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My cool was officially lost. Down the drain.
One of them always had their eyes on me.
“But they don’t talk to anyone,” June said. “No one.”
“They are over there. Talking. You’re exaggerating.”
“Yeah,” she said, pulling her long ginger braid over her shoulder. “But that’s it. They don’t date. They don’t screw around with girls, and I would bet my inheritance by the wayeveryone is reacting that they certainly don’t serve females coffee at their table. Or so I’ve heard.”
She’d heard a lot fast! Must be a topic people liked to talk about. Just not with me.
The guys had stopped talking. They were listening. My wolves perked up.
“That’s gossip.”
She cocked her head. “Sometimes gossip is truth.”
I wasn’t getting angry but irritation threaded through my voice. “And sometimes it’s bullshit. You can’t tell me they’ve been here as students for a few years and haven’t talked to anyone or dated. The way they look? Females must throw themselves at them all the time. Anyway, it’s none of our business.”
“Well, we can’t really say that anymore.”
I sighed. They weren’t interested in me and, more importantly, they couldn’t be. Flukes like me with dual wolves didn’t get mates. We didn’t get a family or a happily ever after. We got to live our lives with our two wolves. We. What in the hell was I talking about? From what I knew, there was only one of me. And I was fucking cursed.
“Coffee isn’t a date. They were being nice. End of story.” I fought against the sadness I couldn’t show her. She would ask questions that would lead to explanations I couldn’t give her. “Let’s go,” I said and got up. “We’re late for class.”
While we put our trays away and made our way to the exit, their eyes were on me. I didn’t have to face them or turn around to know. My wolves demanded that I go back and talk to them and much more than talk. They didn’t understand the rules that shifter society had slapped on them without their permission. It was up to me to make sure they were obeyed.
The fact had been drilled into me since I knew about mates.
I would never have one. Not with the abomination of Nightwithin me. Their words. Never mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Adan
My classes at the Rejects Academy during the day as well as the ones I was taking in secret at night allowed for very little sleep. Luckily, I didn’t need a whole lot of rest. And the more classes I took, the sooner I could reach my goals, both for me and my pack. But even I needed a little shut-eye, or so my brain and body tried to insist.
I didn’t agree, and neither would my professors in either school, so about two in the morning, I stumbled into the common area for an energy drink. Blaze called them poison, but sometimes a wolf has to do what a wolf has to do. Also…I liked them. Not proud of the fact, but with my shifter metabolism, the sugar-and-caffeine-laced beverage would buy me the two hours I needed to finish an assignment due by noon.
Halfway to the snack cabinet in the dim room, a flash of bright green light caught me by surprise. I jerked around to see darkness and was almost willing to call it a delusion—I hadn’t actually had any sleep the night before and was dead on my feet—when another streak, purple this time, confirmed the reality.
I wore only flannel pajama bottoms, and it was not exactly warm out there, so I darted into my room and threw on something a little warmer. Investigation was called for, but not on my own. After the way we’d gotten on Blaze’s case, I certainly wasn’t going to be a hypocrite. Also, my wolf’s hackles were raised, and he insisted on taking his pack with him. Technically the Kings were not a pack. We all came from our own, but we’d bonded solidly and had one another’s backs.
So I banged on each of their doors. When sleepy groans greeted my knocks, I opened Casimir’s door. “Blaze’s lights are back. You coming?”
He was on his feet in a flash. “Yes. Get him up while I dress.” Cas was wearing…well, nothing, but in shifter terms nobody cared. We’d all shifted together plenty of times which involved nudity. Only those who were involved in a relationship would comment or pay attention.
“It’s cold out there.”
“So, pants required?” He chuckled, already stepping into jeans.
I didn’t bother to answer, just leaving him to it and going into Blaze’s room without another knock. “Brother, your lights are back, and we’re going to check them out. If you want to participate, get your lazy ass up.”
He was on his feet even faster than Cas, reaching for the pants slung over the chair next to his bed. “Thirty seconds.” He was as good as his word and a minute or so later, we were out the door and headed down the hallway. I glanced at the room where the girls were hopefully peacefully sleeping. Chancing another curfew violation was bad enough; we didn’t need to make our chances of getting caught ten times higher by having a couple of freshmen along with us.
If they wanted to come.
My wolf wanted to see Karelis again.
