by Jen L. Grey
"I can help you." Kai headed into the kitchen with me. "Do you have some gloves?"
Great, this was like we were performing surgery. I hoped that our plan worked; otherwise, Liam would win this battle.
Chapter Eight
Hanging out with Tripp, Kai, and Bree yesterday was more enjoyable than I expected. The whole debacle of retrieving my clothes had been unexpectedly fun, and we all hung out for over an hour in the coffee shop.
Today, classes started. Pre-Calculus was my first one, and I was ecstatic that Tripp would be there with me.
I scanned my closet, trying to figure out what the most comfortable option would be to wear for at least the first day. Of course, blue jeans wouldn't be in the dress code. High school had been more forgiving with wardrobe choices than here.
Even though uniforms were ridiculous, I had to get over it. There wasn't any changing it. I pulled out a silver button-down shirt and a blood-red skirt. When this nightmare was all over, I would be hating these colors.
After I quickly dressed, I went into the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth and put on some makeup. Even though I couldn't get rid of the smell completely, it wasn't nearly as bad... I prayed.
Each time I brought my right hand up to my face to apply mascara or eye shadow, I would still gag. So getting ready took a lot longer since I had to use my less dominant hand.
When I was finally satisfied with my appearance, I headed out toward the kitchen. I glanced at the clock, and it was only eight-fifteen. I had forty-five minutes until I needed to get there.
I threw a coffee pod into the Keurig and got my breakfast together of a cinnamon raisin bagel and cream cheese. As I smeared the cream cheese on, Bree walked out of her room.
"Hey, why don't we go down to the restaurant?" She pouted when I bit off a piece of my bagel.
"Nope, not interested." I grabbed my cup of coffee and meandered to the kitchen table.
"Why not?" Her shoulders dropped as she opened the freezer and searched around for food. "It always tastes better when someone else makes it."
"One, that's not true." She was definitely spoiled. Somehow, I was going to break her of it. "And two, your brother always appears wherever I go. I don't want another run-in with him on my first day, so my happy ass will stay here."
"So you're hiding from him?" Bree arched an eyebrow as she pulled out some chocolate pancakes.
"No." I didn't like what she was insinuating. "I'm avoiding him. There's a difference."
"Are you sure?" She pulled out a plate from a cabinet and plopped five large pancakes on it. "Either way, you're inconveniencing yourself not to see him."
"That's not true." In all fairness, I might not have gone to the restaurant as often anyway. Only I chose to focus on the right now. It helped support my case better. "I would've wanted to eat breakfast here regardless."
She tossed the plate into the microwave and sighed. "Fine. I guess I can forgive you since I'm eating chocolate for breakfast."
"It might be good for you to have to warm up your own food." We had to take baby steps. Once she mastered the microwave, maybe we could venture into the risky world of boiling water.
"Yeah, yeah." The microwave beeped, and she opened it, grabbing her plate. "Shit, that's hot."
"I mean it was warming up your food. What did you expect?" I grinned at her.
"Don't make fun of me." She dropped the plate on the table and pulled up a chair by me. "I may seem like I am high maintenance, but I don't want to be anymore."
"Okay. But you don't have to not go to the restaurant just because I'm not going." This was her sophomore year, so she had to have friends from last year.
"Yeah, but I'll run into someone who wants to talk and use me for access to my daddy." She took a bite of her food and moaned. "And this is good."
"See, told you that eating here wouldn't be horrible." I took a sip of my coffee. "At least you seem perky this morning."
"I made myself go to sleep last night." She talked with her mouth full of food. "I can behave when I need to."
"Sure, you can." That made me think about Nate. "So how often do you and Nate get to see each other?" Since they were fated mates, I figured they couldn't stay apart for long.
"Not often." She cringed. "But we video chat each night and text throughout the day. I promised Dad that I'd behave more this year if you came here." She shrugged.
"Oh, wow. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended." So there was an extra motive to have me here—to keep her away from Nate.
"No, Dad was already swayed, but that kind of put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak." She shrugged. "It's been hard."
"How long have you been together?" They'd seemed so in sync when I first met them. It had to be for a long while.
"You’ve already asked this. About a year." She took another bite and licked the chocolate off her bottom lip.
"I guess I did, but you guys seemed so solid. It’s hard to believe only a year." At the party, they were loving to one another, but not overly caught up in each other like a new couple.
"Fated mates kind of click. There aren't so many insecurities, and you know each other inside and out." She shrugged her shoulder and sighed. "We ran into each other by accident. I was supposed to meet Liam's plaything at KSU for the football game that was being held there."
Ugh! That little bit of information bothered me more than it should. I had to bite the inside of my lip so I didn't ask more about that girl. Were they still playing together? I'd love to pretend it was only tennis or foosball, but I knew better.
"Are you okay?" Bree's forehead wrinkled.
"Oh, yeah." Hell would freeze over before I ever admitted to worrying about his toys. I put my finger in my mouth like I was trying to get something out. "It was a bad raisin or something."
"Uh-huh." She grinned and took a deep breath. "Anyway, she never showed. As I was walking alone to the football field, I ran into Nate and your brother."
