Page 7 of Blue Blood Wolf (Big Wolf on Campus #6)

STACIA

N ormally, I really liked the campus library. It didn’t have the caffeine and goodies of the Moon Bean, but it was quiet, and it had all kinds of nooks to hole up in and do some research or catch up on the latest royal gossip going on in the world. The library was kind of secluded, off to the side of the campus, surrounded by trees, a hidden little gem, with the big bronze statue of Bay State’s Dire Wolf out in front.

I just couldn’t really get into the feel of a good cram session though. I was still trying to wrap my head around where the heck the tattoo on my neck had come from. Having to walk past the snarling statue out front didn’t exactly help.

The second we hit the old red brick building, I dove into the bathroom and wrenched the neck of my sweater off my shoulder.

I mean, I hadn’t thought that Charlize was pranking me with some new photo filter, but I had to check just to be sure. There it was, right on my skin, the wolf howling to the moon surrounded by an ornate crown. I’d never seen a tattoo so detailed. I half expected the ink to move, like the wolf’s fur might rustle in the breeze.

It didn’t wash off, and even when I scrubbed at it, it just turned my skin pink and rosy. And I wasn’t an expert, but weren’t new tattoos kind of gross? All puffy and swollen? Because my ink was perfect, like I’d just been born with this wolf mark on my neck.

Eventually, Charlize barged into the bathroom and dragged me out.

“Okay, no freaking out. I get it, but just try to relax for a second.”

I gave her the wide-eyed look that comment deserved.

“Yeah, fair.” She tugged me toward the front desk. “Try anyway.”

Hunter had stopped at the desk to nag at the girl working there, and in the time I’d been having my little bathroom meltdown, it looked like she’d managed to pry the librarian away from the book she was reading.

“Come on, Eva,” Hunter whisper-shouted. “I know not all the rooms are in use.”

Eva sighed and flipped her book closed. “You know you’re supposed to reserve them in advance, right?”

“It’s kind of important. And you’re my cousin. Let’s do that nepotism thing.”

Eva shook her head but swung her chair around to the old boxy computer at the desk. A few clicks later, she turned back. “Okay, room 2C is yours for two hours.”

Hunter grinned. “You’re the best!”

I was still shellshocked enough that they managed to drag me up the stairs and into one of the private study rooms. They were usually used for group meetings so that people wouldn’t disturb everyone else in the building by being loud. There was a table, some reasonably comfortable chairs, and a big window looking out over the campus.

I glanced out the window, and I couldn’t help staring at the wolf statue. Sometimes, for homecoming and stuff, the football team and cheerleaders would come and decorate the statue. Just looking at it had my hand creeping up to press over the mark on my neck again.

“Okay, look.” Charlize tugged my hand away. “You didn’t have that mark yesterday. So how about you walk me through your evening, and maybe Hunter and I can explain a few things.”

Sure, this might as well happen. It wasn’t like I wasn’t planning on dishing with Charlize and Hunter, it was just that I was hoping to have more than one night to squee about.

“Um, so, you know that guy that I ran into at the Moon Bean? Literally. And Selena told me to chase after him and kiss him? Well, mission accomplished. Guess I get to keep my job now.”

Hunter’s eyes had started to sparkle, and Charlize cackled. “Yes, get yours! And then what?”

“Um, we ran into each other again, and I told him to meet me after work, and we spent the night together.” Not even a night, but a few moments. Precious, delicious moments.

It seemed so clinical, saying it like that. It had been so hot and so special, and every time Bash touched me, it had felt like my skin was going to split open and let something shining and glowing and golden spill out. Just thinking about it, about the things he’d whispered in my ear in that accent, had me squirming in my seat.

Charlize, the one out of group who’d had a smexy Dire Wolf boyfriend the longest, grinned at me. “Good?”

“Oh, holy heck, yes.” I clapped my hands over my face, trying to hide both the blush flooding my cheeks and the grin that threatened to split my face in half. Remembering how it all ended did a good job of throwing a bucket of water on the smoldering ashes though.

“Um, he got called away though.” No way was I telling them about being burst in on by his mom, the queen. That was my personal nightmare fuel. “And I don’t have his number. Or know where he lives. And, um, I don’t think he’s coming back.”

