Chapter 49: Chapter 49
Heather
Xander wasn’t in the hallway when I got out of class. Which was a good thing. I hadn’t figured out what to say to him. I’d never been in a place where I needed to let a guy down. Hell, I’d never even had a guy think about me in any kind of serious way. From the outside, it might seem nice, but the stress had my stomach in knots.
I opened my locker and found another sandwich and a bag of chips. I sighed. I was crazy for thinking that Brent—the guy who kept bossing me around or running the other way—was a better choice.
Xander was nice and funny and easy to be around and also hot. But the spark wasn’t there. At all.
The spark was Fourth of July-sized with Brent. We’d had a rocky start for sure, but I couldn’t deny my intense attraction to him. But before I even thought about committing to him, he had to stop running away whenever things got hard and bossing me around. Otherwise, what was the point?
Two periods later, I sat in the cafeteria with Leslie and Serena, but Adrian and Xander were missing.
I scanned the other tables, and realized that it wasn’t just our guys that were gone. They were all gone. "Where is everyone?"
"You didn’t hear?" Leslie asked.
I let her shitty tone roll off me. "Hear what?"
"The Cazadores showed up today. They’re going to patrol campus at night. Everything might seem normal right now, but we’re on full lockdown starting an hour before sunset."
Before I could ask what she meant, the doors flew open, banging against the wall. A group of twenty or so men strutted in. Each wore head to toe black.
All the ladies froze in place and watched them as they piled food on their trays. When they turned to the room, the girls looked down, letting the guys take the dominant role. I sat up straight and met their gazes. The whole "women are the weaker sex" thing wasn’t going to fly with me.
Donovan and Sebastian strolled through the doors.
"Oh my God. That’s who those other two wolves were last night," Serena said.
Donovan spotted me and winked. I waved back. Since I wasn’t terrified of him anymore, I could actually notice that he was incredibly handsome. He wasn’t as tall as Brent, but he commanded attention in the same kind of way with his confident swagger. His black hair was tucked behind his ears. His smile showed off his dimples. He weaved through the tables toward us.
Serena hit my shoulder. "Holy shit," she whispered. "Donovan Murry is coming over to us. He’s gorge."
"Yeah. He kind of is, right?" He might have been a bit old for my taste, but he still looked a few years shy of thirty.
"Only totally."
He pulled a chair from the table next to us and sat in between Serena and I. "How’re you doing, lass?"
I grinned. That accent got to me in the best way. "I’m okay." The scratch had nearly gone away, and I only put a band-aid on today.
"We’re checking out what you and Serena here talked about with Presley. But we don’t want you messing where you shouldn’t be. Dangerous stuff, that. Okay?"
Wow. Mr. Langdon actually listened to me. Which meant that something was up. A million questions popped into my head. I opened my mouth, but didn’t get a word out.
Donovan put a finger to my lips. "No. Remember what I just said?"
Serena made a squeaking noise. Her cheeks were bright red. I’d never seen the girl blush before and had kind of assumed that she was un-embarrass-able.
I couldn’t stop the chuckle. "This is Serena. She might be a little overwhelmed by you." Serena punched my arm. Hard. "Ow."
"Heather!" Serena whisper shouted at me.
I laughed harder this time.
Their gaze met and I could swear I felt the heat of it burning. There were some major mutual appreciation vibes going on.
"It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Serena Savannah Molloney." He reached across me to grab her hand and pressed his nose to her pulse point. "I’ll be seeing you again real soon."
What the hell. Donovan Murry was totally hitting on Serena.
"Right. I best be off. You ladies enjoy your lunch." He gave us another of his smiles, crystal eyes twinkling.
Serena punched my shoulder when he left. "Holy shit. Did that just happen?"
I fanned myself. "It totally did."
"He’s so hot. And can’t you just feel that power. God."
I laughed. "He is kind of potent. And while we’re on the subject, I met Sebastian Braun too. Same deal with him."
Leslie pushed back from the table. "I’ll leave you to your gossiping."
