Chapter 35

Ruby

Going to the homecoming dance is the furthest thing from my mind after what happened last night. All I want is to stay with Atwood today, but when I try to go to his study to tell him that I don’t want to go anymore, he’s not there.

Alice finds me standing inside his study, and yanks me out by my arm.

“You should know by now not to enter the King’s study without his permission,” she snarls, slamming the door shut and locking it with one of the keys on her keyring.

“I didn’t mean to,” I answer, yanking my arm away. “I was looking for him. I want to talk to him.”

Alice rolls her eyes and folds her arms. “And what exactly did you intend on bothering the King about now? He’s a very busy man, you know. He’ll have even less time for you now that his beta is dead.”

My heart wrenches at Alice’s words. No one told me that Kayne died. That must be why Atwood killed that Bear: for revenge.

“Go on, spit it out, girl. I don’t have all day.”

“I don’t want to go to the homecoming dance,” I say, causing Alice to smirk. “I want to stay here, with Atwood.”

Just then, I hear footsteps coming from down the hall and look around Alice to see Atwood approaching. I run over to him, narrowly escaping an attempt from Alice to grab me again.

“Atwood, I don’t want to go to the dance,” I say, holding out the note he left for me.

Alice runs up behind me, yanking me away from Atwood by the back of my shirt. “I’m so sorry, my Lord,” she says. “Ruby is being particularly insolent this afternoon.”

Atwood waves Alice away with one hand and sighs. His eyes look tired, and his scent is mixed with the smell of a doctor’s office. Was he at the doctor for his wounds just now?

“Ruby,” he says, placing his hands on my shoulders and crouching to my height, “I know you’re afraid, but it’s okay. I want you to go to the dance. You don’t need to concern yourself with anything but having fun right now.”

I bite my lip and look down at the floor as tears prick the backs of my eyes. Before I can say anything in response, Atwood stands and silently walks into his study, locking the door behind him.

Alice seems pleased with Atwood’s coldness toward me, and takes the opportunity to whisk me away for one final etiquette lesson with the Queen before the dance.

The etiquette lesson goes just as well as the others, which means that it doesn’t go well in the slightest. The lesson today involves more dancing and table manners to prepare me for the dance, and despite my best efforts, I’m still unable to meet the Queen’s expectations.

As Alice dresses me in my homecoming dress later, muttering to herself about how my body isn’t slim enough for such a dress, my ass hurts from the Queen’s beatings and my eyes are red with tears.

One of Atwood’s drivers takes me to the dance. When I get out of the car, Nancy is already waiting for me. She’s wearing a beautiful lace dress in a baby blue color, and her red hair is pulled up into an updo with glitter in it. She runs up to me and grabs my hands, and now I can see that her makeup matches her dress.

“Oh, Ruby,” she says, pulling me into a tight hug. “You look beautiful… And your eyes! They’re so red! Does this mean…”

I nod, causing Nancy to squeal in excitement.

I can’t tell Nancy the full truth about last night since she and everyone else at the school don’t know yet about Atwood being my mate, so I just let her believe that I ran offstage because my wolf was emerging. “Did the play end well, at least?”

“Beck did an okay job as your understudy, but you were better.”

Nancy’s kind words give me some strength, and we enter the building together.

Much like the student council party, the homecoming dance is decorated lavishly. I decide to stay away from the buffet, choosing instead to go straight to the dance floor with Nancy. Together we dance until we’re both out of breath and grinning from ear to ear, and I’ve nearly forgotten completely about the events of the past two days.

A slower song comes on, and Nancy is whisked away by the same boy who danced with her at the student council party -- they’re officially a couple now, which makes me happy. I don’t have a dance partner, and my feet are tired in these high heels, so I make my way toward the bar to sit down and have a drink.

“Just a root beer, please,” I say, not looking at the bartender as I fiddle with my shoe.

“Coming right up, Ruby,” the bartender says. That voice is familiar.

I snap my head up to find that Cayden, the alpha from my pack, the boy who always had feelings for me, is staring back at me. His expression is a mixture of anger, confusion, and pain, his blue eyes glaring back at me with his arms folded across his chest.

“Cayden? What are you doing here?” I say, leaning over the bar so no one else can hear me. My heart is racing a mile a minute.

“I could ask you the same,” he says, filling a glass with root beer and setting it down in front of me.

“I can explain,” I say, ignoring the root beer.

“Yeah, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he says, slinging his dish towel over his shoulder and storming off. He exits through a door at the back. After several moments of cursing myself, I follow.

I step outside into the cold November air to see Cayden lighting a cigarette. He leans against the brick wall of the building and focuses his piercing blue eyes on me again as he exhales a mouthful of smoke. I shake my head when he offers me the cigarette.

“You just disappeared,” he says quietly, flicking some ash onto the ground. “You and Tamara both. No one knew where you went. We all thought you got kidnapped by Rogues, but now you show up at a Lycan party with red eyes.”

“I was kidnapped,” I answer, plopping down on the step and kicking my heels off. “But not by Rogues.”

“Seems like you’re not so bad off for it, though,” Cayden says, sitting down next to me. There is nothing but silence for several minutes as he smokes his cigarette.

I bite my lip, looking over at Cayden. The pack must have fallen on hard times, because it’s not like him to want to take a job serving the Lycans. The Cayden I knew back home never would have stooped so low.

“It was the Lycan King,” I blurt out suddenly, causing Cayden to drop his half-finished cigarette into the snow.

He looks over at me with wide eyes. “The Lycan King kidnapped you?”

I nod. Cayden jumps up and starts pacing back and forth.

“I… I’m supposed to be married to him,” I say quietly. Cayden stops his pacing, his back turned to me. His fists are balled up at his sides.

Just then, a gruff man comes outside to yell at Cayden and tell him to get back to work. The man disappears inside. Cayden quickly pulls a pen and paper out of his pocket and scribbles something on it, folds it, then hands it to me. I take it hesitantly.

“It’s my phone number,” he says quietly, crouching down to my level. This close, his eyes look more blue than ever. Even though it’s only been a short couple of months since I was taken, it feels like forever since I’ve seen him. He’s matured a lot since I last saw him, and no longer looks like the curious young boy that I remember. He looks like a man now.

“Cayden! Quit flirting with girls and get back to work, you lazy bastard!” the gruff man shouts again from inside. Cayden stands and walks to the door, his hand lingering on the handle as he looks back at me over his shoulder.

“When you’re ready for me to rescue you from that brute, all you have to do is call.”