Angelica walked into the living room to find her old friend, Valerie, the former Beta’s wife, already seated with her daughter, Alicia.
"Valerie!" Angelica’s face brightened as she walked in.
"Angelica, darling!" Valerie cried out, rising to her feet.
The two women embraced warmly before Angelica settled into the seat across from them.
They exchanged pleasantries, the easy back and forth of two women who had known each other for decades, asking after this relative and that, this old acquaintance and another.
"And how is Kai?" Valerie asked, leaning forward, her face creasing with concern. "Has he healed completely from those terrible wounds? We heard he was at death’s door."
"He has, thank the goddess," Angelica said with a shrug. "He’s doing fine now. Back to his usual menace of a self, if I’m honest." She turned and called to a passing servant. "Some tea for our guests, please."
The servant bowed and hurried off.
Before Valerie could launch into her next pre-planned conversational trap, Alicia suddenly stood up from the sofa. She smoothed down her vibrant pink designer dress, her eyes darting eagerly toward the staircase.
"I think I’ll pop upstairs and check on Kai," she announced.
Angelica’s smile thinned just slightly. "Oh. I’m not sure that’s wise, dear. I don’t think Kai is quite up to receiving visitors yet. He’s still resting."
She knew her son’s current explosive, heartbroken mood, and the last thing Kai wanted right now was a bubbly Beta’s daughter bouncing around his private quarters.
Valerie waved a dismissive hand and laughed. "Oh, come now, my friend. Alicia isn’t just anyone, is she? She and Kai have been sweethearts since the cradle, the two of them. If anything, the boy will be delighted to see her face. It’ll do him good."
Angelica’s smile stayed fixed in place. "Yes. Yes, of course..." she murmured, her mind desperately scrambling for a polite way to block the young girl.
But before she could finish the thought, Alicia was already moving.
"I’ll see you both later, then," the girl chirped, turning on her heel and running up the staircase before anyone could stop her.
The two older women watched her disappear around the landing.
A maid came in carrying a tray of steaming cups, handing one carefully to each of them before slipping quietly away.
Valerie turned back to Angelica, lifted her cup, and took a delicate sip.
"You remember, don’t you," she said fondly, "how these two brought us together in the first place? When they were small. We used to sit and make wishes that they’d grow up and marry one day. Do you remember?"
Angelica smiled politely, but it didn’t come anywhere near reaching her eyes.
"I remember all of it," she said carefully. "But the children are grown now, Valerie. And grown children have a way of changing. Their preferences, their hearts. They don’t always want what we wanted for them when they were small."
Valerie laughed, light and certain. "Oh, not my Alicia. That girl has kept herself. Wouldn’t so much as glance at another man, not even all through college. Turned down every suitor who came knocking, and there were plenty, I assure you. She’s been waiting. For him."
Angelica took a slow sip of her own tea, weighing her words. "And what if," she said gently, "Alicia and Kai aren’t soulbonds after all? What then?"
Valerie tilted her head, unbothered. "Well, the next Red Moon Festival will sort that out clearly enough, won’t it? But honestly, Angelica."
She set down her cup. "Since when has a soulbond ever stopped any of us from loving exactly who we choose to love? Most of us don’t even find our soul bonds throughout our lives."
Angelica could only sip her tea and let out a soft, awkward chuckle, completely at a loss for words. She secretly prayed the goddess would give her son the strength to survive the ambush currently heading toward his bedroom.
***
Upstairs, Alicia knocked on Kai’s door for the third time, but there was no response from inside.
She knocked again, harder.
"Go away," came Kai’s voice from the other side, flat and tired. "Whatever it is, I am not interested. Tell the kitchen to bugger off!"
"It’s me," Alicia called brightly. "It’s Alicia."
There was a sudden, prolonged pause from inside the room. For a second, Alicia thought he was going to ignore her, but then, the heavy wooden door suddenly flung open.
Kai stood there, and to Alicia’s surprise, he was not looking pale and dishevelled as she’d half expected. He was dressed—smartly dressed, in a perfectly tailored, crisply ironed dress shirt, that clung to his muscular frame, paired with dark trousers.
"Alicia?" he called out, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
She smiled brightly at him. "Hello, stranger! Look at you!" She looked him over. "Are you going somewhere?"
Kai ran a hand through his hair. "Yes. I’m heading to Aethelwulf Centralis University. I’ve got things to do there."
"I’ll come with you," Alicia offered at once.
But Kai shook his head. "No. It’s not really something that concerns you, Alicia."
"I don’t mind," she insisted, undeterred. "I’d love to come along. We could catch up on the way. It’s been ages, Kai."
Kai let out a heavy sigh, his patience wearing dangerously thin. He stopped, deliberately looking down at her bright pink, frilly designer dress and high heels, using it as a perfect excuse to shut her down.
"It’s a very important business meeting. And, well." He gestured vaguely at her clothes. "You’re not exactly dressed for it. It wouldn’t be appropriate."
He stepped past her into the corridor, patting her shoulder lightly as he went.
"Some other time, alright? Say hello to your mother for me," he said and walked off down the hall without a backward glance.
Alicia stood frozen in the doorway, staring after him as he disappeared around the corner. Slowly, her face pinched into a pout, and her eyes narrowed into something sharper.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew exactly where he was actually going. She had spent the last two days listening to her gossiping house servants whisper in the scullery.
She knew for a fact that Kai had been driving out to Aethelwulf Centralis every single day like a lovesick puppy, desperately searching the campus for that werewolf girl who had ditched him and run away.
That specific werewolf girl was the exact reason Alicia had forced her mother to bring her here today—she had come to put a stop to this pathetic chasing.
But he was clearly far more stubborn, and far more gone, than she’d anticipated.
She let out a frustrated huff and made her way back down the stairs to the living room, where her mother and Angelica were still deep in conversation over their tea.
Valerie looked up as her daughter came in. "Well? What’s the matter, my love? Why the long face?"
Alicia dropped into a chair, crossed her arms tightly over her chest, and pushed her lower lip out into a sulky pout.
"It’s obvious," she said sourly. "Kai doesn’t want me here at all."