Page 28 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

It was our second official board game night, and I was hoping people actually showed up. Not only was it fun to have people to play with, but I had a new mission to look, but not with my eyes as Jack put it. I wanted to figure out how much I could piece together on my own about who was what beast.

It was nice that Jack helped me along the way.

I needed it. But also, if I was living in a world with shifters, I wasn’t always going to have Jack by my side.

Figuring out my own surroundings felt like the safest way to go, especially when I graduated and wasn’t in the protective sphere that was Sombertooth.

“What games are we bringing tonight?” Jack asked, her large tote full of snacks. The two of us decided that for the first few nights it was best if we overdid it on the snacks because others might not remember to bring any. After that, they were on their own.

“I thought the zombie apocalypse meets Ticket to Ride would be a fun one, and it has up to ten players. I also have Monopoly. I figure everyone knows how to play that.” I’d borrowed it from the house’s rec room and was not shocked to see it had never been played. Maybe today would change that.

“Sounds good, and if we need more, we can come and grab them.” Jack hoisted the bag up on her shoulder. “I’m outta here. You coming?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed my two games and followed behind her.

We were the only people there when we arrived, but that quickly changed. Within ten minutes the place was full, a few people even bringing their own games. We had to set up four tables. It was a great problem to have.

I stuck with the train game, and Jack organized Monopoly.

People filled in the empty seats except a group of what I now knew were wolves.

They stayed at a table by themselves with their own game.

It was some kind of role-playing one, but that wasn’t what I found interesting about it.

The game was brand-new and none of them had even played before from what I could overhear.

It was like they wanted to participate, but not with the likes of me—or was it us?

Jack and I were looked down on from day one for being latent, even if I wasn’t.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how it wasn’t just that.

If it was, Channon and Bardoul wouldn’t be treated differently too.

The argument could be made that it was a class thing, and it probably was, just not one based on money.

I needed to ask Jack about it later, but I suspected that the hierarchy was more based on beast type than it was on money, although dollars did matter.

I’d heard enough from Atticus to know that.

That reminded me of all the zeros in the bank account I’d discovered, but I’d think about that another time.

“Which zombies can be on which trains?” Penelope asked. She was a year ahead of me, and I was pretty sure she was something cute and adorable, I just wasn’t sure what.

“It’s not the zombie that matters, it’s the roll.” I picked up the dice and gave her a few examples, and from there, we dove into the game.

It wound up being every bit as fabulous as I expected it to be. I was a huge fan of mash-up games. They took the best of both worlds and elevated them to an entirely new level of awesome.

I was the first man out, my brains eaten by a conductor just one stop from my final destination. I didn’t mind. The game was almost more fun to watch than to play, as evidenced by the people starting to surround us. There were even whispers about taking bets on which zombie would be victorious.

“No way!” Penelope jumped up and down when she was the last zombie standing. “I never win anything.”

I loved seeing her so gleeful and I didn’t even know her. She had to be a bunny or a guinea pig. She was too stinking cute not to be.

“Congrats!” I said along with many others.

Monopoly was still going long after the other games had ended. Jack had put a rule in place that pretty much let people borrow money and still collect rent, making it nearly impossible for the game to finish, and once the snacks ran out, they gave up.

“Next time I’m being a zombie,” Channon said, dropping his thimble into the box.

“Or maybe there will be a new game to try.” I still had some from my initial visit to the game store, plus I ordered a bunch during middle-of-the-night doom-scrolling when I couldn’t sleep the other night.

“That too. Need help putting things away?” Channon offered, and I let him know where the Monopoly he had played came from so he could return it.

The place was cleaned up pretty quickly, and Jack and I headed back to our rooms. I wasn’t surprised that we could hear Atticus and Phelan as we reached our door.

They were two of a handful of people who didn’t come to game night, not that I expected they would.

But knowing they were home and just staying tucked away—that stung more than it should, even though I’d never be able to concentrate if Phelan was there.

I needed to talk to Phelan about how I felt.

That would be a ton easier if the two of us actually held conversations, which we didn’t.

One thing was for sure, if something didn’t change, I was going to get my heart stomped on, and I didn’t need that.

I didn’t know how Jack just had sex for sex.

I wasn’t built that way, I guess. Feelings just grew whether I wanted them to or not.

“I think it was a hit.” Jack fell back onto her bed. “Although I am never doing ‘house rules’ on anything ever again.” At least she figured out what the problem was. “Your table was having a great time.”

“We were. The game was fun, but also, so were the people.” I set the games on my desk and went over to my bed. It had been a long day, and Jack had the right idea when she plopped onto her bed. “Penelope—bunny?”

Jack burst out in laughter.

“Not a bunny, then.”

“No. Not a bunny.” She rolled onto her side, watching my face as she said, “Try a lion.”

Out of all the possible answers I thought she might have had for me, that wasn’t one I had even given half a second’s thought to.

“She’s so… so…”

“Adorable and like you need to protect her and maybe keep her in your pocket for safe keeping?” Jack offered.

“Yeah, all of that.”

“Agreed. I don’t know if she was raised to be like that to help her fit in better, because let’s face it, lions are fierce AF and showing her animal side might push people away inadvertently or… if she is just the cutest lion on this entire planet.” Jack rolled onto her back again.

“My guess is she is terrifying in her fur but that once you are up close and personal, she’s a big old kitten.” There was no way that wasn’t her true and natural personality. It was far too contagious for that. “Speaking of personality, what was up with the wolves all playing by themselves?”

“That’s because they are wolves.” She pushed herself up to sit.

“In Sombertooth, wolves are up here.” He held her hand up high.

“Latents are here.” She lowered it to be only a few inches from the bed.

“And humans are here.” She leaned over the side of her bed as far as she could, pressing her hand flat against the floor. ”

Not that there were any humans except me at the college—that we knew of. Yeah, I was the lowest there was. Good times.

“And the rest of everyone is in the middle. It sucks, but it is what it is.” She shrugged. “I should’ve kept the caramels for us. I could use one or eight about now.” They’d been the first thing to go.

“Doesn’t it piss you off that you are so far down?

” It kind of pissed me off I was on the floor, but given I wasn’t a shifter, it hit differently.

I never was part of this world, and even when I was, I hadn’t known it until recently.

I didn’t have years of longing to belong.

And maybe I was projecting how I would feel onto Jack, which was why I asked.

“Not anymore.”

“You don’t have your bear, though, right?” Wasn’t that her ticket up the ladder?

“I’m still latent, if that’s what you mean. But as far as school goes, being with Atticus has me higher up. Being with him protects me.”

“Is that why you are with him?”

“No, dumbass.” She hurled a pillow at me. “I’m with him because he has a huge cock and knows how to use it.”

I so walked into that one.