by Jen L. Grey
Since I wasn't part of a direct pack with any of them, we couldn't mind link.
My paws dug into the ground as I pushed my legs to catch up to him. The birds were singing. The air smelled clean and fresh, and the sun shone down warming me even more. As we ran through the thickening woods, my eyes took in all the squirrels and wildlife. The amount of wildlife here proved how protected they kept this area. Back home, there were some rabbits, squirrels, and snakes, but not like here.
We had to run for over twenty minutes before Kai turned us around and had us heading back in the direction we came. The three girls took off running faster than the rest of us, but I wasn't in any hurry to get back. This was the first time I'd felt at peace since coming here.
Both Kai and Tripp stayed back with me, and the three of us ran in comforting silence. As we approached the buildings, I hurried back to my spot inside the tree line to change back into my clothes. As I trotted over to the area, a faint smell of strawberry bubble gum filled my nose, followed closely by the rancid stink of a skunk.
I hadn't smelled that when I was here the first time. I hurried and shifted back to my human form and reached to grab for my clothes, but they were soaking wet. Oh shit.
Bringing my tank top to my nose, I almost vomited. Somehow a skunk had sprayed all over my clothes.
It had to have been those three, and it explained why they'd run off in such a hurry to get back here before me. I'd been so stupid. I couldn’t shift back into my wolf and hope to find a way into the dorm. It wasn’t like I could scan my badge to get in... my heart sunk even more.
"Hey, Mia. You okay?" Kai's concerned voice burst through my concentration.
"I've got a problem." The longer I tried not to tell him, the worse it would be.
"What's going on?" His footsteps headed in my direction. “Damn, what’s that smell?”
Here it was. They wanted me humiliated and it was perfect timing. "My clothes. That smell is my clothes." I had to rip it off like a bandage.
"That's why those three were running back here so fast." Tripp's voice sounded angrier than I'd ever expected.
"If you leave your keys on the ground, you can shift back and..." Kai's voice trailed off. "Shit, those are still in your pockets, right?"
I hadn’t even considered that. I held my breath and grabbed my shorts with one hand, turning them so the keys and badge fell out onto the ground. "Yup, they’re here." At least I had that going for me.
"One second, you can wear my shirt," Tripp said.
“No, don’t.” I refused to embarrass myself further than needed. At least as a wolf, people might have thought I shredded my clothes to shift.
“Are you sure?” Tripp’s voice was full of surprise. “I mean, if you put those clothes on, you’re going to stink.”
Kai growled. “I knew those three were no good.”
“Okay, it’s 1202 on the twelfth floor.” At this point, I had nothing else to lose.
"Hey, what's that at the edge of the bush?" Tripp’s voice was getting closer.
“Stay back.” I didn’t want him to see me naked. My eyes landed on a white piece of paper that was folded in half and was being held down by a branch. "It's a note."
As I unfolded it, I read words I hadn't expected.
Do I have your attention now? - Liam
That asshole had set me up. He found three new freshmen so desperate to be at the top that they agreed to humiliate me. If he thought this was going to change things, he’d be learning differently. No matter what though, I had to act like it didn’t faze me. Let the games begin.
Chapter Seven
"What does it say?" A few branches broke as Kai took a step toward me but he stopped short.
"It's from Liam." If I had thought I might not feel complete hate for him earlier, I was now corrected. He was an asshole and a scumbag. I never understood why someone would be called a douche until this very moment. "He just wanted to let me know that he was behind it."
"Who the fuck is Liam?" Tripp's voice was laced with anger.
"Only the northern heir to The Blood Council." Kai almost sounded defeated. "Which means there’s nothing we can do."
"I'd heard those guys were assholes, but this is low."
"I'm shifting. I'll be out in a second." The longer I stood out here, the funnier I was sure this was for them. After shifting, I bent my head down to pick up my shoes, but obviously they hadn't forgotten about them. They reeked of skunk too. Dammit, that was my favorite pair.
