Page 46 of Wolf Mate

I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

The silence became unbearable.

He walked to the bedroom door and glanced over his shoulder. “Nothing changes. If you need me, text or call. I’ll be there for you.” Then he left.

With each step he took, a cold void opened wider near my heart.

When the front door opened, I called out, “Thank you, Raffe,” knowing he could hear me.

The moment I was alone, I lay back with tears streaming down my face. I shouldn’t have felt half this much for him, butRaffe had somehow weaseled his way into my heart. I needed to stay far away from him. Seeing him got harder and harder every time, especially knowing he was also drawn to me.

I touched my lips, the sparks now mere tingles.

Resolved, I grabbed my phone and pulled up Slade’s name. I’d made my decision and knew I couldn’t go back, so I typed out a message.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Iread my text to Slade one more time. I already knew this wouldn’t go over well, but I couldn’t handle Saturday.

Me: Hey, I can’t go to the game after all. Something came up.

I was being a chicken, but the thought of attending the game with Raffe on the field and everyone’s eyes on him, especially Josie’s, made me want to throw up. I’d already overheard them talking about how she wore his jersey.

When my phone didn’t ding back, I tossed it on the bed. Just sending the text had the room spinning again. I needed rest, especially after what had transpired between Raffe and me.

As my eyelids grew heavy, my heart squeezed so tightly I wanted to squirm. With my lips still tingling, I fell into a restless sleep.

Alarm blaring and head pounding,I stirred from sleep. Nausea churned violently in my stomach, and I patted the side of the bed sporadically for the blasted phone to stop the noise. When Ifinally found it, under the pillow and up against the headboard, I almost chucked it against the wall.

Gritting my teeth, I swiped, waiting for the blessed silence, but even when the noise stopped, the pounding in my head got worse.

Ugh.

I wanted to clutch it and curl into a ball, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. I needed to get ready for class. The only thing that would tame this beast was food and headache medicine.

With every ounce of control I had, I forced myself to put my feet on the floor and stand. The world tilted around me, but it didn’t swirl like yesterday, so that was a win.

I shuffled to the closet and snatched some clean underwear, a bra, a teal sweatshirt, and jeans, and then made my way to the bathroom. In the mirror, I couldn’t believe what I saw. I had dark circles under my eyes and was sickly pale like I had the flu or something.

Lovely.

I needed a shower, but I didn’t have the energy. My whole body was weak, so I changed into my clothes and ran a brush through my hair. I didn’t brush my teeth. The toothpaste would make me more nauseous.

Back in my room, I tossed my clothes from yesterday onto the floor and grabbed my backpack and phone. The backpack weighed a ton, but I needed it for class. When I headed into the small hallway, Lucy popped her head out of her room.

She wore a loose gray shirt and black sweatpants, and her hair was a tangled mess, but when she looked at me, her eyes bulged. “Are you sick?”

“I … I don’t know.” I adjusted the straps on my shoulders and stumbled into the wall. “But I need something to eat and medicine.” Even talking had my head splitting in two.

“Shit. Let me go with you.” She stepped back into her room and shut the door. “Give me one minute.”

“You don’t need to go with me,” I whispered, knowing she could hear me. In that moment, the wolfshifter’skick-ass hearing was beneficial. “I’ll be fine. You can even come out here and smell that I’m not lying.”

Her door opened, and she joined me in jeans and a tight-fitted EEU sweater, her hair smoothed to perfection.

I blinked, thinking it had to be an illusion. “That didn’t even take you a minute.” I had to be losing track of time.

She snorted and took my backpack from me.

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