Page 25 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

I was existing in a weird space where I was half imagining shifters were real and I was surrounded by them.

On the other hand, I wondered if I should see a therapist. Sombertooth didn’t have one on campus, and I got the impression most of the students would scoff at anyone seeking to talk and work through their problems with a professional.

Atticus in particular. I could see him talking in his oh, did I say that out loud for you to hear? voice.

He didn’t fool me. Asshat.

Instead of heading to my room after a late class, I roamed the grounds, hands in my pockets. There was a full moon, and combined with the campus lights dotted along the paths and on the buildings, I could see easily.

Scuffing my feet along the pebbled path, I stared at the night sky and not for the first time wondered if my parents and Rawlins were with the goddess and looking down at me. If they were, I wished they’d give me a sign.

I considered tossing all of Rawlins’s fanfic in the garbage or building a fire and watching it burn, but Mrs. Adilla would no doubt complain, saying I might burn down the buildings and deduct House points.

She’d be right. I wasn’t one for camping or sleeping rough, and there was a lot of wood in the Sombertooth buildings.

But my alone time was interrupted by a low hum of voices.

The asshat’s was the loudest, of course.

Instinctively, I hid in a bush, realizing my mistake immediately, because to be discovered cowering in a bush was far worse than having Atticus and the others making snarky comments as they brushed me aside.

“I love a full moon.”

“Should we have our beasts scare some humans? They’ll think we’re werewolves.”

“Nah. We’ll get caught and lose more Phoenix House points.”

A growl shut up the person mentioning the points, and I guessed it was the asshat himself, but he sounded more feral than human. Not daring to poke my head out, I wrapped my arms around my knees and tucked my head down.

“We shouldn’t go off Sombertooth land. You know that.

” Phelan. Even now when I was hiding and asking the universe not to let me be discovered, his voice sent shivers up and down my spine and blood flowed to my dick.

For an alpha who was almost as cocky as Atticus, he was often the voice of reason, except when it came to us.

Him and me. But there was no us. Just Phelan not wanting to acknowledge we were fucking.

“Wait.” That was definitely Atticus. “Do you smell anything? It’s that damned latent, Rawling.”

Goosebumps tumbled and skittered over my skin.

Atticus sensed I was nearby, so discovery was inevitable.

But it wasn’t that so much that had me on edge.

He’d used the word “latent.” Rawlins had written about it, saying that described a shifter who didn’t have a beast or couldn’t find it.

When I read his stories, I used to imagine the animal hiding and the latent shifter searching and never finding the beast. In a way it reminded me of my life.

Not that I had an animal inside me, but I’d lost part of me when my parents and then Rawlins died.

I pushed aside those thoughts as I hardly dared breathe, waiting for Atticus to grab me and haul me out, to be taunted by however many students were with him. And what would Phelan do? Join them or hang back and watch?

“Maybe it’s you, Atticus. You hang around with Jack, and she’s never met her bear.”

There was hissing, and what sounded like a slap, followed by a yell and “Owww!”

“Next time our names come out of your mouth, be prepared for a fight, one beast to another.”

Fuck! First latent and now the word “beast.” Were they fucking with me? Yes, Atticus would, but the others? Phelan? Was this an elaborate scheme to make me think I was losing it?

“It’s nothing,” Phelan said. “Rawling was probably here earlier and he brushed against the shrubs. If we’re going to shift, we should do it now.”

“Fine,” Atticus snapped.

But my mind was on that third word: shift. What the fuck? I needed to lie on a therapist’s couch and spill of how a fantasy was blending with real life and I couldn’t tell the difference.

They moved away, but someone stepped close to my hiding place. Phelan. He always smelled so good, even when he was covered in dirt. Having the guy I was fucking discover me was somehow worse than Atticus. But he said nothing. Just stood there for a minute until someone yelled, “Hurry up, Phelan.”

He took off, and while I should have stayed where I was, I poked my head up. The moon did me a favor by shining bright on the group as they neared the woods. If they’d turned around, they would have seen me, but they were shucking their clothes, and I took a moment to admire Phelan’s ass.

“You know the rules,” Atticus shouted. “First one to make a kill is the winner. Take your fur.”

Oh shit. I’m seeing things . I blinked as Atticus’s long hair vanished and his nose and mouth elongated into a muzzle, fur covered his body, and he walked on four legs. And he had a tail. I gripped the bush as I swayed, my vision blurring.

They were all wolves, and while I’d lost sight of Phelan in the pack—right, they were a pack—I knew which was his wolf because it was identical to his tattoo.

His wolf with white, black, and dark gray fur stood at the back of the pack, and his head twisted in my direction.

Gods, Phelan was a wolf. And so was Atticus and the others.

They bounded away, leaving me staggering out of the bush and collapsing onto the path. Conflicting thoughts filled my head. I’d contracted some terrible disease and was hallucinating or I was being punked. Or perhaps the grief I’d been holding in at losing Rawlins was making itself known.

Whatever it was, I needed help. But who to ask?

Jack came to mind, but she was my age. Maybe I shouldn’t burden her with my troubles.

The only other person I could confide in was Professor Shaw.

Tomorrow I’d seek him out and ask for advice.

Admitting I was imagining shifters were real would take some courage.

But as I stumbled back to my room, getting strange looks from other students, I went over the strange coincidences.

The word “shifter” on the professor’s phone, the tattoos, the words “latent” and “beast” that I’d heard before.

Phelan returning from a run smelling more like a…

like an animal than his usual sexy self.

Coach dashing into the woods at dusk, leaving her clothes behind.

I shook my head. Nah. None of that shit was real.

“Did you go for a run?” Jack asked as I collapsed on my bed.

“With the others? No. No, why would I do that? How?”

Her brow furrowed. “You okay? Did you take your ring off? Did someone say something to you?” She was hovering over me, but I’d tucked my hands under my arms.

“What’s my ring got to do with anything?” I screeched. I was losing my mind and my roommate was asking about my damned ring.

“Okay, sorry. You’re right.” She sat on my bed. “It’s Phelan, I bet. What’s he done now?”

“Nothing.” Nothing except shift into a wolf and run into the woods, if that would be considered nothing. I couldn’t say.

“As in you don’t want to talk about it or he’s not the cause of your anguish?”

She wasn’t letting this go. Maybe Jack was the one I had to confess to. Maybe the goddess had us share a room because Jack was the only one who could help me, steer me toward finding a therapist.

I sat up. “You can’t laugh or make fun of me. Promise.”

A wary expression came over her face and her eyes narrowed. “I’d never do that. I’m your best friend.”

Taking her hand, I said, “There’s something wrong with me. I’ve been seeing things?”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Jack. That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. I thought she’d tell me we’d fix whatever was troubling me. Shit! Maybe I could take it back, pretend I was joking.

“What sort of things?”

I had a choice. Either tell her now or forever keep it a secret.

“I saw something tonight… Atticus and the others… they were naked and then they weren’t… they turned into wolves.” I hadn’t taken a breath, and I gulped a mouthful of oxygen.

Jack put her arm around me. I was right. She was the person to talk to.

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“But I need help.” I got up and faced her, beseeching her to give me a way out of this hell.

“No, you need the truth. You’re not imagining anything.”