Professor Wolf

by J. L. Wilder

  CAIT

  “All right, everyone,” Professor Larson said. “You can go ahead and drop your bags here.”

  Cait shrugged out of her backpack and dropped it on the ground. She was tempted to slump to the ground herself, as some of the omegas around her were doing. They had been hiking for hours, most of it uphill, and it had seemed that they might never reach their campsite.

  But now, finally, they were there. The ground had flattened out in front of them, and the woods had thinned enough that they could pitch their tents.

  To Cait’s absolute consternation, she had been assigned to share a tent with Georgette. It was painfully obvious that the other girl had a crush on Professor Larson. She had scampered along behind him as if he’d been dropping bread crumbs the whole way up the hill. Now she sat on the ground staring raptly as he went over the instructions for how to set up a tent.

  Cait stood still, trying not to betray her regret at her skimpy attire. She hadn’t realized they would be hiking to get to the campsite. She’d been walking through the woods for hours with bare legs, and she felt as though she’d been eaten alive by insects.

  If only we could have made the trek in wolf form.

  But Professor Larson had been firm about that. Nobody was to shift. Not yet. Not until they reached the campsite and set up the tents. There would be a run with wild wolves that afternoon, but there were human responsibilities to tend to first.

  Georgette looked both exhausted and unlikely to move anytime soon, so Cait started unpacking her tent. She had never set one up before, but she was no idiot, and the professor’s instructions had been basic enough. Before long, she was using the mallet to drive the last peg into the ground. She sat back and admired her handiwork, wiping the sweat from her brow.

  “Oh,” Georgette said, coming up behind her. “You already put up the tent.”

  “Yeah.” There was no way she hadn’t noticed what Cait was doing. Who did she think she was kidding?

  “I would have helped with that,” Georgette said.

  “Uh-huh.” If you would have helped, then why didn’t you?

  “Looks like someone’s first off the blocks,” said another voice.

  She turned. There was Professor Larson. “You started working while I was still giving the instructions,” he said.

  There was no point in pretending otherwise. “It just seemed really basic,” she said. “I knew what needed to be done, so I did it.”

  He nodded. “It’s all right this time, but in the future, you should wait for an order before you act while on this excursion.”

  Cait smirked. She knew why it was fine this time. He wouldn’t have been saying that if he’d been able to do anything about it. He was upset that she’d undermined him, but it was too late for him to do anything but act benevolently. He was trying to reclaim his power.

  But you can’t, she thought. I defied you. Not much. Just a little bit. But I did it, and we both know it.

  Cait wanted him feeling nervous and off-balance when it came to her. She wanted him worried about her.

  It would make her coming seduction that much easier.

  Georgette beamed up at Professor Larson. “I didn’t even get a chance to help with the tent,” she said, affecting a pout. “It looked so hard. But I was ready to try!”

  “I’m sure you were,” Professor Larson said kindly.

  Cait thought she might be sick.

  “Everyone, gather by the fire pit when your tents are up,” Professor Larson said.

  Cait headed over to the fire pit to wait. It wasn’t long before the others gathered around her, their tents arranged in a wide circle around the clearing.

  “We’re heading into the woods now,” Professor Larson said. “There’s a wolf pack that lives around here. We’re going to seek them out and run with them for a while. I’ll take point. Everyone should stay formed up around me—don’t go off on your own for any reason. In addition, the person you’re sharing a tent with is your buddy for the run. If you get separated from the pack, make sure you stick with your buddy.”

  “What should we do if that happens?” one of the girls asked.

  “Don’t try to find your way back,” Professor Larson said. “You could end up getting more lost. Let us know where you are with a howl, and we’ll come to you. If you find the wild wolves while you’re alone, keep your distance and don't engage, and you should be fine.”

  In spite of herself, Cait felt a rush of excitement. Running with real wild wolves! Was Bart doing anything like that at Shifter U? She doubted it.

  “Make your way into the woods and shift,” Professor Larson said. “When you return, drop your clothes in your tent. Then come to the same place where you’re sitting right now. That way, you can get to know your buddy. Learn her markings so that the two of you can recognize each other while we’re on the run. That’s very important. You don’t want to lose track of who you’re with.”

  Cait really didn’t want to admit to herself how much she was looking forward to this run. She wanted to remain aloof, to keep telling herself that it was another stupid omega thing and that Professor Larson was trying to control her.

  But it didn’t feel that way.

  Cait felt as though the shifter world might actually hold some beauty for her.

  She jogged into the woods, just far enough that she couldn’t see any of her classmates, and quickly stripped down. Back home, she had so infrequently been allowed to shift that it felt like a rare treat now. Her father had always told her that being an omega was about control, and the most important thing she could do was keep her wolf side locked away.

  Now she was ready to let it out.

  It was like stretching the kinks out of her body after a long night’s sleep. Her limbs lengthened and strengthened, and her back bowed into a new shape. Her senses flooded with information that she would never have been able to perceive as a human—the sounds of leaves rustling and birds’ wings flapping, the smell of the earth and the little plants all around.

