by Jen L. Grey
"I like them." Granted, I didn't have any yet, but I wasn't opposed to them at all. "You get them out of the way. Speaking of which, do I need to work somewhere to keep my scholarship in place?"
"God, no." She snorted and took a long sip of what should've been my coffee. "You don't have to do anything for it."
"It's really no problem." I grabbed another coffee cup out of the cabinet before popping another pod in the machine and brewed another cup. "I kinda feel bad getting a free ride." I opened and shut a few cabinet doors until finally I found a plate and pulled a knife from a drawer.
“Dear God, can you not be quiet,” she grumbled.
I spread the cream cheese on my bagel. “Hey, I don’t know where everything is yet.” I threw the knife in the sink and picked up my coffee.
"A job … that's not how things work here." She yawned and took another large sip.
"Well, let me know if your dad wants me to." I sat next to her and took a large bite.
"Speaking of which." Her blue eyes finally looked to be semi-alive. "Dad wants to have coffee with us Friday."
"With me?" I don't know why, but I didn't expect that.
"Well, yeah. He's kind of your sponsor so it would be good for you to meet him. Besides he wants to see who the girl is that I wanted to come here." She shrugged. "I hope you don't mind."
"What? No, of course not." Even if I did, I didn't have a leg to stand on. "Sure, that sounds great. I just don't know what my schedule is yet."
"No worries. We can figure it out later." She winked at me and then arched an eyebrow. "You inhaled that bagel."
"I hate being late." There were some things I was stringent on, and time was one. "Where am I supposed to meet them again?"
"Right outside the restaurant." She tapped her finger on the table. "How about I meet you down there when it's over? We can get a coffee?"
"They have coffee there? And you're drinking one now."
"No, I mean a good one. Like a latte or something." She waved me off. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you in an hour?" I put my plate and cup in the sink.
"I'll be there with bells on." She kicked her feet out from under the table and jiggled them.
"Please, don't ever do that again." It was strange how Bree had quickly become my best friend within just a few meetings. Our wolves seemed in harmony together as well, which made things that much smoother. Despite her upbringing, she was a little offbeat, which bode well with me. "I'll see you soon." I shut the door behind me.
Within a few minutes, I walked out of the elevator and found two girls talking in the lobby. Not bothering to interrupt them, I hurried out the door and over to the meeting spot. I glanced at my phone and realized I was ten minutes early. Great. I hadn't thought this through. A few students were walking around, and I was standing here alone, waiting.
"Hey there." A voice called from behind. "Are you here for the tour?"
I spun around, and my eyes landed on the second sexiest person I had ever seen. He had longish blond hair that was styled and sandy brown eyes that could be a woman's undoing. Even clean-shaven, he had the playboy look down pat. "Uh, yeah. I am."
"Now, that's a pleasant surprise." He grinned as he closed the distance between us. "I'm your guide, Kai."
"Oh, hi." I held my hand out for him to shake.
"Well, okay then." He took my hand in his and held it for a little longer than necessary. "And you are?"
"Mia." For some reason, him holding my hand felt awkward so I pulled it away. "I'm a freshman this year." Great, I was rambling.
"I figured since you're part of the tour." He placed his hands in the pockets of his black slacks and straightened his chest, making his athletic frame notable under the blood-red polo he had on. Of course, the polo had the school's logo on the left upper chest.
"Were we supposed to wear uniforms?" I glanced at my very casual outfit and cringed. "Bree had said it was casual. I can go change."
"No, calm down. I wore a uniform seeing as I'm technically on the clock." He took a step toward me again and grinned. "You look great."
"Uh... thanks." He had to be a womanizer given the way he was coming on so strong with me.
"Why am I not surprised to see Kai slumming it with a freshman scholarship candidate?" Liam's all-too-familiar voice called from behind me.
The breeze picked up, and his scent hit my nose. There went any hope I had for this being a good day and avoiding him at all costs.
