by Jen L. Grey
"And I'm Kai." Kai walked over to Gertrude and shook her hand. "I'm the teacher's assistant."
"Is this everyone?" Even though Kai had mentioned it being small, I was thinking it would be like all the other classes; about ten students.
"Yes, with Endurance training, there are a lot of hands-on activities." Coach Riley grinned as he headed back to the center of the mats. "So let's get started. We need to warm up."
Great, there was no telling how this might go.
As I walked out of the locker room, my hands felt like lead. We didn't do much except lift weights for the past two hours.
"Hey, Mia," Kai called my name out from the gym floor.
I paused and waited as he ran up toward me. "Hey."
"Sorry, I wanted to catch you before you got out of here." He stopped in front of me and bit his bottom lip. "Mind if we step outside?"
"Uh. No." That's odd. There weren't that many people in the gym, so I wasn't sure what he'd want to say to me that warranted us being unable to talk in here.
He motioned for me to follow him, and we went out the side door of the gym that said EXIT ONLY.
When we stepped outside, he glanced around, checking to make sure we were away from everyone. "So, I'm not sure how to say this..."
Oh, shit. He wanted his jacket back. "I'm sorry, I forgot." I took the jacket off and handed it to him. "I'm kind of sweaty, so I can wash it first if you'd rather."
"Wait. No." He took it from me and smiled. "I mean, it's fine. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Okay." I didn’t know why, but I was afraid of what the next words were going to be out of his mouth. He'd kind of been my safety net since I got here.
"So, this weekend is the first football game here." He ran a hand through his blond hair, messing up his messily styled hair that probably took him an hour to achieve.
"Yeah, at least, it's not the KSU game where Liam and his crew could hurt my brother." I still couldn't believe a fated mate could treat the other like that. Though I realized I’d better learn quickly how to act as though he didn't exist if I wanted to survive and come out unscathed.
Kai winced. "Yeah, I didn’t mean to make you think about your brother’s game." He sucked in a breath and groaned. "This wasn't smooth or how it was supposed to go."
"What are you talking about?" He was acting nervous, which made me feel even more uneasy.
"Well, you know there is a lot going on the first week before a football game, so I wanted to talk to you." He put his hands into his short's pockets. "It's just that I want you to have fun at the first football game and all. Afterward, there will be some sort of party we could go to … together."
I wasn't sure what to say at this point, so I stayed quiet.
"People start making plans early in the week." He then rubbed a hand down his face. "So I wanted to talk to you now before you get some set."
"Plans for this weekend?" I'd never seen him act this uncomfortable before.
"I guess what I'm trying to do, albeit not so eloquently, is ask if you want to go to the football game with me?" He chewed on his bottom lip as he stared into my eyes.
He was asking me out on a date. I didn’t know why, but I hadn't expected that. "But the heirs threatened you."
"I don't give a damn about that." He reached out and took my hand in his. "Look, I've never wanted to be part of that crew. I've seen what it does to people. How it changes people, and since the first time I laid eyes on you, I can't get you out of my head."
My gut reaction was to say no. He wasn't my mate. But why would I? My mate wanted nothing to do with me, constantly tried to hurt me, and even threatened my family. Kai was sexy, considerate, and interested in me. Best of all, he didn’t come with any head games or hidden agendas. "I mean, I've already kind of committed to going with Bree and Tripp."
"Of course you have." His cheeks turned a shade of pink, and he nodded. "I was being stupid."
Maybe my feelings for him could grow if I gave them a chance. "No, I want to go with you, but I promised them I'd hang out with them too."
"Really?" A huge smile stretched across his face.
"I do." I felt safe with him. "How about the two of us go together, but we hang around the other two?”
"I'm good with that." He squeezed my hand gently in his.
As I stared into his eyes, I hoped I didn't just make a big mistake. I liked Kai, but my heart had already been stolen and shattered countless times by someone else. Maybe he could mend it or at least make the void disappear. I hated to think of the other alternative; losing him as a friend. I had to try harder to forget about Liam. It should have been easy, but somehow, I knew I was only kidding myself.
Chapter Twelve
The rest of the week flew by, and all too soon, it was Friday. Dread settled hard in my stomach. I didn't want to attend the football game because Liam would be playing. He was the starting quarterback, so there was no way to not see him.
I headed out of Chemistry hurrying to Shifter History. I had to time it perfectly so I didn't run into him. He still consumed my thoughts way too often, and I didn't know what the hell to do about it.
Kai seemed great, but he wasn't Liam.
My back prickled with awareness of my mate being so close to me. Somehow, I forced myself not to look for him. My family was more important than having a moment of weakness. He'd be an ass anyway.
As I hurried into the class, I sat in my usual seat and waited for everyone else to arrive.
"Damn, you get here fast." Tripp glanced over his shoulder and then entered the room. "I'm assuming there is a reason why."
He knew why since I had told him about it Wednesday. He was trying to see if anything had gone down with the heirs. "Yup. The same one as last time."
