Chapter 26: Chapter 26

RAGE

I made my way back to the alpha house, but it wasn’t easy. Leaving her with those jackasses felt like I was failing her as a mate. The lycan—whatever his name was—had a hard-on for fighting.

He wanted to get underneath my skin, and I wasn’t sure why.

How was our mating any of his business?

My fingers curled into fists at my side. I wanted to slam his head into the ground and watch him bleed, but learning how to regulate my emotions was something my father taught me when I was young.

I stormed up the steps and into the alpha house. I needed to relax my mind and get her scent out of my head. Stalking up the stairs, I stopped once at the top step. Derek and Brett stood by my door.

“What are you doing up here?”

“We’ve been waiting on you,” Brett said. “I wanted to tell you something.”

I pushed past them and opened my door. I kicked off my shoes and laid backward onto my bed.

“Is this a bad time?” Brett asked.

“No,” I said, closing my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Derek kicked my foot so that I would sit up. “I’m sorry. Are we interrupting your soap opera?”

“Piss off,” I snapped. “Get to the point.”

“We saw Harlan with Alpha Allaire yesterday at that barbeque downtown,” Brett said.

I shrugged. “So what?”

“So,” Brett said, grabbing the back of my desk chair and sitting down. “You need to take that as a point for Harlan. He’s having one-on-one dinners with your mate’s father.”

“This is the least of my worries right now. That is basically his father. Don’t you get that? I can’t break their connection and I don’t want to. They are family.”

Derek cleared his throat. “Maybe you could just consider getting to know him. It won’t hurt to reach out, will it?”

“I have other things to worry about than meeting with her Dad. I have lycans being assholes to her, and Harlan not standing up for her like he needs to.”

“What lycans?” Brett asked.

“Those lycans that started the fraternity. Do either of you know an Erick or Greg? There is something wrong with Erick. He’s trying to get us to fight. I don’t know why.”

Derek clapped his hands. “You know I love detective work. I can find out everything you need to know about Erick and Greg.”

“Thank you.”

I laid back onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Brett asked.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Brett stood and left the room leaving me with Derek. “I’ll have something for you tomorrow afternoon. Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what the lycans are up to.”

“I know.”

Brett shut the door.

My body relaxed into my bed as my mind raced. There were so many things running rampant in my mind. I hated leaving her with him knowing that the lycans were near.

Turning off my brain was harder than I thought.

I screwed my eyes closed and fell asleep.

***

Someone knocked on my door drawing me out of my sleep.

I glanced around the room. It was midnight black, and it took my eyes a while to adjust.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Stumbling upright, I bumped into my chair and grabbed the door handle. Her scent knocked into me. “Ever?” I whispered into the darkness. “Are you okay?”

She stepped inside and splayed her fingers on my chest. I reached around her and flipped on the light. She blinked away tears. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she whispered. “I just… I didn’t want to stay with him. Something isn’t right.”

I locked the knob. “What do you mean? Stay with Harlan? What happened?”

She sat down on the corner of my desk chair and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. Tonight, during the bonfire, there was something dark I felt through Harlan. He says it was just his emotions, but it felt wrong. I was too afraid to stay with him. I need… I need a break.”

She needed a break from him, and they’d only been together a few hours. My wolf loved the sound of that, but I knew it was a deeper reason why she was worried. “Why are you worried?” I asked, sitting down on the corner of my bed.

“Because of his dad,” she whispered.

Her hazel eyes, full of tears, searched my face. “His dad was evil. He mentioned having a dream about him, and I’m afraid he’s going to turn out like his dad. I’m… I don’t want to lose him. He’s part of the pack. He was raised better than this.”

She wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry it’s so late. I didn’t want to walk all the way back to my dorm alone. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

I chuckled and reached for her wrist. “If you think for one second, I regret you waking me up, you’re wrong. You always come to me, Allaire. Always.”

She nodded. “Can I lay with you again?”

My wolf growled at the invitation of lying with her. The last time we stayed up hours tasting one another. This time we needed sleep for class in the morning.

“Of course.”

I stood up and pulled the comforter back. Everlee took off her shoes, and blue jeans. As if her laying with me wasn’t hard enough, now she didn’t have any pants on.

