Page 13 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)
RAWLING
I was enjoying my Saturday morning sleep-in.
There were no classes, nowhere to be, no assignments due this weekend, though I could get a head start on one for the following week.
It was glorious, knowing I could skip breakfast and wouldn’t have a rumbly tummy mid-morning earning me a glare from whichever professor was delivering the lecture.
My protein bar supply was low, so I ordered more online but wondered if Jack would like to venture into town with me.
Sombertooth didn’t encourage us to get out and meet and mingle with the townspeople, but as the college was a microcosm of a small town, there was no need.
Except when ordering protein bars, as there were none to be had on campus.
Jack was either prepping for an art exhibition, at soccer, or with Atticus. I’d hoped their quickie would be a one-and-done, or a one-month-and-done, but they were still sneaking off and having sex. I would have put Atticus in the easily bored category, but so far, it hadn’t happened.
After flipping through a book that didn’t hold my interest, I scrolled through the college message board.
Archery practice had been rescheduled from yesterday to Sunday morning, as Coach had been on a run.
I was puzzled why she couldn’t run another time, but perhaps this was a marathon.
Friday afternoon was an odd time to do a strenuous long-distance run, but if anyone could manage it, it was Coach.
While putting my phone on the nightstand, I inspected my ring. There were bits of soap and lotion caught in the crevices. Ewww! Despite what Professor Shaw had said, I had to remove it to clean the damn thing.
I grabbed an old toothbrush I’d kept for this purpose and filled the bathroom sink with warm soapy water. Scrubbing it didn’t remove all the grime, so I got a small bowl Jack used to store her earrings and soaked it.
Voices outside alerted me to Jack’s return and you know who. Ewww. She’d need a shower straight away, so I grabbed the bowl from the bathroom and wiped down the sink. Jack and I were particular about leaving the bathroom clean, as we shared it with Elijah and Logan on the other side.
I got out of her way and sat on the bed. The door opposite slammed, and I hoped that was Atticus going in. Or Phelan leaving. I had the urge to peek, wondering if it was him, where he was going.
“None of your business, Rawling,” I said out loud, even though my heart tugged, wanting to be with him and have his hands running over my bare skin.
But any thoughts of Phelan were banished as Jack charged into the room, sweat stains on her tee and pink splotches on her cheeks. Instead of greeting me and heading into the bathroom, her face registered horror, and she screamed before slamming the door and locking it.
My thoughts went to Atticus. Everyone was aware he was an asshat, and by everyone, I meant me, Jack, and Bardoul. He’d done something to Jack, and I leaped up, ready to confront him.
“Stay back,” she screeched.
“What happened? Are you hurt? Who did this to you?”
She pushed me away and checked the peephole. “Don’t say a word,” she cautioned.
I glanced around the room for a weapon. No baseball bat, only a deflated soccer ball under Jack’s desk. A paperweight was the best option.
Jack put a finger to her lips and shook a finger at me.
“What’s going on in there?” Atticus rapped on the door.
“Everyone okay?” That was Phelan, and my heart sped up.
“We’re fine.” Jack’s voice was an octave higher than usual as she pressed her back against the door. The pink had drained from her cheeks, leaving them a deathly white.
“Let me in, Jack,” Atticus insisted. “I don’t trust your roommate.”
“Hey,” I yelled. “I’m right here, and F you.”
“No, Rawling, that would be me F-ing Jack.” He tittered. “Are you jealous?”
Jack glowered at me and slid a finger across her throat. “We’re okay. I just saw a mouse and it scared me.”
“I’ll make it all better,” Atticus crooned.
Gross!
“Nah, we’re all good.” Jack put her ear to the door, facing away from me.
“Don’t kill it. One of the chefs is a mouse, I believe,” Phelan added.
That was nasty. So what if the guy was a little mousy or jumped when anyone crept up on him and said, “Boo!”
“No mice were killed today,” I said.
“Fine, but I’ve got my eye on you, omega.” I could hear the sneer in Atticus’s voice.
A door slammed, and the hallway was quiet.
“What the fuck was that about?” I asked as I flopped onto the bed.
“What did you do?” She tangled her fingers in her hair.
“Do with what?” She was acting like I’d taken a shit in the middle of the room.
Jack didn’t respond as she tore around the room, closing curtains, stuffing a towel under the door, and spraying her favorite perfume in the air. I sneezed before sniffing under my arms.
“Fine. I was in bed all morning and haven’t taken a shower.” I stomped into the bathroom and slammed the door. I was still fuming when I came out, a towel around my hips and water dripping on the floor.
My ring.
Jack was pacing the floor, nibbling her nails, her eyes never leaving me as I took the ring from the bowl, wiped it on the towel, and put it on.
“Sorry, I used the bowl.” After rinsing and drying it, I put her earrings back in.
She’d reacted to a smell or a scent. Oh gods, what if… what if Atticus had gotten her pregnant? Not only would she have to wrangle a baby and her studies, but she’d be linked to Atticus for all time, no matter what paths their lives took.
But Jack was a smart girl. She understood the consequences of having sex. She was so agitated, I decided not to mention it. I liked my head on my shoulders and intended to keep it there.
Jack
What the ever-loving fuck?
It was one thing to have Rawling be latent. So was I. That was one of the reasons the Sombertooth student body gave us such a hard time. We were considered less than. But I’d grown up in a loving family who never made me feel that way, and I was resilient enough to take the students’ sneering.
I assumed that was why Rawling and I had been roomed together, even though the dorms were not unisex. But now? Now, oh gods, how would we keep this a secret? He wasn’t latent ‘cause he wasn’t a shifter.
Not. A. Shifter.
Rawling was human! My bestie, my roommate who giggled with me and argued about Atticus. A human in a college for shifters. Yikes. If anyone found out, he’d be thrown out, but what happened between the discovery and him leaving? I hated to think, especially if Atticus got his claws into him.
I couldn’t figure it out. Not when I walked in or when he stormed into the bathroom for a shower. How did he scent latent and then not? It wasn’t until he stomped out and put that damned ring on and his scent switched to latent again.
The ring. His godfather had given it to him.
Rawling ignored me as he sat at his desk playing a video game.
“Sorry, I overreacted. But you were a little stinky.”
He didn’t reply, instead zapping a monster in the game.
“Your ring looks good, nice and clean. Did your godfather ever say anything about it?”
“Not much.” He stared at the screen. “But Professor Shaw mumbled something about not taking it off because it was the one tangible connection to Rawlins.”
“Awww, that’s sweet, and I agree with him.” I burbled on about my grandmother’s bracelet and how wearing it made me feel close to her. “Best not to take it off in case you lose it. And promise me you’ll only clean it in this room, when it’s just us here.”
“Why?” He closed the laptop and swiveled to look at me.
“It might be valuable, and I’d hate for you to lose it. Promise me, Rawling.”
He hesitated before shrugging and saying, “Fine, I promise.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, and remembering I was coated in slick and Atticus’s cum, I made a face and went into the bathroom As the warm water streamed over me and I washed off remnants of sex with the Big A, I worried about Rawling.
Not only was he not a shifter, but he didn’t know shifters existed. Now all his strange looks when I mentioned wolves and bears made sense. The poor guy was in for a shock. It was hard to believe he hadn’t seen or heard anything before now.
But I couldn’t tell him. That was against the rules. But then so was allowing a human into a shifter college!