Page 16 of Alpha’s One-Night Stand (Shifters of Clarion #3)

S eeing Chad at the library was really the last thing I needed. I see him every day, and now I find out that he’s been following me around campus? And what’s this business about him being my alpha ? I don’t think I want to know what that’s about.

I mean, sure, he smells really good, and yeah, sleeping with him that first night was kind of out of character for me. But there’s no magic wolf bonding thing happening. That’s ridiculous. I think I’d know by now if I was a werewolf.

At least, I think I would know. You would think I’d know whether or not I was a witch, too.

It makes me wonder how it is that I’ve been able to move around undetected, though. If Chad could tell by my scent that I wasn’t human, then surely others picked that up, too, somehow.

Shit. It’s funny how a conversation or two can change your whole world.

I get back to my dorm, and hardly anyone is here. Classes are still in session, so I know I’m good to just go back to my room. If anyone asks, I’ll just tell them I’m sick—

“So, there you are. I was wondering what happened to you.”

I reach the top of the stairs, and the voice comes at me through the door to the student lounge. I turn to see Saffron’s blood-red hair bouncing as she walks toward me, a bag of chips in her hand.

“Hey,” I say and start walking. She comes with me.

“You feeling all right? Missed you in class today.”

“Yeah, I’m a little under the weather—Hey!”

She snatches the book out from my arms and opens it, scanning the pages briefly. “What’s with the library book? Oh.” She closes it and looks at the title. “Ancient Clarion Creatures.” Her eyes darken angrily, the jovial look in them gone. “Nice. You know, you could have just asked me, Yarra.”

I blink twice. “Asked you what ?”

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know. I’m a Scarlet Wolf, so you wanted to refresh your memory about my kind, right? Jeez. I knew it was a mistake to come here. The second people find out, it’s always the same shit.”

“Whoa, whoa,” I tell her. “Hold on a second. I wasn’t looking up anything about you, Saffron. I swear. I’ve kind of got my own problems right now.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

I glance around us. Jeez, she really had to pull this here. “Like . . . like the whole lycan thing, okay? The research is for me, all right?”

She narrows her eyes, and it occurs to me that she might pick up on the lie pretty quickly. Saffron’s really perceptive. “Uh-huh,” she says. “So, you’re not upset that I’m a Scarlet, then?”

“No. Why would I be?”

She pauses, the corners of her mouth turning a little like she might laugh. “You never heard that Scarlet Wolves are dirty thieves and liars? Nothing like that?”

“What? Why would anyone think that about you just because you have red . . . fur?”

She chuckles. “You are something else, you know that?” She hands me my book. “You on your way back to your room?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

The smile on Saffron’s face fades a little. “I decided to skip today. After yesterday, I ran into a little trouble with some of our classmates. You haven’t lived until you’ve been called a sneaky slag in public.”

“That’s shitty. I’m sorry.”

She shrugs. “People are assholes. What can you do?”

We walk the rest of the way to my room. Once there, Saffron makes herself at home, plopping down on my bed and leaning back like she’s been my roommate all along. I have the fleeting thought of asking her if she can smell me. Or if there’s anything about me that she senses is different than everyone else. Saffron doesn’t seem like the type to mince words. I think if she thought I was different, she’d say so.

“So, I had a dream about you last night, and it was a bad one.”

I’m the middle of putting the book away and arranging my papers on my desk, tidying up. I glance up at her and chuckle. “Interesting. Did it involve a certain werewolf who happens to be our First Labor professor’s son?”

“You make jokes,” she says, “but Scarlets don’t dream unless it’s of the future.”

I stop what I’m doing and look at her, trying to find the joke. “So, every night, it’s just a swirl of darkness. Makes sense.”

She sighs and sits up. “I’m being serious, Yarra. I saw this old lady, and she looked a lot like you. Her hair was silver-gray, and she was wearing this brown nightgown with a design around the neckline.”

“A design?” Chills grab at my chest. “What design?”

“Flowers, I think? Little pink ones. Anyway, she was screaming your name. She was saying that you need to come home before the Red Moon. There was this thing in the shadows, lurking. I think it was coming for her.”

We both go quiet. Then I laugh. This is a joke. Saffron and her dry sense of humor. “Wow. You almost got me there, Saffron. Next time, work harder on the punchline.”

“Hey, this isn’t a joke. I really did dream it, and I don’t dream pretend shit. Does it mean anything to you?”

My stomach drops. I’m beginning to feel a little nauseous. “I think you just told me my Nana is in danger.”

