Winter Term

by J. J. Krzemien

  “Sorry,” Liam murmured, “I shouldn’t have come in your mouth like that. I should have asked—”

  I silenced him with a quick kiss. “Shh. I wanted you to. I liked it.”

  Jaxon nuzzled my neck. “Is everyone up for some breakfast?”

  15

  Caprice

  My date with Liam involved another movie and more snuggling. After our group encounter earlier that night, I was quite content to just be close to him. I’d promised May that I wouldn’t tell anyone about her family secrets that she’d revealed to me. I assumed that meant I couldn’t bring it up with Liam either. He’d probably be angry with May for telling me, considering he’d never brought it up. Until he did, I would’t push.

  Monday brought mid-terms, which was basically two long days of tests. I had Physiology and Shifting first.

  Brody still sat next to me in Physiology, even though we hardly spoke. He kept most of his sullenness to himself these days.

  Montrell started class with a pop verbal quiz for anyone who wanted to gain extra points. At least it wasn’t required to participate. He paced the front of the classroom, hands clasped behind his back. “How much stronger is a beast-shifter’s night vision compared to a human’s?”

  I actually knew this one. I raised my hand, immediately regretting it when Montrell’s hazel gaze darted to me.

  “Miss Sorrentino, do you have the answer?”

  I steeled myself, but gave the answer. “Six times stronger.”

  “Correct. One point to you.” He moved on with the next question, leaving me in shock. He’d given me the point. For the first time this term, he’d played fair. Encouraged, I answered three more of his questions correctly, receiving a point each time.

  The rest of our class time was dedicated to the written test. I finished mine with about ten minutes to spare, relatively sure I’d gotten most of the answers correct. I stood, collecting up my test papers to turn in.

  As I passed Brody, I glanced at the page he was on. This whole time he’d been stooped over the test like the rest of us, but he hadn’t moved past the first page. I risked another glance and saw why. He wasn’t filling in the sheet, he was drawing pictures on it.

  I marched up to the front of the class, dropping the mid-term on Montrell’s desk. He didn’t look up from the book he was reading. Which was fine with me.

  When I passed Brody again he was shading in one of the shapes. I sat down, waiting for the bell to ring. A couple of minutes before the end of class, Brody delivered his test to Montrell’s desk then came back to slouch in his seat.

  I nudged him with my elbow. When he glanced up, I mouthed: What are you doing?

  He shrugged, looking away. The bell rang and I caught his shirtsleeve.

  “You didn’t even try with that test. Why?” I tightened my grip, in case he tried to pull away.

  He didn’t, but he did glare at me. “It’s none of your business. But if you’re not going to let me go without an answer…” He sighed when I didn’t budge. “It doesn’t fucking matter. I’m not going to be alive for much longer anyway.”

  I dropped my hand. “What do you mean?”

  “Fuck off, Sorrentino.” He left the room in hurry.

  I frowned after him. Why did I bother with him? He wasn’t friendly. His life wasn’t any of my business. Yet, I couldn’t let him be. Something was off about him that made me want to reach him, even though I couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

  I chewed on my lip, lifting my backpack over my shoulders. The rest of class had cleared out, except for Montrell who stood in front of his desk staring at me. I shifted nervously under his gaze. It was a good time to bolt for the door.

  I barreled into the hallway, slamming against Lana who let out a surprised yelp.

  She narrowed her eyes. “What the hell—Oh, Caprice.” She grabbed my arm, towing me away from Montrell’s classroom “What are you doing?”

  “Just escaping the monumental jackass. The usual.”

  “What did Mr. Freeman do to you tonight?”

  “Actually, tonight was okay.” I softly snorted. “He gave me points for once. It was probably to throw me off balance. Brody was actually meaner than Mr. Freeman”

  “Oh,” Lana perked up, dragging me further along the hall, “I found out something about him that answers a lot of questions.” She lowered her voice. “He’s the youngest of three siblings and the older two were both Culled during their first year here. Now he’s in the Culling Club. Isn’t that awful?”