Instead, I used my mouth to pick up my badge, key, and the note before trotting out to the two men.
"Do you want me to get your clothes?" Tripp grimaced.
I shook my head no and lowered the note on the ground.
“Got it,” Kai said as he bent down and to it.
I started making my way to the dorm. It wasn’t like I'd ever be able to get that stench out of them, not with my wolf nose.
“Well, at least let one of us carry your badge for you.” Kai approached me, and I dropped my small bundle into his hand and then nodded my head in thanks.
Kai and Tripp flanked me. One walking on each side. When we approached the backside of the large building that led closest to the dorms in the clearing, both Robyn and her friends were standing near the restaurant with Liam and his buddies. Their smiles dropped off their faces when their eyes landed on me.
Now I hated that I dragged Kai and Tripp into it. I didn't expect Liam and his friends would have the nerve to be here, but who was I kidding? He was the bully and had to see how this played out. They'd expected me to not have any help and be stuck wearing my clothes.
"Hey," Liam shouted as he began walking in our direction, but he was at least a quarter-mile away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Just ignore him." Kai cut the corner sharper and sped up since we were closer to the dorms. "Act like you don't know he's talking to us."
"Got it." Tripp began to jog while Kai and I ran to catch up. It took only a few minutes at our fast pace before we were coming up on the girls’ dorm.
There was no way Liam was going to catch up to us before we got inside. They had been overly cocky and stayed too far away.
Kai scanned my badge, and Tripp hurried to open the door for me. As we entered the dorm, a few girls glanced our way from across the room but shrugged it off, returning to their conversation.
Tripp hit the elevator button and luckily the door opened immediately. By the time the three of us entered and as the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Liam bursting through the main front dorm doors.
"Uh... at least he won't know where we're heading." Tripp sighed and let his shoulders sag. "The last thing I need to do is get on the bad side of a future council leader."
I hated to tell him that Liam knew exactly where I lived and that he probably even had a key to it himself. I had a hard time believing Bree and he were related, but it wasn’t like I could tell Tripp even if I wanted to right now while in animal form.
The elevator dinged and the door opened when we reached my floor. I was headed for the door of my dorm, as it opened to reveal Bree.
Her eyes locked on mine, and she stumbled back. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Sorry, she's trying to get to her room." Kai appeared beside me and glanced at Bree. "We'll get moving along."
"We’d better hurry in case he scopes the floors." Tripp glanced behind him like Liam was just going to appear.
This was stupid. I pushed past Bree and ran into my room. As I slammed my door, I heard the elevator ding out in the hallway.
"Come on in, boys." Bree's voice was tense, and I heard both guys enter the room. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you what happened." Liam's angry voice pounded in my ears. "These two idiots got involved in something they shouldn't have."
"What did you do?" Bree's voice for once wasn't timid around him.
Realizing I didn't need to put her in the middle of whatever was going on between us, I shifted back to
two legs and ran into my closet to grab some yoga pants and a shirt. As the horrid stench hit my nose, it occurred to me that the smell had stuck to my hand.
Dammit, I’d touched the clothes. At least, it wasn't all over me. I thought about washing my hand for a second before deciding not to. I'd make him suffer through it as well.
"I was teaching someone their place in the hierarchy." His voice was laced with so much anger. "But these two got in the damn way."
I swung the door open so hard it hit against the wall, and I marched down the hallway. "You don't have a right to get mad at them after the childish prank you tried pulling on me. Really? Drenching my clothes in skunk piss. That’s the best you got?"
"That's where you're wrong, pup." He took a few menacing steps toward me, and I could tell by how tense he was that he was on the edge. “That was just a nice warning. One that I thought someone at your level would understand.”
I was livid. I wanted to push him over that edge badly.
"Actually, no I'm not, Sparky." If we're going with condescending wolf names, I could play that game too. "You are not a god."
