Heather
Xander relaxed, reclining in his chair a little, muscles at ease.
"We all have martial arts and yoga class together," Serena said. "It’s fun, promise. So keep that in mind while you’re in the more wolfy classes."
"Wouldn’t picture you as a yoga kind of a guy," I said to Xander.
"Hey. You don’t know that well. Plus, I’m an artist. It’s hip and arty to do yoga."
"Whatever, dude. You like it so you can check out all the girls’ butts in downward dog," Adrian said, shoving Xander
"Hey!" Xander shoved Adrian. "You’re doing the sa thing!"
"I’m a dude, dude. It’s what I do."
I couldn’t help but laugh at the boys. The tension in my shoulders eased so more and I smiled.
"You’re really pretty when you smile," Xander said as he leaned toward .
"Thanks," I said. My cheeks heated.
"It was rely my observation," he said with a wink. He settled back into his relaxed pose.
Yeah, I wasn’t buying that for a second. The guys here were way too smooth.
The chair next to scraped against the floor. Brent stepped into the empty space and leaned in close to my ear. "I need to talk to you."
I froze, unable to look at him. My pulse sped up at the sound of his voice, his breath hot on my neck.
I was seriously ssed up where he was concerned.
He ignored ever since he bit and here I was, drooling at the chance to get close to him. This had to stop. My body, heart, and hormones might want to do whatever he wanted, but my head was in charge of the lot.
I turned away from him. "No. You can’t just co over here and—"
He gently circled my arm with his fingers.
Jealousy. Rage. It swamped . My stomach burned with it. My heart raced and I had an urge to rip sothing apart.
The intensity of his feelings made it hard for to breathe. Was he really that mad?
He squatted down next to . "Now. Outside." His words weren’t a demand, but a plea.
I tried to jerk my arm away, but he slid his hand down to twine his fingers with mine. Brent’s hair stuck out all over the place and his shoulders hunched down.
He mouthed the word "please."
I glanced around the table. Leslie and Serena’s mouths hung open, but Xander sat forward, every muscle tense. His eyes were bright as he stared at Brent.
I shook my head. I didn’t need Xander to protect . Brent had already done his worst by turning into a werewolf.
I was probably going to regret this. "You’ve got five minutes."
I followed Brent out the door. He kept walking until he hit the tree line between the dorm and the classroom building. His grey T-shirt wasn’t tight, but he couldn’t have hidden his muscles if he tried.
Use your head, Heather.
"Are you going to keep walking, or do you want to talk?"
He spun, eyes glowing. "Stay away from Xander Matthews."
I had a second to be freaked out by the eye change, before I got seriously pissed off. "You’ve got so nerve. You’re the one with the fucking girlfriend."
"What? I don’t have a girlfriend. Just please. Heather. Just stay away from the guys."
"What do you call Callista?"
"A friend. A very old, very loyal friend."
"Well guess what. Xander is a friend. A very new, very fun friend." My blood boiled. "News flash: I haven’t done anything wrong. You have no right to drag out here and yell at . Hello? You bit . Now, I’m here and struggling to keep my head above water. So you need to get your shit together."
His eyes dulled back to his normal light amber. "I—"
"No. Don’t say anything. There’s no taking back what you did." I took a couple steps toward him and poked him in the chest. "And now you want to boss around? Tell who to talk to!"
"You’ve been flirting with Xander." His voice was more growl than anything else.
"You’re jealous. You’re a big ball of li green jelly." It wasn’t a question. It was a fact. Maybe my visions were coming back. But why was it just words and emotions? Why didn’t I "see" anything.
He punched the closest tree. I ducked as splinters rained down. "rde, Heather. S’il vous plait..."
I took a giant step back. "What’s your deal?"
He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. "I don’t know."
"You have no right to tell anything. To speak to . To be around . What you did is unforgivable!" I forced myself to take a breath, but it didn’t help calm my anger. "You can’t ignore , and then co over, drag out of lunch to tell who I can and cannot talk to. I don’t care—"
My skin started tingling and my knuckles cracked. "Shit. This isn’t happening. This can’t happen. Christ. I didn’t eat enough." Hair sprouted down my arms. My breath ca out in gasps as I watched it thicken into fur.
"It’s going to be okay, Heather. Just let the shift take over."
I looked up at him, unable to keep a tear from escaping. I crumpled to the ground. "No. I can’t. I—" I panted as pain swept through my body, my muscles moving and shifting.
"If you don’t want to shift, then let help." Brent leaned close to . He brushed a gentle kiss over my forehead. "Shhhh."
The sound was balm to my soul. The pain drained away as my hands shrunk back to normal.
A branch cracked beside . "Everything okay here?" Mr. Langdon said.
"Yes, Presley," Brent said. He brushed the hair away from my face. "I think we’ve got it under control."
Yeah, maybe he thought so, but I was clearly far from being under control. Brent helped up, and I brushed off my jeans with shaking hands.
"Sebastian and Donovan should be here soon. We’ll need to set a eting to discuss the implications of what’s happened between you two."
That didn’t sound good. I didn’t want to be punished for sothing that wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t want Brent to get punished for it either. Did I?
"Understood," Brent said like a good little soldier.
"When you say implications, what do you an exactly?" I said.
"Don’t worry about that." Mr. Langdon raised an eyebrow. "I think you’ve got a class to get to." He walked back to the school building.
I hated that. I was going to worry now for sure now.
Brent ran his fingertips along my jawline. "Je suis desole, mon amour."
I didn’t know what desole ant, but I was sure amour was love.
Before I could catch my breath, Brent sprinted into the woods. I kicked the tree as he ran. I wanted to call him back, have him tell what the hell was going on, but restrained myself. The guy was pure brain-poison.
I leaned my back against the tree, and slid down until I was squatting. There was no way I could face my next class.
Who were Sebastian and Donovan? And the "implications" Mr. Langdon was talking about couldn’t possibly be the sa ones Serena told about. Could they?
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