I saw Logan wrapping himself with a bandage when I entered. Upon noticing me, he said, “I’m really sorry, Alpha. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. Don’t ever fucking do that again. I will fucking kill you if you do. You’re one of my best warriors, but you can’t be punching women. Pick on someone your own size.”
“I know, you’re right. She was just so good.” He shook his head, looking wounded.
“She was, wasn’t she?” I smiled with pride.
I took an ice pack out of the freezer and brought it out for Jasmine. She put it on her eye, and I sat down next to her. “I guess you got a taste of your future today.”
“My future?” she asked.
“Yeah, once I finally convince your parents to let me recruit you as a full-time warrior. I saw you out there today, and you were really good. Logan wouldn’t have lost his cool like that if you didn’t bruise his ego with your skills. Those big tough guys hate when they get beat by a girl.” I smiled at her.
“I feel like you’re not really selling it by saying my future consists of getting the living daylights punched out of me.”
I laughed and hugged her. “Let me see your eye.” She moved the ice pack. I could see it was already starting to heal, the deep purple becoming more of a brown shade. “You know what will help make it better?” I asked.
“What?”
“If I kiss it.”
“Is that so?”
“One hundred percent. My mom’s a doctor and that’s how she used to heal all my wounds. Worked perfectly every time.”
“Well, if your mom’s a doctor, she must know about healing wounds.” She closed her eyes and lifted her head up to me.
I put my lips to her closed black eye, planting a soft kiss on it. Not being able to help myself, I softly kissed around it. “So, what do you think? Is it feeling better yet?”
“You know what, I think it is.”
“Good, if it doesn’t heal fully in the next few hours, let me know, and I will kiss it some more. In fact, any time anything hurts, just let me know, and I’ll be happy to provide my healing services.”
She chuckled. “Thanks, I appreciate the offer.”
“So, where are you off to now? I’ll walk you over.”
“I was just going to go home and do some schoolwork. I’ve been falling behind and I need to catch up.”
“In that case, I’ll walk you to your car.” I helped her up and walked with her, wishing I could spend the whole day with her. Before she got in her car, I said, “Don’t forget, you still owe me a ride in your car and lunch.” I was elated at the idea of spending more time with her.
As I watched her drive away, I sighed to myself, feeling a dull ache in my chest. I knew I should stop thinking about her and try to move on. But I just couldn’t bring myself to stay away. She had this warmth about her. When I was around her, I could slowly feel my old pain melting away, my affection for her growing each time I saw her. Anyway, we were friends, and there was nothing wrong with being friends, right?
Chapter 33
Jasmine
Afterthewholesituationwith Lucy, Valerie redid the work schedule so that we wouldn’t be working shifts together. It wasn’t too difficult because I had dropped down to two days a week after school started. It was weird not having my best friend in my life anymore. To be honest, I missed her. She was my only real friend in the pack, and now I didn’t even have her. But I could understand why she was upset with me, even if it hadn’t really been my fault. I knew it would be best to just give her space. I didn’t think there was anything I could say that would change how she felt.
I had also agreed to give Luke space, so I hadn’t seen him since the day of above situation. Yep, I was now best friendless and mateless. To make matters worse, I was almost positive I wouldn’t have all As this semester. I was having trouble concentrating in school and putting in the effort required. I was tempted to see if I could take a leave of absence and resume next semester, but I wasn’t sure how my parents would react to something like that. My mom was really on edge lately. I felt like she could snap at any moment.
At dinner one night, my mom spoke. “You know, Jasmine, I’ve been hearing rumors around the pack. People have been asking about you. I’ve been telling them it’s nonsense, but I’m getting very concerned. You’ve been acting out a lot lately and I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“What rumors?” I asked.
“People are saying they’ve seen you with the alpha. They said they’ve seen your car parked at the packhouse, and that he was kissing you at the warrior gym the other day.”
I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. This could not be happening.