  “That is. His poor parents. If he doesn’t get his act together, they’ll have lost all three of their kids.” Anger wrenched my gut. I’d never realized to what extent the Culling could destroy families. “He seems to think he’s a lost cause. You know what he said to me? He said he wouldn’t be alive for much longer so completing his mid-term didn’t matter.”

  “Hmm. Normally, I’d say his fate is in his own hands. But I’ve never heard of a family losing all their children to the Tromara. Do you think we could help him?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know how. He pushes everyone away. He told me to fuck off just a few minutes ago.” I studied Lana’s exotic features. “You know, you’re kind of weird.”

  “Thank you?” She cocked her head.

  “That came out wrong. All the first years I’ve met treat each other like a contagious disease. I mean, my roommate was nice enough until I got into the Culling, but—”

  “What are you trying to say?” Lana crossed her arms, leaning against the wall.

  “Why are you so friendly? Why do you want to help Brody when it could mean that you’d sink beneath the Culling line?” I was genuinely curious and had been meaning to ask her for a while now.

  She glanced up and down the hall, making sure we weren’t going to be overheard. “Because I don’t want to be like that. Supernaturals are a small, close community, and for one year we’re supposed to compete against each other and be complete selfish assholes. I say, fuck that. I’ll try my best, but I’m not going to tear anyone else down.” She licked her lips. “I know you’re royalty and all, but I think you feel the same way I do.” Lana leaned in closer. Under her breath, she said, “Fuck the Tromara.”

  She straightened, creating more space between us and gazed in my face. I totally agreed with her. And what she’d said was considered treason. I nodded.

  Lana let out a rush of air from her lungs. “Well, ready to grab some lunch?”

  “Sure. I’m starving.”

  Our Shifting mid-term was actually fun. One by one we went to the front of the class to demonstrate what we’d learned so far this term.

  Brody was among the first to be called up. I watched him with more interest than usual, now that I knew more about his family. How would I feel if all of my older siblings had died at this school? When it was my turn to attend, I’d probably have horrible anxiety. Would I expect to live through it? To survive, when none of the others had? Sometimes, always being the eldest in my foster homes made it hard to relate to younger siblings.

  He was a damned good shifter. His rapid shifting time rivaled mine for sure. As he morphed up to half-form, mottled brown feathers appeared in an instant. His mouth elongated into an eagle’s beak.

  After taking so many notes on mutated genetics, I was curious how Brody could be an albino in human form and fully pigmented once he shifted. It had to be a different activated DNA strand.

  Brody closed his beady bird-eyes. For his grand finale, he did a full shift. The beautiful Golden Eagle untangled itself from Brody’s clothes, spreading its six-foot wing span. He flapped, sending a gust of wind to our side of the classroom. With a leap, Brody was airborne, rising above us all and creating a mini hurricane. He sailed out the door.

  “Mr. Collins!” Nalea called after him. “Class isn’t over yet.”

  I knew he wasn’t coming back. The level of self-destruction he was generating made my chest ache.

  Lana’s morphing I’d seen lots of times. To top off her sho
w, she let out a deafening tiger roar. A few of my classmates recoiled, their eyes wide. I chuckled. And Lana thought I liked being scary and unapproachable. She shifted down and retook her seat beside me.

  “Nice one,” I said. “I think you really terrified that bunny-shifter up there.”

  Lana grinned, showing all her teeth.

  I shook my head, watching more shifting performances until my name was called. Strolling up to the open space in front of class, I reminded myself to keep it simple. No invisibility. No fire.

  In a millisecond, I stood before everyone with black scales and a monster’s face. My eyes were red, black talons protruded from my fingertips, and under my scales the embers undulated. I knew I looked terrifying, more so than any other beast-shifter.

  I took a deep breath. Concentrating, I blew smoke rings out my nostrils. A girl sitting in the front row giggled, then slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes like saucers. I suppressed a smile—they didn’t need to see all these sharp teeth.

