Normal probably wasn’t the word I’d use. But it was a word. “Yeah. She was kind of crazy after the summer.”
“Well, glad you guys are okay. There’s no reason for everything to change just because we’re in college now.” I knew he was really thinking of him and Ryan. “So, how late do you think this will go?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t, but I hoped it didn’t go on too long.
“Then why are we waiting here?” Another smile spread across his face. This one was even bigger and toothier. It was trademark Finn really. He was a good-looking guy, but he also had this goofiness to him.
“I guess for no reason.” Because I was obsessive and couldn’t handle waiting inside.
“Want to go get a drink?”
“At Last Call?” I assumed he meant the local bar. There was nowhere to get alcohol on campus.
“Yeah. We'll be back in a bit, so you can resume your pacing.”
I laughed. “Okay. That sounds good.” I wanted to be around for Ryan, but I thought I might lose it if I stood there much longer. Not to mention we would eventually attract attention.
* * *
Being a wolf had its advantages. One of them was you could drink at eighteen. The whole town was in on the secret of Lunar Academy and understood that the human laws didn’t exactly fit for us.
We walked into the crowded bar. Thankfully, a smoking ban had come into place, so I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving smelling like an ashtray.
The noise was overwhelming, but that made sense given the large crowd. My hope that I wouldn’t run into anyone I knew was short-lived.
“Hey, guys!” Justine ran over to us. She was holding a glass that was mostly empty. “Finally, some more Wolf Borns are here.”
“We aim to please.” Finn grinned. “And I had to get Nadia off campus for a change.”
“It’s great to see you out.” Justine linked her arm with mine. “Want me to introduce you to some people? There’s some townies here in addition to students.”
“First, she needs a drink.” Finn linked his arm with my free one. “But we’re not going anywhere.”
“Suit yourself.” Justine pulled her arm out from mine and skipped off.
“She’s a funny girl.” Finn watched her disappear into the crowd.
I shrugged. “We’re all funny when you think about it.”
“True enough.” Finn walked over to the bar, and I followed. He turned to me. “What would you like?”
“Malibu and pineapple.” If I was drinking, I might as well have what I wanted.
“You are such a girl.” His nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Yes, I am a girl. Last time I checked.” I hated when guys said things like that. I was proud to be a woman.
The bartender walked over. His brown hair was long, and a few pieces of it fell into his eyes. “What can I get you guys?”
Finn replied immediately, “I’ll take my usual. She wants a Malibu and pineapple.”
“It hurt you to say that, didn’t it?” The bartender laughed.
“Kind of.” Finn took a seat on a stool. “No offense, Nadia.”
“Have you ever had a girlfriend?” I realized I’d never seen him with anyone before, and his reaction to my drink of choice seemed a bit overdramatic.
“Yes.” He took his glass of whiskey from the bartender.
“Who?” I took my overly sweet drink. “Tell me.”
“I’m not telling you anything.” He took a long sip of his drink.
“Now you have to tell me. You can’t pull that.”
“Pull what?”
“Swinging the proverbial carrot in front of my face and then pulling it away.” I shook my glass to watch the ice spin.
“It’s not that exciting.”
“Oh. I’m sure it is.” I sipped my drink. “I’m sure it’s very exciting.” I wasn’t entirely sure why I was pushing him, but I was. Somehow I needed to know.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a girl with dark hair and bright red lipstick slip behind the bar. She looked kind of familiar, and I thought she was another first year. I wondered how she’d managed to land a job at Last Call.
“If I tell you, you have to tell me something.”
“What do you want to know?” Hopefully, it would be something stupid.
“I’ll tell you that after I answer your question.”
“Nuh uh. I’m not agreeing to answer you unless I know what it is.” I wasn’t that dumb.
“Live dangerously.” He leaned closer to me. “It’s fun. I promise.”
“I prefer the safer route.” I sat on the edge of my stool and watched. Justine was dancing with a girl I thought was Wolf Bitten. They were dancing close, and Justine was grinning. I wondered if they were more than friends, but now wasn’t the time to ask.
“Boring.” Finn downed his drink and placed it on the bar. The bartender seemed ready for it as he placed another one down immediately.
“Okay. Fine. Tell me. Who was it?”
“Donna Carrol.”
“What?” I nearly spit out my drink. “You dated Donna Carrol?”
“Shh!” He scowled. “Keep it down. Don’t completely ruin my reputation.”
“Ruin your reputation? She’s like a sex goddess. I heard she can do things that no one else can. And she’s so much older. Isn’t she like twenty-four? How would that hurt your reputation?”
“Because I like to seem somewhat respectable.”
“You? Respectable?” I finished off my drink and set it on the bar behind me. “Oh, yeah.”
“I’m respectable. I have to be.”
“For Ryan?” Normally, I wouldn’t have blurted it out like that.
“Yeah.”
“Why?” I picked up the fresh glass that was already waiting for me. I probably should have stopped at one drink, but the first was so good. “I mean, I know he’s your best friend, but why are you so worried about what he thinks and about your reputation?”
