by Aileen Erin
She tucked a chunk of her bright-blue hair behind her ear. “I know a place.”
We went down the stairs to the first floor. We walked through the gym locker room to another set of stairs. The walls were thick concrete. Doors lined the narrow hallway, and flickering fluorescent lights made the space seem even smaller. Meredith opened the second door on the left. It was a tiny closet-like room, with a concrete bench built into one wall and that was it.
“Where the hell are we?”
“It’s where we put feral wolves. Sometimes newbies flip out when they wolf-out the first time. So, they get thrown in here until they get their shit together.”
Holy crap. I wondered if I’d spent any time in one of these during my missing week. If I did, I didn’t want to remember it. “Whatever.” I took a deep breath and laid out all of the visions I’d had from Imogene. At first, I thought I sounded a little crazy. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Imogene and I would never be friends. But when I got to the vision from when we were watching the news to getting pulled out of my window by the vamp, Meredith stood from the bench and started pacing.
I didn’t have much but my suspicions and visions, but I knew something was off. “So what do I do?”
“We tell Mr. Dawson. You don’t have any evidence. No proof but your vision of her thinking about vampires taking care of someone, and that’s just…well it’ll be your word against hers. You’re more alpha than her, so you’d win. But it’d start a world of shit you don’t need. Especially not after that kiss you had with Chris.”
Why’d she have to remind me of it? This was supposed to be a valid distraction.
She walked to the door. “Come on. He’ll be in his office.”
Apparently, Mr. Dawson’s office was on the first floor of the building where the infirmary was. A gray haired lady sat typing away at a desk. “Is he in, Mrs. Kilburn?”
“He is. Go on with you.” She didn’t look away from her monitor as she spoke.
Before Meredith could knock on his door, Mr. Dawson’s voice came through the door. “Come on in girls.”
Mr. Dawson’s office was neat and orderly. Not a paper was out of place. A stack of manila folders was beside his keyboard. He finished typing something, and then nodded at us. “What can I do for you?”
“I have to talk to you, about my visions.”
“I see,” he said. “I take it you’ve already talked to Meredith about all of this.”
Meredith nodded.
He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
I pulled my hair into a sloppy bun as I gathered my thoughts. I laid everything out just like I had for Meredith. When I finished, I took a deep breath. This is where he could throw me out of his office for being crazy. “I think Imogene and Mr. Hoel brought the vampires to campus last night.”
“That is something.” Mr. Dawson leaned back in his chair.
“I know that Imogene and Tessa have a bit of a beef over a certain guy, but I really don’t think this is about that,” Meredith said.
He sighed. “I have to agree, but then this is something Rupert has been planning for a while. That Tessa got caught up in it is just lucky timing.”
I snorted. “Awesome. I get all the luck.”
“So what do we do?” Meredith said. “You can’t let Imogene and her dad get away with this. They’ve exposed our school. Why would he—”
He stood from his chair. “Look, ladies. I appreciate you coming here and telling me this. You’ve confirmed a few of my suspicions. But this is really tricky stuff and I don’t want you getting more involved. What’s going on right now has been brewing for a while. Even if you don’t know why Rupert would do it, I have a very good idea what his motives are and what he’s planning. If you ‘see’ anything else, let me know, but don’t go looking for visions.” He came around the front of the desk and leaned against it. “Please don’t make me pull pack on you. I don’t want to have to order you to keep quiet about this.”
Meredith lifted her chin, showing him her neck. Mr. Dawson nodded at her and then looked to me.
That was weird. “I guess I’ll get back to class then,” I said.
He sat there, saying nothing as we left.
We walked slowly back to class in silence, but I couldn’t keep quiet for long. “So what do you think—”
“You heard what Mr. D said. We can’t talk about it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on. You’ll really stop looking for answers.”
“Yup. You have to obey your alpha. It’s just the way it is.”