The words sank in my gut like a stone in a deep well. I didn’t think he was coming back. And I’d known that what time we had together was going to be super short, but I guess I’d thought at least a few more hours.

“Oh, he’s coming back alright,” Charlize muttered.

I frowned at her. “Why would you say that?”

“Never mind.” Hunter cut in. “Did your guy happen to bite you in the middle of things?”

Okay, what the heck? “How could you possibly know that?”

Hunter ignored my question. “And he didn’t mention anything? Anything, maybe, unusual about himself? Maybe something that you thought was a joke or a line you didn’t understand?”

What the heck was she talking about? “No? He… we didn’t really get a chance to talk about much.”

Okay, that hadn’t come out right. But I didn’t regret grabbing for a bit of happiness when it fell into my lap. Whatever else happened, I’d gotten to spend a freaking amazing night with a really amazing guy.

Who’d lied about who he was. Or, at least, heavily edited. But then, I probably never would have gotten to meet Prince Ruslan, not like I had Bash. So I couldn’t even really be mad at him for that.

Hunter looked frustrated. She and Charlize had another of those silent conversations that seemed to be made mostly out of eyebrow motions and rolled eyes.

“Okay, not loving the super-secret meeting you’re having while in the same room as me, guys.”

“No, sorry, it’s just…” Charlize made some vague hand gestures. “We’re not sure how much we’re allowed to tell you.”

“Allowed to tell me?” Saying the words back to them slowly didn’t actually help.

“That, and we don’t want to freak you out,” Hunter chimed in.

“Yeah, that ship sailed, crashed, and sank to the bottom of the ocean already.”

Charlize made a sympathetic little pout. “Just know that we one hundred percent believe that your guy will be coming back to you. And try to keep an open mind.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s good advice.” Hunter grinned. “This is going to be so exciting.”

My head hurt. I was tired. The delicious aches from last night were starting to fade into just the regular kind, and I wanted to go home, eat some ice cream, and drown myself in my new romance novels. And if I started imagining Bash in the place of every book boyfriend in the pile, well, no one had to know it but me.

“I’m sorry, guys. I don’t think I’m up for a study session. Maybe tomorrow, if you can meet before work.”

The sudden roar of an engine outside made me almost jump out of my skin. A chorus of woops and howls tore through the late afternoon, and we all ran to the window to see what the heck was going on.

There were a bunch of jerks on motorcycles out in front of the library, bringing their bikes up onto the sidewalk, circling on the lawns and tearing up the grass as they went. They looked like bikers too. Big guys, though some of them were more lanky than anything, dressed in leather jackets and no helmets.

There was something written on the back of their jackets, and I squinted to make out the words. Fur and Fangs? Weird name for a motorcycle group.

One of them had something like a baseball bat, and as he drove by, he took a swing at the Dire Wolf statue on the green. A hollow boom echoed across the campus as the bat hit home, and he cackled and drove on, leaving one bronze ear curled in.

I sucked in a shocked breath, seeing red. The Dire Wolf was our mascot, the pride of the school. Who the heck did those jerks think they were?

I grabbed my bag and bolted out of the room, heading for the stairs. Hunter and Charlize were hot on my heels, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the pounding of blood in my ears.

There was a crowd of people all bottled up in the doorway, trying to see what was going on. Eva hung back, looking unsure, until Professor Rojo came striding out of one of the side rooms, an impressive scowl twisting his face.

“What is going on here?”

No one had a chance to answer him before another chorus of howls and shouts rose up outside. Professor Rojo pushed his way through the crowd, his face grim. He turned, glancing through the faces until his gaze landed on Eva.

“Take everyone to the back of the building, away from the windows. No one goes outside until I give the all clear, understand?”

Eva mostly looked relieved to have someone with a plan, and she started ushering everyone away. The crowd left, moving deeper into the library.

Charlize had that odd, faraway look on her face again. She stared out the windows like she was looking at something very different. When she spoke suddenly, I jumped.

“Eli is on his way.”

I frowned at her. “Did you call him? Is it safe for him to come here? I mean, those guys look like bad news.”

Professor Rojo snorted, looking unimpressed. “One-bloods always are.”