"Did you know it immediately?" Fated mates were real, but at least half of us wolves never found our fate, so we'd settle for chosen. Except you had to be careful when deciding to choose. You could meet your fate after the forced ceremony, and then no one was happy.
"Well, I felt a pull toward him." Her gaze drifted off, and a smile spread across her face that wasn't from the chocolate. "By the end of the night, we both knew."
"So why doesn't your father want you to be with him?" That part was strange to me. If I found my fated mate, my parents would be over the moon. They’d always told me they wanted Max and me to find the love of our life the same way they had. Despite that, I couldn’t help but worry that Liam might be the one for me. I definitely felt a pull toward him that grew stronger every time I saw him regardless of how he treated me. It didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t a masochist.
"I'm supposed to marry someone from my station or a future regional alpha." She stabbed her pancake like it had done her wrong. "Honestly, Dad wants me to be with Evan."
"Wait. The pale one that's huge and only seems to grunt and glare?" He probably was the scariest one out of that whole group.
Bree snorted and began choking on her pancake.
"Whoa, are you okay?" I shot to my feet and ran to the refrigerator to grab her a bottle of water. I was back to her in seconds.
"Yeah." She coughed some more. "I'm... fine." She picked up the water, twisted the cap off, and downed some of it. "It's just normally, girls say he's mysterious and muscular. I wasn't expecting that."
"And what does Evan want?" Obviously, she wasn't okay with it now that she had met her fate.
"He's fine with it. I mean, I'm Liam's sister, so it's kind of convenient." She shrugged. "But he's not too worried about it either, because he's not ready to settle down if you know what I mean."
"Wow." That's all I could really say. "This is a totally different world than what I grew up in."
"It's crazy. I used to think that it was normal until I met Nate." She placed her for
k on her now empty plate and pushed it away. "Then, I realized what my world is really like. Full of fake, opportunistic people who are only out for themselves. So when we met and you didn't seem to give a shit who I was and where I went to school, it was refreshing. I hope you don't hate me for bringing you here."
"No, I don't." Even though I hated that Liam was here, I did appreciate the opportunities that this school would provide for me. Besides after hanging out with Kai, Bree, and Tripp, I felt like I had a good friend-base already. You couldn't get much better than that. "I'm glad to be here."
"Well, good." She grinned. "After our bonding over your stinky clothes, I think we've got a good thing started."
"Did you and Kai not hang out before then?" I figured they had since they knew each other.
"Not really." She stood and grabbed her plate, putting it into the sink. "Kai’s Dad has kind of always wanted Kai to date me, and my dad is open to it too. Granted, he'd rather marry me off to Evan, but if I preferred Kai, he wouldn't be too upset. Though Kai has always kind of danced to a different drum. He avoids hanging out with my brother's crew, which I sort of always have been a part of until Nate."
I glanced at the clock and stood. "I’ve gotta get going." I had about twenty minutes now to walk across campus and get to class.
"Me too. I'm heading to the human building." She drank the rest of her water and threw the bottle in the garbage.
"The human building?"
"Yeah, the one with all the book studies. It's the same stuff the humans learn." She headed into her room and grabbed a backpack. Of course, it was silver. "Go get your stuff. Let's go."
"On it." I rushed into my room to get my bag, and it wasn't long before we were walking out of the dorm.
"So, what time do you get out?" She glanced over at me as the wind began to blow.
I had to run through my schedule in my head. I had all my human classes plus shifter history. Those three were all back to back with my endurance class on Tuesday and Thursday. “I’ll be done by noon as long as the classes don’t run over.”
"Okay, I'll see you at the restaurant then." She held up a finger before I could interject. "Liam will be at football practice by then, so there is no chance of him being there."
"Fine." I grabbed my bag and pulled my schedule out. "I’ve got to figure out where this room is."
"No worries, I'll help." She glanced at my schedule. "Oh, you've got Professor. Walker. That's going to be fun. You're on the second floor, room 205 so it's after you’ve climbed the stairs on the left." As we walked in through the front door, she pointed at the stairwells that were on both sides. "You'll want to take one of those. They lead to the same door, just two different ways to get there in case there's heavy traffic."
"Got it. Thanks." I turned and took the staircase on the right and hurried up the stairs. It was easy to find the room after Bree's help.
There were five minutes before class started, so I walked into the room and was surprised at how small it was. There were probably only ten desks split between the two rows.
"Hey." Tripp waved me over to the desk in the back middle. "I saved you a seat."
A girl that was sitting in the front rolled her eyes. She had long legs and a horrible resting bitch face.
I almost felt sorry for her.
"It wasn’t like there are a ton of seats taken yet." She rolled her hazel eyes and flipped her plum-colored hair over her shoulder.
I take it back. I didn't even come close to feeling sorry for her.
If we responded to her, she'd only be encouraged. "Thanks. Even though sitting in the back isn't what it used to mean."
"Right. I almost cried." He ran his hand through his hair messing it up. Somehow it added to his looks instead of taking away from them. The uniform looked really good on him too. He had on a red polo shirt that fit his muscular frame well and wore khaki slacks. "But it's better than being up front."
