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“Dom scared her yesterday,” Caleb confided and Anna’s head jerked up. “Shook her like a rag doll.”

“I did not shake her,” I denied vehemently as Anna stared at us with wide eyes. “I restrained her while asking a few questions.”

“He held her up in the air,” Caleb revealed, speaking under his breath as if I wouldn’t hear. “She was mad.”

“Dom!” Anna yelled and my coffee sloshed at the unexpected sound. She yanked the kolaches from my hand, frowning at me. “You can’t do that,” she reprimanded, shaking a finger at me as we stared at her in shock. “She’s not Pack.”

“She is Pack,” I corrected, gingerly taking the kolaches back. “And I realized my mistake. I apologized.”

“You did?” Her eyes narrowed as she held onto the bag holding my breakfast, not backing down and I was impressed, hungry and a tad aggravated, but impressed.

“I did.”

“You did?” Caleb had a disgruntled look on his face and I lifted my hands, giving up the kolaches.

“I did!”

“When?” They spoke in unison, neither believing me, and I sputtered.

“When I left her backpack.”

“You talked to her?” Anna pressed, her usual meekness disappearing as she watched me.

“I didn’t talk to her,” I said cagily.

“Then how did you apologize?” She crossed her arms over her chest and I heaved a sigh.

“I left a note.”

“A note,” Caleb coughed into his hand as I rolled my eyes.

“A note,” I confirmed and Anna wavered, finally thrusting the kolaches back at me. “Thank you.”

“You’re going to need to apologize in person,” she told me, her voice growing higher as my expression hardened. “It’s the right thing to do,” she added, scurrying past me and Caleb shrugged as he followed her, mouthing, “It’s the right thing to do.”

I didn’t comment as I followed them to the Jeep, draining my coffee and cramming three kolaches in my mouth before Anna decided to take them away again.

“Fine,” was all I said as I slide into the oversize vehicle, and started it.

***

“Maybe I should talk to her,” Anna suggested when I parked.

“Not a bad idea,” Caleb mentioned casually. “I can hang back and keep an eye on them. In case Jess decides to start shouting about you assaulting her.”

“I didn’t assaul-” I started to shout when I caught sight of their amused gazes. “Not funny,” I muttered, getting out as Anna leapt down beside me. “I’ll apologize, alright?”

She patted my arm, her hand tiny next to my massive forearm. “I know you will. You’re a good guy, Dom.”

I went around the back of the building to hide the fact that I was headed straight for Jess’s locker to scope out her reaction.

It wasn’t long before Anna sent me a disappointed thought. “Jess ignored me,” she reported, unable to hide the hurt coating her words.

“Me too,” Caleb declared seconds later, anger shimmering in his thoughts. “She walked past us like we didn’t exist.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I told them, guilt tugging at me. I was responsible for this, my actions had pushed her away, and I had to find a way to fix it.

Jess came into view then, her head down as she weaved her way to her locker. She stared at the locker door, then rested her head against the cool metal, her posture almost defeated. I studied her for a second as students hurried to class, lockers slamming in the background, and she picked her head up, spinning the lock forcefully.

I crossed the wide hall gracefully, slipping between students until I came up behind her. She fumbled with her textbooks, shoving them haphazardly into the tiny space.

“I said I was sorry,” I grumbled, standing so other students couldn’t see her. “You ignored Anna? And Caleb?”

“Hello to you too,” she muttered, so low I was sure I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but the sarcasm was loud and clear.

“Hello,” I retorted and she growled in frustration.

“Do you have some weird telepathy going on? Is that what makes you different? Because there’s no way you already know what happened outside two minutes ago,” she snapped angrily, so close to the truth I sucked in a sharp breath, then instantly regretted it as her scent saturated my nostrils.

Mate, my wolf growled and I had to clench my fists to keep from tossing her over my shoulder and walking out. I shook off the instinctive urge and rattled off an often used lie. “Ever heard of text messages? Caleb types faster than most girls.” Her shoulders rose as she took a breath, and I had the feeling she didn’t believe me for a second.

“And my ignoring them was somehow need to know info for you?” She questioned sharply, shoving notebooks in her bag as she spun around to face me.

“Yes,” I answered simply, knowing there was no point in denying the truth. Everything she did was of interest to me and the sooner she understood that the better.