Page 21 of Bliss & Her Idols

My own breath catches.

“It’s me,” I reply. “Are you okay?”

A moment’s hesitation, which feels like an eternity and says more than words could.

My stomach drops.

“Don’t worry about me. I have news,” Cricket sounds breathless and excitable, talking too fast and stumbling over his words. “I’ve figured out some real evidence for you like I promised I would. I couldn’t wait any longer to share it with you. It’s too large a secret, you see, and—”

“Hey, wait.” Frustrated, I draw my knees up to my chest. “That’s good, Crick, but couldn’t it have waited until midnight? I was worried about you.”

More like having a fucking panic attack.

“Worried?” Cricket sounds shocked like that’s impossible.

“You’re my best friend. So, of course I am.”

“You’re my only friend,” Cricket replies almost too quietly for me to catch. I can practically hear him blushing through the phone. “I’m sorry. I can be bad like that. Thoughtless. I just didn’t know when I could sneak onto the computer again. And this is…”

“You’re not bad.” I pull my blankets around myself, frowning.Another red flag.What is Cricket’s pack like that he calls himselfbad? I understand because my brother struggleswith other people having judged him unfairly his entire life. Then something strikes me, and I straighten in shock. “Sneak…?”

Another red flag.I’m running out of them.

Is Cricket’s pack so Traditional that they don’t allow him to use a computer?

Is he being punished by having his computer privileges restricted?

“Of course,” Cricket replies, bewildered. “The computer belongs to my younger brother. I wait until everyone else is asleep to go on it. I normally manage it without being caught and disciplined. I assumed that it was the same for you. I’m not getting you in trouble now, am I? I’m sorry. I didn’t think this through. I’ll shut up…stop…I didn’t…”

“I’m not in danger,” I say quickly to stop Cricket from spiraling. My throat is dry, however, at the thought that he’s in danger. I fuckingknewthat he was. It’s wrecking me because the more that I’m talking to him, hearing his words in his sweet voice, the more that he’s feeling like my pack.Mine to protect.“Where are your family now?”

“They’re all out on a job,” his voice drops to a whisper. “I’m alone.”

“You’re not bonded to any of them, right?”

Please say no…no…no.

This is the question that has been driving me mad for months.

It’s also the question that I’ve been holding myself back from asking.

Cricket and I have been dancing around what we’ve told each other.

I know that he loves to wake up with the fingers of dawn across his face, is self-taught and savant in his hacking skills because it sounds like music in his head, and his favorite Jinsong (a song that the Beta recorded when he was twenty but was never officially released).

Yet the big questions like whether he’s bonded, what his pack name is, or what his dynamic even is, have been off-limits.

My own pack has its secrets. I understand.

But it’s time that I break through some of his walls. Things have become too serious.

This time, when I ask whether Cricket is bonded, he hesitates again.

Hyperalert, my skin tingles.

What the hell does his hesitation mean? Is he about to lie to me? Could he be promised to someone and it simply hasn’t happened yet?

“I’m not bonded,” Cricket carefully replies. There’s a darkness underlying that simple answer. Uncertain, I bite my lip. “I live with my parents and two Alpha brothers. I’m the only disappointment. Are you alone as well? I have something big to share with you. A secret.”

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