Page 3 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

I lay in bed, Jack’s breathing the only sound in the room.

My hand went to my lapis ring, the one my godfather had given me and insisted I wear.

Since I’d walked through the Sombertooth gates, I’d had the urge to rub my fingers over it.

I hoped it wasn’t becoming a habit, one that led to a compulsion, similar to a friend who tapped on every doorway as he went in or out.

But the ring was one of the few things that was familiar and part of my former life. My godfather insisted I keep it on at all times. I’d never told him I used to remove it to clean it, something I hadn’t done since I’d arrived at Sombertooth. I made a mental note to do that.

My attention was drawn to my school blazer hanging on the back of the door.

We’d been fitted for the archaic article of clothing on the first day.

The professor responsible for the newbies getting their uniform was I guessed close to retirement and his grumbling suggested he was counting the days.

He informed us how the dreaded blazer identified us as being from Sombertooth U. I thought the tie did that.

He assured Jack her blazer was a perfect fit, even though it was so big, it swallowed her. Mine was a tad small and the fabric made me itch. I hated it. We both did.

On the blazer pocket was the Sombertooth insignia, the SU intertwined, reminding me of a vine, but there was also a pin we’d been given which indicated which house we belonged to. Ours was the phoenix, a majestic mythical bird, the others being a minotaur, griffin, and basilisk.

Pleased we’d been given the one fictional creature associated with the sun and renewal, I’d asked if I could forgo the blazer and wear the pin on my shirt. We were all Sombertooth students, I didn’t need a blazer to identify as one. But the answer was a firm no.

I’d have preferred that tunic and pants the students working campus security wore—the one Zev had on the night I arrived—to the damned blazer and tie.

The first few days flew by in a blur. New buildings, curriculum, people, roommate, and uniform.

Everything was new and either itchy, irksome, old and drafty, or just plain rude and obnoxious—except for Jack.

While she could be a little prickly, I was getting better at picking up her moods and adjusting to them.

We braved the dining hall again because we couldn’t exist on protein bars alone. The food wasn’t bad considering it was made en masse. Jack had spaghetti while I chose a chicken dish I couldn’t identify, though it tasted good, and it came with rice so it was filling.

“You’re adventurous,” I told her with a mouthful of food.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to speak with your mouth full?” she snapped.

Ouch! That was a barb to the heart. My expression must have conveyed my hurt because she dropped her fork and flung an arm around me.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Rawling. I didn’t think. A thousand apologies.”

While we were still getting to know one another, I’d shared about my parents dying and being brought up by my godfather. Whereas Jack came from a large family, I was alone in the world. She’d regaled me with her siblings' antics, making me envious.

“And what do you mean by adventurous?” she asked, changing the subject.

“I’d be worried about spaghetti sauce on my uniform.”

She gave me a smug grin. “It’s all in the way you curl it between the fork and the spoon.” She demonstrated. No slurping the spaghetti strands for Jack!

Her gaze drifted from me to a place over my head, and she grabbed my arm. “Don’t look.”

“Okay. What am I not looking at?” Even though she’d told me not to, it was human instinct to stare at the thing I wasn’t supposed to. I made to turn my head, but my friend grabbed my jaw, hissing at me to study her instead.

“It’s Atticus.” Jack, the Jack I shared a room with who didn’t take crap from me, had a dreamy expression slapped on her face, and her eyes were… gooey. All this over an asshat alpha.

While I’d never spoken to Atticus, his haughty expression and sneer whenever I passed him in class or outside my dorm room had me already forming an opinion.

He was one of the chief sniffers, his nose curling when he passed by as if he’d smelled something off.

And the way he flicked his long hair as if he were auditioning for a modeling contract annoyed me.

There was always a crowd of hangers-on near him during meals, and when he wanted seconds or another drink, one would race off to get it for him.

“You can do much better than him. He’s an a?—”

Jack slapped a hand over my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, Atticus strode past, ignoring me but allowing his gaze to wander over my roommate as though he were undressing her. I hated that, and I was tempted to pitch a bread roll at him and tell him to apologize.

“It’s big, right? It has to be? Long and thick.” Jack gazed after him longingly.

Ewww, that was so gross. I understood what she was referring to but pretended not to. “His ego? Oh yeah.”

“Stop it.” She resumed eating. “I’d like nothing more than to have his huge engorged?—”

I put my hands over my ears. “Enough. The guy’s bad news. Do not sleep with him.”

What I didn’t admit was there was someone who’d caught my attention. Not Atticus, but his alpha friend, Phelan, who swaggered rather than walked, as if he assumed all the omegas in the room were ogling him. I definitely was.

He was way out of my league, but it was fun to imagine us getting naked one night. There had to be places on campus where couples had sex, but I’d yet to find them. Not that there were any prospective candidates lining up to shove their dick in my hole.

Unlike most other colleges, we weren’t exactly encouraged to leave campus. In that respect, we were treated more as underage kids instead of the adults we all were. That was one stipulation for prospective students: everyone had to be of age. I was nineteen and so was Jack.

Jack headed off to an art class while I lingered and finished my chicken.

As I was leaving, one of the guys who’d been refilling water jugs was at my side as I pushed open the glass doors.

He glanced in my direction and his wary expression was so different from most of the other students that it encouraged me to introduce myself. Plus, he didn’t sniff.

“Rawling.” I paired it with a grin.

“Bardoul.”

“Nice to meet you. I saw you earlier.” I paused, not knowing where his next class was.

“I’m a scholarship kid, and I have to help out here a few times a week. It’s a condition of my being allowed to stay.” This time he sniffed. Not me, but himself. “I always carry the aroma of whatever food was served.”

Turned out that while we weren’t in the same class, his room was next to mine, and we meandered down the dark hallway chatting. I invited him to our dorm room to meet Jack one evening and suggested we might get together on the weekend.

While I hadn’t interacted with many of the other students, I suspected a scholarship kid who had to get his hands dirty—literally—may have found it hard to make friends at Sombertooth, a place snotty enough to have blazers.

We said goodbye, and I found myself studying a photo, similar to the one I’d seen when I was with Jack.

Once again, my godfather, Rawlins, was front and center, though this wasn’t of a sporting team.

It must have been their house photo because my godfather was holding a phoenix statue. I was glad I was in his former house.

I peered at the person on his right, and the guy looked eerily similar to Atticus. A relative perhaps. But the guy was smiling, so he was nothing like the alpha Jack had been drooling over.

“That’s me.” An arm enclosed in a tweed sleeve appeared over my shoulder and pointed at the man on the other side of my godfather.

The alpha’s genuine smile had me warming to him.

“Professor Shaw.” He offered me his hand.

“Rawling. I’m new.”

“I heard you were here.” He studied the photo, a faraway look in his eye. “We had great times, your godfather and me.”

“I didn’t know.” Rawlins had never mentioned Professor Shaw, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. It might color his memories.

“He used to tell me all about you whenever we met. He was very proud of you. Did you know that?”

I nodded.

That was odd. The pair had obviously kept in touch and were close friends.

“Come to my office one day after class. I’d like to hear your first impressions of Sombertooth.”

I turned and watched as he strode down the hall. While he’d issued an invitation, I got the impression I couldn’t refuse.