"I'm sorry." He came over and plopped in the seat next to me. "It sucks he's your mate. You're doing the right thing trying to keep your distance."
What? My body stiffened. I hadn't told anyone he was my fated mate. "What do you mean? It's no problem."
"Don't bullshit me." He arched an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. "That day of the tour, I knew something was going on. Then, after what happened Monday while your smell was all over him and he blatantly had that chick run her finger down his chest... That's not normal even by alphahole standards."
"I don't know..."
"Don't insult me, Mia." Tripp shook his head. "That's one reason why I was hitting on Bree and not you. I'm not going to get myself in the middle of that hot mess."
"You do realize that the hot mess you're referring to is Bree's brother." This guy was way more observant than I gave him credit for.
"First off," he said as he pointed at me, "when I said hot mess, I was not referring to Liam. I was referring to what the two of you have going on. And secondly, don't make it sound like I'm into dudes ever again. I'll forgive... this once."
A huge smile spread across my face. "I love you, but please don't tell anyone."
"Whoa, those are some big words." He winked at me. "But your secret is safe with me, and I love ya too."
"But not like Liam, huh?" I couldn't help but give him a hard time after that.
"Hey now ..." He leaned toward me and sighed. "I guess we both have our own secrets to keep."
A low growl came from the hallway.
I turned to find Liam's eyes on me, watching how close Tripp was leaning toward me.
"Cut it out." Simon grabbed Liam's arm to pull him away from the door. "Keep your shit together."
It thrilled me that he was struggling as much as I, which was horrible. In order to get through this, I couldn’t care—I needed to be numb.
"See, my point exactly." Tripp pointed out toward the hallway.
"Yeah, yeah." I opened my notebook and scanned the notes as students strolled in.
The last thing we'd gone over was the borders, which had been a little surprising. The East was actually what humans called the northeast today. It was everything from Pennsylv
ania and New Jersey up. The south border stretched all the way through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland downward. The north was considered North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas on to the right until it touched the borders of the south and east. And, of course, the rest was the west.
"I love it when my students are interested in our history." The professor walked in with a huge smile on his face as he pointed at my notebook. "Not many find this class interesting and only take it as a prerequisite."
"From what I've heard, she doesn't really have time for anything else." A guy in the back snorted.
"What the hell?" Tripp turned around and frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
There was no telling, and it wasn't worth it. I'm sure the heirs were still spreading rumors about me. "Don't worry about it. It's not worth it."
"But..." Tripp frowned.
"All right, let's begin class." The professor clapped his hands together. "We've learned all about how the council was created, how our states are divided, which is one of the most misunderstood concepts most shifters have, and now we're going to talk about how the council finally pooled together. After all, the council was five in the beginning."
"When did it change to four?" All of us were taught the four family names that ruled. Each of the heirs was a son to one of those families.
"About nineteen years ago." He placed his bag on the ground and pulled out one of his markers.
"That recently? How come we don't know that?" Tripp's voice had a challenge in it.
"Because it was one of the saddest days in our history." The professor frowned as his normal happy demeanor changed on a dime. "You were all too young. Hell, you probably weren't even born, but there were five on the council until the dreadful day our overseer was murdered."
"What? Why?" Even Gertrude seemed enthralled.
"Let's go back to the basics before we discuss such a sad day." He took a deep breath and stepped over and wrote north, south, east, and west on the board again. Under each one, he wrote one number. "So each representative of the council has the responsibility of representing the needs of their regions. They are the senators, if you will, in our hierarchy. They have regional representatives scattered throughout their geographical regions that filter information up to them. The population size of wolf shifters is what determines how many regional alphas are in the mix. Then, the next layer is district alphas, who report to the regional. You’d compare them to the House of Representatives. Then, you have the normal pack alphas who cover a city or large county, who was there from the beginning of our history and who support and advocate for their individual pack’s needs."
"So it's like the human's hierarchy just with different names." I'd always known enough of shifter history to get by. However, being a young shifter attending a human high school, it wasn't easy to learn this type of information. "The best man wins."
"Do you really think that?" The right side of the professor's lip curved upward. "Humans are corrupt, and that's how they get their leg up. With us, it's not necessarily about the best but the strongest and sometimes the most vicious."
That's not how my parents raised me, and I almost interjected until Liam flashed in my mind. He sure wasn't caring, not even with people who weren't me.
"Ah... you're figuring it out." The professor grinned.
"Figuring what out?" Someone in the back of the class asked.
"This isn't something I can teach you. It's something you have to learn for yourself." He turned back to the board and placed an O right in the center over the four letters below. Then, drew four lines down from the O so it connected with the E, W, S, and N. "You see, the Overseer was like what Americans view as their President. No law could pass without their support, but the Overseer couldn't enact any laws on their own behalf without a majority vote of the members."
"A balance of power." Tripp pursed his lips.
"Exactly. The first Blood Council not only managed to make all their packs flourish. They also decided to found a school where all promising shifters could come to learn how to become effective leaders and help move our society forward." He lifted both hands and motioned around. "Which is known as Wolf Moon Academy. And the original Blood Council vowed that their family would always protect their packs."
