CHAPTER 5-NO STRINGS

ETHEL

“Please, Ethel.”

His forehead rested against mine for a long minute. I felt my lips quiver lightly against his palm. Sparks against my shoulder where his elbow touched.

The stupid bond.

I shoved his wrist away.

"If you're not willing to figure this out with me," I said, "then I have no reason to stay connected to you.”

"I understand your anger, but you're not thinking about what rejection actually means."

"You're an Alpha. You'll survive it."

"And you? You're willing to go through that kind of pain just to be rid of me?"

"I'm stronger than I look.”

"I don't doubt that." He stepped back, giving me room, but he didn't move toward the window. "What I'm saying is that we don't know how this bond works. It's not normal, Ethel. I'm a Greymoore, it's very rare for an Alpha like me to be mated to an Omega like you.”

I crossed my arms.

“So the bond is abnormal because I'm what? An omega? An outlaw? Is that what you want to say?”

He pressed his fingers against his forehead and went silent for a long minute. When he finally spoke, he lifted his upper lip to reveal his slightly reddened gum. “I don't think itching to mark someone is normal, I don't think wanting to permanently bury myself in your scent is normal, I don't think my wolf drooling in my head to knot inside you is normal either.”

My lips parted.

“So yes, our bond is abnormal… but not for the reasons you assume. Being rejected by you without finding a safe way to sever the connection might ruin us, literally, me more than you perhaps.”

I hated that he wasn't wrong.

I pressed my back flat against the wall and looked at the ceiling.

“Fine. But if you want to be sure that I won't take any chances, then you'll have to put this bond to good use for the time being. We have to get back at Alicent and Declan.”

“Kill them?”

I looked at him like a nut had gotten loose from his brain.

He lifted his palm up. “I'm joking, I'm joking. You mean revenge, to expose Declan and Alicent.”

I snapped my fingers. “Exactly. If we can prove his drug usage to the federation with hard evidence, he would get banned from sports in general. If we expose his relationship with Alicent, it would be a scandal that would affect her as much as it'd affect him.”

“And my pack would definitely not take that kind of betrayal lightly.”

“Neither would Declan's. It would be unbecoming of the golden boy of RedHaven to be involved in an affair with the mate of Tavian Graves.”

I was excited by the mere prospect of it.

But Tavian had another bomb he was planning to drop. He stroked his chin deeply in thought and suggested something.

“Be my girlfriend.”

“Pardon?”

"It makes sense. We want Declan and Alicent to know that we are no longer fools for them. What better way than for them to find out that knowing we're together? Alicent is going to lose her mind. Declan too. It throws them off and it gives us a reason to be seen together without anyone asking too many questions."

"Um, I'm not sure..."

"Think about it," he said. "When the revenge is done, by then we'll have had time to understand what this bond is and figure out how to dissolve it without side effects. You go home happy, I go home happy. No strings attached. Besides, don't you want to shake Briarstone University to its roots?”

The rational part of me knew that this was not a simple plan. My mom would flip if she found out, his parents... I did not know how he planned to manage the news when it reached them. Pretending to date Tavian Graves would be anything but simple. It wouldn't be easy to perform something I didn't feel in front of people who would be watching for gossip or curiosity.

But then I thought about Alicent stepping out from under that shower stream and knocking me unconscious. I thought about Declan pinning me down for her to put a hole in my chest. I thought about how she flung my heart like it was nothing.

I took Tavian's outstretched hand.

"Deal."

His grip was firm but brief.

“Give me your phone, I want to input my number.”

I brought out my phone from the empty laundry basket and handed it over to him.

“The screen is cracked.” He turned it over in his hand. “I'll replace it for you tomorrow.”

“You don't need—”

He inputted his number and handed it back to me.

“I’m your boyfriend now, remember?”

I didn't know what to answer to that. He rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and turned toward my window.

“Wait, you're leaving?”

“Yeah. My dad is hosting an important dinner and I promised him I'd be there.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“You sound disappointed that I'm leaving.”

I hissed. “It's the mate bond. It's… it's making me want to say stuff,” my voice went quiet. “And do stuff.” Like roll onto my belly and have him blow raspberries on it. Which was so weird.

“Stuff like what?”

I would shoot myself in the leg sooner than I would say them out loud.

“Nothing. Just be careful with my window before you leave a dent on it or something.”

His lips quirked into a smirk. “Nothing indeed. I'll be looking forward to your text then.”

His smirk made his jawline seem impossibly more present.

“W-whatever.”

He was about to swing a leg over the window when a loud crash from downstairs caught our attention.

“What was that?”

“I don't…” I was already opening my bedroom door, I looked at the corridor. “Mom? Mom, are you okay?” There was no response. “I think I should go and check on her.”

“I'll come with you.”

I held a hand out. “Are you mad? When she asks how you came into my bedroom? How will you explain it?” He opened his mouth then clamped it shut. “Thought so. Just go, I'll check in on her myself.”

I came out of my room and went downstairs.

“Mom? Mom? Is everything… okay?”

“Let go of me!”

“Mom?” My eyes widened at her scream and I basically jumped the stairs. “Mom are you—”

I hit the bottom of the stairs and the sight in the doorway stopped me so completely that my blood had turned to ice. My knees weakened and I stepped backwards. My hand reached up to trap the scream that threatened to rise from my throat.

“No… this… this can't be happening again.”