Page 41 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

Jack and I had dithered for days about whether to contact Sasha’s brother.

The guy’s email was on his restaurant’s website, and we’d gone back and forth on whether to write to him, and if we did, how we would approach it. The guy, Fergus, had lost a brother, and his life probably changed in ways big and small when Sasha died.

Also, I’d been preoccupied by and with Holden. The same Holden not kissing me, not groping me, only holding my hand when we were away from Sombertooth, while the meet-up in the gazebo was cancelled due to a work thing.

Jack said it was better to take things slow, and I’d rolled my eyes at that ‘cause when had she ever taken her own advice.

“How would you know?”

“Touché,” she replied. “I’ve always been a jump-in-feet-first type person. But that’s me.”

Things seemed to be working out between her and Knox, and though it’d been weeks since they stopped sleeping together, Atticus was obviously not over it.

He glared, then pretended not to care, he snuck looks and chatted to other omegas, making sure to laugh at something they said and sling an arm around their shoulder while peeking at Jack to see if she was paying attention. She wasn’t.

“What would we say?” Jack asked as she sat on my bed and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Pleased she’d dismissed Atticus from my thoughts, I sassed, “Ummm, we could start with Dear Fergus.”

She tossed a pillow at me, but I ducked. I might not have had shifter reflexes, but I was getting better at anticipating Jack’s moves.

“Stop. This is serious.”

Sitting beside her and putting the computer on my lap, I began typing.

Dear Mr. Cadell,

We are students at Sombertooth University .

That was as far as I got. Was it better to jump right in and say we’d stumbled on details about his brother and would like to talk to him? I couldn’t imagine getting an email from someone about my parents’ deaths.

“What if we…” Jack’s voice trailed away.

“Nah, ignore me. That’s a terrible idea.

We can’t lie.” In response to my quirked brow, she continued with, “I was going to suggest we meet as we wanted to hire his restaurant for a school function, but no, that would be a shitty thing to do. I’ll scrub that from my brain. ”

I agreed that conning the guy was a huge no-no. Best that we were honest.

“How about this?”

We have stumbled on some information about a former Sombertooth student, and his situation had similarities to your brother Sasha’s death. While it’s not our intention to cause you any more pain, we would like to meet with you and perhaps learn more about what happened to Sasha .

Jack read what I’d written over my shoulder and nodded before I added our names.

My finger hovered over the send icon. “Yeah?” Another nod and the email was on its way to Fergus.

I half expected to have our house mother, Mrs. Adilla, beating at our door saying she’d had a complaint about us harassing a former student.

But that gave me an idea. “As the house mother, she would know more than any of the students about Mika, right?”

Jack screwed up her face. “I’m sure she does, but whereas many of the professors are tenured, her position is more precarious. She could be fired immediately if she leaked information the board considered damaging to the college.”

She was right. “Okay, so we wait for Fergus’s reply.”

We waited and waited. I checked my email constantly, and every time the distinctive ping alerted me to a new message, I stopped what I was doing, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I checked the sender.

But there was nothing from Fergus, and my obsession with Mika and Sasha was interrupting my studies.

We had midterms looming, and I’d probably need to pull an all-nighter.

Neither Jack nor I needed the added stress of thinking about Sasha and his brother when we needed to concentrate on getting good grades.

A day later as I left my last class for the day, I had my head down, as my mind was on how late I’d be sitting up that night and also whether I’d see Holden at dinner, when a pair of boots I recognized appeared. My head shot up, and I gazed at the face I used to dream about every night.

“Hi.” Phelan’s hesitant voice still had the power to tug at my heart. So cheesy, but it did. I steeled myself, ready to tell him I wasn’t interested in talking.

“What?” No, that wasn’t what I was supposed to say. I wanted to glower and stride off, making sure he was looking at my ass. Shit, no, not the ass thing. We were done and I was with Holden.

“This is awkward.” He shuffled his feet.

“You think?”

“I need your help.” He put up a hand. “And yes, I know you want nothing to do with me, but I’m having trouble with calculus.”

“I don’t have much time.” Like everyone else, I was stretched to breaking.

“Just thirty minutes. In the library, not my room or anywhere else. I can pay you.”

Fuck. I could do it, but it was Phelan. That’d be weird, but as we were done, he was just another student. If Penelope asked for my help, I’d give it. Heck, I’d helped Channon with math numerous times.

“Fine. Let me grab a snack. Be in the library in fifteen minutes.”

For the first time since he’d cornered me, he smiled.

Not that. Anything but that. I needed something to ward off the effect of his smile.

Climbing the stairs two at a time, I reasoned that being together for half an hour might be a good thing.

Perhaps I could finally be done with him haunting my thoughts.

But not if he smiled or got too close ‘cause his scent was…

“Where are you off to?” Jack asked as I grabbed two cereal bars.

“Library,” I shouted as I raced out.

Phelan was already there when I walked in, giving me a chance to study him. But he caught me looking, and I glanced away, furious at the flush that spread over my cheeks.

“Hi. Thanks for doing this.” He wasn’t the cocky Phelan of old. Not that he’d ever had an ego that matched Atticus’s, but he’d deflated somehow, lost weight, his face drawn and pale.

“Let’s get to work. But I’m not taking any payment.” Former Phelan would have sassed about paying me in other ways, but he just nodded, and I handed him a cereal bar.

With our heads together, I went over what he was having problems with, and we went back and forth, doing examples, him asking questions. When he finally got it, he looked up. “Thank you You’re a great teacher.”

I gathered my books, but he made no move to leave. “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “No problem. Glad I could help.”

“Not that. Us. I’m sorry I was an asshat.”

Not what I was expecting. Part of me wanted to reply with, “Why didn’t you say this before?” but that would have led us in a direction I didn’t want. Going that route would be dredging up feelings. The past was the past. There was no point reliving it.

“Don’t do this, Phelan.” I must have spoken louder than I intended as a student at the next table peered at me, but I ignored his furrowed brow and piercing gaze. “You’re not a bad guy, but I wanted more than what you were prepared to give. We didn’t work. Pretty simple, really.”

He pursed his lips, his eyes on mine and I shivered as his wolf was right there. “I miss you.”

His statement had me collapsing onto the chair, my hands fisted. Why now? Was this some wolfy way of winning me back? Wasn’t going to work.

“But I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy.”

Damn, I wasn’t expecting that. My belly was doing flip-flops, and I was getting increasingly annoyed at him and his belated apology.

“Holden seems like a good guy, and all I want is for you to be happy.” Fuck, he’d said the classic line of a rejected person accepting the one they lo…

Gods, no, not that. Accepting that the other person had moved on with someone else.

He sounded genuine. Everything about his posture, his voice, and his eyes—along with his beast—screamed “sincere.” But was it a ploy?

Atticus could have taught him some tricks.

But Phelan was a better guy than his roommate. He had never stooped to duping me into sex or a possible relationship.

“You are, right? Happy?”

I had to think. Was I? Right now I had doubts about Holden, but those would be ironed out once I wasn’t stressed about exams. “Yes.” It was a half-truth.

“Good.” He got up, gave me one of his signature smiles that sent shivers up my spine, except it was tinged with something. Sadness? Resignation?

I didn’t move until he’d left the library, and instead of returning to my room, I sat at the table, head in hands, wondering where my life was headed.