all that wrestling was likely what gave me the idea to tackle Kane this way. Oh well.

"It feels like I'm the one winning this argument," Kane said.

"Huh?" I asked, tightening my grip on him just in case.

"You can't back out again," he replied.

He started walking out of the greenhouse.

"Where are you- we going?" I asked, alarmed.

"My room. Our room."

Grinning, I pressed a kiss on the nape of his neck.

Kane walked faster.