I couldn’t win with her. It was much easier to not try.
"Don’t worry about her. She’s just jealous. Of both of us." Serena said. The bell rang. "This isn’t getting you out of spilling. Tonight. You will tell me everything. Especially about Donovan. Or face the consequences."
"I think I’ve had enough consequences for one lifetime."
I giggled when she shoved me. "Tonight. I promise. When not so many people are around."
"Deal."
I should’ve known it was going to be a bad martial arts class when I walked into the gym and saw Brent instead of Mr. Langdon. Everyone was already sparring. I guessed the attack made everyone a little on edge.
Xander waved me over. We started our normal stretching routine. I couldn’t help but peek at Brent. He stood reclined against the far wall watching as I stretched.
He mouthed, "Focus."
I quickly looked away, turning bright red for sure. I finally got into the fighting stance Xander had taught me, and tried to pretend Brent wasn’t there.
"Forgetting something?" Xander said.
I glanced at my feet, but they looked right to me. My shoulders seemed right too. "I don’t think so."
"Gloves?"
My head so wasn’t in gear. I tried not to act awkward, but was failing miserably. Every time I looked at Xander I felt guilty. Brent watching me only made me feel extra guilty. I had to focus on the job at hand. After last night, I knew I was way behind on a key supernatural skill.
Plus, if I could get through this class, then maybe I could talk to Xander after and tell him he couldn’t kiss me again.
I tucked my gloves in my waistband, and Xander nodded. "Let’s work on flipping."
"I’m not a gymnast. Forget it. Let’s work on something else. Something more practical, so I don’t have another repeat of last night."
He laughed. "No. I mean you flip me. Over your back. And this will help you. I promise."
I stepped away from him. "Now I know you’ve lost your mind. You’re basically a foot taller than me and a ton heavier."
"If you do it right, that won’t matter."
I listened to him explain the maneuver. It was a twist and squat with a little momentum behind it, not a feat of strength.
Although he told me I could do it that way too. Which earned him an eye roll. I didn’t care what they said about werewolf strength. Xander was bigger than me and there was no way I could lift him.
We went through each step, move by move. I had to grab his wrist and then spin around so that my back was to his front, which would wrench his arm.
Then, I would squat a little bit to get my hip under his, and momentum, plus the fact that his arm wanted to stay connected to the rest of his body, would flip him over my shoulder.
Sounded reasonable. If only I could wear my gloves for it. I didn’t need to hear about how he liked the way I fit against his body or how he thought I was sexy. My palms started to sweat. I didn’t dare look in Brent’s direction. But I could feel him. Pacing. Barely holding his wolf at bay.
"You’re moving too slowly," Xander said, drawing me back to the problem at hand. "Don’t be afraid of hurting me. I promise I won’t break. And even if I do, I heal quickly."
"But you’re already hurt."
He slapped his leg. "This is nothing. Just a scratch."
"You’re still limping. That’s more than a scratch."
"Shut up. Just do it."
I stopped all the worrying and pulled the move. Xander went flying through the air, hit the mats and slid into the wall.
Crap. I needed to learn not to overdo it. I ran over to him. "Are you okay?" I nudged him with my foot.
"Xander?" He wasn’t moving. I leaned down to make sure he was still breathing.
"Boo!" he yelled.
I screamed and jumped up. "Damn it, Xander!" I took a deep breath, and kicked his side. "They should really pad these walls. One of these days I’m going to actually hurt you and I’m going to think you’re faking and leave you for dead."
"I don’t know why you never believe me. I really won’t break." He stood up and pulled me against him. "I’m a werewolf," he whispered in my ear.
I didn’t have time to laugh before an arm wrapped around my middle, ripping me away from Xander. Brent set me on my feet, and turned—arms swinging. His fist met Xander’ face. Xander flew through the air again, but this time the crack echoed through the gym when his head slammed into the wall.
Brent lunged toward Xander. His hand wrapped around Xander’ neck as he lifted him off the ground and rammed him into the wall. Xander hung limply.
