Page 12 of Wolf Mate

My class was on the first floor. Even more students were out, and I got stuck behind a group as I made my way to the room at the far end of the hall.

As soon as I walked through the door, awareness prickled at the base of my neck. My traitorous gaze landed on Raffe, who sat lazily in the back row of the class. His attention was already on me, and when our eyes met, his softened. A few guys sat next to him, and a girl sat in front of him with her body turned toward him, but he wasn’t talking to any of them.

I hurriedly took the open seat in the front of the middle row, feeling the intensity of his gaze on me the entire way. If I didn’t have my back to him, I’d gawk at him during class. I was thankful he’d sat in the back; it would’ve been way too obvious if I turned around to stare at him. This would prevent me from doing something embarrassing … I hoped.

“Raffe, did you hear what I said?” the girl asked.

The image of her was burned into my mind, her long blonde hair waving down her back and her tight black shirt highlighting her slim frame. Thankfully, I’d seen her only from behind. I bet if I’d seen her face, I’d be even more jealous.

“No,” he replied curtly, the same tone he’d used with me.

“Oh, I said—”

“I’m not interested,” he replied. “I already have plans with my friends after the game.”

I placed my hands on the cool desk to keep facing forward. For whatever reason, the tugging had started up again, bringing with it the urge to change seats to get closer to him. This was fucking ridiculous, but at least his jerk comment made sense now. It had to be some kind of act. But why?

“The whole football team is invited.” The girl laughed a little too loudly. “It’s the cheerleaders and the football players. Your friends can come.”

“Yeah, man,” a guy near him said. “The rest of the football team are your friends too. You should come hang out with us.”

I stared at the whiteboard in the front of the room, a slight smile forming on my lips. I already knew how he’d react to that pressure.

“We already made plans,” Raffe replied.

A friendly face entered the classroom, and my chest relaxed marginally.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Slade strolled to the open seat next to me and paused. Mirth danced in his eyes. “May I sit here, or will you tell me to move like last time?”

Laughter bubbled in my throat. “In fairness, I didn’t tell you that you couldn’t last class.”

He pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead as he settled into the seat next to me. “You kinda did, but at least I came prepared, even though you did snub meagainabout walking together.”

I leaned my head back and giggled … and froze. I hadn’t done that since … hell, I couldn’t remember ever feeling this lighthearted, not even with my parents.

“Hey, I’m just giving you a hard time. I thought you were having fun.” He touched my arm. “I didn’t mean—”

A growling noise came from behind us, and the tugging in my chest yanked. I glanced over my shoulder. Raffe’s nostrils were flared, and his eyes were glowing. His glare was on Slade, who had followed my gaze.

Slade’s demeanor changed as he dropped his hand, the easy go-with-the-flow attitude slipping into a hardened sneer.

Clearly, they had some history between the two of them, and I hated that I wanted to know every single detail. I’d bet the problem was Raffe, but something inside me didn’t want to listen to rationale.

I had to stop dwelling on him.

“You two don’t like each other?” I couldn’t help but ask. I forced my eyes to look away from Raffe and focus on Slade. Even then, they wanted to go back to him.

“That’s a nice way of putting it.” Slade turned back to me, and his friendly expression returned, though his eyes weren’t as bright. “Let’s just say the Wrights and their … followers don’t necessarily get along with the rest of the university students.”

“Someone said the same thing at the bookstore.” I clutched my pen, not as eager for economics class as I had been for microbiology.

Slade groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Of course you’ve already had a run-in with them.”

“Yeah, but they also helped me, so I can’t criticize them too much.” I bit my bottom lip, wondering why I was defending them. They’d done more for me than anyone at my previous school would’ve done if I’d been scared and in danger.

His brows furrowed, and I swore he was about to ask a question, but class started.

I tried to pay attention, but my spine tingled the entire time. I sensed Raffe staring at me. The notion was foolish, especially since I was in front of him and directly in line with the whiteboard. Besides that, he’d made it clear he had no interest in talking to me, so the last thing he’d be doing was watching me. But that didn’t keep me from being keenly aware of his proximity, and I had to fight the urge to steal glances at him over my shoulder.

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