Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 31 - Time To Fall

I think I forgot to tell you guys that I GOT INTO UNI.

YES SOME DUMB SHIT IN ADMISSIONS LET ME INTO THEIR UNIVERSITY. HA. Can you believe that? Schmucks. I just gotta get three As first...

This is an early update because I'm off to the land without wifi for a week. To leeeearn (and sail boats, but that's only once I've done my learning). It's kinda an important chapter. Kinda very.

But are you, like ... ready?

R U THO

HUH?

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Approximately twenty seconds later, Mort came running up, gasping for breath, holding his side like he might have a stitch.

"Have you seen Kat?" he wheezed.

I eyed him sideways. "Came and went, buddy."

He muttered several words of the impolite variety. "Shit, she's fast."

"She's pregnant," I scoffed. "You're slow."

Mort threw his arms up in exasperation. "She put the child-lock on!"

"It took ten minutes to climb into the front seat?"

"No, of course not," he retorted. "Alex tried that and got stuck. I had to kick the door open, and the thing was bloody tough, let me tell you."

Eira started snickering, and I had to smother a grin. "You broke the car? Tom's going to love that."

"I'll buy him another one," Mort said, smirking. "We're all filthy rich now."

I shook my head, more than a little amused. "Yeah, yeah. Don't sell all your chickens before they've hatched, kiddo."

We started the walk back to the car at an ambitious pace. I wasn't entirely sure Ivan wouldn't send any men after us as soon as he had his mate safe in the pack house. It was what I would've done.

Mort, determined to show us that he could move fast when he wanted, strode out ahead to keep an eye out. Lee trudged after him, because the fifteen-year-old didn't have much scouting experience. That made Eira and me the rearguard, I supposed, so I glanced over my shoulder every so often. Everything seemed quiet, but there was something nagging at me, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Some dynamic in our group had shifted.

Well, it wasn't me. And I doubted it was Mort. There was a different girl in his bed every night, it seemed, but none of them stuck around long enough to cause any problems. That left Lee or Eira. Or ... could it be Lee and Eira?

All of a sudden, it was easy. Obvious, even. They'd been apart for hours, and they hadn't even hollered at each other, let alone kissed. And now she was walking with me instead of her boyfriend. I groaned internally, because I didn't really want to kill him. He was useful.

"Hey, you and Lee..." I began, not quite sure how to phrase it.

"I ended it," she said very matter-of-factly.

"You... Oh." I scowled because, of all the males she had hooked up with, Lee was my favourite by far. "Why?"

"Because he's the kind of guy you marry. I'm not looking for that. Besides — he'll have a mate. I guess I'll have to find someone who's lost theirs if I ever feel like settling down. You, too."

I hadn't really thought about that, but she had a point. There weren't many wolves in the north who would enter a serious relationship while there was any chance they could find their mate.