Page 5

His shoulders lift and lower on a deep breath, and he stares into my eyes, almost like he’s investigating their color. We’ve never looked at each other like this before. I’d never had these thoughts flitter through my fated brain. The longer we stare at each other, the shallower my breaths get.
“What?” he asks, blue eyes dropping to my lips. They buzz with something akin to anticipation. Inside, in that spot where my wolf resides when she hasn’t taken over, I feel her confused interest.
Peering down, I spy his clenched fists. I follow his muscular forearm all the way to the open collar of his shirt that reveals a sprinkle of dark chest hair.
A pull starts inside of me that’s so foreign. I’ve always found him handsome, like looking at a painting and appreciating it for its beauty, but nothing else. There’s no other interest there. At least, there wasn’t.
Before I can go too far into my own head, I laugh at myself. I place my palms on my closed eyelids and chuckle. “Man, I think I need to get laid,” I say aloud, bringing my hands away and fanning myself.
My skin is burning up. I place my fingers on my cheeks, feeling the fire underneath.
I expected Nathan to follow me with laughter, but he hasn’t. Finally, I glance at him, and a different look than I predicted greets me. One that makes both my wolf and I perk up.
My lips part on a gasp at his intensity. Before I’m even able to pull another breath, we’re interrupted by a knock on the door. I jump, nerves skating all over my skin. I step away from Nathan, even though there’s already a hefty distance between us. It was only in my head that we were close enough to give me some serious heat.
The knock sounds again, and I give him a wide berth to swing the door open. A grinning Nadia stands in the doorway, her school bag flung over her shoulder. “The lady in the main office asked me to give this to you.” Peering around me, she lifts her hand to greet my other guest. “Hey, Nathan.”
She’s still waving at him when he pushes past me, knocking me to the side. “Going for a run,” he grunts.
Both Nadia and I stare at his retreating form, his footsteps eating up the long hallway in half the time it usually takes.
“Did you guys get into a fight?” Nadia asks. The girl is so damn sweet. I thought I was naïve when I first got here, but she takes the cake.
“No, he had a meeting with Gayle yesterday.” There really is no other explanation, right? We’re both feeling off because we’ve been in this damn place forever with no progress.
Nadia’s gaze burns into my temple as I stare down at the note she’s given me. My brows lift in surprise. It’s from Ms. Ebon, Lunar Pack’s advisor. My own advisor only shows up for mine and Sean’s mandatory meetings now. I guess she’s given up on us.
The careful scrawl tells me to come see her ASAP. I frown, my gut tugging with apprehension.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I answer Nadia truthfully. Reaching back inside my room, I grab my keys and lock the door behind me. I tell myself this obviously important, time sensitive meeting can’t have anything to do with Kinsey since I literally just spoke to her, which means it’s school related. I’m willing to bet the Lunar Pack advisor doesn’t want to give me a makeover. Advisors aren’t supposed to reach out to students from other packs and vice versa. This is out-of-the-norm, which makes not knowing so much worse. “Hey, I’ll see you later,” I tell my new friend before taking off.
She rushes to keep up with me. “Will I see you at dinner?”
I shrug. “No idea. Text me?”
She frowns, stopping at the bottom of the stairs as I take a right down the admin hall where the offices are located. Ms. Ebon has always looked like a tough shifter—sharp cheekbones, angular face. The kind people would instantly label a bitch. All I really know about her is that she gets results. Kinsey was the last Lunar Pack student here. Ms. Ebon’s save rate is better than any other advisor.
My stomach twists as I stand in front of the large, wooden door that leads to her office. Kinsey trusts her, so I should too. Ms. Ebon was even on her side when Kinsey ran away from Greystone a few weeks ago. With that in mind, I reach out and knock firmly.
Her harsh voice travels through the solid surface. “Come in.”
I take a deep breath, letting it out in a huff before I twist the knob and step inside.
I don’t know what I expected, but this room mirrors my own advisor’s space. Everything in Greystone Academy looks like a castle. Old, metal chandeliers with flickering light bulbs; huge, wooden desks and chairs that look like they’re straight out of Dracula’s home. It’s as if they tried to make this place as archaic as the reason we’re here.
“Miss Adams. Take a seat, please.”
There’s just something about Ms. Ebon that instantly makes me want to snap to attention. It’s an aura of authority with a cloak of finesse.
Before I’ve even sat down, she says, “I trust you know who I am.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I state, sinking into the purple velvet cushion of the high-back chair. “Kinsey spoke highly of you.”
At the mention of my friend, Ms. Ebon’s cold exterior melts a little.
“I spoke to her today, actually.” Pulling out my phone, I bring up the picture Kinsey sent me of her greenhouse. I don’t know why I’m showing her other than trying to find some common ground with a person who has so much sway around here.