by Lia Davis
I logged her face away and made a note to learn more about her. Any woman that got through to Tala had to be good people. As future High Alpha, I needed to begin forming my support system. My go-to people. I didn't even know her name.
Before I went on a mission to find out about the librarian's past, I had to find out why I was in the library with no memory of going there. I glanced at the clock on the wall before I slipped out the door. Holy shit. It was nearly night. I'd been gone since just after lunch. I was missing around six hours of time.
Okay, what was the last thing I remembered?
Sitting in Latin class. Since I'd decided to take several classes involving spell casting, I'd needed to brush up on my Latin. Elijah's mom was a witch, his dad a vampire. He'd volunteered to take Latin with me because he wanted to impress his mom. He hadn't inherited any of her powers, he was a pure vamp, but he was a kick-ass sentry, so I agreed. Nobody else wanted to take Latin anyway.
I'd been dismayed to find Calista in the class too. She'd said her dad being a warlock meant she had a lot of witchy power to learn.
I sat in the corner and put Elijah beside me. Thankfully, some guy I'd never seen before sat in front of me. Calista ended up a few rows over. And then I'd wanted to kiss the crusty old teacher when she'd decreed that our seats would be the seats we'd sit in for the rest of the semester. 'To help her keep track of all of us,' she'd said with a sigh.
I trudged back to our dorm, a light drizzle my companion. The common room downstairs was full of students. It was Friday, the first full week of school behind us, and I'd expected to see a raucous party going on, with all the students thrilled at the break.
We were in the largest of three dorms, and all three were full. Opening a college for the supernatural kids of the world had been a stroke of genius. Kids near my age had flocked to sign up from all over the world.
Mom and the Niswi had begun preparation immediately to open colleges in other large countries to support our people there. They were the leaders of all the vampires and lycans, not just the ones in the United States.
When I exited the staircase on my floor, I found Noah, our lycan sentry, pacing the hall. "There you are," he exclaimed. "What the hell?"
My eyebrows rose. "What's wrong?"
"We've been searching the campus for you. Get in here." He was pissed.
Our dorm was full, my sisters, Randell, Elijah, and Harper sitting on couches with worried looks on their faces.
"What the hell, Meda?" Elijah asked. "You just got up and left! Since you left all your stuff, I figured you'd gone to the bathroom, but when you didn't come back? I've been worried sick!"
I held my hands up. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."
"What do you mean you don't know what happened?" Tala asked. "Where did you go?"
My blood roared in my ears. What was happening? I couldn't tell them that I'd blacked out and didn't remember anything. They'd call mom and dad, call the shamans, probably even call Poppy. Fuck!
"I just needed some alone time. I'm really sorry I worried you. I left you a note, Elijah, didn't you see it?"
Elijah shook his head, but I'd left no such note. I didn't know what else to say to cover my absence. It was totally out of character for me to stand up and walk out of class, and they knew that.
"I'm going to hit the shower," I said. "Sorry for worrying you."
I escaped to my room to mull over what had happened. Maybe I was just tired from all the excitement of being out on my own, in my own dorm. I probably had just fallen asleep in class then sleepwalked to the library, where I fell asleep until late evening. That had to be it.
It didn't explain how I was so exhausted, though. I yawned and fell back onto my bed and drifted off to sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I woke refreshed and ready for my first free weekend on campus. First up, a run. I knocked on the door to the sentry's rooms bright and early. "Anybody up?" I called, sticking my head in the door. Only Harper was. "Want to go for a run?"
"Absolutely," she said. "Let me change."
I looked around a bit after she disappeared into her room. It looked exactly like our dorm. Fully furnished, full kitchen. We were the lucky ones, but I felt like an ass. I'd wanted a real college experience, cramped dorm rooms and all.
It sort of made sense we couldn't be in the same area as everyone else, not as High Alpha. What if someone infiltrated and killed me in my sleep? Big drag for everyone.
"Ready?" Harper asked, exiting her room in leggings and a tank top.
