Page 65 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

“Maybe the summer away from the latent will clear your head and you’ll dump him. Find a bunch of omegas to fuck and you’ll forget about Rawling.” Atticus spat out my name.

My door was ajar, as I’d been about to go out, on the hunt for more boxes. But when I caught a glimpse of Atticus who was in the hallway berating Phelan, I just cracked the door and peeked out.

Phelan wasn’t taking any of his friend’s shit. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, okay?”

The asshat made a crude gesture. “It’s his hole, right. It’s small and tight and you come so hard when you fuck.” There was a sharp intake of breath from me, but the asshat didn’t hear me because Phelan bared his teeth and growled, his wolf glowering in his eyes.

“One more freaking word from you and I’ll knock your teeth out. You don’t get to speak of Rawling—or anyone else—like that. He’s gentle and kind, smart and funny, whereas the only adjectives to describe you are obnoxious and deceitful. Now shut it or your folks will have a huge dentist bill.”

Atticus slumped against the wall as Phelan stormed off.

My heart swelled with something like pride and maybe even the L-word at how Phelan had not only stood up to Atticus, but also, he’d defended me.

I went to close the door, not wanting to deal with the Big A, but decided against it. I had nothing to fear, nothing to hide—apart from being human who now smelled like a shifter when my ring was off—and I wasn’t going to cower in the room.

“Oh great, your boyfriend was just singing your praises,” he sneered.

“Shame you can’t see beyond the end of your nose. If you did, you’d understand Phelan is or was your friend. Probably the one real one in the whole college. But you blew it.”

Phelan’s outburst had pricked a hole in Atticus’s wrath, and he was silent as I sailed past.

“Rawling, do you have any plans for the summer?” Professor Shaw had removed his jacket and rolled his sleeves up, looking less like a professor and more like a man about to start his vacation.

“Sleep.”

He put a hand on my shoulder. “Rawlins would be very proud of you. You’ve done well this semester.”

“Thanks, Professor. Have a great summer.”

“I will.” He waved as he disappeared down a darkened corridor.

“You look lost. Are you new here?” Penelope chortled.

“Very funny. I forgot why I came.”

Penelope held up a cardboard box. “For some of these perhaps?”

“Oh, right.” I’d been so absentminded lately.

Thank gods it was the end of the school year.

That stomach flu had really messed with my head, my body, and my appetite.

I had a hard time concentrating, hadn’t regained the weight I’d lost, and when I looked at food, my stomach complained and I’d eat a mouthful and push the plate away.

Being on vacation, where I could sleep when I wanted and eat if and when I felt hungry, would reverse whatever havoc the illness had had on my body.

“You’ll find the boxes in the janitor’s closet,” Penelope told me.

Wandering along the corridor, my mind blank, Bardoul was walking toward me.

He didn’t make eye contact, and I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me as his glazed eyes hardly blinked.

Poor guy, he’d been like that since Channon upped and left.

Thank gods, we’d heard via the alumni grapevine that Channon was okay and living with his grandfather, though Jack suspected Bardoul had heard directly from his friend.

We’d all been upset, and I hoped Bardoul would see his friend over the summer and he’d offer up an explanation. It sounded like Channon was never returning to Sombertooth, though Jack and I avoided pointing that out to Bardoul.

After collecting two boxes, I made my way back to my room, but was waylaid by Phelan.

“Watcha doing?” He nuzzled my ear, and I shivered.

“If you have to ask me that, the flu affected your brain more than it did mine.”

His sexy face was replaced by one of concern. “Still not well?” He felt my brow.

“Stop.” But I didn’t want him to. I rested my head on his chest. Other than Jack, I didn’t have anyone I could “lean on.” Wishing I could share everything about myself with Phelan, I thought of how I’d miss him over the summer.

“Shame I can’t visit you over the holidays,” he said. He was aware I had Rawlins’s house, and him saying that conjured up images of us in bed, naked, eating pizza and watching TV. “But my dads have arranged an internship for me, so I’ll be working my butt off the whole vacation and wearing a suit.”

“Better than these blazers.” I plucked his sleeve and pulled away. “I’ve gotta pack but come by later. Jack’s got a meeting about her scholarship until late.”

“It’s a date.” He winked, and he and his gorgeous ass strolled into his room. “I know you’re looking.”

“Am not.”