"Look..." Kai started, but both Liam and I turned toward him and yelled '’No'’ at the same time.
"I'd be quiet," Tripp whispered as he headed over to the couch and sat down. He placed his hands behind his head with his full attention on us.
The elevator dinged again, and that's when I realized the main door wasn't closed. Of course, Liam's goons strolled into the living room, joining the party. Except I refused to back down from Liam's gaze. Instead, I held it, almost welcoming the challenge.
"Aw, look at the puppy trying to attack the big wolf." Simon cackled and flanked Liam, staring me down. "You know what happens when someone doesn't receive their lesson? A bigger one is shortly to come."
"Thanks for the warning." I took a deep breath and lifted my chin, refusing to back down. "It'll keep me up at night for sure."
"He wasn't warning you." Micah, of course, stood on the other side of Liam glaring at me.
Evan stood in the doorway, scowling.
"It's funny, you act like you're all-powerful, but there are four of you right now staring down one of me." My wolf, for once, was just as angry as me. "But I guess there's a lot to be overcompensating for."
Bree snorted and then broke out into laughter.
"We need to get back to practice." Evan motioned for them to go with him. "We don't have time for this shit."
"He's right." Simon punched Liam in the arm. "Coach isn't going to be thrilled we bailed on the run."
"He'll deal with it." Liam took a few steps toward me, his chest brushing against mine. His eyes glowed but with something other than alpha will. He lowered his head, and my breath caught.
That asshole couldn't be about to kiss me. What was even more worrisome was the thought didn't repel me. Though it really should have. What the hell did that say about me? The words mate flashed in my mind, but I pushed them away. That couldn't be what this was… could it? Besides, I hated him. He was awful.
The corners of his mouth tipped upward and his nose wrinkled. "You stink. Maybe you should take care of that."
"Aw, I'm so sorry about that." I raised my right hand that smelled like ass and rubbed my palm across his cheek.
"What the fuck?" He jerked back, and anger once again returned to his eyes, turning the blue to almost black.
That I could handle.
"I thought you had something on your face." I had to force myself not to smile. "My bad."
"Come on." Simon grabbed Liam's arm and tugged him out the door while Micah stepped into my personal space and stared straight at me.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you better watch yourself." He growled, showing me just a smidgen of his wolf. "The best thing for you to do is walk away and pretend that you don't know us. Otherwise, right now will be the highlight of your year."
This dude scared me, but I refused to cower. "If you can get him to leave me alone, then we won't have a problem. I'm not here to make a name for myself. I'm only here to learn."
"Make sure you mean that." He glanced over at Kai and Tripp. "And you two better never interfere with council business again." He walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
"Wow, that was weirdly intense." Tripp shook his head and stood up, clapping. "But bravo. Bravo. It was standing ovation worthy."
"Really?" After the whole thing, I felt exhausted. "I just want to wash my hands." I hurried into the kitchen and turned on the sink water. I grabbed the dish soap that was right next to the sink and scrubbed my hands.
"How did you get involved?" Bree asked, looking in Kai’s direction as I dried my hands before entering the living room again.
"I was her guide this morning." Kai scratched the back of his neck and grimaced.
"When did you start doing tours?" Bree arched an eyebrow.
"This year. Dad thought it'd be good for me." He shrugged and looked toward me.
"Ahh, so you guys know each other." It kind of made sense given how small the school is.
"Yeah, my dad's one of the regional pack leaders who report to Mr. Hale." He pursed his lips. "So I know their family fairly well."
"That's one way of putting it." She smiled and focused on Tripp. "And you are?"
"Single." He lifted both fingers at her like they were guns.
Oh my God. "I'm pretty sure that's not what she meant."
"Can't blame me for trying." He tilted his head to the side and stood. "I'm Tripp. I'm a lowly freshman here just like Mia over there."
