by Jen L. Grey
We rolled into the parking lot, and my eyes took in all the nice Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs that littered the lot. Even though my dad was driving a brand new Chevy Tahoe, our vehicle paled in comparison. After he pulled into one of the spots, we all climbed out of the car and went to the back to grab my bags.
There were a few students who filled the parking lot, doing the same thing as us.
Dad grabbed two of my large boxes while Max grabbed the two smaller ones that contained more of my personal items. I took out the two large suitcases that housed all of my clothes. Once we were each loaded down, Dad closed the trunk, and the three of us took off toward the sign that said ‘Girls' dorm this way.’
Max's head kept jerking at every girl that he saw. I was ready for his head to snap off any second.
"Can you, like, chill?" The last thing I needed was for him to get a reputation for being a creeper. That probably wouldn't bode well for me.
"What?" His eyes focused back on the sidewalk, and he quickened his pace as if he hadn't been acting like a weirdo.
"Son, don't even try to deny it." Dad chuckled and shook his head. "But you need to get your act together. We're around the elite. If you're wanting to replace me as pack alpha one day, you're going to have to grow up."
"Yeah, okay." Max sighed, and I could see the hurt in his eyes. "You're right."
He had always wanted to come here and was excited to live out his dream even vicariously. I hated that Dad was being so hard on him, but he was right. Wolf Moon wasn't the place to draw negative attention to yourself. I already regretted my decision to come, but all I had to do was stick it out a year. I bet that’s all the time I’d get here.
I rushed ahead of them, hurrying past the windows that lined the front of the building, and reached the glass door. I tugged to open it, but it refused to budge. "Uh..." I glanced around and noticed an intercom at eye level. I pressed the button, and soon the door buzzed as a voice spoke through the speakers, "Come on in."
Not wasting another second, I opened the door and waved them both in. As I stepped in behind them, I took in what had to be a student lobby area, only more elaborate and clean. There were several large, blood-red, leather couches placed throughout the open area with tables and televisions strategically located around the room.
In the center was a small desk where two girls, who couldn't be much older than me, sat. The blonde-haired one smiled at me and stood as I approached. "Hi, my name is Blaire. I'm one of the RA's in the dorm," she said in a faint Southern drawl and pointed at the girl next to her, "and this is Scarlett. She's the junior RA that's helping me."
Scarlett sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. Her dark olive skin had a glow, and her golden eyes reminded me of one of Liam's buddies who had shown up that night at the party. She scowled at me.
This was going great. "Hi, I’m Mia Davis." I smiled and pointed to the men behind me. "My dad is Ethan and my brother is Max."
"Good to meet you." Dad smiled at the girl and ignored the one scowling in our direction.
"Figures this would be our financial aid girl." Scarlett tilted her head as she stared me up and down. "Rip off designer clothes and hair that's way too flat."
Blaire winced at the words but took a deep breath, not letting her smile fall. "So you're going to be on the top floor, room 1202."
"She's on the top floor." Scarlett's hands dropped to her sides, and a frown lined her face. "There has to be a mistake."
"Nope, no mistake." Blaire plucked a key and a badge with my name on it from the drawer and handed them to me. "Do you need any help, or do you have it?"
"We're good." I glanced around the room, wondering where the stairwell was.
"The elevator is right down this hall." Blaire pointed to her left.
My eyes followed her finger, and I nodded. "Thanks." I turned to Dad and Max before taking off in the direction she had indicated.
When I reached the elevators, I was surprised to find four in the hallway—two on each side. Well, okay. We shouldn't have a problem coming and going. I pressed the up button and turned to Dad and Max. "This is really nice."
"It reminds me of a high-quality hotel." Max glanced around and sighed. "And to think, the one elevator in my dorm doesn't work most of the time. You've got four."
"I doubt these will stop working, and if they do, it won't be for long." Dad shook his head as one of the elevators dinged and the doors opened. "Let's go check out this room of yours."