"Oh, look who's here." Robyn giggled as she entered the room with her two friends right behind her. "I wondered what that horrible smell was drifting along outside."
The three of them entered the room and took the first three seats in the front. Of course, Robyn had to be in the middle, which left Olivia to be the one sitting in front of me. They all had worn the same matching red button-down with a silver short skirt that left little to the imagination.
"Nah, it's not her." Tripp narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Nothing stank in here. Well, not until you three walked in."
I was so glad he was here with me.
"Probably from the shit that was left on their nose after all they had to do to get here." He shrugged. "Or some combination of the two."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Robyn turned her body around to scowl at us.
"Have you ever heard of a brown noser?" I winked at her and gave her my best smile possible.
"Can the five of you just be quiet?" The new girl rolled her eyes and pulled out a binder and a pen. "Your negative energy is all over the place."
"No, we can't." Robyn glared at her and straightened her shoulders. "And I'd advise you to be a little nicer, or I'll sic Liam Hale on you."
“You’ll need everything you can use to your advantage to pass this class.” Tripp arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure you were even able to algebra?”
“Did you not hear what I said?” Robyn huffed. “I could get Liam here just like that.” She snapped her fingers.
The other girl's eyebrows lifted so high they hid under her bangs. "You really think that he gives a shit about you? From what I've heard, they are untouchable."
"Well, not for me." Robyn smirked and tilted her head to the side. "He and I are going on a date this weekend, so best for you to keep that in mind."
Of course he was. White-hot anger spread throughout my chest, so much so that I had to take deep breaths to calm down. It was a good thing that he was dating her. Maybe she could keep him distracted long enough for me to get my head on straight. Lord knew she'd be demanding. The problem was that I didn't want to share his attention, which made no sense. I was stronger than that, or at least, I used to think so. I had to figure out what the hell was going on with me and fix it. He couldn’t be my mate. That just wasn’t possible.
Chapter Nine
Before I knew it, my first two classes had flown by. Luckily there had been no more drama after the Robyn confrontation and I'd managed to not run into one single council heir. Even though Liam constantly preoccupied my mind, I tried to push him aside. My head knew it was for the best. The more I was around him, the nastier our meetings would be. The problem was if he was my mate, he had to be feeling the same way about me as I did about him. So either I was completely wrong, which was what I was hoping, or he was adamant not to be with me.
As I made my way down the back of the building's stairs to the first floor, my legs came to a sudden stop. Liam and Robyn were at the bottom in the middle of a tense conversation.
No one took the back stairs, which was the whole reason I had. I was trying to avoid him.
I paused, not wanting to alert them to my presence. Great, let's add creepy stalker to my ever-growing list of new personality traits.
"You told me if I helped you that you would make me something." Robyn's jaw was clenched. "That means you're going to date me."
"Nope, not happening." He propped himself against the wall with his face completely composed. "You don't make the rules here. I do."
"That's bullshit, and you know it." She stomped her foot. "If you don't follow through, I'll make you regret it."
His face turned cold, and he narrowed his eyes on her. "You better be careful who you threaten, little girl. I'm not someone you can push around, and in fact, I can make your life a living hell."
"This isn't fair." Her voice quavered with rage.
"Doesn't matter. You're just a lowly freshman who's desperate to do anything mean so you can get your jollies." He shrugged and took a menacing step toward her. "And you did. So you got
something out of it."
She blew out her breath and ran out the door, making sure it slammed behind her.
"You can come out now, Mia." Liam's voice didn't sound quite as cold. "She's gone."
Shit, he knew.
The only thing I could do was own it. I continued down the stairwell, and soon his haunting blue eyes found mine. They weren't as dark, and he wasn't putting off cold vibes. "I wasn't trying to interrupt." Why did I feel like I had to explain myself to him?
His eyes stayed on me, and he took a deep breath. "I know."
Even though my brain said I should just leave, my legs propelled me forward and I closed the distance between us like he was some kind of magnet. His scent filled my nose, making me dizzy. I somehow managed to stop myself before lunging into his arms. There was only a paper’s width distance between us.
"Dammit. I can’t get you out of my head, but there’s so much at stake that you don’t know about." His eyes flicked to my lips. "But I can’t walk away. You should go. This isn't good."
No, no it wasn't. At least, I knew he was struggling the same way I was.
He reached out and brushed his fingertips against my cheek, causing my skin to buzz. I should tell him he’s an asshole and then walk away. But it was like my soul needed him, overriding any sense of rationale that I’d normally have.
That's when there was no doubt in my mind. He was my fated mate, but the problem was he'd never be mine. He was an heir and obviously cared more about appearances and expectations while I could never measure up to his specific requirements.
He growled in a way that warmed my body. He took a step forward, eliminating any barriers between us. “I don’t want this. This is too damn tempting. We don't need to be alone together." His hand fisted my hair at the back of my neck. Within seconds, his lips were on mine.
I'd been kissed before, but never like this. He tasted of sunshine. It was the only thing I could compare it to. The type of taste the air has on a gorgeous sunny day. My whole body came alive as I matched his tongue, stroke for stroke.