"And you've already become one of my brother's targets." Bree snorted and sat down on the love seat. "And I thought Mia had won that trophy."
"Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I still have it." I hated to admit it, but Micah's warning still made me squirm. "And I hate that I got you two involved."
"So what happened?" She wrinkled her nose. "Other than you smelling like a skunk."
"That's what happened. I saw him this morning before the tour, and the next thing I know, three freshmen girls who were part of our tour made my clothes smell and left a note from Liam behind." I sighed. It was still kind of hard to believe. “My question is: How did they do it without making themselves stink?”
"And here my brother tries to pretend he's mature." She rolled her eyes. "That's high school antics." Her eyes widened. “He’d ordered some skunk essence the other day. The only reason I know is because Dad texted both of us, wanting to know what the hell we ordered. It reeked even in the packaging.”
"So he’d planned this." I hadn’t thought those three were the brightest, so that made sense. “He only had to find those three bimbos to do it for him.”
"Well, they didn't get their schedules." Kai placed my keys, badge, and note on the dark cherry coffee table and then pulled out a stack of crumpled papers. "So they won't know where to go the first day." He pulled out one and handed it to me. "Here's yours."
"Ohhh... what do you have?" Bree jumped up and ran over to peek at it.
I glanced at my schedule and blinked a few times. I had four classes: Shifter History, Comp One, Endurance, and Pre-Calculus. This almost looked like a normal schedule I'd have had at KSU, well, other than Shifter History.
"Yuck, math first thing in the morning." Bree shook out her body as if cleansing herself from using the words. "That's horrid."
"And here's yours." Kai held Tripp's schedule out toward him.
"Sweet." He took it and glanced it over. "Please tell me you have Shifter History and Pre-Calculus." His eyes scanned mine.
"I do." At least it's nice to know someone in a couple of my classes.
"I have Endurance with you." Kai smiled at me.
"Well, that sucks." Bree pouted. "I don't have any with you. Next semester, that changes."
"I didn't make this schedule." Knowing her, she'd get her father to make it happen.
"Once you declare a major, it'll be smoother sailing." Kai came over and stood next to me. "T
he first year, they just make sure you take fundamental courses that are important."
"Major? There's so much I don't know about this university." It was kind of sinking in how unprepared I was.
"You get to major in anything just like a normal college." Bree leaned back in her seat and laughed. "You really didn't research this school at all."
"So you pick pre-med, law, psychology, anything you want." Tripp folded his schedule back up. "And then they have our shifter leadership classes wrapped into the program like Shifter History."
Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.
"Can we continue this talk in the restaurant?" Bree leaned her head back against the couch and sighed. "I need coffee."
"First off, I gave you my coffee this morning, and the kitchen is only a few feet away." This was the first time she came off spoiled.
"But I need a latte." She stood on her feet and waved us to follow. "Let's walk and talk."
I opened my mouth to argue, but Kai reached over and brushed his fingers along my hand. "Sometimes it's better to just go with it."
I jerked my hand back, and hurt flashed across his face.
"No, it's the hand I touched my stinky clothes with." The last thing I wanted to do was hurt his feelings.
"Speaking of which, what are you going to do with them?" Tripp stood and headed toward the door.
"Is burning them an option?" I didn’t think there was any way I could salvage them.
"No, but throwing them away is." Bree opened the door and beckoned us through.
They did have a point. It wasn’t like I could leave them out there. I was still upset over my shoes most of all. They were my most comfortable pair. "Hold on, let me grab a garbage bag so I can throw it away while we're out."
"A garbage bag?" Tripp arched an eyebrow at me and smirked. "You think one is going to cut it?"
"He's right." Kai waved his hand in front of his face. "It's pretty bad. You at least want a double layer."
"I'm not going to the cafeteria with garbage bags." Bree tapped her fingers on her pants leg.
"I’m not saying that we should. But I need to get rid of my clothes first." Hell, my hand already smelled like it. Might as well get it over with.