"Hey, Liam." Kai took a step back from me and nodded his head.
"Do you always lurk around?" Would there ever be a time I could walk out of the dorm and not see him? "Because I'm getting serious creeper vibes from you." I turned around to face Liam head-on.
Kai's eyes widened, and he covered his mouth with his hand as he grinned.
"I don't think I was talking to you, so why don't you keep your gorgeous big mouth shut." He wore a sleeveless muscle shirt that had sweat drenched across his chest, and if I had guessed he was muscular before, there was no denying it now.
He was hands-down the hottest guy I'd ever seen. The fact that he called a part of me gorgeous had butterflies taking off in my belly and my wolf howling inside. What was wrong with me? This guy is an asshole. Every other word out of his mouth was awful toward me."How come every time I see you, you're sweating? I'm thinking you have image issues, so why don't you run along and work harder." Honestly, I could have licked him right then. What? Hell no. Just thinking about it, I really did want to taste him. Though I would never admit it.
"So you think you have me pegged?" Liam closed the distance between us. He stood closer to me than he should have, his eyes glowing with power.
"As the arrogant, pretty boy, spoiled brat who's had everything delivered to you on a silver platter?" My wolf rose up inside of me, so I had to keep reminding myself that he was an ass. His good looks were only a means to draw me in. I wouldn't submit to him.
Something flamed in his eyes that I didn't understand.
"What the hell, man?" Micah appeared from around the building, running at a fast pace. He paused when his eyes landed on me. "We've got to go. Coach is going to get mad."
"Yeah, I'm coming." Liam took a step back and glanced at Kai before settling his eyes back on me. "This isn't over." There was a threat deep inside them as his wolf warned mine, but I refused to cower under his gaze.
Once he ran back to join Micah, the other two guys appeared, and the four took off in the opposite direction. Right before they turned the corner, Evan, the eastern heir, paused and stared straight at me. If I hadn't realized it before now, it just sunk in. By refusing to submit to Liam multiple times, I was a target for all four of them.
I had a bad feeling that the next time I saw Liam, it wouldn't be just him I was fighting against.
Chapter Six
"That was intense." Kai chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I've never seen them ascend on a girl so fast."
"Don't worry. That wasn't my first run-in." A chill still ran down my spine from Evan's stare. It was bad enough having Liam only focusing his hate on me. "Even though in all fairness, our first interaction went much worse than this one."
"You know it's best to stay off their radar, right?" Kai arched an eyebrow and gave me a small smile. "I know most girls want to be on it, but they either tear them down by objectifying and using them for sex or humiliating them."
Of course, Liam would have his share of girls in his bed. It was a given, but hearing it tugged at my heart in ways I didn't want to understand. "Don't worry. I hate them. The last thing I'd want to do is be on their radar for any reason."
"Well, standing up for yourself is one of the quickest ways to make enemies of them, and you don't want that." He took a step closer to me, and his sweet cinnamon scent hit my nose.
"For you to be giving such a dire warning, I take it you've learned from experience." Sometimes, the best lessons learned were the ones you had to learn on your ow
n.
"Kind of. See, my dad wants me to be more on their radar, and I'm like you." He reached out and touched my arm. "I'm pretty sure I don't want to be."
"Is this where the tour starts?" A loud, arrogant voice caused me to turn around.
Three girls approached together with the leader standing slightly in front. She flipped red hair over her shoulder and placed a hand on her hip. Her muddy brown eyes landed on me and she scowled.
"Yes, it is." Kai didn't move and stayed beside me. "And you are?"
"Robyn." Her face smoothed out when she glanced at him. "And you are?"
"Kai." He nodded and turned his attention to the other two. "And you two are?"