Trusting that Mr. Dawson would look into it was one thing, but Imogene sicced vampires on me. There was no way I was letting that happen again. Plus, he hadn’t actually ordered us. He’d made a strong request.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chris wasn’t in the hallway when I got out of class. Which was a good thing. I hadn’t figured out what to say to him. I’d never been in a place where I needed to let a guy down. Hell, I’d never even had a guy think about me in any kind of serious way. From the outside, it might seem nice, but the stress had my stomach in knots.
I opened my locker and found another sandwich and a bag of chips. I sighed. I was crazy for thinking that Dastien—the guy who kept bossing me around or running the other way—was a better choice. Chris was nice and funny and easy to be around and also hot. But the spark wasn’t there. At all.
The spark was Fourth of July-sized with Dastien. We’d had a rocky start for sure, but I couldn’t deny my intense attraction to him. But before I even thought about committing to him, he had to stop running away whenever things got hard and bossing me around. Otherwise, what was the point?
Two periods later, I sat in the cafeteria with Shannon and Meredith, but Adrian and Chris were missing.
I scanned the other tables, and realized that it wasn’t just our guys that were gone. They were all gone. “Where is everyone?”
“You didn’t hear?” Shannon asked.
I let her shitty tone roll off me. “Hear what?”
“The Cazadores showed up today. They’re going to patrol campus at night. Everything might seem normal right now, but we’re on full lockdown starting an hour before sunset.”
Before I could ask what she meant, the doors flew open, banging against the wall. A group of twenty or so men strutted in. Each wore head to toe black. All the ladies froze in place and watched them as they piled food on their trays. When they turned to the room, the girls looked down, letting the guys take the dominant role. I sat up straight and met their gazes. The whole “women are the weaker sex” thing wasn’t going to fly with me.
Donovan and Sebastian strolled through the doors.
“Oh my God. That’s who those other two wolves were last night,” Meredith said.
Donovan spotted me and winked. I waved back. Since I wasn’t terrified of him anymore, I could actually notice that he was incredibly handsome. He wasn’t as tall as Dastien, but he commanded attention in the same kind of way with his confident swagger. His black hair was tucked behind his ears. His smile showed off his dimples. He weaved through the tables toward us.
Meredith hit my shoulder. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “Donovan Murry is coming over to us. He’s gorge.”
“Yeah. He kind of is, right?” He might have been a bit old for my taste, but he still looked a few years shy of thirty.
“Only totally.”
He pulled a chair from the table next to us and sat in between Meredith and I. “How’re you doing, lass?”
I grinned. That accent got to me in the best way. “I’m okay.” The scratch had nearly gone away, and I only put a band-aid on today.
“We’re checking out what you and Meredith here talked about with Michael. But we don’t want you messing where you shouldn’t be. Dangerous stuff, that. Okay?”
Wow. Mr. Dawson actually listened to me. Which meant that something was up. A million questions popped into my head. I opened my mouth, but didn�
��t get a word out.
Donovan put a finger to my lips. “No. Remember what I just said?”
Meredith made a squeaking noise. Her cheeks were bright red. I’d never seen the girl blush before and had kind of assumed that she was un-embarrass-able.
I couldn’t stop the chuckle. “This is Meredith. She might be a little overwhelmed by you.” Meredith punched my arm. Hard. “Ow.”
“Tessa!” Meredith whisper shouted at me.
I laughed harder this time.
Their gaze met and I could swear I felt the heat of it burning. There were some major mutual appreciation vibes going on.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Meredith Savannah Molloney.” He reached across me to grab her hand and pressed his nose to her pulse point. “I’ll be seeing you again real soon.”
What the hell. Donovan Murry was totally hitting on Meredith.
“Right. I best be off. You ladies enjoy your lunch.” He gave us another of his smiles, crystal eyes twinkling.
Meredith punched my shoulder when he left. “Holy shit. Did that just happen?”
I fanned myself. “It totally did.”
“He’s so hot. And can’t you just feel that power. God.”
