Page 40 of Shadow Wolf
“I’m good babe, but not that good. Your lover boys have more pull than I thought. I don’t know how or when, but I was going to get in and change your marks on the computer system before you returned. I didn’t want you to have to deal with all that when you came back.
“But it had already been done. And your professors thought you were the best student ever… that’s the working of a vampire. Not me… and not Seamus, he might be my old softie, but he isn’t a do-gooder and he is a night walker. He’s only good for lurking.”
I nodded, like that made total sense. It didn't. I had no idea what had happened, but my grades looked amazing and professors thought I was the best student. I would take that.
Jett and Mekhi changed my grades so I didn't have to spend all summer here studying. I still wasn't going home for summer. I couldn't see my parents again. Having not seen them since last Christmas and then spending a whole week with them. I think that was plenty enough.
I didn't belong in their world and I didn't want to. I needed to find where I fit, I needed to find who I was.
Chapter26
Frankie
She was back.
I didn’t fly home from Washington state. I took a greyhound. Almost thirty-six hours, cramped up on a bus with a crying baby, the stench of body odor and wishing my panther wasn't so messed up with flying.
But it gave me a lot of time to think about all the things I should have done and said. And all the ways I wish I could go back in time and start over with Clare.
“You have to stop this, get over her man. Look at how all the other chicks are checking you out. Fuck one of them and get her out of your system.” Liam was trying to be a good friend. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. Because he was the worst friend when it came to this.
“Trust me, when you fall for someone, truly fall for them, you will not be able to justfuckthem out of your system. I don’t want anyone but her. That’s it. I never wanted to have a mate or find love, but I have experienced love and heartbreak. And it was worth it to even know Clare for a day.”
He snorted and shrugged as he strolled beside me, and past the shops in town.
“Yeah, that shit isn’t happening to me. I’m gonna fly solo forever. New chick every weekend.” I rolled my eyes. I hoped he found love, because it would be amusing to see Liam change into a sappy lovesick fool when he did.
“If that’s what you think is gonna happen when you're an old and creepy shifter, go for it.” I teased. “Now, wait out here while I go in. I don’t want you fucking this up for me.”
He rolled his eyes but did as I asked. Liam might be a Reaper, but he was still my cousin and the closest friend I had. He decided to come with me for moral support for an interview I had at a tattoo shop downtown. This was my first step of a career. I never tried before, because I didn’t think I was good enough for anything but the Reapers or all the other illegal stuff I did to put food on the table.
But after being with Clare, just for those few weeks, I knew I was better than that. My panther knew she was my mate, still did. But I believed she was sent here to set me free. It was as if all the stars aligned when we met. Like fate. She came into my life right when the Reapers wanted me to patch in officially. I had to make the choice between them or her.
I chose her, even now that I didn’t have her. I would choose her every time. If one day, she might ever have it in her heart to forgive me, I wanted to show her I was a better person. I was the person I was supposed to be.Going to be.
The bell over the shop door rang as I entered and I heard a female voice yell out that she would be right there.
I took a deep breath and held my sketch book under my arm. One that I had been working on non-stop for the past three weeks. Each day I sketched, I thought of her. But the book was old, I had sketches in there from five years ago. I shuffled my feet and tried not to overthink this. I had never been to an interview before. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I tried to keep my mind off it and think of something else.
Clare.
She was all I thought about, and she was back with Vicki. Seamus was looking out for her, too. Still didn’t trust the guy, but seemed to find he had one weakness… Vicki.
He didn’t want to hurt her, that I knew. I had gone to see Vicki when I returned, to make sure she knew what went down in Port Willow and ask her how Clare was. Clare wouldn’t speak to her, and Vicki was a mess. Turns out, Vicki could be a feisty witch. She was pissed off at me for lying. She did tell me once that she would hurt me if I ever hurt Clare. So, when she zapped me with her powers, it hurt like a bitch. I healed fast though, so I thought it was only fair punishment, I deserved it.
But she did it a second time, a gleam in her eye that scared me as she forced a shift on me. That messed me up, I didn’t know witches could do that shit. That was probably why most shifters avoided them. She thought it was funny and told me I had“a nice pussy.”
I didn’t, he was a confused and angry black panther. I lost all my clothes in the shift, and she made my panther all disorientaed. I haven’t wanted to be near her since. She made her point. But when Clare had returned, it was if their bond had only grown stronger. I was glad she had a friend in Vicki. Even after everything.
I had come to see if she was safe a few times. Outside her dorm under the trees was where I found Seamus, being the creepy fucker that he was. But Vicki knew he was there, and she would fuck with him.
At first, it surprised me how she would taunt him, but she knew I was there too. She could sense me out here somehow. Knew I could hear her and Clare up there. The stuff she said to Seamus was amusing, and he took it. He fucked with her right back. I wasn't sure if they liked each other, but they seemed to get pretty heated that it wouldnt surprise me that they either kill or fuck each other.
Three nights ago while Clare was in the shower, Vicki told Seamus that she was going to freeze him on the spot so he could watch the sun rise.
He just raised a brow and chuckled. Never heard the guy laugh like that. But after what she did to me, I was worried she could actually do that. If she could force me to shift to my panther form. I was sure she could cook a vampire in the sun.
But then she then told me to fuck off and to stop coming back. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but then she opened the window and looked down at me. Probably taking pity, that I was standing out here with Seamus.
