by S. L. Morgan
“So, you’re a second-year student too?” I asked, wondering why I hadn’t noticed the kid before this group we’d been thrown into together.
“Yep. This year screwed me hard the first day back from vacation too.” He laughed. “All the changes were enough to have me shift and go hibernate until school was out.”
I softly chuckled. “How’d you get thrown into the crappy kids’ group? What’d you do?”
“Argued with the watchman of our dorms for making me bunk with some idiot who I’ve hated since high school. It’s almost like the school paired everyone up with the people they hate the most. I found out I wasn’t the only one who was assigned a bunkmate they couldn’t stand.”
“No kidding. Well, I’m in on that. I’m bunking with some chick who’s had it out for me since Dom…” I stopped myself. “Since she got jealous that I dated some dude she liked.”
“Master Dominic?” He arched an eyebrow at me that highlighted his brown hair and defined the simple features of his face. “I heard about you two. Weren’t you both like true mates or something?”
“That’s the rumor,” I answered, looking back at my book and seeing only Dom’s face looking back at me now in my mind.
“Intense. I’m sorry that didn’t work out. I’ve yet to meet my true mate, but I heard once you do, it’s something that’s so grounded for shifters that you can’t separate the two. Guess since it didn’t work out for you both, maybe he wasn’t the one.”
I pinched my lips together. “So it would seem.”
“I also heard you had some trouble on your vacation,” he said.
Now, he had my attention. “What are you talking about? Who told you that?”
“Some chick told me. She knows one of your friends…Tanner, I think?” he looked at me in question. “That kid told his fairy girlfriend what happened and how Master Dominic kind of saved you, I guess.”
“I haven’t said two words to Tan since I’ve been back here and split up from all my friends. How would he have known anything that happened to me?”
“So, it’s true, then? Master Dominic’s wolf helped you? What happened? I’ve never heard of a shifter so worried about their weight that they starved themselves. Thank God, Master Dominic stepped in and could help. I swear he must be lying about his age. He acts like he’s been walking the Earth since the dawn of time.”
I was frozen, staring blankly at this Bradley kid.
“You there?” he asked.
“I’m here. I’m kind of shocked at how that crazy rumor got started, that’s all.”
“Meh,” he shrugged. “Fairies can be such trifling, conniving little things. Usually, if I hear something and find it came from a fairy’s mouth, I don’t give it too much credit.”
“But you believed this?” I asked.
The kid got somewhat uncomfortable, and it had to be because of the way I was talking to him. “I didn’t believe the hot chick who was dating Dominic Rossi was starving herself out on purpose, but I did believe the fact that he most likely helped you.”
“Well, none of it happened. Tanner’s spreading crap because his dumb butt screwed up like the first day in when he shifted in front of a human to impress the chick.” I rolled my eyes but was so pissed I couldn’t think straight. “Sounds like his fairy girlfriend at the time hit the rumor button and decided to make me the butt of her jokes, I guess.”
“Listen, it’s really not that big of a deal. From the look on your face, you look like you’re ready to kill someone. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m just sick of everything. I’m sick of how in a blink of an eye, everything in my life changed when this school changed this year. Then we get blamed for those idiots on the panel saying we need to be held an extra year in? I’m so over it. I’m alone, I miss my friends, I miss what was normal to me.” I stood up and shut my book closed, “I have no idea why I’m dumping my emotional baggage on you. I’ve got to go.”
“Hey, it’s cool.”
“No, it’s not,” I answered.
My wolf seemed to be annoyed. I was leaving the bear shifter, and I mentally shut her down at my command. I wasn’t dealing with her crap now too. Because of my wolf having a damn mind of her own, I was in this position.
I turned to leave and was shocked to see Dominic sitting with Kat, Lusa, Scott, and Ian at a table across from us. What the hell were the good kids doing in here? Studying? For what, being better than the ones who were keeping them at this school an extra year?
“Hey, Jenna!” Lusa smiled at me while Kat leaned into a glaring Dominic.
“How’s it going?” I said in passing.
