Page 121 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"Yeah, man." Killian’s hand disappeared, and I heard him sit back in the seat. "When he does come through for us, you’re going to have to let that go."

"Nope." Griffin shook his head as his left leg bounced. "I won’t. I get that he grew up with you and Sierra and is part of your pack, but I’ve known him for a couple of years—ever since I started at Shadow University—and I’ve never been impressed."

"Because he was petrified of you." Killian sighed. "But I know he’ll come through. That’s all that matters."

"I think he will, too." I pried my fingers under Griffin’s, trying to get him to release his death grip on my leg. If he didn’t let go, my leg was going to fall asleep. "At least we’ll know what we’re working with this time."

"I’d feel better if Sierra was here too." Griffin frowned. "If we’re walking into a trap, the more people we have, the less risky it will be."

"If she called out or left work early again, that could make whoever is behind this more suspicious." We couldn’t be reactive. We had to keep level heads or the plan wouldn’t work.

Killian said, "Don’t forget that Dick is already pissed about her missing work the other day. He’s been riding her ass ever since."

"Dick riding ass, eh?" I tried lightening the mood in the vehicle. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Dear God," Killian groaned. "Between you and Sierra... Hell, Rosemary even made a similar joke the other day, which freaked me out."

Not even the corner of Griffin’s mouth tipped upward, revealing how stressed he really was.

I feel like, ever since you met me, you’ve been a bottle of nerves.Sometimes I worried that my presence in his life was more problematic than good.

Griffin looked at me for a moment before looking back at the road.First off, it’sonly because I care about you so much, but second, I’ve always been kind of uptight.He kissed my cheek.I promise I have never felt happier and more content in my entire life.

You sure?The scent of a lie was missing, but that couldn’t stop me from asking. Each day felt like we were waking up to some sort of hidden threat.I just don’t see how.

I’m positive,he reassured me as he turned onto the road to the lake. The trees were thick on both sides, taking us to a spot in the lot that the shade from the trees covered. Rosemary and Carter were meeting us in a part of the woods a few miles in the direction that the bear had taken me.

A few visitors would, no doubt, be at the lake, so we were going to meet off the path where no one would see us together.

Griffin pulled into a parking space, and I gazed around. Several people were swimming in the lake. When I opened the door, the grassy and maple scents informed me that the two who seemed to be a couple were bears, and the other four were vampires.

My body tensed. I’d been attacked by two bear shifters already and was feeling particularly wary of them.

The three of us got out of the car, and I grabbed a bag I’d packed for keeping up our charade. Shifters loved to run, so us heading into the woods with extra clothing would help create the façade that we were just there to shift and enjoy the outdoors. This place was only about thirty or so minutes away from Shadow Ridge, so we had to pretend to be there for a day of fun.

Scanning the surroundings, I looked for any crows or falcons; those were the only two birds that could shift into both human and animal forms.

The only thing that stood out was the group of vampires distorting their beautiful faces to scowl in our direction.

I spoke softly, even though we were at least a half-mile away and they wouldn’t be able to hear. "Uh...what the hell is their problem?"

"They have to be from Shadow Terrace," Killian spat.

"The town on the other side of the river?" Someone had mentioned it in passing, but not much more. All I knew was that the town was protected by a vampire clan that provided humans to the vampires in Shadow City when needed.

"Yeah. Between us throwing a fit about them funneling humans into Shadow Terrace, and the university being built on our side of the river, things are a little tense between the races." Griffin lifted his chin and ignored the vampires. "Things between us and the vampires are tense inside the city, too. We have conflicting agendas—except for everyone being on board to build the college. However, with so many humans applying and wanting to visit the campus, we didn’t want the school located on the vampire side—we knew it would increase the number of human visitors by a lot, and that would be very tempting for them. So, between the wolves and vampires vying for the spot as best protector, and since they both guard a side of the city,the university being located on the wolf side added even more animosity between us."

We stepped into the woods, leaving the scorned vampires behind us. A memory from my first week at the coffee shop passed through my mind. "Doesn’t the vampire prince, Alex, attend the university? If there is so much animosity, why is he there?"

"He does, and it’s partly to keep an eye on things," Killian said, catching up and walking on my other side. The trees were still spread out enough for us to walk next to one another. "Which was a whole thing within itself. During the first few months the university opened, he fed off one of the humans who was touring the school. Ever since then, a shifter has been assigned to escort every vampire around campus so that doesn’t happen again."

"What? Really?" The day I’d met him, he’d seemed nice…but that was part of a vampire’s allure. They were manipulative and practiced at hiding their true intentions because darkness was already a part of them. A bloodthirsty monster that tried to make each of them lose their humanity. "He can still walk in the sunlight, or at least tolerate it."

"He’s only drunk from the tap a few times." Griffin laughed harshly. "And has never killed anyone. So he’s actually pretty clean. Apparently, one of the students had cut the girl or something, trying to make him lose control."

"Wait, theytriedto make him lose his humanity?" No wonder Dad said vampires were too corrupt to be around. Granted, I was learning that the shifters and vampires needed the silver wolves’ help to suss the vilest people out. Just like how Griffin didn’t sense Dick’s true intent—if he had, he wouldn’t be letting Dick make decisions on his behalf. Maybe the silver wolves leaving the city had been the wrong move after all.

I needed to talk to him about that, but there was always something more pressing going on.

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