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One of them jiggled the door handles this way and that and magically, they opened for him. The one with the darker hair chuckled. “Finally. I’m starving.”
He wasn’t the only one.
I pulled June behind one of the warming tables. We crouched there, peering through a gap between the steel to see them getting into the pantry and refrigerator. The blond, the one I’d never seen before, pulled an empty bag out of the pocket of his hoodie and shook it. “Hurry up. We’re already on the deadman’s list.”
They didn’t take a lot. Peanut butter. Jelly. A loaf of bread. A gallon of milk. But the one with the close-shaved head had a chicken leg in his mouth and was munching while getting the bread. I accidentally let out a tiny noise.
Shit. Now I’d done it.
They all stopped and turned. The one with mint-green eyes lifted his nose as a wolf would and looked around. We didn’t move a muscle except to put our hands over our mouths. “Let’s go.”
They shut everything and turned the light off and made their way out, not in the same way they came in. They were smart. Didn’t take a lot, but enough to have a small meal. Nothing that a kitchen this size would miss.
And it looked like they had done this before.
Definitely not freshmen.
“Let’s get back before we’re sent home,” June whisper-shouted.
Since I knew where we were, we took the shortest way back and got inside our dorm room without anyone calling us out.
The fear of almost getting caught again should’ve repelled us from ever doing that again but instead, June and I, sitting on the floor, completely out of breath, smiled at each other. “Let’s never do that again,” I said, laughing.
“Yeah. Never ever. Tomorrow?”
“Stop. Not tomorrow,” I answered. “Maybe next week. Now. Studying.”
Chapter Fourteen
Blaze
A few days after our raid on the kitchen, there were no repercussions. Not that there ever had been, but you never knew when there might be. Security around here tended to be of the goofball comedy variety, both the paid and kiss-ass volunteer version, but anyone could be lucky once. Or unlucky in our case.
And I’d promised Asher to be a paragon. Would a paragon be sitting here stuffing his face with stolen peanut butter sandwiches? Milk would be good with it, but we didn’t have a way to keep it cold, so we’d had to drink it all down the night we obtained it. What would the penalty be for our kitchen adventure?
Nothing…but I wasn’t going to repeat it anytime soon just in case they got smarter.
Unfortunately, my good ideas weren’t going to keep me from demerits if they caught me. My suite mates had already gone to their rooms, Casimir to sleep and Adan to work on the side of his laptop he thought we didn’t know anything about. But me…I just wasn’t ready to sleep. Coming back here from my vacation at home was harder than it had ever been. When I left for winter break, I’d had reason to believe I might be close to escaping this place. I hadn’t told anyone, but Asher and his mates had been so encouraging that I dared to dream.
My immediate summons and harassment from the dean of discipline had dashed those hopes. He made it clear he still considered me less than the dirt under his feet, and certainly not someone good enough for the precious Urban Academy where Asher and Raven were completing their education. My brother was going to be so disappointed in me. At least I hadn’t told him that I thought I would soon be joining him.
Another thing that was keeping me awake was the memory of that girl in the office. Her hair wasn’t so much brown as sable or maybe walnut? I wasn’t good with colors, but it was so unique and shiny. My fingers twitched even now at the thought of stroking it. Was it as soft as it looked? And her eyes were a pale green/gold outlined in a darker green. They tipped up at the outer edge, as if she was smiling even if she wasn’t.
My wolf had been focused on her instantly, intrigued and rumbling a low growl. I didn’t know anything more about her, yet, except that she was someone I wanted to see again and soon. Planting myself in the chair by the window, I stared out into the night, lost in thought. Unlike the Urban Academy that was located right in the middle of the city, we were on the edge of a town and the view was entirely different.
If you’d asked me when I first got stuck here, I’d have said nothing but negative things about the whole experience including the view, but that would have just been sour grapes. The Urban Academy had a paved courtyard and a bit of grass, but this place? Acres and acres of open land surrounded it, inside the tall fence. It had become the sole thing I liked. Well, almost. My suite mates were good friends, and now I’d developed a moderate obsession with a certain new student. But on nights like this where I couldn’t sleep, I’d sit all night and just watch the moon cross the sky, the trees’ branches bounce in the breeze. And the animals. Everyone thought little animals would avoid a place with wolves, and maybe they should have, but we didn’t hunt on the grounds, so I suppose it was the safest place for them. When we actually hunted, we did it outside the fence, making the Reject Academy the next thing to a wildlife sanctuary. Tonight, an owl hooted, and, in the distance, coyotes howled at the nearly full moon. I watched some rabbits hop across the lawns and other signs of motion from animals even my shifter vision couldn’t identify. Mice maybe or groundsquirrels.
And the scents of freshness… If, no, when I returned to the Urban Academy, I’d miss this view. Sometimes I fell asleep right in the chair and woke in the morning a mess of aches, usually being laughed at by Adan and/or Casimir. They were good suite mates, but they had a warped sense of humor.
My eyes were drifting closed when something flashed in front of them and they snapped open again. What? A light was crossing the concrete area below my window. There were lights already there, but they were of the ordinary, amber variety. This one was lavender and then green and was nothing like anything I’d ever seen before.
Intrigued, I was on my feet and ready to investigate when I remembered my promise to myself to keep my promise to my brother. It was hours after curfew, and anyone caught not only just in the hallways but outside on the grounds would be in a lot of trouble. So I sat back down, hoping I’d just imagined the whole thing. After all, what kind of lights would be down there? I’d fallen asleep and dreamed it…except that when I pinched myself, they were still there.
Dammit.
Why were all my best instincts always being waylaid? How could I possibly not investigate whatever was going on down there? I stood and sat a couple of times before my curiosity drove me out of my chair and out the door. Something strange was going on, and I was going to figure out what it was.
Chapter Fifteen