After we all entered, I hit the number twelve, and the doors shut quickly, taking off toward the top floor. "I wonder why that girl freaked out about me having a room on top?"
"No clue, but you won't have to worry about anyone being loud above you." Dad winked at me.
The doors opened, and we stepped out, entering a hallway that was spotless. There was no one loitering about the hallways like at KSU, and the top floor was quiet. The walls were painted the same shade of silver as one of the school's signature colors, and my room was the first one on the right.
"All right. Here we go." I entered the key into the lock and turned. The door opened without any issues.
"You're here." Bree's voice startled me, and she appeared right in front of me, wrapping her arms around me. "You took forever."
"Bree?" My voice must have cracked. I liked the girl. We had connected at the party before she was forced to rush off, but I wasn't thrilled that she was my roommate. That made avoiding Liam even harder.
"I know you're shocked, but I'm so excited that we're here together." She smiled and hugged me again.
"Uh... hello." My dad cleared his throat, and his brows furrowed. "You didn't tell me that you knew someone who attended here."
"Oh, that's because they only met once." Max pushed past me and entered the actual room. "It was at that party we went to before summer. She's my buddy Nate's girl."
"Come on." She tugged me inside.
My breath seemed to get lodged in my chest. We walked into a large living room area. There was a silver L-shaped leather couch in the center of the room against the wall with an enormous flat-screen right across from it. A recliner sat on the side closest to the door. A hallway led out of the room immediately on the left, and another one passed by the living area straight ahead. To the right side was a roomy kitchen that held modern appliances and a large, square table in the center that could seat up to six.
"Okay, I claimed the room down that hallway." She pointed to the hallway furthest from us. "So your room is down there." She motioned to the hallway closest to where we stood.
"I can't believe you have this much room in a dorm." Max glanced around with wide eyes. "This is bigger than some of my friends' apartments off-campus."
"Let's get this stuff into her room, son, so we can let her get settled." Dad walked past me.
Max and I followed him down the hall to the only door on the right. When I walked into the room, I found myself even more shocked.
The room was huge; almost the same size as Mom and Dad's master bedroom. There was a massive king-size bed sitting in the center, arranged with a dark cherry nightstand on each side and an oversized matching dresser on one wall. Toward the back of the room, on the right was a large bathroom, and to the left was a huge walk-in closet.
"You've got it made." Max shook his head and sighed. "I'm struggling really hard not to be jealous again."
Even though he wasn't trying to make me feel bad, I did. There wasn't a way to make this better.
"We're going to head home unless you need help." Dad placed the two large boxes on the floor and walked over to pull me into a hug.
"No, go on." I wrapped my arms around him in response and took a deep breath. His musky scent always brought me comfort and reminded me of home. "You guys have a two-hour drive."
"Yeah, and then I have to get back into the swing of things tomorrow at my own school." Max stole me away from Dad and hugged me really hard.
"Do you need me to walk you down?" Tears thre
atened to burn my eyes. I hadn't been prepared to feel like this.
"Nope, we’ve got it. We'll call you when we make it back home." Dad reached out and squeezed my arm ever so gently again. "I love you."
"Love you too." It hurt to watch them walk out of the room to head back downstairs. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I turned around and faced the huge room again, wrapping my arms around my body.
As I bent to start unpacking my stuff, I heard an all too familiar voice clearly from my room.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Liam's voice was loud and full of anger. “Did he drop off that guy?”
"What are you talking about?" I heard Bree snapback.
"I just ran into that guy from the party that I had to rescue you from." His voice grew scarily quiet. “Where is he?”
"He was just dropping someone off, but it’s not Nate." Bree's voice squeaked at the end.
"That girl?" His footsteps stomped in my direction.
Great, I hadn't even been here ten minutes, and I was already going to have to see him again. I had a feeling this confrontation would be even more awful than the last.