"Family?" That didn't make any sense. "Wouldn't the stronger alphas, who took the position after them, be driven to protect the packs too?"
"Remember, we aren't human, Ms. Davis." He held up his pointer finger and arched an eyebrow. "They meant family."
"But only the strongest are alphas, so that wouldn't make sense." Tripp shook his head.
"Are you serious?" Gertrude huffed and shook her head. "Why do you think they are called The Blood Council?"
"I think what Ms. Williams is trying to say is that alphas are born of blood." The professor began to pace. "Strong blood makes strong alphas. The original council was made up of the strongest of the strong, and thus the heirs are the same."
"But people can become alphas even if their parents aren't." That same guy in the back snorted. "So that destroys that concept."
"Does it? There are rare times when someone might become the alpha of a single pack, but that's where it ends. Do you see the four heirs that will be replacing their fathers soon ever being challenged?" The professor walked in between Tripp’s and my desks. "Would you like to challenge them?"
"Uh, no. Of course not." His voice shook with fear.
"And that's my point exactly." He headed back to the front of the class and shook his head. "No one at a district alpha level... hell, I'd even say regional alpha level... could ever be beaten by someone not of pure, unadulterated alpha blood."
That shook me to my core. It didn't make any sense. I didn't cower to them, so what he was saying was impossible.
"We lost one of our most important leaders and one of the strongest bloodlines of all time nineteen years ago. You see, they were similar to the heirs who roam the halls here. They were strong, best friends, and arrogant. However, that all changed about two years after they took their positions and the Overseer, Brent Forrest, found his fated mate, Laurrel. They were publicly together one month before tragedy hit."
It was odd that it was my mother's name. It must have been more common than I realized. "What happened?"
"No one really knows." The Professor took a few steps back and sat on the edge of the desk in front. "The crime still remains unsolved today. Some rumblings have started recently saying it was because of some policies he was going to propose. That he wasn't serving the good of all of the wolves. But you didn’t hear that from me."
"But he didn't have a pack like the members, so why would that matter?" Tripp tapped his fingers on the top of his desk.
"Do people expect the president to not care about any of the states?" The professor lifted a hand in the air.
"No, just like the overseer's responsibility wasn't to just one section of the United States' pack but to the whole country and all of the packs." So how were there checks and balances to the council now that the overseer was gone? I had so many questions.
"Time’s up." He stood and clapped his hands. "You guys had better hurry up. There’s a football game tonight. Go, wolves!" He pumped his hand in the air.
I put away all of my books, but my brain couldn't stop running. I had a feeling whatever happened with the overseer made the council the way they are today. Besides, those four heirs weren't friends, not really. They were frenemies.
"Hey, are we going for lunch like usual?" Tripp touched my hand, bringing me back to the present.
"Yes, but I'm meeting Bree and her dad." I'd been dreading this all week, but it wasn’t like I could reject the invitation. After all, her father was the only reason why I was here.
"Yeah, I'm going to skip out on that one." Tripp shook his head. "If he's anything like his son, it's best if I keep my distance."
"You're telling me." I headed to the door, not wanting to be l
ate meeting them. "But he’s the man who got me here."
"So you have no choice." He shrugged and frowned. "Sorry, but I'll see you tonight. Kai and I are dropping by around seven to pick up you girls. Does that sound good? We're bringing pizza."
"Meat lovers, right?" I arched an eyebrow.
"Hell, yeah." He pounded his chest. "I'm a growing wolf. I need meat to get stronger."
"Yeah, okay." I turned in the direction of the restaurant when Tripp grabbed my arm again.
"Hey, so I'm not sure how to tell you this, but …" He said as he bit his bottom lip and glanced at the ground, "but Kai is under the impression it's a date for the two of you. I tried to correct him, but..."
"It is." I had to move forward. That history lesson solidified it in my mind.
"Yeah..." He winced and turned his head. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"You said..." He was the one who had wanted me to leave Liam alone.
"No, I get it, but Kai is a good guy."
"And I'm not … good?" Was he really trying to insult me right now?
"Of course you are. I want to make sure that you're thinking this through." He stopped and closed his eyes. "You know what? You’re a good shifter too. Honestly, the two of you make a fucking awesome couple. I guess I want to make sure you've got the right intentions."
I wanted to be pissed, but he was being a good friend to both me and Kai. "Look, he's nice, sweet, and hot." As I said the words, it made me realize how much I meant them. "He makes me laugh and makes me feel safe. That's always the kind of mate I'd hoped for."
"Well, okay then." Tripp grinned. "Then, I think it's a really good idea. You deserve happiness, and it's obvious that he won't be able to give it to you."
The fact that he purposely avoided Liam's name warmed my heart. I reached over and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for being there for me."
"Always. You, Bree, and Kai are my closest friends here, and I always have my friends' backs." He squeezed me close and then pulled away. "You’d better go so you aren't late to meet Mr. Hale."