“In danger if you don’t come home,” she says softly. “Yarra . . . are you in trouble with somebody or something?”

I turn away from her, grabbing my cell phone. I need to call and make sure Nana’s okay. The phone rings once, twice . . . Come on, Nana . . .

“Hello?”

I sigh and slump down in my desk chair. “Hey, Nana,” I say. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I was just about to fix lunch. Is everything okay there?”

I’ve never been happier to hear her voice. Still, she could still be in danger. “Nana, could you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Could you be sure to lock your doors and stuff at night?”

She laughs. It’s a nice sound. “Oh, are you worried about me? You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m fine.”

“I know. I just want you to take care of yourself.”

I motion to Saffron to leave me alone. She takes the cue and whispers, “See you in class tomorrow.”

I talk to Nana for a while, the sound of her voice appeasing my anxiety. After, I turn to my calendar. I don’t know when the “Red Moon” is, but I need to find out and fast.

“You said she’s a Scarlet?”

I’m sitting in Cole’s car again. After hearing about the dream, I texted him to meet up. He could give me the quick and dirty about the dream, I think. Maybe give me some clue as to what might be stalking my grandmother.

“Yeah,” I say. “Seems like it’s a big thing around Moonhelm? Like she’s some kind of pariah or something.”

He nods as he takes a final drag from his cigarette and flicks it out of the window. “Scarlets rank highest in most dangerous werewolves. They’re naturally adept at stealth and can do a ton of things that regular wolves can’t. They make great thieves, assassins, that sort of things like that. Most people tend to steer clear of them because of it.”

I nod. “So this dream she had, I should take it seriously?”

“I would. They don’t dream unless it’s a message.”

That’s just what she said, too. I swallow hard. “And the, uh, Red Moon?” I ask him, “What’s that all about?”

“Scarlet Wolf thing,” he said. “Takes place in about a week, I think.”

I look at him. “ A week? Oh, Cole, I’ve gotta go back home.”

He blinks as if he didn’t expect my reaction. “Hey, don’t worry about your Nana,” he said. “I’ll have a friend of mine look in on her, okay? Make sure she stays safe.”

“You’d do that for me?”

He nods. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thank you, Cole.”

His eyes lock on mine, and his hand lands on my knee. I freeze for a second, unsure of what to think. “You’re incredibly brave for doing all this,” he says.

There’s something very uncomfortable about the way he’s looking at me . . . plus his hand on my knee. I clear my throat and pull away from him. “Thank you. I should be getting back.”

“Yeah, yeah.” It’s dark in the car, but I can see his cheeks are a little red with embarrassment. “Uh, have a good night.”

I leave and walk like the wind away from the car, my heart racing. What in the actual fuck? I never thought Cole would make a pass at me! What is it with these guys? What happened to professionalism?

Fear gives way to fury as I realize that he really tried hitting on me. Now of all times when I’m worried about Nana. Gross.

I head back to the dorm, and when I get there, I notice that my door is unlocked. I walk in and find Saffron huddled up on the couch. She’s asleep and covering herself with one of my old throw blankets. I frown as I look at her. She clearly broke in here. I know I locked my door.

I start to think about what Cole said about her kind of wolf. How other wolves thought about her. It must be pretty shitty to be in that position and still want to get some kind of education. I walk over to her and gently nudge her awake. She opens her eyes blearily and says, “What time is it?”

“Late,” I tell her. “What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Some asshole keeps banging on my door every hour and running off. Guess the national sport of fuck with the Scarlet has begun.”

I sit down on the couch next to her. “Sucks being the only one not in on the joke,” I say to her.

“Tell me about it. Where were you, anyway? It’s well after midnight.”

I sigh and think carefully about what I want to say. I’ve been trying to deal with all of this myself, and it seems like it’s only getting more and more complicated. Maybe it’s time I confided in somebody.

“If I tell you something about me, would you promise not tell anybody else?”

She snorted. “Like there’s anybody to tell. Everybody hates me, remember?”

I smiled wanly. “I don’t hate you.”

“Which is a real wonder. I’ll have to thank the keepers of whatever cave you were brought up in.”

“Well, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I think there’s a reason why I don’t know anything about Scarlets and maybe why I haven’t changed to . . . to a wolf. The problem is that I don’t know enough about this world to put it all together. I think maybe if I can do that, then . . . then everything else will fall into place.”

She gives me a deep frown. “And that’s a roundabout way of saying what exactly?”

I pull my knees up on the couch and turn to her. “It’s kind of a long story.”