* another chapter for you, hope you enjoy this *

I woke up with a slight headache. I hadn't been drinking much but the whole thing that had gone down last night was a bit much for me. If I recall correctly, Trish had dropped Davina at her house last night since she was the only one of us who was sober enough to drive a vehicle. Although I'd insisted on the three of us sleeping in my bedroom and having a sleepover, one look at Trish and I knew she wouldn't agree. She still had that reluctance of entering Luna's bedroom. I wasn't sure what her deal was and started to wonder if Ryker had specifically given her an order and forbidden her from ever entering. One of these days, I would find out her real reason. I put this into the list of things that I was trying to figure out.

Picking up my phone from the nightstand, I sent a quick text to Eros, briefly informing him about what had happened last night. Then, since the thought about this sorceress that Ryker had mentioned a few days ago was still bugging my mind, I also asked him if he knew anything about a sorceress who lived in the northeast or east region. After I hit the send button, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom. It took me no less than fifteen minutes to clean up and at around 10 AM, I headed downstairs to get something to eat.

My feet came to an abrupt halt as the sight of the kitchen finally registered in my head. Dmitry was standing in the middle of the kitchen, chopping what looked like onions while wearing a pink apron. This was a sight I would never forget no matter how hard I tried. Ryker was on the table, seemingly reading newspapers through his phone. There was a half-empty cup of coffee in front of him. Without even glancing to the doorway, Ryker noticed my presence and greeted me, "Good morning, Love."

I scoffed. "Don't call me that." Every time he did, it reminded me of that first night when we had met. He had used the same endearment too. And now that I'd decided to take revenge on him and Alana, I didn't want to be reminded of my lapse that night. Not only that I had yearned for his touch, ready to have sex for the first time with him – of all people, but I had also betrayed my boyfriend's trust that night. I had cheated on Brett with Ryker. It did not matter that Brett turned out to be an arse, the fact that I'd cheated would haunt me forever.

"Good morning, Dmitry," I greeted Dmitry as I approached him, curious about what food he was making. "I don't know you can cook."

Dmitry took a pause and turned to look at me. He didn't smile. One thing I'd picked up about Dmitry was that he barely showed any expression at all. He was completely unreadable. "Just a few recipes I learned from my nana."

I was trying to guess what he was making and failed miserably so in the end, I ended my misery and asked him instead. "What are you making?"

"Pirozhki," he answered.

"And Syrniki for me," said Ryker, jumping into our conversation uninvited. I glanced at him and saw that he was unexpectedly eyeing us. He had that odd look on his face which faded after a few seconds. He moved his attention back to whatever he was reading.

"Sure," Dmitry answered curtly.

I figured I'd be in his way if I continued being there so I grabbed a mug from the drawer and poured myself a cup of black coffee. I added two blocks of sugar inside the cup and then placed the mug on the island to get the milk from the refrigerator. Once I fixed my coffee, I went to the far end of the big kitchen island, placed my mug there, and sat on the barstool. I purposely didn't sit with Ryker at the dining table by the window. Mainly because I didn't want to seem like I was pursuing him. Although it was my plan to seduce him, he should still do the pursuing, if you know what I'm talking about. It was like what Dr. Gray had said in 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus' that a rubber band was the perfect metaphor to understand the male intimacy cycle — a cycle that involved getting close, pulling away, and then getting close again. Right now, I was doing the 'pulling away' part to make him curious and want more. I wasn't sure if this would work but I trusted Eros and he said that it would. Just like everything else, it simply took time.

I was on my second sip of coffee when I felt him approaching me. I quickly wiped the smile off my face and played it cool, still keeping my eyes on Dmitry. Even though I heard him dragging another barstool closer to mine and hopping on it, I remained silent.

"Is it about what happened last night?" Ryker asked with a sigh. There was exasperation mixed with nervousness in his voice.

I kept my tone light when I momentarily glanced at him and replied, "What about last night?" Lifting my mug to my lips, I took another sip. The coffee here was really good, even better than the one I'd usually gotten from cafes. I craned my neck to see what Dmitry was making. Although I couldn't cook to save my life, I always loved watching people cook — I'd watched my dad cook whenever I could and god knows how many YouTube cooking videos that I'd watched.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ryker frowning at me. "You know what happened."

"Oh, is it about that small kiss?" This time, I turned to him and gave him another smile of mine. "Don't fret about it." I laughed, waving my free hand dismissively. "I don't think I even remember what happened last night."

His frown deepened, his eyes narrowing. For a few moments, our eyes locked and it was almost as if nothing else existed other than us. Then his frown slowly disappeared and his gaze turned back to normal. "Okay." He remained silent for two seconds before muttering in a low voice, "Well, I hope that means you forget about Miles too."

Although that comment was probably intended for himself, I responded nonetheless. "Who? Oh, is it that blonde dreamboat? Yeah, no way I forget about him." I finished off my coffee, taking my time as I indulged in the caffeine and also, the annoyed look on his face. "Though I didn't recall his name thanks to the martinis."

His annoyance faded a little. "Yeah, you seemed to be quite drunk last night." There was a touch of concern in his voice that I almost felt bad for lying and toying with him — there was no way in hell I could forget about that kiss, even if I wanted to. "How's your headache?"

"I'm okay." I lifted my mug and smiled. "Coffee always helps."