I laughed. “He is kind of potent. And while we’re on the subject, I met Sebastian Braun too. Same deal with him.”
Shannon pushed back from the table. “I’ll leave you to your gossiping.”
I couldn’t win with her. It was much easier to not try.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s just jealous. Of both of us,” Meredith said. The bell rang. “This isn’t getting you out of spilling. Tonight. You will tell me everything. Especially about Donovan. Or face the consequences.”
“I think I’ve had enough consequences for one lifetime.” I giggled when she shoved me. “Tonight. I promise. When not so many people are around.”
“Deal.”
***
I should’ve known it was going to be a bad martial arts class when I walked into the gym and saw Dastien instead of Mr. Dawson. Everyone was already sparring. I guessed the attack made everyone a little on edge.
Chris waved me over. We started our normal stretching routine. I couldn’t help but peek at Dastien. He stood reclined against the far wall watching as I stretched.
He mouthed, “Focus.”
I quickly looked away, turning bright red for sure. I finally got into the fighting stance Chris had taught me, and tried to pretend Dastien wasn’t there.
“Forgetting something?” Chris said.
I glanced at my feet, but they looked right to me. My shoulders seemed right too. “I don’t think so.”
“Gloves?”
My head so wasn’t in gear. I tried not to act awkward, but was failing miserably. Every time I looked at Chris I felt guilty. Dastien watching me only made me feel extra guilty. I had to focus on the job at hand. After last night, I knew I was way behind on a key supernatural skill.
Plus, if I could get through this class, then maybe I could talk to Chris after and tell him he couldn’t kiss me again.
I tucked my gloves in my waistband, and Chris nodded. “Let’s work on flipping.”
“I’m not a gymnast. Forget it. Let’s work on something else. Something more practical, so I don’t have another repeat of last night.”
He laughed. “No. I mean you flip me. Over your back. And this will help you. I promise.”
I stepped away from him. “Now I know you’ve lost your mind. You’re basically a foot taller than me and a ton heavier.”
“If you do it right, that won’t matter.”
I listened to him explain the maneuver. It was a twist and squat with a little momentum behind it, not a feat of strength. Although he told me I could do it that way too. Which earned him an eye roll. I didn’t care what they said about werewolf strength. Chris was bigger than me and there was no way I could lift him.
We went through each step, move by move. I had to grab his wrist and then spin around so that my back was to his front, which would wrench his arm. Then, I would squat a little bit to get my hip under his, and momentum, plus the fact that his arm wanted to stay connected to the rest of his body, would flip him over my shoulder.
Sounded reasonable. If only I could wear my gloves for it. I didn’t need to hear about how he liked the way I fit against his body or how he thought I was sexy. My palms started to sweat. I didn’t dare look in Dastien’s direction. But I could feel him. Pacing. Barely holding his wolf at bay.
“You’re moving too slowly,” Chris said, drawing me back to the problem at hand. “Don’t be afraid of hurting me. I promise I won’t break. And even if I do, I heal quickly.”
“But you’re already hurt.”
He slapped his leg. “This is nothing. Just a scratch.”
“You’re still limping. That’s more than a scratch.”
“Shut up. Just do it.”
I stopped all the worrying and pulled the move. Chris went flying through the air, hit the mats and slid into the wall.
Crap. I needed to learn not to overdo it. I ran over to him. “Are you okay?” I nudged him with my foot. “Chris?” He wasn’t moving. I leaned down to make sure he was still breathing.
“Boo!” he yelled.
I screamed and jumped up. “Damn it, Chris!” I took a deep breath, and kicked his side. “They should really pad these walls. One of these days I’m going to actually hurt you and I’m going to think you’re faking and leave you for dead.”
“I don’t know why you never believe me. I really won’t break.” He stood up and pulled me against him. “I’m a werewolf,” he whispered in my ear.
I didn’t have time to laugh before an arm wrapped around my middle, ripping me away from Chris. Dastien set me on my feet, and turned—arms swinging. His fist met Chris’ face. Chris flew through the air again, but this time the crack echoed through the gym when his head slammed into the wall.