“I haven’t seen you at all this year. I miss my old roommate.”
“Talk to your brother, I’m sure he can fill you in on why the school separated all the bad apples from the rest of you.” I looked at Dominic, whose face was unreadable, and Kat was fueling my rage by draping an arm over his shoulder like they were actually together. “You and Kat make a cute couple,” I said and immediately felt stupid for saying it. “See you later. I’m out of here.”
“Bye, Jen!” Kat said, using the name that no one got away with using except for Dominic.
I left the library, and out of habit since I’d gotten back from vacation, I snuck around the back to see if anything terrible had fired up again with the student murders at the school.
Nothing. Good. At least the school’s death monster was quiet.
In walking into my empty dorm room, I finally did it. I lost it. I broke down into tears, and I let the void I’d been ignoring since losing Dom hit me. I absorbed the pain, hoping this was the trick to getting over him. Was Dominic really with Kat? Most likely not. She wasn’t his type, no matter how beautiful she was. She was an annoying bitch, and I was shocked she wasn’t in the remedial class with me.
I threw my school uniform into my laundry basket and slipped on long pajama pants and a tank top. The weather was starting to cool, and so, it was getting close to me living in hoodies and pants when not wearing our uniforms.
I climbed onto my bed, laid my head on my pillow, and let the tears spill out of my eyes. I needed to get this all out before Kat waltzed into the room, going on and on about her and Dominic. I was trembling and at the point of wanting to shift into my wolf to get rid of this hatred, sorrow, jealousy, and confusion.
I had the wolf under control, and so the whole Dom beating the wolf into submission game I thought he was playing early on clearly wasn’t a game. He’d achieved me putting the wolf in her place, but he never once acknowledged it or came around. I knew he sensed it too. There’s no way after everything we went through on summer vacation that he wouldn’t be watching for this life-changing event.
“Jenna,” Kat’s voice was enough to crack my freaking skull. “You asleep?”
I didn’t turn. I didn’t move. I wasn’t listening to this. I wasn’t going down this road. For the first time since being pissed, I was officially losing it and feeling that demon more than I ever had before.
“Jen!” she said the name I hated louder. “You can’t be asleep already.”
Silence.
“Fine, I’ll leave this right here. It’s a note from Ethan. I’m shocked the owl shifter even wants anything to do with you, much less write you a letter,” she said in an annoyed voice. “She’s asleep. Tell Ethan I gave her the note, though,” she said to someone in the hallway in some fake, weird voice that made me want to scream at her to shut the hell up.
Ethan. I missed that kid as much as I missed Dominic. It had been almost an hour before Kat stopped mumbling to herself and was finally taking long, rhythmic breaths. Thank God in heaven, she was asleep.
I turned and quietly opened the letter that sweet Ethan wrote. I had to reel in my emotions big time because I was a mess. Anything he might have written in this letter could do me in, and then I’d have Kat’s nosy ass up and trying to find out what was going on. No way.
Dear Jenna,
Hi, friend
. I miss you a lot. Dominic says you are better. I am better too. Tonight, I want to talk to my friend. I will stay hidden in the silent trees and hope to see you.
You are a good person, Jenna Silvers.
Ethan.
My eyes filled with tears. I had to get out of the room for fear of crying, and I was ready to race down to the trees to find Ethan. All I wanted was one of my friends back, and I was actually blessed that it was Ethan who’d reached out.
I concealed myself as much as I could while running down to the trees. I was too late, though. I paced up and down through the forest of trees, softly calling for Ethan, but nothing. Damn it!
“After all this work, you still can’t control that mouth of yours?”
There was humor, sadness, and curiosity in the voice of the one man I didn’t expect to see. I turned to see Dominic step out of the shadow of the trees, studying me with an expression that made me gulp in shock and confusion. Our eyes locked, and when I opened my mouth to say something, tears got in the way of the words I wanted to scream at him. I couldn’t do anything I’d promised myself I would do if I were ever given a chance to be alone with him again.
