Page 5 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

I follow him to the coffee machine he set up on his desk. Next to the small silver machine, there’s all the creature comforts a student might need: a toaster oven, microwave, and an air fryer. We’re actually not supposed to have all that stuff in our rooms, but everyone has them, and the college has shown no interest in punishing anyone for them.

I’m lazy, so I eat almost all my meals in the campus dining rooms. Doug at least tries to be healthy. He keeps microwave grain packets on a shelf above his desk, along with packets of veggies you can steam, and marinated chicken in his tiny refrigerator.

“And you let him?” I’m not sure I’d be happy lending my bed for someone to have sex on. Even if they cleaned up after them, I’d still smell everything.

He shrugs. “His roommate had his girlfriend over, and I had to train late, then study. I didn’t need the room, but he did.”

That’s Doug all over. Generous to a fault.

I shouldn’t have come here.

Doug can’t be the killer. I knew that before I took one step into his room. Yet here I am, being reminded of a life I can’t have.

“Kat?” The corners of Doug’s eyes crease in concern. “You okay?”

I form my lips into a smile. “Yeah.”

He points at the glass jar of coffee pods he has next to his closed laptop. “What flavor do you want?”

I shake my head. “I’m good. Did you hear about the murders on campus?” I hop on the desk, my hands flat on the surface and kicking my feet the way I always liked to when I’d come over to his room.

I don’t even realize I’ve done it until his mouth kicks up in a half smile. Then his smile fades. “I did. You’re taking care of yourself, right? No late night walks on your own?”

I never went for late night walks on my own. I went for runs as a wolf.

“Nope. You?”

He grabs a coffee pod from a glass jar and sticks it in the machine. Doug is not a big drinker, another big surprise for a jock. His vice is fancy coffee with hazelnut syrup and creamer. “I can sack a linebacker.You…” His blue eyes drift over my body and they turn heated. “You are far too tempting.”

I’m 5’5 and slim, though not because I work out. I have a crazy fast metabolism to thank for that. To a 6’2 football player like Doug, I’m probably an easy victim for the Gregson Campus Killer.

I might not look like someone who can handle themselves in a fight, but I have other ways to defend myself from attacks. Doug doesn’t.

I slide off the desk as he takes a step toward me, his coffee apparently forgotten. “I better go. Need to get to class. Take care of yourself, okay?”

And I mean it.

We didn’t break up because he fell out of love with me or I fell out of love with him. He’s going to have a normal life one day. Probably find a nice girl, settle down, get married, have kids. The works.

My version of normal isn’t going to be the same as his, no matter how much I might want it to be. And it has everything to do with the wolf growls in my head.

“Or you could stay,” he softly suggests.

We’re entering dangerous territory here.

Doug is being nice, and he’s shirtless. We’re in his dorm room, and no one is likely to bother us for a while. Possibly the entire day.

“I can’t.”

“So you came here to ask me about something everyone knows all about?”

“No, I, uh, came to make sure the killer hadn’t gotten you.”

He raises an eyebrow, and it’s clear he just saw through what suddenly feels like the thinnest excuse in the world to come see him.

I could have called him. I still have his number. And if I didn’t want to speak to him, a quick trip to the football stadium would have reassured me he was okay.

So why am I here?

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