Moonlight Kiss

52. College Dreams 2.

[Jade]

I looked away almost immediately and blinked at the intensity of the stare, I turned back to look at the man but a waiter had already rushed to the table and was clearing the mess. She blocked my view of the man so I focused on Zara again.

"I cannot believe that, I thought New York was really forward, trendy and in vogue?"

"No, yes, New York in general is but there are just some people that can't accept that change, I tried to complain to the dean but he said the course I was studying needed for me to be corporate at all times and he couldn't do anything about how a professor leads her class as long as it doesn't violate the college rules." She explained.

"Well at least you can still be you outside school." I told her and she nodded.

"Enough about me, tell me about you and Jay, how have you been?" She asked.

"We're fine, Jay is married now and he has a baby." I replied and she squealed.

"Really, holy sh*t that's amazing, he got married and had a kid, wait, didn't he go to college?" She asked.

"No, but he had a great job though, he works as an account manager for the pack." I told her and she nodded.

"And your mate, how is he?" She asked.

"He's great, he would have come but he wanted to give us some time to catch up." I told her.

"How nice." She responded dryly and I gave her the stink eye because I knew she was being sarcastic.

She rolled her eyes at me and then we went on to talk about different things. She told me about the girls that used to bully me when I was in highschool in California and let's just say karma caught up with them really badly.

"Wow, I did not see that coming, even Jeanine?" I asked, she was the ringleader of the girls who used to bully me because her parents had a lot of money.

"Yeah, her father died shortly after you left and the bank came and claimed all their properties, turns out everything they had had been bought on loan, her mother went crazy and she had to be locked up in a loony bin, she moved in with Tyler and his family but they were both kicked out when Tyler failed to get into college and she got pregnant."

"Oh my, that is horrible." I gasped.

"It gets even better." Zara chuckled and I shook my head at her. "Tyler started getting into trouble and soon he was arrested leaving Jeanine alone to take care of their six months old daughter, last I heard she now works as a waitress to earn money to support herself and her child."

"I do hope things get better for her though." I said.

"What I hope is that she has learned her lesson so that she can quit being such a bully and over entitled brat." Zara said.

"Sure, I hope it has humbled her." I laughed.

"So, what about all your dreams Jade, are you just going to give them up?" Zara asked me and I sighed when the conversation turned serious.

"I am living my dreams, Zara, you don't need to worry about me." I told her.

"Okay but I do hope you change your mind because the world is still waiting for you and your intellectual properties, the world still wants to hear you tell your stories." She said,

"I know Zara, I know." I replied and picked up the menu.

I looked around and that was when I noticed that we still hadn't ordered.

"Oh my, we're so bad." I laughed. "We haven't ordered anything since."

"No, they know me here, they'll not bother us until we signalled for them and we're ready to order." She explained.

"Okay, so what's good here?" I asked.

"Everything really but I do especially enjoy the pasta dishes." She told me.

We ordered our meal and we ate quietly, when we were done, she paid for the meal despite me wanting to pay and then while we were drinking our wine, I contacted Hugo and told him to bring the car.

"How's Debra?" I asked her.

"Oh mom, she's doing great, tomorrow when we go to the college I'll take you past her tattoo parlor, it's always full, New Yorkers love to get tattooed." She said and I smiled.

I wanted to ask about her father but I didn't really think it was the right thing to do, the man had been murdered by Mason during the war and somehow I just wanted to find out if she still bore any ill feelings towards us about that.

"I'm sorry about your father." I finally said.

"Don't be, we weren't close and he was basically and assh*le." She said it so casually but she couldn't hide the pain in her ear eyes, she had loved him very much.

"You know I'm really sorry about what he did to you guys." She apologized.

"It wasn't your fault Zara." I told her.

She looked at me for a while before gulping down her wine.

"It was." She sighed and dropped the glass. "He deceived me but I knew that he wanted to lead the wolves, I should have warned you but I didn't think he was capable of hurting his own family."

"How are you coping in New York, being a wolf and all." I whispered, changing the subject.

"Oh it's okay." She said, "I don't have a wolf, not since my father passed, any way." She and my brows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

I'd never heard of a wolfless wolf before and I didn't know that a werewolf could lose their wolf and if it was true, what was she now?

"My father and his mate, well they—" She swallowed before she continued. "They found a way to take her out, they used dark magic, they harvested my wolf to use in their experiments." She said and a single tear dropped down her eye.

"Oh, Zara, I'm so sorry." I hurriedly handed her a tissue.

"No, it was karma, it was my price to pay for my involvement in their terrible deeds." She said, wiping her eyes.

"So, how do you feel now?" I asked.

"I don't feel like myself, I'm good but without her, I just feel hollow inside, I just feel like I have a great void that nothing could ever feel." She explained.

"I'm so sorry, dude."

"Don't feel sorry for me, Jade, I don't deserve it. My mother warned me against him when he suddenly reached out to me, I should have known that he didn't do it out of love, he loved no one but himself and that mate of his in a twisted sick way." She told me.

I understand how she felt, if my father could come back to life and reach out to me, I would not hesitate to respond and go to him.

"It's not your fault that your father was such a cruel man, he was your father, any child would have acted the same way." I said, comforting her. "I'm sorry that I did not do more for you, I'm sorry that I did not notice what you were going through, instead of trying to help you, I just made it worse by judging you and chasing you from me."

I truly felt bad for jumping to conclusions about Zara, in the end she was like the rest of us, a victim in the hands of a master manipulator.

We shared the bottle of wine before Hugo came and I felt a little bit lightheaded as I hugged her goodbye and got into the car with Hugo.

It was late when I got back to the hotel, it was a struggle to get to the room but when I did, I met Mason pacing the room with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked immediately I got inside.

"Are you okay?" He asked and rushed to my side immediately.

"Yes, I'm doing good." I said and stumbled a bit. "Just a little tipsy." I said and laughed when I couldn't even make the sign for little with my fingers.

"You're drunk?" He looked at me amused before helping me to get undressed.

"I was here worried sick about you and you were getting drunk." She shook his head and pointed the spray of water at me inside the bathroom.

I finally slept off after Mason got me to bed.

***

Thankfully I did not wake up with a hangover, I didn't even have a headache, I felt a little tired but that was not rare, I was not a morning person.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" I asked Mason as I prepared to leave with Hugo.

I was going to meet Zara so she could give me the college tour and I could also visit her mother's tattoo parlor.

I considered getting a tattoo but I didn't really know, Debra had made me promise that she would be the first to give me a tattoo should I ever consider getting one.

Mason had a tattoo and so did Liya so I didn't really think he would make a big fuss out of it, if I did decide to get one.

"No, I'm good, enjoy your day out." He said and planted a big kiss on my lips.

"Okay, you enjoy being on your own." I held his collar as I deepened the kiss, when I was satisfied, I headed downstairs.

Hugo brought the car almost immediately and soon we were on our way to NYU, I was going to meet Zara just outside the school and I was really looking forward to the tour.

"Thank you, Hugo." I smiled when he dropped me off and I began to look around for Zara.

I turned around swiftly only to collide with a hard body, the person reached out to stop me from falling and I frowned when I looked up at the person.

It was the same man I'd seen at the restaurant and as I looked into his eyes, I was certain that I had not imagined it the first time because his eyes definitely glowed yellow.