The Skin Walker

20 | Bouquet

"You can't force the stars to align when they've already died."

Astronomy Conan Gray

R U T H 

"Would you rather have telekinesis or telepathy?" Mae chewed on a carrot stick as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Telekinesis," Eve replied, sitting on the seat beside me. "It'd make my life a whole lot easier."

"Telepathy," I answered. "I'd love to know what people are thinking in certain situations."

My eyes naturally darted to Rueben, who was standing beside the sink, holding a glass cup filled with water in his hand. The twins followed my gaze and waited for Rueben to answer, but he only shrugged and downed the water from the cup. His Adam's apple moved up and down, the vein on his neck making an appearance before the cup was put into the sink.

"What a lovely answer," Mae spoke sarcastically and returned her attention to Eve and I.

"Telepathy."

I refused to show any sign of excitement that our answers were the same, especially when I caught Eve's eyes as she smirked at me. 

"That was the third time your answers were the same," Her elbow nudged me discreetly while she whispered to me. 

I fought a smile and shrugged, picking at my fingernails to avoid Rueben's presence. He spent a few seconds washing his cup before making his way to us from across the kitchen.

"He's probably trying to impress you," Mae chirped in, loudly enough for Rueben to hear her remark. 

"Trust me, he's very adamant on doing the opposite," I pointed out, pinning him with my eyes.

His attention moved down to the necklace sitting beneath my collarbones. Rueben was eerily quiet as darted his eyes to the ground before snapping his head to the ceiling. When Mae and Eve grew tense, I felt my stomach drop. Something was wrong, and I had no way of knowing what it was. It would've been amazing to have telepathy at this very moment.

"What-" I began to whisper, but Mae gripped my upper arm, bringing a finger up to her lips.

Getting the hint, I closed my mouth and waited for the werewolves in front of me to do anything other than stand there.

"Stay here," Rueben told the twins before striding out of the kitchen.

"Absolutely not," Eve gritted out, trailing after him just as swiftly.

My eyes turned to Mae, and we stared at each other for less than a few seconds before following the two. She was on guard beside me, keeping herself close as if protecting me from whatever they'd sensed was in the house.

We found the stairs moments later and climbed up to the second level. They were headed toward the room I was staying in, and I knew they could all hear how fast my heart was racing. The silence didn't help as Rueben opened the door and stood there, inspecting the room with sharp eyes.

Daylight flooded into the hallway, awakening me from my nervous daze. I moved past Mae and Eve before taking the spot beside Rueben. Mirroring his attention, my eyes landed on the bed, more so the bouquet on the bed I'd been sleeping on for the past couple of weeks. There was a noticeable note pinned to the side of the wrapping.

Lilies. 

Shakily exhaling, I held onto the doorframe and moved closer. Rueben's hand caught my wrist before I could entirely enter the room. He was here. Not Rueben. Him. The man that was trying to find me and finally did. He was in this room. How did he get past the security? Or Rueben? My mate would've sensed him earlier. Anyone would've.