I couldn’t catch a freaking break tonight. Now, here I was, looking into Dominic’s eyes, the eyes I hadn’t seen in what felt like an entire school year. To make it all worse, the tears were blurring my vision of the man I fell in love with and missed more than I really knew.
What did he want? Where was Ethan? Not another freaking confusing turn of events!
14
I had so many things lined up and ready to ask Dom, and here I was, totally braindead without one thought coming to mind while I stood there, staring at him and trying to process this shocking moment.
“I never once believed it could be possible…” He trailed off and ran a hand through his black hair, eyes troubled and face strained.
Please say the corny phrase…you never thought it could be possible to love me more than you do right now, I mentally begged him.
Oddly enough, his expression never changed in response to my thoughts, making me more nervous about being around him than ever.
“Possible?” I questioned when he, for the first time since we broke up, didn’t answer or react to my internal thoughts.
He walked toward me, and I leaned into his hand as he ran it along my cheek. I didn’t realize how much I missed his gentle touch.
“It’s all true, then,” he said, eyes more mysterious than I’d ever seen them. He let out a ragged breath. “Oh my God, what did I do? To you—to us?”
“I understand why I’m in the troubled kids’ program, Dominic. I get it.” I smiled and pulled his hand from my face and held it like I was holding a treasure I was never going to let go. “It worked.” I smiled into his sorrowful eyes, “I’ve got the wolf right where she needs to be. It wasn’t easy with all the stuff I’ve been going through, but it put me in a position to finally get myself pulled together. I’ve even kept all of my negative feelings as far away as possible through it all. The demon is totally caged up.”
He smiled, but the smile didn’t change his troubled expression. “I’m happy about that,” he softly said, staring down at where I held his stiff hand. “It all came at a cost, and a cost that I never believed was possible. I screwed up, Jen.”
“You need to fill me in on this one because I’m done with being so damn confused that I can’t think straight. What did you screw up? My wolf is under my control now. That was the whole point to this crazy new nightmare I’ve been living in, right?”
“It’s not possible that once true mates find each other, they could lose each other too.” He pressed his lips together. “Your wolf,” he said in a low voice, “she no longer calls to mine.”
“What?” I snapped. “What are you saying? What everyone else is saying? That we’re done for real?”
“It wasn’t my wolf that determined this. It was yours. Whatever this training did, it detached her and you from my wolf and me. Can’t you feel that our bond no longer exists?”
I was dumbfounded this was actually happening—he was literally admitting we weren’t true mates. All the crap I ignored from the whispers around the school. The Dom and Jenna break-up seemed to be the highlight reel continuously buzzing around campus, and now Dom was admitting this shit was all true?
I swallowed hard before trying to answer this BS. “Dom, we are true mates. I will set my wolf straight if it’s her throwing a tantrum again. I’m not losing you.”
“You’ll never lose me,” he answered. “This isn’t a matter of you setting your wolf straight either. It’s your wolf coming into herself as your humbled inner beast. She’s reacting only how you want her to.”
“Well, I don’t want her to cut off our bond,” I answered, still confused. “You’re right. True mates never end like this unless they were never mates in the first place.” I wanted to throw up after admitting what I thought was going on.
“Exactly, but I felt it, we both did. At Dark Water and here too. Hell,” he gripped the back of his neck, “I felt it more than ever when I went in to get you back from that wolf’s control on vacation. I can’t figure out how this ended. What did I do to cause you to feel that I wasn’t your mate?”
I felt tears in my eyes. This wasn’t the reunion I’d expected after Dom and I worked to get my inner wolf under control, and we finally came together again.
“You didn’t do anything. Dominic, I love you. I swear this has to be that demon or my wolf is pissed off again. Shit, I thought I had this under control.”
“I sense no darkness in you, and your wolf isn’t pissed. She’s perfectly normal—and you are with her. Being submitted and under proper control, you and your wolf somehow have discovered I’m not the one you’ll spend your immortal life with.”
“Bullshit!” I snapped. I reached for his face as he stood perfectly still, eyes staring into mine. That’s when I really started sensing it for the first time. Dom’s eyes weren’t having that intense soul connection with mine. There were no blasting sparks of energy while pulling his face down for me to kiss his lips. “We’re true mates, Dominic Rossi.”
