Ring With Hearts and Flowers
“Time for school, sweetheart.” I feel a hand stroking my cheek.
“Five more minutes,” I mumble, snuggling deeper into the warmth of his arms. “Tired.”
It's all Constantine's fault. Our.....uh..painting sessions lasted a while last night, and we had several throughout the night, and again this morning at dawn. Now I'm still tired. How can he be so cheerful and energetic in the morning?
“Did I wear you out, sunshine?” He chuckles.
“Never,” I answer with my eyes closed.
“Oh really? Hmmm...” He burrows his face into the crook of my shoulder, then starts kissing and nibbling on the skin just above my collarbone. He moves lower. Oh, my....
I open my eyes just in time to see his silky dark head disappearing underneath the blanket.
***
“Are we going to start going to school late every day now?” asks Caspian, grinning mischievously. He's sitting on the hood of Lazarus's shiny black Escalade with his long legs casually dangling down the front of the SUV.
“You could just have left without us, you know,” remarks Constantine.
“Nope, we're driving together today,” Caspian says as he gracefully hops off the car.
Yes, we're running a bit late this morning. We have ten more minutes before the first bell rings. It's a good ten minutes drive from here to get to the school if you observed the speed limit and followed all the traffic rules but with the way these lycans drive, I'm sure we'll make it there with a plenty of time to spare.
Lazarus and Serena are already waiting in the car. Lazarus is in the driver's seat and Serena is riding shotgun. Constantine opens the door for me and I climb in to sit in the third row. He climbs in to sit next to me, while Caspian takes his seat in front of us.
Lazarus pulls out of the long, winding driveway then speeds down the road. I lace my fingers through Constantine's and he plants a kiss on the back of my hand.
“I heard from our men this morning,” remarks Lazarus suddenly. So that's why they were waiting for us this morning. They need to talk. “They had reasons to believe that Milan was in Krasnoïarsk.”
“Was in Krasnoïarsk?” interrupts Constantine. He sounds aggravated. “Her family's in Krasnoïarsk. She has comrades in Krasnoïarsk. I specifically told them that's among the first places they should be looking for her.”
“They weren't able to find her there...until someone spotted her at Yemelyanovo International Airport last night.”
“Tell me they're on her tail now,” asks Constantine. When Lazarus doesn't answer right away, he spits out several foreign words. I have no clue what he's saying, but it sounds so much like a string of expletives to me. Lazarus then starts talking in the same language, followed by Caspian barking out what sounds like curses as well. Pretty soon the three of them start conversing rapidly in a foreign language. I'm guessing Russian.
Serena turns around in her seat to look at me with a raised eyebrow. “They do this quite often,” she says to me over their voices. That seems to make them pause for a second, then they continue to exchange a few more words.
A minute later, the car is unusually quiet until Caspian snaps, “чертовы идиоты,” (damn idiots) followed by grunts of agreement from the other two.
Constantine sighs, sitting back in his seat while at the same time wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling me down with him. I place my head on the headrest next to his.
“They saw her in Yemelyanovo International Airport in Russia. They followed her all the way to Heathrow Airport, England, only to find out that it wasn't her. The woman was dressed to look like her and smelled like her,” he explains. His voice is monotonous with frustration and heavy with the Russian accent. His eyes are trained on the headliner of the car. “They detained the woman and are questioning her right now. They also brought in a couple of her comrades in Krasnoïarsk for questioning.”
I wait for him to continue, but when he remains quiet, I have to ask, “that's good though, right?”
“What do you mean that's good, sunshine? We lost her, we're back to square one.”
“Not really. You have a lead now. You have that woman and those other two.”
“Still, the men are incompetent. They're supposed to be very good trackers and they let her slip through their fingers like that.” Is it bad that I find his heavily accented voice terribly hot?
The other day I overheard him on the phone speaking in French. Right after that, his English was thick with the French accent. I found that incredibly hot. It took everything in me not to jump his bone and I bet he knew it too.
Fuzzy slippers! This is not the time to think of his hot accent. Focus Genesis! I can still feel the anger raging inside him.
I comb my fingers through his hair gently, trying to calm him down. He sighs and buries his face in my neck, breathing in deeply. I continue playing with his hair while trying to share my sense of peacefulness with him.
Caspian and Lazarus aren't in much better mood themselves. I wonder if there's something they're not telling Serena and me.
Caspian is clenching and unclenching his jaw while looking out the window absently. That's not normal for Caspian. When he's not out to get me, something is not right. It actually bothers me when he's not bugging me. I think I should get my head checked.
Serena is talking softly to Lazarus, no doubt trying to cheer him up as well.
Constantine seems a lot calmer by the time we arrive in school. However, the weird apprehensive mood seems to follow us like a dense thunderstorm cloud over our heads. Maybe I'm just picking up on the collective feelings of our pack members this morning.
Serena and Lazarus have their arms loosely around each other's waist. Constantine wraps his arm around my shoulders as soon as we step out of the car, while Caspian walks in front of us with his usual arrogant swagger. These three men can really walk as if they owned the place, no matter where they are.
I feel eyes following us as we walk down the hallways of the school. If I pay attention, I can hear what they're whispering about with my lycan hearing too, but I chose to ignore it.
***
I see Penny in English Lit first. Her eyes zero in on the ring before I can say funny bunnies. She squeals and jumps up and down like a crazy woman and the whole class stare at her like she just lost her mind. Good thing the teacher isn't here yet.