She untied her hair and let it fall down her shoulders.

She caught me staring and nervously shrugged. “What?”

“Nothing. Come on.”

I turned the light off and slipped into the bed with her. She instantly curled into me, and my wolf relaxed into her touch.

“I feel safe with you,” she whispered.

The darkness hid her face, but I imagined a soft smile splaying across her mouth. “Yeah? That’s the goal. To protect my mate.”

Everlee turned to face me and interlaced her legs with mine. Her breath fanned against my mouth, and I almost salivated at the temptation. “I think something’s wrong with those lycans.”

I fingered the hem of her shirt playfully. The last thing I wanted was for her to walk around the campus afraid. “I’m getting some information about them. We’ll figure out what’s going on.”

Ever nodded.

Before I could push down my temptation anymore, I felt her body relax and her fall asleep.

My mind raced with the threats the lycans could bring to the school. Just like when Luna Savannah and Alpha Allaire were here. The lycans brought trouble.

The next morning I woke to Everlee hurrying around to get dressed. She banged against the desk and then nearly tripped over her jeans. “Where is the fire?” I asked, sitting up on my elbows.

She laughed and blew her hair from her eyes. “It’s ten AM.”

“Crap,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. “I missed my first class.” I swung my feet to the ground and braced my palms on my knees. “I can still make it to my alpha class. You want me to run and get breakfast first.”

She gave me a crazy look. “You’re gonna run and get us breakfast before my class starts in ten minutes.”

“Well,” I said, grabbing my T-shirt from the ground. “No, I say we get coffee, breakfast, come back here for a nice morning wakeup and then go to our eleven o’clock class.”

She chuckled and reached for the door, but I grabbed her waist and pulled her back against me. She fit into my body so perfectly. There was something so small and perfect about the way she folded into me.

“Don’t start something I’ll have to deal with during class. I need to go. Do you have a notebook I could take notes on?”

I grabbed a blank notebook from my desk drawer, and a pencil from the holder. “There. Will I see you today? Are you okay about last night?”

“As okay as I can be. I’ll need to talk to him today. I left him in the middle of the night. He’ll be hurt that I came here. I’m not sure what to say.”

“Tell him how you feel, Ever. The truth is always better than a lie.”

She winked at me before disappearing out into the hallway. I rubbed my palm down my face and attempted to wake up. I slid into my blue jeans and grabbed my bag.

When I opened the door the smell of a lycan hit me.

I stepped out into the hallway and turned to face Harlan. How he got past Everlee I’d never know. The look on his face told me he was pissed as hell that she’d come over.

I shut the door and glared at him. “Do you need something?”

“What the hell did you do with Everlee?”

I inclined my head. “That’s a really broad question. Perhaps you should narrow it down.”

His chuckle sliced at my skin. “She left me in the middle of the night. Tell me you didn’t text her and beg her to come over.”

“I’m late for class.”

I stepped around him, but he stopped me. His hand on my arm felt foreign. I removed it quickly and stepped up to face him. There wasn’t much room between us. I wanted to break his nose.

Break down his arrogance for coming into my home like this.

“Don’t touch me,” I said.

Harlan slid his tongue over his teeth. “I didn’t interrupt your time with Everlee. I thought we had enough respect for each other not to overstep our boundaries. Why the hell did you call her over here?”

“I didn’t,” I hissed. “She knocked on my door in the middle of the night, scared of you. You should get yourself together. Figure out what’s going on before you run her away.”

I slid by him and looked over my shoulder. “You need to get rid of your lycan friends. They don’t have Everlee’s best interest in mind, and so you know, I will always fight for her. No matter the species. The last name. I don’t give a damn who you are. Get yourself together and don’t come at me again. That’s your last warning.”

I left the alpha house in a rush across campus. I knew confronting Harlan would need to be done sooner or later.

His pride was hurt.

She was afraid of him.

I trusted her instinct. If she thought something was different about him, then I would believe it.

I didn’t know him like she did, and that was the scary part. She could sense the growing difference, where I would see him snap before I realized his change.

I felt someone watching me from the alpha house to class.

No one looked interested in me as I passed them.

Someone watched from the distance.

I didn’t cower away from them. I stood proud. My wolf wasn’t the wolf to submit, and neither was I.