  She pressed her paws into the earth, feeling the way it gave beneath her, the new weight of her body in this form, the strength she had. Nothing felt as powerful as this. It was enough to make her forget all the weaknesses of being an omega.

  Maybe that’s why Father never wanted me to shift if I could avoid it. Maybe he just didn’t want me to feel strong.

  She knew for a fact that Bart would hate the idea of her feeling strong.

  But Professor Larson wants you to do it.

  She pushed that thought from her head. Professor Larson didn’t know the first thing about being an omega. He didn’t know what made her feel strong or weak. He wouldn’t have cared if he had known. He was just using this excursion as a way to boss them all around. That was all it was.

  She came out of the woods and took her seat by the fire pit. A few moments later, a gray wolf with a lean face came over and sat beside her. Georgette. Though she found the other girl annoying, Cait turned and made a full study of her, learning her markings as Professor Larson had directed. She didn’t want Georgette getting lost or hurt on the run. She didn’t dislike her that much.

  There was no mistaking Professor Larson himself when he appeared from the woods. He was taller and more muscular than any of them, with a broad face and a thick scruff of fur around his neck. For just a moment, Cait felt captivated. Even like this, he was handsome. And it was more difficult in wolf form to maintain the irritation she felt with him when she was human.

  She found herself wanting to submit.

  What a stupid inclination! She shook herself, shook off the impulse. She wasn’t about to submit to anybody, and certainly not him.

  He tipped his head to one side, and Cait understood that he meant them to follow. She and the others stepped into a loose formation behind him, and Professor Larson set off at a trot toward the woods.

  Once they were in the trees, he opened up and began to run in earnest. He probably wasn’t going full speed, Cait thought—she
wasn’t even going full speed at the moment—but it was such a relief to accelerate at all after the slog up the hill to the campsite that she might as well have been flying. She felt like howling for joy, but she restrained herself. She didn’t want to alert the wild wolves to their presence any sooner than was necessary. She knew enough to know that they would need to be approached with caution.

  Professor Larson took a sudden sharp left turn. The omegas wheeled to follow him unthinkingly, unquestioningly. Cait found herself doing the same. It was only after they had been following the new path for a few moments that it occurred to her to wonder what was going on. Why did we turn? We’re not going back toward camp already, are we?

  Then she smelled it.

  Wolves.

  Professor Larson must have picked up their scent, or seen some other sign of them, back when he had first made his turn. But now Cait could smell them too. The scent of them grew more and more powerful as they ran, and she knew they were getting close.

  Then she smelled something else, something tangy and sharp. Something she almost didn’t recognize.

  But it triggered a memory within her. Running through the woods by her house as a teenager and stepping on a sharp rock. A lance of pain. The sharp scent of blood in the air.

  Blood in the air.

  She dug in her heels and skidded to a stop.

  Around her, a few of the others had done the same. Professor Larson was looking over his shoulder at them, brow furrowed. He gave a short bark that was clearly meant to be an order.

  Cait ignored him and turned toward the smell of the blood.

  A few of the others turned with her.

  Professor Larson padded over, sniffed the air, and then set off in the new direction, moving toward the unpleasant smell this time. Cait trailed him. She had no idea what to expect. Had someone been injured or killed? Did a fight await them at the end of this journey?

  Professor Larson stopped.

  Cait came up beside him.

  A low whine escaped her before she could bite it back.

  A wolf lay on his side on the ground, bleeding from a wound in his shoulder, panting heavily with pain and exhaustion. Cait searched the wolf’s eyes and knew immediately that this was no shifter. There was an intelligence there, but it was animal, not human. Not on the level of the wolves who stood around her.

  This was a wild wolf.

  And it was hurt.

  The class circled around the wolf. It bared its teeth, but only weakly. This animal was no threat. Cait could see that plainly.

  Then, to her left, one of her fellow shifters stepped forward and bowed.

  Cait felt a jolt of recognition. It was Georgette.

  She had thought of Georgette as worthless, as nothing but a silly girl along for the adventure. And now here she was, taking the lead. Approaching the wild wolf before anyone, even Professor Larson, had been willing to do so.

  The wolf relaxed and closed its eyes, clearly acknowledging that she was no threat.

  Georgette walked forward. She hunkered down beside the injured wolf and licked its fur gently. It looked up at her and whined.

  Slowly, one by one, the other omegas approached. They circled around the downed wolf, nudging it with their noses, until finally, the wolf got to its feet. It whined a little as it tried to walk, but it managed to stay upright.

  Now Professor Larson turned and walked off in the direction he had been heading before Cait had turned them. He was walking at a pace that was almost leisurely now, and Cait knew he was doing it so that the injured wolf would be able to keep up. Several of the other omegas walked around the wolf, leaning their shoulders against his.

  They’re helping him, Cait thought. How do they all know how to do that?

  And how had they known that the wolf would accept their help? This was a wild wolf, after all, not a shifter, and he had been showing his teeth when they’d arrived. Approaching could have been very dangerous. Hadn’t Professor Larson even warned them not to approach wild wolves without his guidance.

