DEDICATED TO @jollyangels !

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Chapter 7 - "Open up."

Tatum really needed to stop jinxing herself.

Because just the previous day, she'd thought that she was grateful that Angier and Francesca weren't that into PDA.

She was definitely wrong.

Or, her eyes were deceiving her—which couldn't be the case, because Tatum was sure she couldn't conjure up something in such vivid detail, but there just wasn't any other explanation.

Anyhow, Tatum had been calmly on her way to exit the building on her morning break to go outside for some fresh air, when a couple making out like their lives depended on it—right next to her locker—had caught her attention. She'd glanced away quickly but only after a second, the back of that familiar blond head had registered in her brain. And at second glance, the lean limbs wrapped around the guy's neck and the fingers buried in those blond strands were confirmed as Francesca Blythe's.

Shatter.

Heard that? That was just someone dropping something accidentally. That was not the sound of her heart crashing to the floor and splintering into pieces.

For a second, Tatum was frozen in a fit of sudden panic. Why she panicked, she didn't know. But after closing her eyes and pulling herself together, she ignored this stupid burn on the back of her throat and marched forward.

She considered tapping their shoulders and telling them they were in the way of her locker just for the heck of it, but decided she wouldn't be able to pull off that nonchalance after such a sudden attack on all her senses. She had to recover and she had to do it fast.

With that thought steeling her determination, Tatum walked past the couple—who might as well go at it right in the hallway, for all their subtlety—telling herself that she did not feel bad.

No, that was just a moment of wanting someone to show off like that and it had nothing to do with Angier Wellington and his stupid, stupid charm.

~

A few minutes later, Tatum was relatively calmer and more collected. She was sitting on the cemented ground behind the library, leaning against the side wall of said building. She was not hiding, mind you. Just a few moments to pull herself together.

Just when she thought she'd managed to retain the leash on her emotions, she finally let out the breath she'd been holding. Unexpectedly, she felt a hot tear slide down her cheek and land on her palm resting on her thigh. Before she could even try and wipe it all off, another tear slid down her cheek. Tatum clenched her teeth as she felt her vision become blurry and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

Just stop, She commanded herself, wiping her eyes with the back of her palms, but it was fruitless. Stop, stop, stop, STOP!

The more she told herself to stop, it seemed like the more she was going to cry.

"Stop." Tatum whispered, finally giving up and letting her head fall on her knees. She let her tears fall freely now, soaking her jeans as they fell relentlessly. She cried silently for the Mate she will never meet, for the little boy who'd been tormented so badly that he'd taken his own life. She cried for herself for ever letting her mind think of her only friend like that. She cried, because she was helpless and he'd just been there and she hadn't even known when she'd fallen so hopelessly for him. Most of all, she cried because she didn't know what else to do.

The whole time, she didn't make even the smallest of sounds.

~

"Tatum?"

The voice jerked Tatum out of her reverie, and she quickly wiped her eyes, thankful she hadn't chosen to wear any make-up in her hurry that morning. She ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times and straightened herself, sitting up properly and pulling out her phone just as he rounded the side of the building and caught sight of her.

Fuck, she'd been so lost in herself that she hadn't realized she'd skipped Accounting, one of her all-time favorite subjects, and since Angier was in her class and knew she hadn't stayed home that day, he'd probably decided to follow her scent and find her after class.

She cleared her throat, pasting on a smile as she pretended to look up from busily reading on her phone, "Yeah?"

"What are you—were you crying?" Angier ran over to her side and squatted beside her, cupping her face as he looked her over, checking her for injuries.

"No!" She turned her face, pushing away his hands as she waved her phone in front of him, "I was just not in the mood for class and decided to read a little bit." She fibbed, pursing her lips and shrugging as unperturbed as she could.

Angier sighed, sitting cross-legged, "It was Accounting, Tatum. You never miss classes, and definitely not Accounting. And your eyes are all puffy and your whole face is red."

"Look, Angier." Tatum was defensive now, "I have a bad cold and my eyes have been watering a lot. And besides, what would I even be upset about? Stop talking nonsense."

"That's what I'm asking! Just tell me what happened!" Angier pleaded, placing his hands on top of hers and squeezing.

Tatum swallowed down the emotion fighting at her control, "Please, Ang. Just let it go." She whispered in a broken voice, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Come here." And the next thing she knew, she was pulled forward and wrapped around in those familiar arms. It was like the way his strength constricted her breath, just made her breathe easier. It was like the tightness of his hug just held together all her broken pieces as close as they would be, and just for a moment, she was almost whole.

And then, she inhaled.

But the overwhelming scent of something fruity and utterly feminine was all over the essence of everything that made him Angier.

It was the last straw and that did her in. Tatum let herself go and sobbed into his shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Tate-bear."

The whole time, Angier didn't ask her why once again. He just rubbed her back and muttered sweet nothings as he tried to comfort her, and that was the most bittersweet feeling she'd had in her life.

She could never tell him the reason for her tears was him.

~

That afternoon, Tatum wanted to crawl under something and just die. After much convincing, she'd sent Angier on his way to his next class with his Mate, so thankfully, she was alone. She didn't want to go to the cafeteria and face the overly observant Mordecai trio, and after that episode with Angier, she neither wanted to face him, nor his Mate who would've no doubt realized he was smelling of Tatum and would've been pissed off or just plain sympathetic.

Either way, she didn't want to see any of them.

Too bad for her, because like the devil he was, Ezra Harland appeared out of nowhere and fell into step with her.

Dammit.

"Lost in thoughts, Tatum-chan?"

