I turn to Rafael and raise a single brow. “You too, wolf.”
“You don’t have anything you can use against me,” he says, his voice filled with confidence he should not be feeling right now. Doesn’t he know me? I have something on virtually everyone. It’s little sister 101. You always find the dirt and horde it to later get your way.
I prop one hand on my hip. “I don’t?” I press a finger to my lips as though thinking before letting a wide smile spread across my face. “Hey, Zheng, did I ever tell you about the time Rafael and Isa went to Silverdale?”
Rafael’s eyes widen briefly before his brows draw together. “How do you—”
I pull my phone from my back pocket. “Isa sent me pictures from that weekend. You two were so cute together. The couples—”
Rafael jerks forward with a snarl, pressing his palm over my mouth. His dark brown eyes fill with a mix of disbelief and fury. “Not. Another. Word,” he growls. If he were anybody else, I might be worried by the threat in his voice, but despite his rough exterior, Rafael is a big ole softie and his fiancé is one of my other best friends. He wouldn’t hurt a hair on my head. She loves me. He loves her. Therefore, I win. So instead of pushing his hand away or trying to say anything, I wait for him to realize what I already know.
It takes only a handful of seconds.
“Fine. Don’t say anything else. I’ll go chill with Jordy. Deal?”
I nod and he slowly releases me, hesitating for just a second to make sure I’ll keep my mouth shut before he turns, slaps Des on the shoulder with a muttered, “You’re on your own, man,” and joins Jordy in the car.
“Damn, sis, remind me not to get on your bad side,” Zheng says, as if I haven’t used this exact same tactic on him before. “Got anything on this one?” He nods toward Desmond, who raises a brow of his own, expression smug because, no, I have nothing I can use against him to make him do anything he doesn’t want to do and he knows it.
82
Desmond
Ismile, watching the gears turn in that pretty little head of hers as she struggles to find a way to get rid of me. Not happening, kitten. Meiying coming to Hellbound U is a disaster waiting to happen. She’s seventeen for chrissakes, and her idiot mother thought it’d be a great idea for her to join the mixed faction sorority campus. What a joke. Pack members might be required to attend Hellbound U, but Clan Wolf keeps its female pack mates in tight units and well protected. I know Meiying is capable, but the idea of her being here, alone and away from the Pack, sets the wolf in me on edge.
It’s become a habit of mine to avoid the frats and sororities. I go to my classes, put in my time for Infernum, and focus on Pack business. I don’t have time for anything else. But only a hermit wouldn’t know Kappa Eagle and their frat counterpart, Alpha Ze, are the two most notorious party houses here. Problem is, when shit goes down, it gets ugly. These aren’t your typical houses. They’re packed full of druids, witches, fae, and all manner of paranormals. It’s not just booze you have to worry about, which would be a non-issue since shifter metabolism processes alcohol too quickly to get drunk. But now you have to worry about potions and magicked drugs engineered for paranormal genetics.
There have been plenty of rumors about girls getting drugged and guys taking turns at some of their parties, and I’ll be damned if anyone is going to try shit like that with Meiying.
I can’t stand the girl, but that doesn’t mean I’ll sit back and let anything happen to her, either. She’s Pack, and I’m not a complete asshole, despite what she might think.
It’s why I suggested to Zheng that she move in with us. I’m willing to take one for the team if I have to, not that it’d be some big hardship. I’m barely home during the week. Most of my time is spent in class, on the field, or at the Compound, and most weekends I have games. Half of them being out of town.
I’m home most Sunday afternoons but generally gone in the evening to see my sister. Sundays are the obligatory Pierce family dinners. My parents made them mandatory when KeAnna and I moved out for college, and while I managed to find a way out of them, my sister wasn’t so lucky. She goes to school out of state and she still has to fly in for those fucking dinners, so I make it a point to at least catch up with her while she’s here and take her to the airport for her return flight whenever I can.
Where Meiying and Zheng’s parents are damn near absent, mine take overbearing to an entirely different level.
Zheng liked the idea of Meiying moving in. He’s protective of his little sister the same way I am of mine, so it should have been a done deal, except Meiying refused to get on board with the program. The pretty little idiot.
When she shot down the idea, there wasn’t shit I could do about it, and Zheng wasn’t willing to pressure her. Something about her being independent and responsible and yeah, compared to most female shifters her age, maybe she is. But she’s still young. Impressionable. Guys are going to take one look at her small body, perfect tits, and seductive mouth and think she’s theirs for the taking. Wolves don’t let their females leave the den this young and on their own. I have no fucking idea why the cats would. It’s stupid and dangerous as hell. I know shit seems smooth between factions now, but that can change any minute. We’re always teetering on the edge of war. It’s too ingrained in our nature to see the other factions, especially the vampires, as anything but enemies.
“Why are you here?” she asks like she doesn’t already know.
“I’m helping. That’s whatfriendsdo.” I put more emphasis on the word friend than necessary, but sometimes I need to remind myself that's what we’re supposed to be. Friends. Not enemies. Not rivals. She’s part of my Pack even if we’re not in the same Clan, and even more, she’s part of our crew, which means I’m obligated to look out for her the same as I would for Isa and Joaninha—Rafael and Jordy’s girls.
But fuck, the way she gets under my skin, sometimes it’s all I can do not to spank her ass to get her to behave. Meiying Liu is a match just waiting to be lit, and I’m the spark that gets the tigress in her roaring. The way we verbally spar with one another, her tongue like a whip intent on tearing me down, it makes my cock jerk just thinking about how she'd be in the sack. Would she be just as wild and unrestrained? Or would she be shy and submissive? Would her beast submit to my wolf?
Unlikely.Get your shit together, D.I fight the urge to adjust myself and force my face to remain impassive. I’m not interested. Not really. I'm also not blind. Meiying’s all grown up. Her waist dips beneath her ribs, giving her an hourglass figure that should be illegal on a seventeen-year-old girl. Her tits are full and round and her ass is more than a handful that I’ve definitely considered squeezing a time or two. Again, not because I’m interested.
I lock down thoughts like that as soon as they occur. Meiying Liu is one hundred percent off limits. For one, she is too fucking young. Four years might not seem like a big deal to everyone else, but it sure as shit is when the girl in question is a minor. And for two, I don’t do relationships.
Between school, Infernum, and Pack duties, I don’t have time for one, nor am I particularly fond of having someone all up in my business. Women are needy and temperamental, shifters more so than humans. If the urge arises, I’ll find a girl to take home for the night to share skin privileges with, but that’s all I’m interested in. One night. I’m not looking for a mate.
Besides, I’m pretty sure Zheng would have my balls if I made a play for her. There's an unspoken rule between friends. Thou shall not fuck one another’s siblings.
He and I are damn near brothers at this point. No way can I cross that line.
After graduation, the plan was for Rafael, Jordy, and I to get a place together. But both fuckers had to go and couple up senior year of high school, so that plan went down the drain real quick and left me with two options. Move into the dorms—not fucking likely—or get my own place. But then money would be tight and I didn’t want to ask my parents to cover it. Doing that would lead to trouble. Nothing given was ever given freely, and I didn’t want the strings I knew would be attached. On top of that, my wolf would revolt. Wolves are Pack animals. We don’t do well in isolation, so having my own place would have irritated my beast over time.