Dastien lunged toward Chris. His hand wrapped around Chris’ neck as he lifted him off the ground and rammed him into the wall. Chris hung limply.
“Shit!” I ran to them and yanked at Dastien’s hand, trying to pry his fingers from Chris’ neck. “Someone help!” The gym was quiet. Perfect. They’d just as soon let the boys kill each other as help me. “Let. Him. Go. Now!” I put all the force of my will into the words.
Dastien’s eyes burned bright yellow. He took a deep breath and let go. Chris slid to the ground. A little line of blood dribbled down his neck.
I knelt next to Chris and laid him flat. “Wake up. Please. Wake up, now. Chris! It’s not funny this time.” He wasn’t waking up. “Someone get some help!” No one was doing anything., and I didn’t know any first aid. Especially werewolf first aid.
Chris’ eyelids fluttered.
“Chris? Can you hear me?”
“Werewolf. Remember?” he said. I could barely hear his scratchy voice. “We heal fast.”
Now that I could breathe again, I got up and shoved Dastien. “You could have killed him!” All I got in response was a growl. Dastin’s gaze stayed trained on Chris.
I reached a hand down to help Chris to his feet. Dastien’s growl grew to a roar.
Chris dropped my hand like it was on fire. “Shit, dude. What’s your problem?”
Dastien stalked toward him, and I blocked his way. A second later, water splashed all over Dastien.
Meredith peeked from behind him. “Did I hit you, Tess?” She held a large plastic bucket.
“No. Still dry.” Mostly.
Dastien’s shirt was soaked through. It clung to every muscle. He shook, spraying cold water over all of us, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
Fuck. I finally got the whole wet T-shirt contest thing.
I didn’t breathe as Dastien walked over to Chris, ready to step in between them if Dastien got violent again. He held his hand out. “Sorry.”
Chris took the hand and got to his feet. “No big deal.”
Dastien wa
lked to the door of the gym. “Class is over,” he said before the door slammed behind him.
“I’m just going to check on him,” Imogene said.
Meredith laughed. “Good luck with that one.”
Imogene shot her a dirty look and quickly strode out of the gym after Dastien. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. I caught Shannon’s glare. Her arms were crossed, but she stayed rooted to her slice of mat. If she wasn’t my friend before, this was so not going to win her over. Oh well. I was used to no friends. The fact that I had Meredith was awesome.
And I had a Dastien, whatever that meant.
Adrian was the only one to move as he took a few quick steps to close the distance. He inspected Chris’ head. “Blood’s just surface. It’s already healed.”
Chris grinned. “See. I’m just fine.” The grin faded. “He snuck up on me. Damn it. No one’s snuck up on me in forever.”
“That’s why he’s the best,” Meredith said. “Good thing I got the bucket. Looked like he was going for your throat.”
“Thanks, Mer.” They high-fived. “I totally owe you one.”
“Speaking of buckets, where did you get it?” I asked.
Meredith pointed behind her. “There are always a few filled up in the room in case someone gets out of hand while we’re sparring. But it’s usually Dastien who dumps it over the student’s head. Took a second for me to realize I needed to get it.” She put her arm around Chris’ waist. “Sorry.”
“You did fine. No one expected Dastien to lose it. He’s usually so calm.”
They stared at me. It was too much, especially with the rest of the class already staring. I took a step back. I had zero desire to know what they were thinking.
“Do you know what’s up with him?” Chris asked.
I studied the mats. “Not a clue.” My voice was a little too high pitched.
The door slammed and Dastien walked back to us with a mop. “Everyone out.” Power rolled through the gym, giving me goose bumps. “You four can stay,” he said to me, Chris, Adrian and Meredith.
Yikes. Shannon wasn’t going to be happy about that, but I was kind of glad. If we were going to talk about what happened, I didn’t need her negativity around.