Chapter Four
Liam stormed into my room. His dark hair was wet with sweat, and his polo shirt molded to his chest. His blue eyes darkened even further to a blue so dark it could pass as black. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Wow, he hated me as much as I hated him. Stupid, sexy asshole. "I'm unpacking. What does it look like?" If he thought he could intimidate me, well, he was right. Though I'd be damned if I let it show. My wolf began to surge forward, ready for action. I grabbed my pillow from the bag and glanced over his shoulder at his sister. "I thought only the smartest and best went here."
"You better watch your mouth." He closed the distance between us and grabbed my pillow from out of my hand, dropping it back into my bag. "Don't bother to unpack. I'll take care of this."
"Dad already knows." Bree's voice grew stronger, but there was a touch of fear in it.
"What?" Liam turned to face-off with his sister. "Then how is she here?"
"Because he was the one who wanted her here." She straightened her shoulders and glanced at his feet. "I told him about what happened at the party. He was intrigued and thought she deserved a chance to be here."
"So you told him she had a smart mouth?" He shook his head, and his dark, hate-filled eyes landed on me. His eyes took on a slight glow. "How the hell did she get up here on this level? She's not related to anyone on the council."
"Wait. This is for council member families?" Now I wanted to know the same thing as him.
"She's my friend. I wanted her to be my roommate." Her eyes moved from me then to her brother. "So Dad made it happen."
"Great, so he's fucking with me." He shook his head and frowned. "Of course, that's why he had me run over here after football practice. I'm assuming you don't need any help then."
Figured he'd be on the football team. The dickhead got everything handed to him on a silver platter. He probably didn't even know what hard work was.
"No, I don't." She ran her hand through her dark brown hair.
"Great." He turned his attention back to me. His body was tense, and he looked down his nose at me. He took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose.
Every other person I had ever thought was a jackass before now was redeemed in my eyes. Liam had that particular look of disgust down, and the fact that he was so damn sexy made it somehow worse. My body wanted to respond to him, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to slap or kiss him. Hell, maybe a combination of the two would do the trick.
"Don't get too comfortable here." He took another step closer to me, his musky sandalwood scent filling my nose. A low growl emanated from his chest.
Fear wanted to overcome me, but I squashed it down as I reached to grab the pillow he'd thrown back into my bag. I straightened my back and locked my eyes with his. I shouldn't do it. In fact, staring him down was going to royally piss him off more. I was challenging him, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted... no needed... him to be as infuriated with me as I was with him. Yeah, I may not come from a regal bloodline, but I was still a person and demanded some level of respect. "I didn't ask to come here. It was extended to me, so back the hell off."
"Don’t worry; it can be taken away." He took another step toward me, and his scent almost made me dizzy.
It was officially my most favorite smell, which only pissed me off more. "If so, how am I still standing here." I was being stupid. I was purposely pushing his buttons, challenging his wolf. But no matter what, I couldn't stop myself.
"You won't be for long." Liam took a deep breath and scanned me from head to toe.
His perusal made my body warm, and I took another deep breath, needing to smell him. "You should go take a shower." The words fell from my mouth before I could take them back. "You stink."
"Really now?" He arched his eyebrow as the corners of his lips tugged upward. "Most women don't complain. They like to be the ones who make me sweaty."
Oh, I bet they did. In fact, the thought was a little too appealing even to me. I bet all that pent-up anger made him amazing in bed too. Whoa, I had to stop that train of thought right there. "I bet it's tragic when you can't get off with a girl."
"What?" His eyes snapped back to mine. "What the hell does that mean?"
I needed to stop, but for some reason, he brought the worst out of me. "Obviously, you only think highly of yourself and no one else. Maybe you have to look in the mirror and focus completely on you to finally release. Yeah, I bet that's how you do it."
Bree's snort interrupted the tension between us. He glanced over at her and growled. "This is on you." He headed to the door and stopped to glance over his shoulder at me. "Don't get too comfortable here. I promise you this won't last long." He walked out the door and down the hall. Soon, the main door to our room slammed shut.
“He’s such a dick,” I sighed and realized who I said it in front of. “Uh... sorry, I know he’s your brother.”