She'd been on the verge of dissolving into fits of panic, but just a second with this guy, and he'd managed to throw her off so much that she couldn't do anything other than laugh at his morbid joke.

"Tatum-chan?" She repeated, unable to help herself.

"Yeah, I've been getting to know more about Japanese culture and I thought that sounded cool." Ezra said matter-of-factly as he looked up from his phone with a grin.

"By reading manga?" Tatum guessed, rolling her eyes.

"You caught me." He grinned as he locked his phone and shoved it into his pocket, giving her his undivided attention, "Seriously, though. I'm sorry for blurting that out like that yesterday."

"Nah, it's fine. You didn't say anything that wasn't true and you couldn't have known he would show up."

Ezra looked surprised that she had admitted it just like that, but he covered it up quickly, "So . . . how long have you . . . you know?"

"Been in love with him?" Tatum shot him a sad smirk when he looked surprised yet again, "I don't really know. He's just always been there. He's been with me since the night I realized my Mate was gone."

"Wow. I really don't know what to say."

"I know."

They walked in silence for a while. 

Tatum was suddenly reminded of the fact that she was not the only one hurting out of the two of them. Ezra's mate had gone AWOL without telling him, and although his Mate's best friend - a tiny blonde she was yet to meet, had informed him that she was perfectly fine and would be back as soon as whatever her quest was, was over, he was pretty darned anxious over her disappearance.

Anyone could tell that from the way his eyes would keep on scanning his surroundings every few minutes as if to check if she was back yet.

She really wanted to offer him some words of comfort, but considering the fact that Seneca had specifically warned her not to bring it up, she decided to stay quiet for now.

Tatum wouldn't be able to take it if one of the few friends she had got offended by her stupidity. Ezra was normally not the type to be easily offended by anything as far as she'd observed, but this, this was a sensitive spot.

"Tatum?" His voice broke her out of her internal conflict.

"Yeah."

"You're the strongest son of a gun I know. And I know a lot of strong sons of guns."

"Thanks, Ezra." She gave him a smile as they entered the cafeteria.

"I'm feeling Turkey sandwich for lunch," Ezra mumbled as he stared at the menu plastered across the wall behind the counter, and Tatum shook her head, glad to have cleared it up between them.

~

"Ooohh, looks delicious," Micajah muttered as he rubbed his palms, licking his lips and over-exaggerating his appreciation for the chocolate sundae Ezra'd bought, which was sitting on the corner of his tray.

"Don't you dare touch that." Ezra warned with a stern look and the two started bickering back and forth about who deserves the dessert more.

Typical Micajah and Ezra banter.

"You know," Tatum interrupted them, waving her fork in the air between them, "Looking at you, people would say you're brothers."

"We are." They chorused and glared at each other and went back to fighting over the dessert.

"Uh . . ." Tatum was stunned at the revelation. She turned to Seneca who was calmly ignoring them and eating her lunch peacefully, "So . . . your Mate was your best friend's brother? Wow, that must've been very easy."

Seneca looked up with a grin that spoke volumes of hidden secrets, "No, my Mate ended up being my best friend's brother."

Tatum was confused, "Isn't that the same thing?"

Seneca chuckled in earnest now, "Micajah was from the Parker Pack. I found him, took him with me, and later we got to know that these two were brothers. Makes a lot of sense now and also makes me wonder why I didn't realize it sooner."

"Oh . . ." Tatum nodded slowly, finally getting the difference, "Wow, I'm so envious right now, guys. That's like a classic romance."

"I know." Seneca shook her head at the two brothers still arguing, the fondest of smiles gracing her lips as she gazed at them adoringly, "They're the only family I have. Ezra calls me a sister and calls Micajah his brother. That logic bothers Micajah so much because that would mean both of us are siblings."

"I can so relate." Tatum laughed uncomfortably as she recalled being family-zoned by Angier. She picked up her drink, raising it to Seneca, "To Betas sister-zoning their Alphas."

Seneca lips pressed together as she tried to stop a sympathetic remark, no doubt, as she raised her own glass, "To Betas."

"Cheers!" Both the brothers joined in, and Tatum laughed.

"Oh man!" Angier complained as he put his tray down, followed by Francesca Blythe behind him. Everyone turned to look at him curiously, and Angier shook his head sadly, and a bit over-dramatically too, "You guys gotta stop doing this; you either finish your lunch or finish discussing the juicy bits."

"Erm, let's see." Ezra made a show of glancing at his huge watch, "It's been half an hour since lunch hour started and we've been here for twenty-five minutes. How about you show up early instead of locking yourself up in whatever storage closet you guys are coming from?"

The couple blushed beet red, and Angier zipped up an imaginary zipper across his lips, raised his hands up in peace, then put them together, palms touching and bent his head down in silent plea.

Everyone burst out laughing once again.

"That's right. Bow down to the master." Ezra flipped up his imaginary collar in reply and both Seneca and Tatum slapped the backs of Ezra and Angier's heads at the same time.

"Such dorks." Tatum rolled her eyes in amusement and met Francesca's eyes hesitantly, who nodded in agreement while continuing to laugh.

Phew. Another landmine averted.

Maybe Francesca Blythe wasn't so bad.

Tatum made a decision right then, to try and spend a bit more time with her.

Who knew, maybe they could be friends.

She ignored her Wolf cackling in response.

~ * ~

Random Question: Is your first language English?

Yeah, that's so random, i know, but mine isn't so i just wanted to know.

A million thanks to all the readers who're patiently sticking with me through yet another journey. You guys are the best. <3 P.S. CHECK OUT THE TRAILER ABOVE!

NEXT UPDATE: JUNE 11

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