Silenced

Chapter 28.

"Hey." Cassy said coming into the kitchen. "Are you doing anything today?" Cassy asked. I shook my head no. I didn't have any plans besides our usual ASL practice.

"I have to go to practice but there's a party later..." Cassy said leadingly.

"Cassy..." Emily sighed shaking her head.

"It's just a casual party. No alcohol. Just people our age hanging out." Cassy said.

"Rylan is 19..." Emily corrected.

"Well... ok maybe the crowd is a little older than me but it would be a good place for Rylan to meet other kids her age." Cassy said.

Emily squinted at her. It was obvious that Cassy was up to something.

"Thomas will be there." Cassy admitted finally.

"Cass... Rylan's not ready to see him. It's only been a couple days since their second date and it didn't go well." Emily said. I had filled them both in on the details of how the date had gone including my melt down and the weird discussion with the alpha and beta after. I had even gone so far as to tell Emily that I had had a nightmare about Thomas turning into the guy that had hurt me.

'Maybe I should?' I signed.

"Really?" Emily asked.

I nodded 'I don't want him to think I blame him for what happened. If I can still salvage a friendship from this I'd like to.' I signed.

"I don't know if he will see it that way. He might think you are still interested in him. Romantically speaking." Emily said.

"Maybe she is..." Cassy said. They both looked at me, waiting for an answer.

'I don't know.' I signed honestly.

"Maybe we should talk about the whole mate's thing...?" Cassy said pointedly to Emily.

"Rylan knows about mates." Emily said shaking her head. "Don't you?"

I nodded. I definitely knew about mates and I damn sure wasn't going to do that again.

'I don't want a mate. I just want to see if this might go somewhere.' I signed.

"You don't want a mate?" Cassy asked. "Why would you say that?"

I twisted at my hair nervously. I didn't know why she was surprised. People could literally die from the pain of being marked. It wasn't exactly something pleasant. At least not in my pack.

"I'm sure Thomas wants his mate..." Cassy shook her head. "What if he decides he wants to mark you?"

I shook my head enthusiastically. The idea was horrifying. No one was marking me.

'Absolutely not. People die from that.' I signed.

"Ohhhh." Emily said in understanding. "Are you from one of the packs that assign mates?"

Cassy inhaled sharply. They both stared at me intently now. I gave a small nod. I wasn't aware that there was any other version of mates.

"You can't assign a mate. That's like... a death sentence." Cassy said horrified.

I nodded and held up my hand. That was exactly my point.

"That's not how mates work. Not here." Emily said.

"I thought the council outlawed it?" Cassy asked.

"Outlawed what?" The sound of the betas voice made me jump and turn slightly in my chair.