"Race you downstairs," I called, already running out the door.
She yelped and was hot on my trail in seconds. "Cheater," she panted as I weaved in front of her as we thundered down the stairs.
"You say cheater, I say winner." Pumping my fists in the air, I did a ridiculous little dance on the front lawn of the dorm when I exited a split second ahead of her.
"If you’re going to be like that, I’ll just run faster than you the whole time."
With a snort, I jogged away from her, stepping onto the newly laid sidewalk. "At least we have a good path for running." The campus was dead, very few people up and about on a Saturday at dawn. College-age people didn’t much care for early mornings, be they human or Collective. Or witches.
Harper kept pace beside me, and we found a good rhythm to keep our heart rates up but still be able to talk. "Are we going to talk about the real reason you disappeared yesterday?"
I shot her a sharp look. "What do you mean?"
"You didn’t just need to clear your head or whatever lame excuse you gave." She sent my sharp look right back at me. "What gives?"
"I’m really sorry I worried all of you, but leave it alone for now, okay?"
She was quiet for a few seconds before responding. "Okay. You’re responsible, you know the dangers you’re in day-in and day-out. I’ll trust you to confide in me when you’re ready. But if you go missing again, I’ll be forced to stalk your every move."
I laughed. "Deal." As far as my parents knew the sentries were stalking our every move. The truth was they hung with us and gave us space. If we left the campus, of course, they’d have to go with. But me getting up in class and going to the bathroom, they wouldn’t follow, most times.
The rest of our run was quiet, both of us lost in our own minds. I appreciated her trust. She was a good friend and protector. I hated that I couldn’t be straight with her, but there was no reason for the shitshow that would come. Not after one random moment of sleepwalking, or whatever the hell it was.
We were nearly back to our building when we encountered the first person out and about, walking in the opposite direction on the path. Kerry had been in our class at the academy. She was a real brain and kept to herself. "Hey, Kerry," I called. We’d never been close, but she was always nice. "How are you liking the new school?"
She didn’t respond. Weird, she was a lycan. Her hearing was impeccable. "Kerry?" I asked as she got closer to us. She blinked a few times, but still didn’t reply or acknowledge us. I looked at Harper, baffled.
When we were close enough to touch, we both stopped. Harper reached out and put her hand on Kerry’s arm. "Are you okay?"
Kerry looked at Harper with a serene expression on her face. "Yes, I’m fine. Lovely day, isn’t it?" With a stiff head turn, she walked away, never even acknowledging my presence or even looking at me.
"What the hell?" I whispered as Harper and I gaped at Kerry’s back. "Was she high?"
"We can’t get high, not in the same way as humans."
"Spelled?" I grasped at straws.
Harper pursed her lips. "Actually, maybe. We’ll check on her later this morning."
I nodded. Checking on Kerry was easy since she stayed in the same building as we did.
The sound of a car pulling into the parking lot drew my attention away from Kerry. Harper stepped in front of me and I sighed. "You know, Harp, there is security at the campus gate."
"Yea
h, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still attack you."
She had a point. And she took her job as mine and my sisters’ sentry seriously. Sometimes too seriously.
I studied the car as it parked and the doors opened. The breeze picked up their scents and carried them to me and every part of my body tensed and heated with desire.
What…the…hell? What was happening to me?
"Harper. Something is going on." Just as I spoke, the redhead turned toward me, and I realized I knew him. "Peter," I breathed.
"What?" Harper asked, going into a defensive stance and looking around. "What's going on?"
The second guy must've picked up my scent, because his head flew around, pinpointing his gaze directly on me. Harper saw him and snarled. "He looks like he's about to come over here and eat you. And he's a vampire."
"No," I whispered, trying to correct her, but somehow unable to string two words together. He didn't want to eat me. He wanted to fuck me, I was pretty sure. "That's Dorian."
Every hormone in my body screamed at me to rip my clothes off and let him do what he wanted. Thank Hell I was stronger than my hormones, if only barely.