  Nalea sat to the side with her clipboard in hand. “Very nice. Thank you.”

  I morphed to human form, the transition smooth and fast. When I sat down, Lana eyed me.

  “Really? No fire?” she asked.

  “And what, burn this place up by accident?” There wasn’t a good location on campus to practice fire-breathing, so it was the one part of my abilities where I wasn’t confident. I needed a desert or the ocean—somewhere without so many trees and people.

  After class, Lana and I walked back to our dorm. We both had last minute studying to do for tomorrow’s mid-terms. I hit my math book for about an hour before grabbing a quick dinner with the guys.

  I stepped into Jaxon’s apartment, the pang of Angel’s absent hitting me hard. My fingers found the scar on my neck. How was I ever going to talk to him if he was never around? I needed to speak to him. I didn’t feel that I’d overreacted before, but there had to be a way through this. Maybe we should spend some time together and he could at least get to know me. Then he could decide if he liked me or not.

  Liam studied me as I sat at the table. “What’s on your mind?”

  “Angel,” I said.

  “Ah. Yeah.” Liam hesitated. “He hasn’t talked with you yet, has he?”

  Jaxon brought out tonight’s dinner. Meatloaf, greens, and mashed potatoes, the best of Southern comfort food. My stomach gurgled.

  I helped myself to the potatoes. “No, he hasn’t. ”

  “He’ll come round,” Jaxon said. “Angel is the kind of guy who needs lots of time to think before he acts.”

  “And,” Liam said, “if it’s any consolation, I know he has feelings for you. Just give him time to sort through those and realize that fact.”

  “But are those feelings coming from him or just his inner wolf?” I asked. It should have been weird talking about my troubled relationship with Angel with the two other guys I had feelings for, but surprisingly it wasn’t weird at all.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s all of him.” Liam gave me an encouraging smile.

  Pretty sure. That didn’t give me a whole lot of hope. I nodded, anyway, digging my fork into the delicious food.

  My Math and English mid-terms went fine. Uneventful—almost to the point of boring, but I was sure I aced both. That was all that mattered. Now all there was to do was wait to find out my academic standing on Friday. The points board would be updated in the Dean’s Hall that night.

  In the meantime, it was back to regular classes and finishing my research for that Physiology final. The end of the term would be here soon. And I had a shit-ton of points to get. With only one more term to go, I needed to make progress out of the Culling. Or else everything Isabella was sacrificing would be for nothing.

  After the night’s classes, I was back in the library trying to focus on mutated genetics. That weird pulling, tingling sensation from the back wall seemed to be more noticeable tonight. It was distracting the hell out of me.

  I dropped my pen with a heavy sigh. Maybe the jewelry I had on was starting to boost my natural abilities after all. What was my inner dragon sensing?

  With another sigh, I approached the wall from which the sensation was emanating. I paced up and down the shelves of books, shifting to dragon form. Once again the draw was stronger on the left side. I peeked behind the books, seeing if there was anything stuffed back there. Nothing.

  I raised up on my toes, then crouched down. The focal point was at about knee height. I picked up each of the books on that row, but none of them were the source of the sensation. Once I’d emptied the shelf, I ran my fingers over the roughness of the back wall.

  There. It was emanating from the other side. Except this was an exterior wall, which meant there was nothing on the other side. Was it coming from within the wall itself? That was the only answer that made sense.

  The shelf was bolted to the wall, so there was no moving it out of the way. I didn’t see or feel any kind of compartment or latch or anything back there. Whatever it was, it was well hidden.

  I froze. Hidden? A slow smile lifted my lips. I could work with that. My chest filled with excitement.

  16

  Angel

  The Pacific Pack’s headquarters, and my childhood home, was a big lodge at the southern edge of the Olympic National Forest in Washington state. Towering evergreens surrounded the estate’s terraced landscape. I sat with my father and three brothers around the fire on the back patio. The sun was setting with a pink glow.