"You are definitely going to make things interesting." She laughed as she stepped beside me and grabbed one of my boxes. "Here, let me help you."
"No, you don't have to." I already felt obligated to her now that I knew she was the reason why I had even made it in here. "It's fine."
"What? No." She dropped the box to the ground, and I cringed.
At least it had been the one with only my blankets and nothing breakable. I grabbed the box with my makeup and jewelry box. I couldn't risk her breaking the things inside it. "Are you okay?" I almost felt as if I was on a different planet.
"You can't treat me weird." Bree reached for my box, and I moved out of the way so she only caught air.
Her eyes, which were almost an exact replica of Liam's, flashed with hurt. "Why can't I help you?"
"This has my makeup and jewelry in it." I lifted it a little higher in front of me. "You can't throw it down like you did the other one."
Her forehead creased, and then she snorted before breaking out in loud laughter. "You really are strange."
"Uh... thanks, I think." That was a point Max liked to remind me of over and over again.
"No, it's good." She took a step toward me and touched my arm. "It's refreshing. Do you know you're the first person I've ever met that treated me like a normal person? And the fact that you stood up for me with my brother was the icing on the cake."
"But what about Nate? He seems to really like you." It was obvious, considering the way he'd watched her almost the entire time at the party when she wasn't paying attention. He was completely and utterly smitten with her.
"Oh, he does." She waved me off. "But he also enjoys the fact that my dad's a council member and that my brother is the next in line."
"Well, it's kind of cool." Actually, I didn't think that any longer. "Or at least it was."
"See, you haven't even been here an hour, and you're already seeing things differently." She reache
d down and tore open the box and pulled out my navy blue sheets. She held them out and pursed her lips. "What size sheets are these?"
"Full-size." I never imagined I'd have a king-size bed. My brother's dorm was tight with the two full mattresses in it. "I didn't realize..."
"Actually, we have sheets provided for us here." She headed over to the walk-in closet and came back out with satin blood-red sheets. "So this will do fine." She moved to the bed and started making it for me.
"You really don't have to do that." She had already done so much for me. "I can do it."
"No, it's fine." She waved me off as she began tucking the sheets into the corners. "And now that the staff knows you're here, they'll be washing your bedding and making your bed from here on out, so it's no biggie."
"What?" That couldn't be covered by my financial aid. "I can do it. I mean I can't afford to pay someone..."
She waved me off. "No, it's part of the tuition and rooming with me. It's no biggie at all." She finished putting the sheets on and grinned. "Are you going to help me, or am I doing it all by myself?"
"Shit, sorry." I reached down and tore the box open. I pulled out my jewelry box and headed over to the dresser, placed it on the side, next to the mirror, and opened it up. As much as it didn’t make sense, I always checked to be sure the necklace my mother gave me on my sixteenth birthday was still intact. After my first shift, she took me running through the woods. When we got to a small clearing, she shifted back to her human form to grab the clothes that she had left for both of us next to one of the trees. It was strange that Dad and Max weren't there, but I wouldn't have traded the time with her for the world. At first, she'd acted like she was nervous, but after we dressed, she leaned behind the tree and pulled out a small, wrapped box. She'd handed it to me and told me that this was a special present from her to me. That it was a family heirloom and important for me to have. I opened the box with shaky hands, and when I had the cover off, the pendant lying within took my breath away. She explained that it had been a cufflink before and that she had it made into a pendant for me. As she talked, I couldn't take my eyes off it. It had five raised paw prints: four silver paw prints and then a slightly larger red paw print that sat on top of them. I'd wanted to put it on that day, but she told me it was too important to wear and that she only gave it to me to remind me that I wasn't alone. I'd always found it odd that she gave me a necklace she didn't want me to wear. However, when tears trailed down her cheeks as she made me promise, I knew right then and there it was very important to her. We never brought it up again, and when I told Dad thanks later that night, he'd looked at me strangely.