Chapter 31 Rawling
THIRTY-ONE
RAWLING
Phelan must have guided me up the stairs because I was in the infirmary, and dressed in a bathrobe. It was soft, and I savored the familiar scent of the laundry detergent.
Jack ran in and babbled to Phelan about shifting and wolves.
Didn’t she have a bear? That was pretty new.
I should talk to her about it. She asked if she could put Eira down for a nap.
Did I reply? I recalled my mate gently removing my daughter from me and putting my little one’s forehead close to mine.
I breathed in her distinct scent, but my nostrils and mouth had a sensation I couldn’t get rid of.
It was similar to when I was pregnant and a metallic taste coated my tongue.
But now my mouth tasted of wolf? What?
I’m here.
Oh gods. My knees sagged. I was done with hearing voices.
But you can hear mine.
I put my hands to my ears and begged it to stop. Jack took the baby into the bedroom, and my mate rested his head on mine and whispered, “Take it slowly, please. If you don’t, there could be serious consequences.”
“What?”
Phelan sank to his knees in front of me. “I wasn’t talking to you, babe.”
“Then who?”
“Your wolf.” He got on the couch and pulled me to him.
“My what?”
He didn’t say anything for a while, and I muddled through the images in my head and made a face as I tried to rid myself of that new taste.
“Do you have any memories of what happened outside?” Phelan handed me a glass of water. I guzzled it, and it tamped down that unusual taste.
“Ummm, something happened?” He must know I’d heard a voice, and I didn’t want to admit what it was. I was scared because Holden proved I wasn’t one of those.
You’re not. I’m part of you, your other half.
“Stop talking.”
My mate clasped both my hands and brought them to his lips. Maybe he wanted sex, but Jack was here.
“You’re hearing a voice.”
Shit, how did he know? Was it showing on my face? I leaped up and studied myself in the mirror. I tried to rearrange my features, but though I gripped the skin and I expected it to be pliant, it was inflexible. And my nose and eyes also remained where they were.
“I don’t want to.”
“The voice belongs to your wolf.”
“Phelan, there’s no need to pretend with me. We both know I’m human, pretending to be latent.” I was miffed that he was jerking me around, and I pivoted and pummeled his chest.
But he didn’t hug me and apologize and tell me it was going to be okay. Instead, he twisted me back to face the mirror and lifted my chin so I was once again looking at my reflection.
“What do you see?”
“I don’t like this game.” I stamped my foot, thinking if I had a temper tantrum, he’d tuck me into bed and bring something yummy to snack on.
“Look at your eyes, Rawling.”
“Don’t want to.” But I did as he asked because I wanted this, whatever it was, to stop. “What am I supposed to see?” I looked the same as I did every day except my skin had red splotches and my eyes were a little darker.
But the longer I stared, the more I freaked.
My pupils were huge and inky black, and it was as though someone else was staring back at me.
Images flitted into my head and danced away before I could focus on them, but Professor Shaw and Mrs. Ardilla were there.
He was holding Eira, and Atticus was yapping about something.
There was someone else too, but they were me or outside me or maybe I was inside them. Voices were dimmed, and the world was in shades of blue and gray. There was fur and a scent that was similar to the one that clung to Phelan’s skin after he shifted.
“I’m not me.” I leaned against my mate, and he wrapped his arms around me and put his lips to my ears.
“Yes, you’re still you, but you have an added dimension.”
That look in my eyes, it wasn’t my expression. “I have a… a wolf?”
“Yes.”
I asked him how that was possible, and he said he didn’t know but he could ask his parents, or maybe Channon’s grandfather could provide an explanation.
“Did Atticus give me part of his wolf?”
No. His wolf is my brother. The voice in my head explained he’d been trying to talk to me for years. Your love and need to protect your daughter allowed me to take my fur.
“Phelan, I have a wolf, a wolf, I’m a shifter, Not fake latent and not human but a shifter.”
“The shifter you were always meant to me.” He kissed me and whispered his congratulations.
The door opened. “Explain what happened, please?” Atticus barreled in.
Phelan growled. “Don’t you ever knock?”
“Huh?”
“Forget it. What do you want?” If he was about to tell me his folks were on the way, I’d tell them to take a hike.
“Nothing.” Atticus looked a little embarrassed. “Everyone’s congratulating me.”
Phelan rolled his eyes. “Because you did what, exactly?”
“Shared a space with this guy for nine months and taught him all he knows.” He folded his arms and grinned.
“Get out. I’ll talk to you later, but right now, I’m going to shift with my mate and you’re not invited, little brother.”
Atticus’s face fell at the mention of “little.” He was younger than me, and my beast was bigger and better than his.
“There’s no need to be rude, newbie.” He stalked out, leaving the door open.
Jack agreed to stay with Eira, and Phelan took my hand. We bounded down the stairs, me still wearing the bathrobe, and took off for the woods. I recalled the first time I’d seen my mate and Atticus heading for the trees and caught sight of Phelan’s naked butt.
Flinging off my robe, I didn’t waste any time waiting for Phelan to undress.
Okay, I’m not sure how to do this, but can you come out?
This is my first run, and I can’t wait.
My world discombobulated, and I held out my arms so I didn’t overbalance. But everything went topsy-turvy, and I gripped my belly. Except I didn’t have hands or legs, and I was inside my wolf looking out.
Ready to run?
What about Phelan?
He’ll catch up.
My beast… it was still so weird to say that…
but my beast took off and dashed into the woods.
He breathed in the scents and sounds and admired a robin perched on a branch and a squirrel nibbling on something he was holding.