Logan and Zeke are also nowhere to be seen. I'm feeling kinda relief about that. I don't feel like facing Logan, even though he's been ignoring me most of the time now.
“You're going to help me with my birthday party, right?” asks Penny suddenly. I almost forgot that Penny's birthday is coming soon. She's planning to have a big party next weekend.
“Wouldn't it be great if I found my mate right that night at my own birthday party?” She sighs dreamily.
“Really? What happens if it turns out to be someone you don't like? What if he happens to be one of those man-whores like Zeke or Caleb or Jordan?”
“Don't you dare kill my buzz, Genesis,” she warns me. “Besides, I might or might not have made a list of all the available, eligible, good-looking boys that I might or might not have a crush on to be invited to my party.” She grins mischievously.
“Just how many boys are you currently crushing on Penny?”
“Wouldn't you like to know?” She giggles and sticks her tongue out at me just before she turns around when the teacher enters the classroom.
***
It sucks that I don't have a class with any of the lycans at all. Well, at least Constantine is always waiting by the door of my classroom after my every class.
At lunchtime, I meet up with Constantine and Serena just outside the cafeteria. Lazarus and Caspian already have their food. We decided to eat outside since the weather is so beautiful today. Quite a few other students have the same idea.
The sun is shining warm and bright when I step outside with Serena and Constantine.
Caspian and Lazarus are already sitting at their regular spot, which is a picnic table underneath a maple tree with benches on either side. It's way near the end, just by the fence. No other students sit there usually. It's always known that the lycans sit there when they're outside.
“Genesis!!!” Penny and Reese are waving their arms about from another picnic table.
We head over, and I hold out my ring finger up immediately. Reese and Penny jump up excitedly. Trust Penny to act as if she just saw it for the first time...again.
“Oh my Gosh! Oh my gosh!” squeals Reese, jumping up and down, holding my hand. River just laughs and shakes his head, watching us.
Constantine chuckles quietly against my shoulder before he let go of me. He kisses me lightly on the cheek before he heads towards Caspian and Lazarus, leaving me with the girls and River.
“It's gorgeous!” breathes Reese.
“It's very big, isn't it?” says Penny.
“It's also very old. It's believed that it used to belong to Empress Milica of Serbia,” chimes in Serena.
“Oh, my goddess...” whispers Reese, staring at it in awe.
Wait. What? He didn't tell me that! “Wait a minute!” I choke out. “This thing must be expensive.”
“Priceless,” says Serena simply, smiling at my flabbergasted expression. It's priceless, and he let me wear it? My mate is out of his mind! OUT OF HIS FREAKING MIND. And I'm freaking out.
Serena shakes her head and laughs. “Oh, sweetie, why are you suddenly looking at it like it's a poisonous snake or something?”
“You don't understand, Serena. What if I lost it? What if somebody stole it or robbed it off me? I am NOT the type of person who should be wearing something this valuable.”
“You're a lycan, Genesis. Who would dare to rob it off your finger? And as for losing it, I'm sure it's insured. Besides, Constantine doesn't care for the ring as much as he cares about you.”
I let the girls know about my plan to get Constantine a ring. Now I really feel bad about it. He gave me a priceless ring. A ring that used to grace the finger of an empress and I'm about to get him a ring at the mall. Not to mention it can't go over my budget of two hundred and seventy-five dollars and fifty cents.
“I think it's only fair that he should be wearing a ring to show other bitches that he's taken when you're wearing his ring. So what if the ring you get him is cheaper than the one he gave you? At least you're giving him a brand new ring. He gave you a used ring,” announces Penny. Penny logic.
Serena looks like she's having a hard time not to burst out laughing. Reese just shakes her head at what she calls “Penny's illogical logic” as usual.
“Don't fret about it, Genesis. You could give him a coke can ring tab to wear, and he would still love it,” assures Serena.
“True! Everyone can see that the man is crazy about you, GenGen. Price doesn't matter. No matter what you give him, he'll love it,” agrees Reese. “What do you think, River?”
“Yup, as a guy, I know he'll love it...as long as you don't make him wear a girly ring with hearts and flowers.” River grins.
“A ring with hearts and flowers, where d'you get that?” scoffs Penny.
“So we can go out shopping today or tomorrow after school. We have a perfect excuse to go shopping for dresses for Penny's birthday party,” suggests Serena.
“Yes!” agrees Penny excitedly.
I'm glad that Serena gets along well with Reese and Penny.
“Genesis, can I talk to you for a moment?” Logan is standing right next to me. Reese, Penny, and River don't look happy at all to see Logan.
I turn to look at Constantine's direction. He's already staring at us. His eyes narrow speculatively.
“Please?”
I turn to look at Logan again. He looks awful. He's unshaven. Fuzzy, light-brown hair covers half his face. His golden hair isn't as shiny and nicely combed and styled as usual. The light in his sea blue eyes are gone. They are dulled, troubled, and red-rimmed.
I'm suddenly feeling conflicted. I really don't want to, but I feel like I need to talk to Logan at some point. There's always a sense of an unfinished business between us. At the same time, I know my mate wouldn't like me to be talking to him. I know I wouldn't like it too if it was Constantine who's going off to talk to his ex-lover or some other girl.
I do need to talk to Logan though. I can't have this unfinished business hanging over my head forever. I stand up hesitantly and Serena put a hand on my arm. She has a blank look on her face, but I can feel her unease. I feel the pack disapproval. I feel Constantine's warning anger growing.