Dom’s arms came around me tightly and pulled me into his hard body. “I hope you’re right,” he said and then his lips met mine with urgency. He groaned and reached his hand to steady the back of my head while his kiss became so consuming that I thought I might pass out.
I gripped his cheeks, needing to pull away from his overwhelming kiss to catch my breath. Dom’s hand slipped down to rest on the back of my neck while his firm lips slowly traced down to my chin, onto my neck, and massaged over my collar bones. I rocked my head back, giving him all access to his girl.
“I’m all yours, Dom. I have been since day one with you and me,” I panted, catching my breath and steadying my heart’s rhythm. His hands traced over the curves of my waist, and his lips kissed over my covered breasts, something that should have had me riding over the top and wanting more.
Nothing.
My eyes snapped open to the trees above our heads, knowing this was hot and sexy, but I should have been reacting more intensely than I was.
“Open your wolf up to us,” I begged him.
Dom’s wolf was instantly present, and that’s when I saw the horror of what Dom was talking about. There was no real draw to the wolf I had pronounced as my own once before. He was a strong alpha, but that was it. I didn’t feel the need or want to take any power or emotion from his wolf like I did before.
Then there was my wolf. It was like she was immune to all of this. She was staring at Dom’s wolf as if it were her alpha, but that was it. The once submissive behavior and respect she held for Dom’s powerful black inner wolf was absent. She wasn’t being a bitchy little thing, either. She wasn’t hurt, pissed, or fighting. She was allowing herself to see the wolf, but there was no draw to Dom or this alpha we’d both accepted as our mate.
“Shit,” I said through tears and Dom instantly pulled away from me.
> “It’s true,” he said, caressing my face. “I’m so sorry if that kiss was too much. I was selfishly trying to get you back, hoping at least you both would accept us. Oh my God.” He looked up at the trees for answers. “This can’t be real.”
“Dom,” I said with determination. “You won’t lose us. Something’s screwing with us, but we’ll fix it. You can help me fix it like you helped me fix this rebellious wolf of mine.”
“This isn’t something that’s fixed, Jen.” He exhaled. “You know how mates work. We can’t reprogram you and your wolf to accept me. It doesn’t work like that. I just don’t understand any of it. I feel it, my wolf feels it, but it’s like something happened, and now, you and your wolf have rejected this bond. I can’t force anything on you.”
“Then how is it I know I love you?” I angrily wiped tears from my eyes. “Dominic, I love you so much it hurts. How can I feel that way if we’re not mates?”
“Emotions,” he said softly. “You’re reacting on your natural emotions, not your shifter ones. Your shifter self does not see me as your true mate. Now that everything is settled with you, the wolf sees more clearly because she’s in a healthier state as your inner beast. Now that the shifter in you is corrected, everything else in your lives is falling into place for what’s right for you.”
“But you said your wolf sees us as your mate.”
“It’s happened before, where one desires the other as a mate whether or not that one true mate for them accepts it or not.” He ran his hand over my shoulder, “I believe I’m in the nightmare life now.”
“How and when did you notice this in me? Is this why you faked the letter about Ethan to get me out here?”
“The note was from E,” he smiled a sincere Dom smile. “It took a lot of convincing for him to stay back and let me come see you alone tonight. He misses you.” His expression tightened again, “As for noticing you no longer accepting me as your true mate, that was about a week ago when your thoughts stopped entering my mind. I thought it was nothing, that it was part of the process of helping you get your wolf under control. Then in the drill-downs, when your wolf disappeared before my eyes, I felt intense power come from you. I ended the drill-down, uncertain if it was going to harm you by grabbing your fairy-witch magic to finish the exercise. Tonight, after seeing you with Bradley, that’s when I was certain the wolf was silent to me. That’s when I was done putting you through this shit, and I knew I wouldn’t lose you. I had to be sure, though. I had to bring you out here alone to see if it was all true or not.”
