Untamed (Rejected Mate Academy #1) - E. M. Moore Page 0,26

me to meet you down there?”

She pushes past me. “No, I’m sensing a story and I want in.”

I close the door behind her and lock it, then move into my bathroom, still wearing the same outfit from yesterday. I frown at my hair in the mirror.

Taking a deep breath, I tell her the whole story, not leaving anything out. In opposition of where my thoughts had headed yesterday, I can’t go Feral. I can’t willingly leave this place. Even though I’m not happy, I won’t do that to my parents. It would devastate them. Plus, I’ve adjusted well to having a friend. It really does become like second nature.

By the time I get the knots out of my hair, I’ve finished the tale. I peer at her through the mirror. “I’m taking a quick shower.”

She spins, giving me some privacy, but continues to talk to me as I disrobe. “You met up with him in wolf form? Holy shit.”

“Yeah, holy shit,” I mimic as I turn on the faucet, standing just out of the spray while I wait for the water to heat up. I can’t believe I fell asleep with all this gross shit on me. Those bedsheets need to be cleaned and sterilized as do the clothes I wore. My literal bare ass was in the dirt last night, and I didn’t mind because Jonah was on top of me. Not remotely how I pictured my first kiss, but somehow, I can’t complain. About the kiss, anyway. I have a long list of complaints about the kisser. Mainly the fact that he’s an asshole.

“What are the odds that he would be out for a run the same time you were out for a run?”

Now that she mentions it, what are the damn odds? And how come we didn’t stumble across anyone else in our romp around the forest?

“I bet it was fate,” Mia yells.

I laugh as I run shampoo through my hair. “Isn’t it all fate? That’s what got us in this predicament anyway.”

“No, what got us in this predicament is dumbass wolves who think they know better than fate.”

I shrug even though she can’t see me. I agree with her sentiment on the dumbass part, but I don’t know, I feel like people should have their own thoughts. If he doesn’t want to be with me, fine. The messed-up part of that scenario is that if he doesn’t, I have to leave the pack for good. But that’s a stupid Pack rule, not from the divine.

Then again, the argument would be: If fate made it so, it should be so.

Tou-fucking-ché.

Now that I’ve had a whole argument with myself in the shower, while my very first friend waits outside, I groan.

“What was it like?” she asks.

I stare at the clear water now running between my toes as I wash the conditioner out of my hair. I almost don’t want to answer. I finish the shower without uttering a word in response. When I shut the faucet off, she hands me a towel around the shower curtain. Taking a deep breath, I steel my shoulders. My wolf is already on board with my answer. I can feel her contentment. “Amazing,” I whisper.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

I wring my hair out and tie the towel around me. Mia turns her back again as I get out. I swallow. “Have you ever....” I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence. If she hasn’t, I don’t want to hurt her.

I can’t see her face, read her expression, and it makes the silence that grows between us stretch. Finally, she states, “No, we never got that far. I asked him if we should once. I thought that if he’d felt it with me, maybe he’d see how right it was. But you know, part of me is glad he said no.”

My throat constricts. I know exactly what she means. I’ll never forget that kiss. Ever. “Yeah,” I rasp, moving to the sink to brush my teeth. “I think you’re right.”

The pain is so fresh and new, I don’t know what to do with it. I stand in front of the sink for who knows how long until Mia plops my academy outfit on the closed toilet lid. “Here. Picked out your outfit for you.”

I meet her stare in the mirror and smirk.

She smiles back. “Hurry up. I have some calories to eat.”

Exiting, she closes the door and gives me some space to change. Thankfully, at some point last night,