"Oh, this is Sophia." Robyn pointed at the girl with straight blue hair and purple contacts. She was short by shifter standards, probably only five foot four inches, and her skin-tight pink dress left little to the imagination. "And this is Olivia." She pointed to the last girl whose shirt was so short, I bet if she moved the wrong way, her boobs would pop out. She was slightly taller than Sophia, but not by much. She blew a bubble and popped it, her pale green eyes examining Kai like he was a piece of meat. She grabbed a lock of her light brown hair and twirled it around her finger.
"We're from New York." Robyn lifted her nose in the air as she stated the obvious. "Our parents are some of the strongest alphas in the north … so it only makes sense that we're here."
"Well, okay then." Kai shook his head and smiled. "We're waiting on one more person, and then we can get moving."
"Sorry, I’m here." A guy about my height ran up to us. He rolled his jade eyes and sighed. "I'm so sorry. I got held up because... well, nevermind. I'm here now." He looked over at the three girls and arched his eyebrow. "You three look like you're going to a club instead of touring campus. Did you pull an all-nighter or something?"
I couldn't hold back my laughter. This guy was going to be my all-time favorite person in history.
"What? No." Robyn's face turned a shade red. "This is fashionable."
"Yeah. Okay." The guy smashed his lips together and adjusted his button-down shirt as he glanced at me. He strolled over and stood next to me. He leaned into me and whispered. "You look normal."
His vanilla scent was oddly comforting. I grinned at him and shook my head. "Don't be fooled."
A sly grin spread across his face.
"So, you must be Tripp." Kai held his hand out to him. "I'm Kai. Okay, I think we're ready to get the tour going now."
"Nice to meet you." He grinned and shook Kai's hand.
"All right, so we're off." Kai pointed to the restaurant that Bree and I had eaten at the night before. "This is the only restaurant onsite. If you want something beyond this, you'll have to go off campus to get it. However, they have a very wide menu and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
He turned and headed to the other end of the building. "This building serves as the athletics part of your curriculum. The bottom floor is for fighting and defense training. The second floor is for extracurriculars such as ballet, dance, and art. The top floor is for the council members only. This is where they meet when they come to the school. It allows them to also watch the most promising students while they are in the physical arena."
"Do they not care about academics?" My parents had always stressed how being an alpha was important in both smarts and brute strength. It's what made for the best type of leader especially when they had a good heart.
"Why would they care about that?" Robyn laughed like it was the funniest joke she’d ever heard. "All you have to be is strong enough to win. You can have your beta or something be the smart one."
Wow. I was kind of speechless. "If all the council cares about is fighting, then how could a student be the leader that their pack needs? Beat everyone into submission?" Oh, wait ... I still had something to say.
"Well, yeah." Her brows furrowed and she tilted her head like she wasn't sure if that was an actual question.
"Don't waste your time on her." Tripp shook his head and sighed. "She's too dumb to get it."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Robyn marched over and lifted her chin in the air.
"It means you think brawn always wins." Tripp shook his head and wrinkled his nose. "That's not always the case in the real world."
"That's enough." Kai's voice laced with power as his eyes glowed. "This happens every damn year. You get all these freshmen together, trying to get to the top immediately. It will not happen during this hour. Do you understand? I don't give a fuck what you do once you're done here, but you'll show some self-control or I'll make you."
"Got it." Robyn stumbled a few steps back, and her friends caught her.
"Hey, I'm cool." Tripp lifted both hands in the air. "I think," he said as he pointed to me and then paused. "What's your name?"
"Mia."
"I was only agreeing with what Mia said." He dropped his hands back down to his sides. "So that's it."
"Well, Mia." Kai's eyes returned to their normal color when they met mine. "They do care about grades. If they find a promising alpha they could use for new regional positions that open up or special projects, then they request their transcripts."
"Got it." At least they were looking at them.
Our small group followed Kai as he headed toward the other building.
Honestly, I wasn't sure how much longer this thing could actually go. There were only two buildings and a stadium besides the dorms. I was thinking I'd be waiting for Bree instead of it being the other way around.