  And yet, Georgette had done it. Georgette! Of all of them, it had been that bimbo who had made the move.

  It should have been me, Cait thought, fuming with herself. I’m the one in this group who’s brave. I’m the one who’s not a mindless slave to orders. If you’d told me yesterday that this would happen, I would have been sure I would be the one to approach the wolf.

  But when she’d been faced with it, she’d been afraid. She had to admit that she couldn’t have done what Georgette had.

  Why? Was the girl just too stupid to understand the danger she’d been putting herself in?

  Cait was tempted to believe that was the case, and yet, she couldn’t quite write it off as that. Because Georgette’s move had worked. She had gotten the wolf on its feet. So you couldn’t really call it stupid, could you?

  The group entered a clearing, smaller than the one they’d been camped in, and came to a halt. About ten wild wolves were scattered around the clearing, most of them lying down, one upright on his feet.

  The injured wolf perked up, broke free of their group, and picked his way over to the pack.

  This is his pack, Cait realized. We brought him home. They’ll take care of him now.

  She noticed how Professor Larson stood far away from the pack, his head dipped low to the ground, as the omegas escorted the wild wolf back to his family. They bowed and backed away.

  Then Professor Larson barked for their attention, turned, and led them away at a run.

  The observation must be called off, Cait thought. It would be too dangerous to try to stay now that they had an injured packmate.

  And she was glad. Because nothing about today’s excursion had made any sense to her, and as much as she was tired of listening to Professor Larson talk, she was eager for an explanation of how the omegas had managed to help the injured wolf.

  Chapter Seven

  GRANT

  “Professor?”

  Grant turned. Cait, the omega who had questioned him in class, was perched on the tree stump beside him, barely squeezing onto it. Instinctively, he scooted forward a little, simultaneously making more room for her and putting a little distance between the two of them.

  Cait closed the distance, moving closer to him. Grant felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. If he had been in wolf form, his hackles would have raised. She was up to something. He could smell it on her.

  “How are you enjoying the excursion?” he asked, knowing that as alpha and professor, it was his responsibility to keep things professional and appropriate.

  “Oh, it’s been great,” she said, her voice just a little breathy. “That run today was really something. The way everyone just knew how to help that injured wolf like that!”

  “It’s an ability that omegas have,” Grant said. “No other member of a pack would have been able to help that wolf quite as well as an omega.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Because to an alpha wolf, or a beta, there’s nothing threatening about an omega,” he explained. “That wolf knew that a bunch of omegas weren’t there to harm him or to pick a fight. He knew it was safe to allow himself to be vulnerable in your presence.”

  “That’s why you didn’t approach him,” Cait said.

  “That’s right,” Grant agreed. “And that’s why I stayed back when we found the rest of the pack. The alpha might have thought I’d done something to harm his packmate, but he’d never believe that an omega was capable of such a thing.”

  Cait looked down at the ground and said nothing.

  “That bothers you, doesn’t it?” Grant asked.

  “I don’t like to be seen as weak,” Cait said.

  “It isn’t weakness,” Grant said. “It’s compassion. It’s nurturing. Omegas have those qualities on a level that other members of a pack simply don’t. If you embrace your true nature, Cait, you’ll come to realize that you have them too.”

  “I don’t know,” Cait said. “Maybe I don
’t have them. Maybe I’m not a very good omega.”

  “What would make you think that?” Grant asked.

  “You don’t think I’m a very good omega,” she said.

  “I don’t think that at all,” he said, surprised. “I never said anything of the kind.”

  “You think I’m disobedient,” she said. “You did say that.”

  “Well, you disobeyed me,” he said, unable to keep a small smile from his face. “What sort of response did you expect?”

  “I suppose that’s true,” she said.

  “But that’s why you came to Omega University, Cait,” he said. “No one is perfect when they arrive. You have your four years here to study omega culture and the place of the omega within the pack. You have your time here to learn how to embrace the omega lifestyle. It’s all right that you haven’t done it yet. If you open your mind to what I have to teach you, you can become a good omega.”

  She scooted closer to him. “I can open myself to you,” she said, eyes wide, staring up at him.

  Oh, good lord.

  He knew exactly what she was doing. He had seen it before, a million times. This was why she had come on the excursion dressed so inappropriately. This was why she had come over to sit beside him.

  She was trying to seduce him.

  He had to admit, he hadn’t expected it from her. The girls who tried to seduce him weren’t usually the rebellious ones. Ordinarily, he got this kind of behavior from girls who thought they had come to Omega University to meet a man and settle down. Girls like that tended to throw themselves at every alpha in sight.

  What was Cait doing? She didn’t want to submit to an alpha. She’d made that clear.

  So why would she flirt with him this way?

  For a moment, he wondered whether he had misunderstood her advances—but then she leaned her body into his, blinking up at him, and he was sure. This was definitely a flirtation.

  But why?

  She wants to get me fired.

  As soon as the thought came to him, he knew he had it right. It was revenge. She thought she would seduce him, lead him into a trap, and then report him to the school. She thought she could get him to lose his job.