Ryker nodded then took off. He did not come back and I figured that perhaps he did not want his Russian pancakes after all. Dmitry offered some of the Pirozhki and Syrniki to me. With my huge appetite, I ate everything he put on my plate. Once I'd finished my meal, I thanked him, then headed back upstairs to my room only to find a bottle of Aspirin on my nightstand with a note, 'Hope this helps too. Feel better soon. R.C.' I did not have to be a genius to know that 'R.C.' was referring to Ryker Cromwell.

I did not think twice before taking two tablets and downing them with a glass of water next to the bottle. I took his note and surprised myself when I dropped it inside my drawer instead of crumpling it up and tossing it into the dustbin. Eros's words rang back in my head, 'What if you fall for him?'

Taking a deep breath, I promised myself, "I won't."

My phone chimed. It was a message from Eros. 'Look forward to when he's following you like a puppy. And no, I don't think I know which sorceress Ryker was referring to. There are plenty of them in the East, Xy, that's where witches, sorceresses, faes, and other magical creatures live. But I'll ask around, maybe someone here knows something. E.'

I texted back, thanking Eros for his help. Saturday was a lazy day for me. I read some books, watched some videos online, and did a little surfing on sorceresses, witches, and faes. Around noon, Eros called me and we chatted for a while. Mostly about random kinds of stuff like the new songs coming out from our favorite band, Pirozhki and Syrniki that I'd tasted this morning, and he had told me about this old truck that he had found in the junkyard and was trying to fix. Besides writing, Eros really liked fixing things. He often said that there was joy in making things that didn't work to work again. Even though I could not get the thrill and joy of doing this, I listened to him passionately talking about what he would do to the truck and how he was going to fix it.

"As long as it makes you happy, Er." I shook my head, not able to understand why he would go over the mile to fix the truck. There must be a reason why someone left it at the junkyard. But I didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him that.

Eros laughed. His usual warm laughter always warmed my heart. "I know what you're thinking. You just can't understand why I would trouble myself fixing the truck that clearly was left by its owner."

"I just can't hide things from you, huh."

"I know you too well, Xy. We've been friends for what? Over a decade." He chuckled. "Remember the time when you climbed that tree to hide from your dad after you dropped the handmade vase that he spent hours molding the clay? Who found you and helped you get down because you're scared of heights?"

"Fine, you're my hero." I laughed, recalling how silly I'd been in the past. What he'd said was true, he'd been helping me out of trouble most of my life. "Lordy, how I miss you, Er."

There was a few seconds of silence before he eventually responded. "Just say the words, Xy, and I'll pick you up. No less than twenty minutes, I guarantee."

I laughed again. "It takes more than an hour, maybe even two to get here from where you are. Are you trying to break a record?"

"I could always run a few reds, speed it up to get there."

"Don't you forget that you're not supposed to be in the North because it's their territory?" I recalled Eros mentioning the same thing when Ryker was accompanying me at the South. Something about ensuing a pack war.

"I'll take the risk." He took a short breath. "Is that a yes?"

I pondered about it. Living with Eros would feel normal. At least it would feel much normal compared to this foreign place I currently lived in. And it would be drama-free too, with no Alana lurking in the background or a few stares whenever I went out to get some fresh air. Yet there was this unfinished business with Ryker and I hadn't learned anything about my mum or my dad. Too many stones were left unturned. I breathed in and hoped that I wouldn't regret my decision. "No. It's fine. I mean I'm going to be fine here, Er. But we can always meet at the Center. Maybe you'll finally show me your apartment?"

"Sure." He sounded slightly disheartened but it disappeared when he continued, "Anyway how did it go with that dickhead?"

"He pulled away last night, as I've told you. So I played the field, danced with other guys and pretended he didn't exist."

"Well done," praised Eros with a chuckle. He seemed to be in a better mood now. "I bet he was jealous. Well, at least his wolf was."

"Yeah, I don't know. I was a bit awkward last night when I was with him, Er. Like I didn't know what to do with my hands. I remembered I basically just copied what he did to me, like kiss his neck and put my hand on his shoulder and waist?" I blushed just recalling what had happened last night in Ryker's bedroom. "Argh, I don't know. I am just bad at this, Er."

Although Eros just cleared his throat, his voice sounded hoarse when he said, "It seems that you might need some more practice."

"Yeah," I agreed defeatedly. "I'll ring you tomorrow. I need to find a dress for the formal."

"Ah, right. Prom before graduation. That's odd. I remember for me, it was graduation first then prom."

"I don't really care which one goes first. I just want to be done with high school in general." I let out an exasperated sigh. Once I graduated, I wouldn't have to see either Brett or Cindy.

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, I can get there on my bike. Don't worry."

If Eros didn't like the fact that I was riding my bike, he didn't say anything about it. "Alright. Just call me when you get there."

After the phone call, driven by exhaustion, I fell asleep again and only woke up when I heard a knock on the door. I groaned as I stretched my body before getting up and moving toward the door. I swung the door open. "Trish, if you need—" I stopped mid-sentence because it was not Trish who was standing in front of me. It was not Ryker or Dmitry either.

It was a woman I had never met before and she smiled. "Hello, Xyrra. Such a pleasure to finally meet you."

* * *

What do you think of Eros? Do you think another practice session is truly necessary? And who is this mysterious woman? More mysteries are to be unfolded! So I hope you'll stay tuned because many chapters will be published to accompany you over the weekend!