  We’d all been together for the past week sorting through Pack business and the succession. Dad was doing pretty good this evening, his energy was more upbeat. I glanced at each of my brothers. However they were feeling about the whole situation, they hid it well.

  Bruno leaned back in the Adirondack chair, making it creak. He was two years younger than me, but broader across the chest and shoulders. “So, when is all of this supposed to happen? Officially?” he asked.

  Damian, the youngest, gestured to the house. “All you need is a wife, and Selena’s in there helping Mom.” He had a wicked glint in his eye, enhanced by the firelight. “Everyone knows you two are going to end up together.”

  Casparo threw an empty beer can at Damian. “Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You shut up. ”Damian threw it back.

  Bruno ignored them. “Are you thinking spring break? Or,” he glanced at our dad with a frown, “this summer?”

  I shifted restlessly in my chair. “Summer at the earliest. I have some things to sort out before taking on the succession.”

  “The Council seat will be yours this spring,” Dad said. “We’re driving down to talk with Isabella tomorrow.”

  I nodded. I could deal with taking the Council position. Getting married and taking on the role of Alpha would take a bit more preparation. I’d been planning for this since I could walk, I just thought I’d have a few more decades before stepping into this part of life.

  “Are you going to marry Selena?” Bruno asked, crossing his arms.

  I shrugged, not wanting to get into my fucked up romantic life with my brothers.

  Bruno tensed, glowering across the fire. “She’s a good woman. She deserves someone who loves her.”

  I flinched. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so nonchalant about it. For the record, no, I’m not going to marry her.”

  Bruno nodded, but didn’t look much happier. I knew he had the hots for her for years. Maybe now they could do something about it.

  “Seriously?” Damian’s eyes widened. “I had money on you two.”

  “What?” My brow furrowed.

  Damian glanced at our brothers. “Yeah. A few of us took bets on who you’d end up with. A bunch of us put money on Selena.”

  Casparo snorted. “Yeah, like the whole Pack.”

  I groaned. “Can we please talk about something else?”

  “Sure,” Damian said, “you want to hear about this girl I met last term. She’s so hot, her ass is like—”
<
br />   “No!” The three of us said in unison.

  Damian huffed. “You guys are no fun.”

  I got up to grab another beer from the kitchen. The lower level of the house was quiet, Mom must be upstairs. The kitchen was right inside the sliding glass door. I grabbed a bottle from the bottom shelf and closed the refrigerator door.

  “Hey there, big guy.”

  I turned, coming face-to-face with Selena. She hadn’t changed. Long black hair fell in waves to her lower back. She was taller than most women I’d met, with a curvy build that only got better with age. We’d been each other’s first sexual experience when we were both teenagers. Even now, during summer break we always spent a lot of time together.

  “Hey,” I said.

  She leaned into me for a hug. I squeezed her shoulders and let her go. Damian was right, if it weren’t for Caprice, I would be marrying Selena. She was smart, funny, gorgeous, and we’d known each other for years. Hell, I’d always assumed I’d settle down with her. Did she assume the same thing?

  Her hand rubbed my upper arm. “It’s good to see you. The circumstances are horrible, of course, but it’s still nice to see your face.”

  A pang hit my chest. Followed by a sense of loss. “It’s good to see you too.” I took the bottle opener from the fridge door, popping the cap off the beer. “I’d, ah, better get back out there.”

  “Of course.” Selena stepped to the side, leaning against the counter.

  I gave her a friendly nod, then headed toward the patio doors. I realized now that my wolf had never bonded with Selena. I’d loved her for years, but now with the mate-bond to Caprice, that love didn’t feel right. The intensity had gone. Looking back, I realized I’d taken Selena for granted.

  I reached for the door handle with my free hand.

  “Angel—” Selena said, her voice strangled.

  I turned, searching her face. “Yeah?”

  She drew in a deep breath, then glanced at the floor. “Nothing.”