Page 70 of Pack Baines

“I don’t know, but it feels like someone’s watching me, C,” I hurry to answer, gaze scanning every inch of the library that my eyes can see.

“Is there anyone around?”

“Only a couple of stud—ohmyfuckinggod,” my words end in a rush as a hand clamps down on my shoulder, scaring roughly ten years off my lifespan.

Eyes wide and startled, my head snaps up in the direction of the hand’s owner, only to monumentally relax when I find a professor attached to the other end. Professor Barnes Champion’s stoic and emotionless expression flickers with guilt, a wince marring his painfully handsome features.

“Apologies, Miss Baines. I didn’t mean to startle you. Miss Favero wished for me to check on you. She mentioned you looked a little distressed, but the phone rang before she could check on you herself,” the art and English lit professor explains smoothly, his expression smoothing out as he speaks. “Is everything alright? You’re jumpy, you’re looking around warily, and I can see your pulse fluttering rapidly in your neck.”

Breathing a harsh breath out, I nod and say, “Everything is alright, sir. I appreciate you checking.”

“Are you certain?” he pushes, a crease forming between his eyebrows with a concerned frown, my pulse giving away the fresh wave of anxiety that now spreads through my body. The relaxation I’ve felt all weekend with my guys has been thoroughly undone, and paranoia eats at me as I try to peer around every corner and behind the professor to check who’s around and whether or not I recognize them.

“Juno? Please answer me?” I hear called from the cell I hadn’t realized I’d lowered from my face.

Nodding quickly, relaxing under the worried gaze of my professor, I rush to say, “I’m fine, sir. Just a little paranoid.”

Professor Champion nods slowly, as though he doesn’t quite trust that all is fine, but he decides to take me at my word and says, “Alright. I’ll be with Miss Favero should you need anything.”

I offer him a grateful smile and watch as he walks back to the reception desk where Miss Favero remains, phone clutched in her hand and pressed against her ear as she speaks in hushed tones. The moment he’s gone, I’m pressing the phone back to my ear, only to hear Creek speaking quickly, “... going to be right there, who even needs a fucking college education when my omega is in trouble? Fuck it all.”

“I’m fine. I’m okay. Professor Champion scared me, that’s all,” I blurt quickly, brushing my hair from my face as I sink into my seat with a tired sigh. “Don’t leave your classes. I’m alright, handsome. I just got really jumpy and weird for a minute there.”

Creek’s sigh is loud and filled with relief, though he still sounds worried when he asks, “Are you sure, beautiful? I don’t care what it costs me, I will be out of here quicker than you can wink if you need me. Or if you need absolutely any of us, we’ll be there.”

His words make me smile, and I relax that little bit more as I confirm, “And as much as I love you for that, I think I’ll survive the nothing that I’m currently suffering. Just my overactive imagination.”

There’s a pause of silence that comes from the phone, and I have to check my cell to see if Creek is still there. Sure enough, the call is still connected, and I have to ask, “Creek? You still there?”

He clears his throat and sounds a little choked up when he says, “Still here, beautiful.”

“Are you okay?” I wonder, the emotion in his voice confusing me.

“Better than okay, beautiful,” he answers with a smile I can actually hear. “What else do you love about me?”

I pause, because it’s then that I realize what I let slip without even a single thought, simply allowing the words to fall free of my lips because they’re true. They’ve been true for years and years, and it’s just second nature for me to tell them at this point. Apparently, my feelings are like an un-popped cork of a champagne bottle, and now that the cork has popped free, declarations of love are exploding uncontrollably out of me.

Huffing out a laugh, slightly embarrassed that I just blurted those words out to him like that, I quietly confess, “Too many things to list over the phone. Now, get lost. I have one more assignment to complete and then I’m gonna head into work early. Maybe see if Gabby is feeling generous enough to cook me dinner before my shift starts.”

“Pretty sure Gabby couldn't deny you a damned thing, beautiful,” he laughs, sounding more like himself now, only a smidge happier than before. It makes the smile on my own face double in size, my heart warm in my chest, and butterflies exploding in my stomach. The shadow of paranoia and anxiety continues to cling to my skin like a thick tar, but it doesn’t stop the mushy feelings rushing in. “Anyway, you finish your assignment, and I’ll see you at the diner.”

“Okay,” I whisper, smile softening.

“Alright. Miss you already, beautiful,” he practically croons down the phone, melting me from the inside out.

“Miss you more,” I reciprocate, ending the call a moment later before delving into the last assignment I have in my planner, spending almost two more hours seated in the library under the watchful eye of Miss Favero and the occasional Professor Champion.

By the time I’m done, and my nerves are set at ease from simply sitting in the comfort books and very little people bring, I’m not so jumpy and my nerves have had time to calm down. Backpack packed with all of my things, I head out with a wave at a red-cheeked Zira Favero and a head nod from an intense-looking professor.

I’m only a few steps away from the entrance of the library and slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and answering a fewconcerned texts from the other guys, when those same feelings of being watched in the library come hurtling back at the speed of an oncoming freight train.

With the hair sticking up on end, my steps slow and I’m paranoid all over again. I tuck my cell back in my pocket and haul my backpack up further on my shoulder while I subtly check my surroundings. Nothing seems amiss but the feeling doesn’t disappear, so I head down the sidewalk with an abundance of caution, my senses on high alert.

There’s but a short amount of distance between me and the truck when I spot it. The watcher. Standing between the trees, far in the distance to be invisible to the unassuming eye but close enough to make out the figure of a man with dark hair, bulky build, and wearing a pair of sunglasses that cover a big portion of his face, is the reason for the chills that wrack my body and fray my nerves further than they had been before. I watch in horrified silence as the stranger tilts his head, right before he points directly at me, then at himself, and makes a gesture that has my blood chilling under my skin. Slowly and deliberately, the creepy fuck drags his hand beneath his throat, right before he taps his wrist twice, all without taking his sunglasses-covered eyes off me.

Distracted by the figure, frozen in fear and worried to take my eyes off him in case he disappears, I don’t hear my name being called before I collide into a hard body that smells of smoke and leather, a scent so painfully alpha that I damn near have a conniption. A scream finds itself lodged in my throat, my heart falling to my ass as large hands steady me on my feet.

I take my eyes off the stranger between the trees and come eye to chest with a tall guy wearing a black shirt that hugs a wide chest and a leather jacket that clings to thick arms.

---