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She said I had to have faith.
Well, I had plenty of faith, but in myself?
Not so much. Not anymore.
Chapter Two
I did an hour of yoga with Meredith, but all I felt was exhausted. She wanted to do a long meditation after, but there was no way I wanted to fall asleep and go straight into another nightmare. So, Dastien got his way.
After two hours of martial arts training and zero visions, people started filtering into the gym. That was my cue to get the hell out. I was used to being watched—stared at—but ever since Luciana had stripped me, the attention made me anxious… Which in turn made me feel weak. It was dumb. There was no reason to feel this way, but I couldn’t control it. Dastien said that I hadn’t had time to deal with my emotions, but the problem was that I wouldn’t have time anytime soon.
Eventually I’d find a way to process all of it. I might even make some therapist rich with how much help I needed. For now, I needed to focus on digging out whatever vision was taking up all the room in my subconscious.
After yet another shower—this one much warmer than the last—I decided food was very much a necessity. Dastien had stayed behind to train with Cazadores, but I figured he’d end up at the cafeteria before too long. If I was hungry, he had to be, too.
In case no one else was eating, I grabbed a book on magic and headed across the well-manicured quad to the squat brick building that held the cafeteria. I passed two sophomore Weres. I wasn’t paying attention to them until one shoved the other. They shredded their clothes as they shifted to their wolf forms—snarling and swiping claws at each other.
One of them let out a yelp of pain, and I froze.
I had two choices. Keep walking and let them work it out, or step in and stop the fight.
Screw it. I’d had enough of the constant fighting. “Knock it off.” I yelled the command at them, backed with a healthy dose of alpha power. The wolves froze. “Jesus. No more fighting. You’re like a bunch of cranky toddlers.” They rolled over, showing me their soft underbellies. I took that as agreement the fight would end there. “Have a nice day, boys,” I said as I started back across the quad.
But still, this was getting ridiculous. If the alphas didn’t come to some sort of agreement
soon, I was worried what would happen to the pack. These little fights among the students were yet another glaring example of their division rippling through the pack bonds.
Someone had to step in and make some real decisions soon or there’d be no pack left to fight Luciana.
I braced myself as I opened the door to the cafeteria, hoping that Meredith or Donovan would be inside. Chris was definitely still in the gym. He’d come in as I was leaving. But I hadn’t seen Meredith, and she wasn’t in our suite. Adrian was probably out running the Cazadores course yet again. That thing was a beast of obstacles, but he was determined to beat the challenge time. To become some ultimate fighter.
The scent of waffles, omelets, bacon, fruit, and some sort of sweet pastry filled the air. I’d definitely need to hunt one of those pastries down. They weren’t an everyday thing, but man, when the chef made them, they were to die for.
As I moved through the room, conversations went silent. Of the thirty or so round tables, only one was completely full. Joseph’s little clique. His dad was the Alpha of the Canadian pack, and he thought that made him God’s gift to the world. Ever since Mr. Hoel died, they’d separated themselves. I hadn’t noticed until I literally bumped into one of them, and couldn’t feel their connection to the pack. I’d brought it up to Mr. Dawson and the rest of the group, but no one was doing anything about it. No one seemed the least bit concerned.
But I knew in my bones that they were going to be trouble. If not now, then soon.
The group at the table had grown today. They had two girls sitting with them—a blonde and a red head. My gaze stuck on the blonde. Something about the way she moved her hand…
If that’s Imogene, then—
She turned, and I got a full look at her face.
Shit. That was Imogene Hoel. Just fantastic. Her father was part of the reason our pack was so fractured. If she was sitting with those guys, then this was definitely more of a problem than I’d thought.
And now I wanted to kick myself. I’d stuck up for her when they were going to boot her out of the pack… Which was one of the stupidest things I’d ever done. It’d seemed right at the time, but apparently it was coming back to bite me in the ass.
Imogene sneered at me and nudged the redhead beside her. The redhead turned.
Shannon. I fought to keep my face neutral as I returned her glare. Meredith was going to freak out when she found out that Shannon was hanging with that group.
Shannon shot me a nasty look and said something to the boys, who started snickering. I guessed she wasn’t over me yelling at her for going through my spell books. Or maybe she was still peeved that I had Dastien and she didn’t. Whatever the reason behind that look, I didn’t care. I didn’t want anything to do with her anymore.
I made my way to the food. Shannon and Imogene would probably ignore me as long as I ignored them, but seeing them with those guys made me wonder about their connection to the pack.
As I heaped my tray with food, I focused on the pack bonds—the little strings of magic that tied all the Weres in the pack together. I’d never spoken to the guy who stood next to me, shoveling pancakes onto his plate, but I could sense my connection to him and to everyone else who obeyed Mr. Dawson as their alpha.
The strings of magic and alpha energy created a web through the cafeteria, connecting the werewolves to each other. Even some of the Cazadores who weren’t exactly part of this pack had distant ties—barely visible, but there. Which made sense since nearly all Weres were tied to each other through the rule of the Seven.