He relished the grass brushing over his legs and the dappled sunlight on the path.
A wolf appeared to our left. Phelan. I’d rarely seen my mate’s beast and had never appreciated his wolf, who looked exactly like the tattoo on his chest. My wolf glanced at him and dipped his head. Did that mean my mate’s beast was higher in the wolf hierarchy? I had so much to learn.
He kept pace with my wolf, allowing my beast to weave, jump, and pound the forest floor half a head in front.
And when my wolf reached the stream, he plowed in and splashed.
I’d been trying to imagine the world through Eira’s eyes, but now I had a front-row seat to my beast experiencing it for the first time.
Phelan’s wolf brushed against my side, and my wolf nuzzled him. Both in human form and wolf, we were aligned.
Where’s my brother? I’d like to run with him too.
Oh boy. You and I really need to talk.
Phelan
Rawling and I wandered into the dining hall as Mrs. Ardilla stormed in, grumbling about Professor Shaw.
“He doesn’t get to speak to me like that just because he’s a wolf and I’m a squirrel.”
Rawling raised a brow as Bardoul staggered past with clean trays. “She’s talking about Professor Shaw. He’s been on a rampage recently.”
My mate had shifted for the first time a few days ago. When I relayed what had happened to my parents, Father said we had to get to the bottom of why the professor had not handed Eira back until Rawling called on his wolf for help.
I agreed but told him we were investigating and to hold off making a complaint to the school or the shifter council. He wasn’t aware the super-secret squirrel society was on the case.
Father said we should consider removing ourselves from the Sombertooth campus and doing distance learning. “You have to think about Eira.”
That plan showed promise, but I had to convince Rawling, who with his newfound shifter side, felt invincible.
“Until then, I’m paying for security guards, 24/7.”
But I hadn’t shared the news with Father that the reason Mika had been killed was kinda murky. If Rawling hadn’t found his wolf, I would have accompanied him to each classroom. Luckily, we both did archery, and I made sure I was with him when we strolled to the range.
But now that the security team was in place, my anxiety level lowered.
My mate was irked by the presence of a guard lurking in the hallways and outside the infirmary, but I told him that was non-negotiable.
If the professor had caught wind of our extra security, perhaps that was another reason for his foul mood.
Our next class was with the professor, and as we tucked into lunch, Jack slumped into a seat beside us.
“Knox is having a hard time with me having a bear.” Her hands were covered in paint because she was preparing for an art exhibition.
“He’ll have to get used to it.” I shrugged because what was his problem?
“I guess.” She stabbed a piece of carrot. “And if he doesn’t? It won’t be a huge deal if we part ways. He’s nice and all, but he’s not my mate. Not that I’m looking for my one and only. Not yet. Or perhaps I don’t have a fated one and have met him already.”
Rawling wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t say anything. She didn’t need us to respond or give advice because it sounded as though she knew what she had to do regarding Knox.
“You have Professor Shaw next.”
“Yes,” we both replied.
“Good, we can hide at the back, because I heard him shouting at a student yesterday, and gods, he was losing it.”
Today was the first time either Rawling or myself had faced the professor since that day. He was sick the day after and sent an email telling his students what to read before the next class.
I’d asked Rawling if he wanted to skip the class, but he said we had to face him sometime.
Jack followed us to the classroom, asking about the reading assignment.
I answered with a word here and there, but my mind was on Professor Shaw.
He wasn’t in the room when we arrived, and we took or places in the last row.
But he swept in yelling, “I’m in no mood for slackers.
Anyone who hasn’t done the prescribed reading can get out.
” His voice rose with each word, and I reached for Rawling’s hand.
The professor slammed his laptop on the table and glared at us as he opened it and projected the slides onto the screen behind him. The first slide contained the questions he’d asked us to consider.
“Blakesley, I suspect you’ve been prancing around in your newfound fur and haven’t done what I asked.” He leaned forward and glared at my mate.
I half rose, but Rawling pushed me back. Since he’d revealed his wolf, I was enjoying his increased strength. Memories flooded back of us in bed, and my cock swelled. Not the right time, though.
“You’re wrong, Professor.”
There was a collective gasp from the room. We never told a professor they were wrong. We might present an argument to counter what they said, but we were never so blunt, though the rumor mill had it that Atticus had confronted the professor after we got Eira from him.
Rawling’s beast was so new and fierce, and he hadn’t learned how to balance that disagreement and tamp it down to suit the situation.
I squeezed his hand, but he didn’t respond. Jack was on his other side, and she hissed at him to calm down. But Rawling allowed his wolf into his gaze. The students between him and the professor hunkered down.
“I did as you asked. What do you want to ask me? And when you’re done, I have questions for you, like why did you refuse to hand over my daughter.”
Fuck, we’d be thrown out of Sombertooth for this, but maybe that was for the best. There were plenty of non-shifter colleges we could transfer to. But if this confrontation resulted in fur flying, we’d be hauled before the shifter council.
The professor snarled, and the students close to the door snuck out.
Rawling had his head held high, and fur rippled over the professor’s arms, shredding his jacket sleeves.
Shit, this was bad, and I got up and Jack did too.
Rawling and I had every reason to be furious and wary of the professor, but it couldn’t end in their beasts fighting.
“I agree with my mate that you owe us an explanation and an apology.” I was hoping to take some of the heat off Rawling.
“Stay out of this,” Professor Shaw hissed at me. He turned his attention to Rawling. “You’re a liar just like your brother and your adoptive mother. She promised me…” His fur receded, and his eyes no longer held his beast. It was as though he’d suddenly realized what he was doing.
“Class dismissed.” And he left the room.