Page 49 of Wolf Bitten

Raffe bobbed his head cockily.

Yeah, he wouldn’t be gloating in another second. “I refuse to give the secret society more power. I will live my life the same as always, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be smarter and more cautious. Raffe can’t be by my side all day long—he has a few different classes—but luckily, at least one of you is with me in every class. The only thing that might be challenging is Saturday mornings.”

“Saturday mornings?” Lafayette’s brows furrowed. “There’s nothing happening on campus then.”

“Nope, but I volunteer at the local animal hospital.” I wrung my hands together. The fact that I’d missed last Saturday just hit me, and I’d bet the people there were worried. I needed to call them and apologize for not showing up. But what excuse would I give? Being kidnapped was a huge red flag and would bring me more unwanted attention.

“You’reworking?” Olwyn’s jaw dropped. “You can’t work while taking classes.”

Her bringing up my scholarship agreement shocked me. In class, I often overheard people talking about their jobs off campus, usually at a shop or coffee bar, so many students did have jobs. “Other students work off campus, and my grades are good. Besides, it’s volunteer hours.”

“But it’s stated in your scholarship that you can’t have a job,” she replied, and Lafayette’s head jerked toward her. She clamped her mouth shut.

“That’s not anormalclause.” A vein bulged in Raffe’s neck. “Which forces the question as to why it’s in her agreement. Did you recognize her abilities when she came here for her admission interview?”

My attendance here was stranger than I’d realized. “I didn’t have an interview. Hell, I didn’t even apply. I just got an acceptance letter in the mail.”

Raffe rolled his shoulders, his hand trembling on my back. He growled, “And Dad and I weren’t warned about any of this? How did you know about her?”

For a second, I swore the supreme priestess’s face paled, but then she squared her stance like she was readying to fight. She ran a hand over her navy suit. “Skylar’s acceptance wasn’t something a wolf-shifter royal needed to weigh in on. The decision involved school academics and the board voted to invite a bright, young, promising student with amazing grades to join us.”

“How?” Adam snorted. “There wasn’t an application to go over. There wasn’tanythingto vote on.”

“Unless …” Keith snorted. “Someone completed the application for her.”

My head went dizzy, and the world stilled. “But … why would anyone do that?”

“That’s whatIwant to know, and furthermore, why didn’t Vapor inform me or my father?” Raffe’s lip curled.

Vapor? I had no clue who that was, but now wasn’t the time to ask. Besides, I didn’t want to lose focus on getting the answers I’d wanted since getting the acceptance letter in the mail.

“Vapor wasn’t there when the vote happened,” Supreme Priestess Olwyn replied. “It was just the two human board members, me, and Demetris. I completed the application on Skylar’s behalf because, after what I learned about her from my coven members, I knew she needed to be here.”

The more she talked, the more the information didn’t make sense. Fog filled my mind like I was in a dream. “Someone from a coven saw my magic fritz?”

“They overheard a wolf shifter talking about how a woman’s presence calmed him, and he felt compelled to allow her to help him while in animal form.”

“Wait.” Hecate gasped. “That was Skylar?”

Keith shook his head. “That’s impossible. Wolf shifters are more cautious in animal form. No one would let a human come close to them, no matter how attractive she was or how calm she made them feel.”

A deep, vibrating snarl came from Raffe, and the icky feeling of jealousy flared in my chest.

“Dude, why’d you add the attractive part?” Adam shook his head like that was the important detail.

Not wanting to derail the conversation, I snuggled into Raffe’s side, making it clear we were together. “I did help a wolf in the woods once, but still, how did you all figure out it was me?”

“Dear, it wasn’t that hard when we learned where it happened. Your house was closest to that location, and when we checked it out, we saw you and sensed that you were more than human and not in control of your ability. That’s why we wanted to bring you here. When we learned you’d attended a two-year community college and graduated valedictorian, it made it that much easier to bring you here. The stipulation of you not taking a job off campus was to keep you nearby where we could watch out for you.” Olwyn placed her arms around her stomach. “I’m sorry, Skylar. I should’ve explained this to you when you arrived, but you were struggling and so clueless about our world that I didn’t want to put too much on you—”

“Did you know what I was?” My blood fizzed, and I couldn’t see straight. Not only had the supreme priestess kept so much from me while pretending to be a friend, but she’d also manipulated me. Little had I known that she’d been aware of me and had let me struggle until I’d made a mess of things on my own.

“Let’s go to your apartment so we can talk alone. Even though the humans can’t hear us, it’s clear we’re getting upset and could cause a scene,” she suggested.

Raffe laughed humorlessly. “You aren’t going anywhere with her alone.”

How much worse could this day get? Yes, I was free from the underground bunker, but Raffe might have lost everything, including his pack, while I’d learned that the coven members I’d relied on had kept important information from me. At least Raffe had never pretended to be my friend while manipulating me. He’d merely pretended to hate me while secretly wanting me. That was marginally better, right?

“You can join us.” Olwyn waved a hand dismissively. “As well as Slade. But that’s it.”

---