JEOPARDY: The Cursed Soldier.

30. Next level

Something magical always happened the moment Angela's car passed through the palace gate and entered the lone road that led to her school. The werewolf world and all its troubles ceased to exist, and the excitement of the human world began.

For Kayla, it was when she wondered about what interesting thing they would learn in class that day. What she would order for lunch. Get excited about participating in Angela's extracurriculars. And, of course, got invisibly giddy about seeing Ivan.

It was when she transitioned from being an epsilon into just Angela's bodyguard. From a world that could sense your every movement and emotion into a world that was way more self-absorbed to care about what you did or felt.

But that Friday, after she had finished talking to her mama, Kayla couldn't wipe that heavy, insistent feeling in her spirit to find out what her mama was hiding from her. And the best way to go about it without ruining everything.

Kayla wished her mama had just told her everything. That way she wouldn't be feeling so bad about going behind her mama's back to uncover everything on her own.

She didn't even know where to start. What questions to ask. Who to ask. And who not to ask.

Her mama had told her to stay away from the Crawfords.

Did that mean they were the first people she should go to for answers? Or the ones she should avoid at all costs?

So far, she had seen that everybody loved and respected them. Plus, nobody in that pack (other than Rebecca) had helped her as much as Alex had. Even if he had done all that because his wolf had forced him to.

She could just confront Alex and ask him to join her in figuring out what was going on between them. Or she could walk into Beta Landon's office and ask him to explain what was going on. Because, surely, if her mama knew, then so did he. Right?

Or, she could obey her mama and ask Markos for help instead. If she told him the truth, he might know where to start and take it from there.

She just needed to trust him. But could she?

How bad was this secret that her mama couldn't even tell her?

Was it something that would hurt her mama?

Kayla wanted to scream and bang her head on the smooth material of the dashboard. But that was extremely impulsive and dramatic. Angela's driver was already giving her weird looks, probably reading all her tells and seeing that she was stressed out of her mind.

Lucky for her, Angela was, as usual, busy on her phone. Chatting with someone(s) and watching TikToks. Her car ride routine. Kayla had never understood Angela's fascination with the device until she got her own. Now, only self-discipline and the fear of getting caught helped her sleep at 1 am every day, instead of staying up all night, watching, reading, and listening to all that her amazing phone had to offer.

When they, finally, got to school, Ivan was at his usual spot. Leaning casually but sensually on his silver car. Kayla's heart startled at the sight of him. And her words from that morning returned to her.

'I like him'

'I want him'

'He is the most handsome man I have ever seen.'

All those sentences were true, and they remained true. Even as he leisurely strode to their car and opened the door for Angela.

Something twisted in Kayla's heart at the action, but that pain was child's play compared to the wrenching feeling that curled her gut when Angela's soft hands wrapped around his neck as she pulled him in for one of those disgusting kisses they shared way too often for her liking.