Hunter, wide-eyed, flapped her hands at him while Charlize made a slashing gesture across her own throat with her hand. Professor Rojo gave them a baffled look.

I glanced between them, feeling like everyone was reading from a different thriller novel or something than I was. “Um, what’s a one-blood?”

Professor Rojo turned that baffled look toward me.

“Hey, Stacia, maybe we should go with the others.” Hunter tugged at my arm, smiling nervously.

A bottle flew through the air and smashed against the wall beside the window, making all of us jump. Well, not Professor Rojo. He just looked irritated, like a biker gang was a mild inconvenience.

A few of the other bikers had started taking swings at the Dire Wolf statue as they road by, tearing up the grass.

“Shouldn’t we stop them? Can someone call the police?” My phone was busted, so even if Bash hadn’t taken it, I still wouldn’t have been able to call anyone.

Still, it was a good plan. We could call campus security, or better yet, the actual cops, and they could come and handle things. I started to turn toward the front desk where they had a land line set up, when I caught sight of one biker out of the corner of my eye.

He was a big guy, with a heavy beard and a swagger like he was the biggest, toughest thing to ever walk the world. He strutted up to the Dire Wolf statue, and what he had in one hand had a bolt of icy panic shooting up my spine.

It was a hacksaw.

He set the teeth against the Dire Wolf’s bronze neck like he was going to take the whole head off, and something in my chest popped like a water balloon.

I was so sick of these guys, with their intimidation and stealing from people. They’d made me feel unsafe on campus, and they got the royal talk, maybe my one last chance to see Bash, canceled. And now they wanted to deface our mascot? Our pride?

I wasn’t really sure what I was doing when I stormed out the door, shaking off Charlize and Hunter’s hands. But I knew I couldn’t just stand by and watch.

My heart was pounding the second I set foot outside. It was nuts. What was I doing? But something I really didn’t understand, some force inside me, had its hackles raised and its teeth barred at just the sight of those bikers. How dare they come here and start trouble on my campus?

A couple of the bikers rolled to a stop, their heads tilted back, and it looked almost like they were sniffing the air, which was super weird. One of them turned to glance in my direction, and the look he gave me, eyeing me like a piece of meat… in a pie shop made me want to take a bath.

He gave a sharp whistle, and all the others stopped what they were doing and turned in my direction.

Having all their attention on me made me want to turn and run back into the library. Maybe hide under one of the desks. But the same feeling that had driven me out the door in the first place wouldn’t let me bolt. I was freaked out, but I still tipped my chin up and stared the bikers down.

“Get out of here. You don’t belong here.”

The big bearded guy actually laughed at me, and the others joined in pretty quickly. He looked me over again, a disgusting leer on his face. He opened his mouth to talk—and say something slimy I was sure—but then his gaze landed on my neck.

Or on the tattoo that was peeking out above my stretched-out collar.

The biker guy’s face twisted with fury, red creeping up his neck and into his face. “Look at that. Even the old bloodlines are slumming it with human trash. They aren’t even wolves anymore. Just dogs.”

My heart was slamming against my ribs and my stomach felt like someone had tied a cinder block to it and dropped it off the pier, but I wasn’t going to cower. Hopefully someone had taken my advice and called the cops.

Professor Rojo stepped out beside me, adjusting his cuffs like he was about to give a lecture.

“You heard the lady,” he said. “Get lost.”

Well, none of them liked that. A weird tension rolled through the group of bikers, and they stared at the professor with something very close to hate.

“You don’t tell us what to do, you overgrown lizard. We’re taking back what’s ours.”

The biker leader’s head swung back to me while I was still mouthing a confused lizard to myself. His look had my mouth snapping shut so fast my teeth clicked together.

“And we’re going to show those weak, pathetic dogs why you don’t mate with human trash.”

I didn’t even have a chance to get angry about any of that, because a second later, the biker guy fell forward with a bunch of ugly, cracking pops. The bones of his face shifted around, and ratty, gross hair grew over his arms, and the snarl he gave me had about a hundred too many teeth, all of them long and way, way too sharp.

Oh.

Okay.

So this was what a psychotic break felt like. Cool.

Cool. Cool.