Harper lunged forward as she saw Dorian move. The idiot came toward me using his preternatural speed, and Harper reacted exactly as a sentry should. She moved just as fast as he did, faster really, and blocked him from reaching me, squeezing his throat. He'd not been prepared to be intercepted, obviously. I nearly laughed. He'd been so focused on me he hadn't even noticed Harper. Harper wasn't the one you wanted to ignore. She was a trained sentry, even though she was young. She could kick most anyone's ass she wanted to, except maybe mine. She and my Paw loved to spar.
Peter reached Dorian and pulled him back as I reached Harper and yanked her arms from around Dorian's throat.
"Stop," I commanded, using that authority thing Dad had taught me. It didn't work on Peter, as a lycan, but Dorian and Harper froze and relaxed immediately. "This is a misunderstanding."
Harper growled at Dorian, low in her throat as I shoved her behind me. "He's not attacking me, Harp."
"How else do you explain his rush forward?"
I glared at Dorian. "It was dumb as hell, but I'm guessing he was going to attempt to fuck me in the middle of the quad."
Harper shuffled around me, jaw on the ground. "Say again?" She stood beside me with her arms crossed, glaring at Dorian. His eyes were on me, as were Peter's. That was okay, because mine were on them. My wolf wanted me to get closer so she could smell them better. My vampire still wanted me naked.
"I think they're my mates," I said flatly, not thrilled with the news. Just when I was going to get a taste of freedom, here come these guys, waltzing in and throwing everything on its head. My parents were gonna flip. My sisters, how would this change our relationship?
Oh, who cared, I needed to touch them. Stepping forward, I lifted my hand toward Dorian's face, only to be crowded by Harper again. "Meda, you don't know these guys."
"Yes, we do, Harp." I pushed her away and returned to Dorian and Peter. Peter moved to stand beside Dorian instead of behind him. "You've known Peter and Dorian as long as I have."
"Yeah, duh, but you don't know them."
"Harper, stop. Peter has been Tala's best friend for years." I spoke to my sentry, but my eyes moved back and forth between Peter and Dorian.
"Yeah, we've known them for years but now suddenly you feel the mating call? Right after we talked about what we just talked about?"
My heart fell. The spell. People acting strangely. Shit. Taking a few steps back, I tried to clear my head. "You're right." Dorian and Peter stepped forward as I stepped back. I put my hand out. "Give me room to breathe. Let's go upstairs and have breakfast. I need to think."
They followed me to our dorm. Harper started to knock on the door to her apartments, but I grabbed her arm. "Don't you dare. You think I want them knowing this yet?" Thank goodness, my sisters were gone. I checked their rooms before turning back to Dorian and Peter. "What now?" I asked.
"Now, you go shower and I'll make all of us breakfast," Harper said, eyeing Dorian.
Taking the opportunity to escape the situation, I hightailed it into my room and took a long shower, dried my hair, and dressed slowly, trying to process the two men sitting in my kitchen.
When I exited my room, Dorian and Peter were on the couch, watching a kids' cartoon, but were in the process of jumping up as I opened my door.
Harper was loading the dishwasher. "You ate?" I asked her.
"What did you expect, you took forever," she said as she put cups in. "Your plate is in the microwave."
"We'd already eaten," Peter said. "Well, I did. Dorian doesn't eat much."
Harper turned then. "Spend much time around shifters and you might get a taste for it. I've been around them all my life and tend to eat when they do. I don't eat much, but it's like a habit now." She shrugged and turned the knob to start the dishes washing.
"My best friends are a shifter and a witch. I just can't. I've tried several of their dishes. They're always eating something or another, especially Pete here." He stuck his thumb out toward his friend.
Grabbing my plate, I sat at the small kitchen table. Dorian and Peter sat across from me. "Now what?" Dorian asked.
"I know what I'd like to do now," Peter muttered. I snorted. I wouldn't make it that easy, no matter how much my vampire and wolf wanted to. If not for my voracious appetite, they would've been pressing me right then to take the guys into my bedroom and claim them.