“I don’t think you’d understand.” He looked at the brown liquid in his glass before taking another swig.
“I could try.” I took another sip of my drink. I was worried about Ryan. He hadn’t called, which meant he was still at the meeting.
“Have another drink first.” Finn gestured to my glass. I’d barely touched it. “Then I’ll explain.”
I took a few big sips. “Okay. I’m ready.”
“So you know how important Ryan’s family is.” It wasn’t a question. Everyone knew how important the Graysons were to the wolf shifter community.
“Of course.” I picked up the pineapple garnish from my drink and took a bite.
“Well, my family has always been one step behind, you know?” He swirled the ice in his glass.
“Yes, I know.” The one step behind description was pretty darn accurate.
“Well, being Ryan’s best friend gives me a chance to change that.” He downed the rest of his drink.
“Wait.” I took another long sip. “You’re friends with him to help your family?”
“Of course not.” He slammed his empty glass down on the bar. “But being helpful to him makes a difference for me.”
“Got it. And that’s why you care about your reputation. So let me guess, you aren’t as dumb as you pretend to be?” Was the goofiness just a cover?
He shrugged. “You can decide that for yourself.”
That was what I hated the most about the world I lived in. Everything was for show. A carefully designed veneer that often had no substance. It was all about power and money and pretenses.
I downed the rest of my drink and set it down. I was tipsy now. I’d skipped dinner, and two drinks on an empty stomach was a big mistake.
“Ready for your question?” He leaned back on his elbows.
“Sure.” I wasn’t ready, but there was no reason to put it off.
“Do you see yourself mating with Ryan?”
“Uh, yeah. Not going there.” I took a few more sips of m
y drink.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s super personal.” I took another few sips, and before long, the glass was empty.
“Doesn’t have to be.”
“Mating is always personal. Super personal.”
He nodded. “Want to do karaoke?”
“Karaoke?” That was an abrupt conversation change. “Are you crazy?”
“Why would that be crazy?” He tapped the bar, and the bartender brought fresh drinks for both of us. I hadn’t asked, but I assumed Finn would pick up our tab. I was pretty short on spending money compared to most of my peers.
“Because I don’t do those things.” Just like I didn’t get drunk on a Friday night with my maybe boyfriend’s roommate. But here I was doing just that.
“Okay. fine. Then answer my question. It’s your choice. Mating or karaoke?”
I picked up drink number three. I was crazy and knew I’d regret both the drink and my answer, yet I found myself taking a sip and answering. “Karaoke it is.”
“Great. But to be nice, I’ll go first.” He leaned over to the bartender then walked over to the makeshift stage.
I settled in to watch as Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy piped out.
Finn started to belt it out, and I practically fell off my stool with laughter. A few seconds later, he ripped off his shirt. I clapped along with the rest of the bar. He was in far better shape than I realized. But then again, most wolves were. It didn’t take trips to the gym to get muscle definition.
“You should probably get your boyfriend down from there.” A girl with bright purple hair sat next to me. “He’s about to get clawed by some of the women in here.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s actually my boyfriend’s roommate.” And there. I’d used the word boyfriend out loud. It felt surprisingly good and natural.
“Oh man, that’s bad.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re out getting drunk with his roommate?” She started to braid her hair, and I noticed there was some bright red color in there too.
“He’s busy at a meeting I couldn’t attend.” I was drunk. Completely and utterly drunk. Finn was still hamming it up on stage. He was so fearless. I wanted to be fearless like him.
“Did you ask to go with him?” She finished the braid and used a bright blue hair tie at the bottom.
“Not really.” I couldn’t exactly explain the situation to this random girl.
“Then whose fault is that?” She moved to the other side of her hair and once again started to braid.
“No one’s. This is no one’s fault. Well, maybe my roommate. She invited him.” I looked down at my glass; it was almost empty. I held onto it. If I set it down, I’d probably get a refill.
“He’s out with your roommate and you are out with his. Maybe you guys should look into swinging.” She tied her other pigtail.
“No, I only want my boyfriend.” Boyfriend. There I went again. I had to get used to using that word. At least I hoped I needed to get used to it.
“Well, he seems to want you.” She pointed to Finn.
“Nah. He’d never hurt Ryan.” He was only being friendly. I was sure of that.
“Ryan?” She did a double-take. “You don’t mean Ryan Grayson, do you?”
“Never mind.” Great. I had to go and open my big mouth. I decided to fill my mouth with the rest of the drink.
“No. Wait. You are Ryan Grayson’s girlfriend?”
“Yes.” The cat was out of the bag. And I figured he wouldn't really care about my using that word. And if he did? He could set the record straight himself.
“Your turn.” Finn grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the stage. “I picked a great one for you.”
“What is it?”
“Just wait and see.”
When Kylie Minogue’s Can’t get You Out of My Head came on, I automatically started to sing.
Maybe karaoke wasn’t so bad.
Ryan
This felt like the beginning of a movie. I was following a girl I definitely didn’t trust deep into the woods. In theory, I knew what I was in for, but that was just a theory, not reality. My wolf went along with it because he was happy to be set free. The no shifting rules were stifling his style.