"All right." Kai walked in front of the massive brick building that had tall, wooden front doors. The logo of the wolf howling at the moon was etched into each door. "This building is for all the other things. We're talking shifter history, human history, mathematics, chemistry ... Basically everything that can be taught inside a book."
"Those sound like human classes?" Olivia's mouth dropped open, revealing the huge wad of gum she'd been chewing.
I almost gagged on my own spit when I saw it. She reminded me what a walking STD would look like, and that was saying something. Wolf shifters couldn't catch them.
"I wouldn't call them human classes." Kai bobbed his head for a second. "With the exception of human history. Chemistry, Math, English, and all those other subjects we need to know."
"But I thought we were just learning how to be alphas." Sophia's forehead lined with what had to be worry. "I didn't know we still had to do homework and study."
"We're in a highly respected university." Tripp chuckled. "What did you expect?"
"But for shifters." Robyn shook her head. "It's an Ivy League for us."
"It's a true university." Kai arched an eyebrow. "We have the same expectations here as Harvard or Dartmouth. The only difference is you'll have other classes that align with your shifter history and abilities. We still have to learn how to interact with humans. That's why we have a sports team. This isn't just some cushy college that will give you passing grades if your attitude is strong enough."
"So is that everything? Are we going into the building?" I was more than ready to get away from those three idiots.
"Nope." Kai grinned. "This is my favorite part of the tour."
"Okay." I glanced around and was coming up clueless.
"We get to shift and race around the campus. It's so that you can get a feel for the land and find out that there are certain areas you can't run to in your wolf form. When we get to the farthest section, we can run in, I’ll turn and head back this direction." He waved us to follow him. "So, now we shift."
"Really?" I got that most shifters didn't have a problem with nudity, but I wasn't super comfortable shifting around two guys that I had just met and weren't my pack members.
"If you're shy, I'm sure you can go shift in the woods." Kai smiled in my direction.
"Oh my God." Robyn began stripping her clothes off right in front of the building. "Don't be such a prude."
"Maybe you shouldn't be so loose." I hated people who tried t
o act like they were above everyone. "Keeping your legs closed every now and then might be a good thing."
"Don't be so jealous." She giggled as she removed her bra, letting the girls spring free. "Not everyone has great bodies like us."
"Here, I'll go with you." Tripp grabbed my arm and tugged me in the direction of the forest. "I don't want to get naked in front of those hyenas either."
Kai looked at the girls. "Meet us right in front of the tree line." He pointed a few feet over from the direction we were heading.
"What? Neither one of you want to enjoy watching them strip?" Even though I hated to admit it, they were three very attractive girls if you liked that kind of look.
"Nope. Those are the kind of girls who are purely opportunistic." Kai placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the trees. "Believe me, those are the type you don't want to get caught up with if you’re smart."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way." Tripp shook his head. "Sometimes their kind of crazy is too much no matter how damn hot they are. Am I right?"
"There is a girl standing right here, you know?" I had to admit though; the more I hung around Tripp the better. I liked knowing where I stood with someone. All of the political shit was for the birds.
"Yeah, but you know I'm right." He bumped his shoulder into mine.
"Let's hurry." Kai pointed to a section of trees. "There is some thick brush over there. Tripp and I can shift somewhere else."
"Thanks." I jogged into the treeline where he had pointed and my eyes landed on the thick bushes he'd referenced. I hurried over and stripped down, placing my clothes strategically on the bushes so they wouldn't get dirty. I stood straight up and closed my eyes, calling my wolf to the forefront. Within seconds, I was down on four legs, and dark fur covered my skin.
I ran out into the clearing and found the three girls were already there. Our wolves’ fur was the same color as our hair, so when my eyes landed on a mangey brown color, I laughed. No wonder she dyed her hair blue.
Kai ran out from another section of the woods with Tripp behind him. When he reached us, he threw his head to the side and took off.