Harper sat beside me. "How do we know you're legit?" she asked.
"Harp, I can feel it. I'm not easy to fool. Not about this." Both my wolf and vampire sides agreed that they were ours, and my fire was spiked. Every part of me knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they belonged to me. "Can we have some privacy?" I set my fork down and stared her down.
"It goes against my better judgment."
"Harper, even if they're here to kill me, do you not think I can defend myself?" I arched an eyebrow at her. I beat her every single time we sparred, yet she still insisted on acting as if I was a fragile flower. She was worse than the male shifters, though I loved her for it.
"You never know." She stood and pointed at the guys. "If you touch her, put one finger or claw on her perfect skin, I'll rip your throats out. Don't think I won't."
Peter had the good sense to look intimidated. Dorian just grinned. "You sound like you have a crush on her."
Oh for Hell's sake. She was like a sister.
She didn't dignify his idiotic remark with an answer. "Shut up and be nice," she barked as she slammed the door and went to her apartments. Or, knowing her, she was probably sitting out in the hall, listening for signs we could be fighting.
A thought popped into my head and I ran after her. "Be right back," I called to the guys.
I'd been right. She was still standing outside the door. When I opened it, her eyes widened guiltily. I didn't give her time to explain. "Look, sit out here and make sure I'm safe all you want. I love you enough not to be weirded out that you know what we might talk about, but I need you to keep this between us."
"Why?" she demanded. "If it's real, it's cause for celebration.
"I know. But it's so new, and strange. I want to explore it before it becomes this huge fiasco. It'll be big news and everyone will be in our business. Just give me a few days to wrap my mind around it."
She crossed her arms. "You're right, everyone will flip out when they find out. Okay. Fine. Let me know when you're ready to talk about it."
Flinging my arms around her, I gave her a crushing hug. "Thanks."
"Ugh, get off me," she grumbled, though there was no bite to her words. I watched her walk toward her door for a second, collecting my thoughts before going back to the guys.
"So, now what?" Dorian repeated after I closed the door.
"I haven't the first clue. Mom has told me about meeting her mates, but her situation was a little different. She'd known two of them fo
r a while but had been denying the call." I finished eating, not wasting a bite. Peter grinned as I scraped the last of the fried potatoes off the plate. Harper was an excellent cook, especially for a vamp.
"You eat."
"Peter, you've seen me eat countless times over the years. During school breaks, I think I saw you more than I saw Tala. Honestly, we all thought you and her would end up together." That made this whole situation even more mortifying.
"Yeah, but I didn't really see you, you know?" He stared into my eyes. Normally his intense gaze would've been unnerving, but I found myself all too willing to just... look at him.
This was a damn mind trip. I closed my eyes and rinsed off my plate. "So, we should get to know each other," I said as I dried my hands.
"Okay, that sounds good," Dorian said. "What do you want to know?"
Everything I knew about him was bad. "Well, you, especially, I need to know more about. All I know is rumor and speculation from high school."
Everyone had called him a man whore. I didn't know if it was true, but part of me hoped it wasn't. I didn't mind someone feeling free with their body and enjoying sex, but I was the polar opposite. I'd been so sheltered and constantly looked after that I hadn't really had any experience. At all.
Peter cleared his throat. "I should probably let you know that Tala and I kissed once."
A rock settled in my gut. I'd been afraid of this. What if she had a burning crush on him? Now my mates would come between my sisters and I. "Oh?" I said shakily.
"Yeah, but neither of us felt anything from it. It was almost kind of gross."
What a jerk. "You do know we're identical triplets, except for our streak in our hair, right?" If she was gross, then so was I.
"Not because of how she looks! I've always thought the three of you were hot."
"Hell, yes." Dorian arched an eyebrow at me. "You three have been the subject of more than one Collective Academy guy's wet dreams.
My jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?"
Both guys burst out laughing. "You're saying you didn't know?" Peter asked. "Of course! You're sexy as hell, and all three of you are ice cold."