We ran deeper into the woods, and then just as Nadia had described, there was a thick haze that seemed to come out of nowhere. I could feel the magic as I ran through it neck and neck with Jackie. I could barely see a foot ahead of me as we ran through the mist. Then just as suddenly as we entered it, the mist lifted and we were in a deeper, denser section of forest.
Jackie didn’t stop. She kept running until she reached a clearing. She immediately shifted into her human form and dressed. I followed suit, glad when she held out a pair of pants to me.
I was fine being naked, but not if everyone else was dressed.
“Everyone knows who you are and that you’re coming. You don’t have to be nervous.” She adjusted her skirt, so the buttons were facing the front.
“I’m not nervous.” I buttoned my jeans.
“You’re acting nervous.”
I hadn’t bothered with a shirt, but I figured that wouldn’t be a big deal. “I’m not.”
“Okay, then.”
“I wish you would have let me bring Nadia.” No reason to beat around the bush.
“Can’t stand to be apart from her for even a few minutes?” Jackie rolled her eyes. “I never thought you’d be that guy, Grayson.”
“It’s not that.” But even if it was, who the hell cared? I could do whatever I wanted.
“Oh?”
“It’s just that you’re her best friend, so this feels weird.” I was getting tired of having to lie. Hopefully, this would be the beginning of putting this whole thing behind us.
“She didn’t seem too upset.” Jackie pulled a hair tie off her wrist and pulled her hair back away from her face.
“I think she did a good job of hiding it.”
“Nah. Nadia can’t hide things.”
I held back a laugh. She was doing a pretty great job keeping the truth from Jackie. “Whatever you say.”
I sensed the other wolves before I saw them. They were all in human form, more or less dressed, although most of the men were shirtless. I wasn’t the only one who decided to bring as little as possible.
A tall, slender man with a heavy beard walked over to me. “Mr. Grayson. Thank you for joining us.”
“I don’t really know what this is or why you want me, but Jackie seemed to think I needed to be here.” I played as dumb as possible. I wouldn’t show any cards unless I had to.
The man nodded. “We will be happy to answer any of your questions while you’re here.”
He wanted to play nice? I would too. “Okay. Let’s start with who are you?”
“My name is Carver. I run the Elite presence at the Lunar Academy.”
“So this isn’t everyone?” I looked at the assembled group. There were about a dozen of them—mostly men and three or four women.
“Not at all. This is only one local group,” Carver explained. “There are many more of us, I assure you.”
“Got it. And what do you Elites do? Secret rituals? Sacrifices?”
“No.” Carver laughed. “We’re dedicated to ensuring the survival and success of the wolf-shifter population.”
“And how do you do that? I mean, aren’t all of us dedicated to that cause?”
“We believe the time has come to step out of the shadows. We’ve lived in fear of the humans for long enough.”
“So what do you want to do, kill them?” I tried to make that loaded statement sound as casual as possible.
There was silence. Complete and utter silence.
Finally, Carver spoke. “Of course not.”
So they were lying? Cool. Because that was helpful.
“What would give you that idea?” Jackie looked at me like I had two heads. Was she serious?
“I don’t know. I just wa
sn’t sure how you expected to deal with the humans if they weren’t happy we were revealing ourselves.” Maybe I’d gone into the whole killing thing too early. I’d wanted to try to fit in, but that had been a misfire.
“We plan to explain that going along with us is in their best interest.”
“And why would it be in their best interest?” Because talking always got you exactly what you wanted. I searched the faces of the others to see what the joke was.
“Because it is.”
“Tell me more about this little group.” I needed to get rid of the awkwardness. I’d screwed up somehow. I couldn’t go back to the others without fixing this.
“First of all, it isn’t little.”
“It isn’t?”
“No. Not at all. We already told you that. Haven’t you been paying attention?” a girl asked. She gave Jackie a look that said, who is this idiot?
“Okay. And how do you work with the larger organization?” I really needed to fix this. I wasn’t exactly making a good impression.
“We have representatives all over.” Carver spoke slowly like he was afraid I couldn’t follow. “And we use the representatives to share information for recruitment and planning.”
“And we try to make sure no wolves get in our way,” the annoyed girl from earlier spoke. “Contrary to what you seem to believe, not everyone of our kind wants what’s best for us.”
“What wolf would be against our advancements?”
“There are always ones with strange agendas.” Carver rubbed his hands.
“Oh.” I tried to play it cool this time. “And are there any of these wolves here at the academy?”
“Yes.” Jackie let her word hang.
Keep it cool. Keep it cool. I repeated the mantra in my head.
“You have some in your house,” Carver added. “More than one.”
“Really?” I kept my expression neutral.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“We can’t tell you unless we know you can be trusted.” Carver was speaking extra slowly again.
“I thought you wanted me here. You were the ones who invited me.”
“We did invite you.” Annoyed girl walked over to join Carver right in front of me. “We know you have a lot to offer.” She didn’t look like she necessarily believed that anymore.
Wolf Born: Lunar Academy, Year One Page 10
