Yara had an early dinner in hopes to avoid Nihal and delay the confrontation, unknown of the fact that Hritika hadn't muttured a word about her to Nihal, thus saving her from Nihal's anger.

Now that her mother informed her about Hritika's kind gesture, Sachi was furious.

"Argh!! I can't believe our luck. It's so hard being away from him and yet we intentionally avoided him that too for nothing. Yara, let's go and meet our mate, this distance is unbearable," Sachi whined.

"Look at the time. He will die out of shock," Yara lectured but she herself wanted to meet him.

"I heard humans these days sleep late. There's still one hour to midnight. Can we go and meet him. Only for ten minutes. Pleaseee."

Yara could imagine the puppy eye look Sachi would have been making right now.

"It would be really awkward. What will we say to him? We don't have any excuse for meeting him. Let's endure it for the night, I promise the first thing we will do after waking up is to meet him."

Yara didn't know who she was trying to explain- Sachi or herself as she was also desperate to meet Nihal.

Fortunately, she managed to calm her wolf down, who agreed reluctantly. Though, her own heart wasn't ready to understand the situation.

Yara tried her best to sleep but gave up with a huff after lots of twists and turns.

                            ★★★★★

"What are you thinking?" Nihal asked as he saw the frown on Hritika's face.

He had just came out of the bathroom and noticed Hritika sitting on the edge of the bed with a thoughtful face. Her expressions changed from furrowed eyebrows as if she was confused to a frown as she realized something unfavourable.

Being with Hritika, he had learned to read her facial expressions. The girl would never speak about her problems unless questioned. Hritika was famous for her poker face but fortunately she had her guards down around Nihal, making it possible for him to read her.

"What's wrong?" Nihal asked softly, while moving to sit beside her.

"Nothing's wrong. Well I hope nothing is wrong. I was thinking about what Gamma said," Hritika answered, turning slightly to face Nihal properly.

"Gamma? Ah! Are you talking about the fact that the mates have to be around each other all the time? Even I was shocked by his words," Nihal responded.

"Nihal...He said 24/7. That includes night too." Hritika stressed on the word to make him understand.

His eyes closed for a second in mortification.

"No no no," he chanted, shaking his head furiously.

"There's a limit to everything," Nihal grumbled, punching the nearby pillow.

"What if her health deteriorates? She has been sick for a few days now and even fainted today. What if her condition worsens?" Hritika asked nervously.

"I don't know about her but I am going to be sick now. What's the problem with the working of these species? Why the hell they are hell bent on forcing two strangers to be with each other?" Nihal threw his hands up in frustration.

"It's not that different from our arranged marriages. Humans too force two strangers to be together for life. The only difference is that our elders decide the match while the fate decides for these werewolves," Hritika replied with an eye roll.

"Can you not show your smartness when I am already frustrated?" Nihal groaned while standing up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Hritika questioned, startled by his sudden move.

"You were the one who told me that Yara would fall sick if I am not with her," Nihal answered with a huff.

He opened the room's door, only to jump back in shock.

"What happ..."

Hritika came running towards him and stopped short when she saw what had scared Nihal so much.

Outside there door was Yara looking at them sheepishly as she sat up from her lying position.

Yara was sleeping on the makeshift bed made by her with a pillow and blanket, outside their room.

"Wh...what's the meaning of this?" Nihal faltered, looking at her with wide crazed eyes.

"Stand up first," Hritika said, peeved by the situation.

Yara stood up, trying to pick up everything she had brought with her. Sighing, Nihal picked up the mattress as she held the pillow and blanket and moved inside.

Nihal dumped the mattress on his bed and Yara too did the same, following his lead. Hritika closed the door and stood with folded hands, hoping for an answer to this ridiculous situation.

"I...." Yara choked up in nervousness.

Taking a deep breath, she started speaking again.

"I tried my best but was not able to stay away. Sachi and I were going crazy without our mate by our side. Though we wanted him to be near us, we knew that Nihal would get overwhelmed. This was the best possible solution, we could come up with." Yara finished, looking down at her feet in embarrassment.

"Were you really planning to sleep outside our room for the whole night?" Hritika asked in astonishment.

"Um..umm..ye..yes," Yara stuttered fearing that she had made a blunder yet again.

Contrary to her belief, both the cousins started laughing.

Yara bit her lips, not knowing whether to be comforted that they weren't angry or feel ridiculed as they were obviously making fun of her.

"Sorry sorry," Hritika apologized, managing to curb her laughter and eyed Nihal to do the same. He let out a few more laughs before finally stopping.

"You know what.. just sleep on the bed with Hritika. I will take the floor," Nihal announced.

"Floor? Won't it be uncomfortable? Um...there's a couch in my room. We all can move there." Yara suggested hesitantly.

"There's no way I am going to climb all those stairs when I am sleepy as hell. And I really don't wanna become the third wheel." Hritika objected, smiling tightly.

"Then what should we do?" Nihal questioned, plopping down on the bed.

"I will sleep here. You can go with Yara and sleep on the couch of her room," Hritika answered, knowing that it was too early and uncomfortable for Nihal to share the bed with Yara.

"But...but you will be alone here? What if something happens?" Nihal protested.

Sachi and Yara felt like they were stabbed in the heart as they heard Nihal fear the safety of Hritika. Their mate didn't trust their kind.

"I will lock the door properly. Now gooo." Hritika pushed both of them out of the door.

She closed the door on their faces, leaving them outside to face the awkward situation.