Sitting on my bed, I half-heartedly packed some books and tossed in a few other bits and bobs.

But that exhausted me and I lay down. Going back to my place, the house that had belonged to Rawlins where I grew up, wasn’t a cheerful prospect.

So many memories. It had been a house full of laughter, and now it would be silent.

The weeks after he died, lawyers, friends, colleagues, they all traipsed in and out. I was rarely alone. But I was facing three long months of being by myself. I’d better get a summer job ‘cause bagging groceries at the supermarket was better than talking to the empty walls.

Jack bounded in.

“I thought you had a meeting.”

“I do. Just came to grab my laptop.” She opened a paper bag and shoved it in my face. “Your favorite.”

Oh no, the sickly sweet aroma had my belly cramping, and I groaned and raced into the bathroom. Jack appeared in the doorway as I finished throwing up.

“Oh my gods!”

“It’s just the tail end of the flu. No need for an ambulance.” I flung myself on the bed.

“That’s why your scent changed.”

What? She was onto me, having discovered I was a hunter, but I pretended I didn’t understand. “Huh? The flu changes your scent?”

“No. I’ve heard omegas talk of how their scent differed, though I had no idea why a human’s mimicked a shifter’s. It must be to do with the ring. If it can make you smell latent, it can do pretty much anything.”

“What are you talking about?” Her cryptic talk made no sense.

“Omegas’ scent often changes when they become pregnant.”

I shot up. “No!”

“Yes. Who did you sleep with? Not the tiger shifter, I hope.”

I rubbed my head, wishing I could go to sleep and wake up and this would all be a dream.

“Phelan.”

She sank onto the bed. “It could be worse.”

“How?” I yelled. There was something that could make it much worse, but I pushed that aside.

“It could have been the Big A.”

We looked at one another and had what I called “a bad reaction at a funeral” moment and burst out laughing. We held one another until we were sobbing and hiccuping, our clothes wet with salty tears.

“You have to tell Phelan,” she said.

“Not before we leave for vacation.” I figured we could talk over a video chat. That’d be easier than doing it face to face. Besides, I’d just found out I had a baby in me. But then what did Jack know? The whole thing with scent was probably BS.

But deep down, I knew. Maybe I’d known for a while and used the flu as an excuse because I didn’t want to accept it.

Jack walked out after kissing me, leaving me to my jumbled thoughts. But me having a baby inside me solved one huge-ass problem. I wasn’t a hunter, my scent was because of the little one. But I was going to be a father at twenty, in my second year at college.

No!

Fuck off, I told the voice. You don’t exist. I may not have planned this, but my baby is the most important thing in the world .

Wait, what if that sensation, that warm fuzzy feeling I’d experienced was the baby or the baby’s beast? Phelan was a shifter, so maybe our baby was too. Was the little one’s wolf protecting me? I stroked my belly and was overcome with a love so intense, I had tears streaming over my cheeks.

And if I was right, what was the voice? My imagination? I pulled a pillow over my head, ready to drown it out. But it was all for nothing.

Hunter!

Phelan

After finishing my shower, I’d put on my best shirt and jeans, hoping they wouldn’t be on very long.

No . My wolf pulled me up for only thinking of my dick.

You’re right . A night spent with Rawling watching TV or chatting would be just as enjoyable.

Would it? Yes, being with him, making him laugh, and listening to stories of his youth, that was what I was looking forward to.

I wouldn’t say no to sex, but I’d learned that his head on my shoulder made me happy.

I knocked but there was no answer. Another knock. A voice yelled, “Go away. I’m sick.”

“Let me in.” I pounded on the door. “Or I’ll kick in the door.”

“Wait.”

A minute ticked by before the door cracked open and an ashen-faced Rawling staggered toward the bathroom. There was no mistaking the sound of vomiting and my first thought was the stomach flu had returned. But as I stood watching helplessly, something clicked.

He hadn’t been well for a few weeks, especially in the morning. He was throwing up, he’d lost weight, and in the dining hall he ate a lot of plain crackers.

“Are you…?” I gulped. I couldn’t say it.

Yes! My wolf said it for me.

“Pregnant?”

But there was something else.

Mate! Mate , my beast repeated.

“Go away, Phelan!” He didn’t turn around. “I’m no good for you. I’m a danger to everyone at Sombertooth!”