Chapter 26
Juniper
I’m practically walking on cloud nine when Monday comes around. My shift last night was spent with the guys occupying a table in the corner and constantly making small talk with a blushing Gabby who claims I found a good pack before she left for the night. And that came after my first heat spike since the incident with that weird guy last week, Evron and Geo stealing me away for the day before my shift and turning my legs to jelly. It’s a miracle I made it through the night with how boneless the two made me.
“You’re scaring the shit out of me,” Munro grumbles by the end of the school day, eyeing me like I’ve been replaced by body snatchers, and yet the smile on my face doesn’t disappear. “No, seriously. Stop that. Right now.”
“Oh my god, are you allergic to happiness or something?” I ask, only partly serious while the rest of me continues to float on those aforementioned clouds.
“Yeah,” he answers seriously, right before I see his lips twitch.
Laughing, I bump my hip against his and decide to turn the tables. “So, Silver—”
“Let me stop you right there, my mini me. That pastel princess is not to be mentioned around me unless you’d like my mood to turn thunderous,” he gripes, glaring half-assed at me .
“This isn’t thunderous?” I wonder lightly, offering him a smart-ass smile in return.
Munro rolls his eyes. “You’d know if it was thunderous. Anyway, moving on with our topics of conversation. Where are you heading now?”
“Library for a couple of hours. I’m working tonight and the guys are all here later today, so I’m going to stick around until one of them is free,” I answer, ignoring how completely mushy that makes me feel, or how very cheesy it might sound.
“You know, I think I preferred it when you were my matching storm cloud,” Munro teases, sighing as though he’s actually disturbed by my happiness.
I shrug. “I’m still your matching storm cloud, just one with a little less rain right now.”
“Ew,” Munro quips, pulling a face akin to someone eating something sour.
“You’re right. That was gross. Let’s not do that again,” I snort, bumping him playfully with my shoulder and receiving one in return.
“So, what’s on your agenda today?” I ask as he accompanies me to the library, sticking close despite my anxiety long since vanquished by the five men I get to call mine. The creepy encounter with that stranger hasn’t been on my mind since before Evron’s surprise date.
A person bumps into Munro’s arm as they pass, and I glare at the asshole who scampers off quickly with a whiff of fear after he glances at us both like he’s outraged that we were there to begin with. Munro’s lips are twitching when he drags me away, answering, “Still on the house hunt, so I’ll be wrangling the twins into scouring the internet with me for a couple of hours so we can narrow down some places to look at or ask about.”
“Sounds… fun?”
“As pulling teeth, yeah,” he snickers, though this one sounds tired, drained of all amusement only to leave behind the tiresome dread and stress that seems to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
Sighing, I stop him just before we reach the entrance of the library and, with all sincerity, tell him, “Ro, if there’s anything at all I can do, just say the word and I’ll do it, okay? If you need someplace to stay in the meantime, I can fix you up. If you need help looking, I’m right here ready to do that. Anything at all, okay?”
Instead of reacting to my words, a gentle smile blooms over his usually stern face and his voice lowers into a soft, brotherly tone as he confesses, “Only my pack ever call me Ro.”
“Yeah, well,” I shrug, rolling my eyes even as I smile back. “I don’t let just anyone call me a thundercloud.”
Laughing, Munro side-hugs me and says, “I’ll let you know if we need anything. Now go study and wait for your pack, you whipped omega. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He walks off with only a glance back to make sure I head into the library, and I wave him off before the door closes behind me, shivering as the chill from the outside is quickly replaced by the almost suffocating warmth that fills the large room.
With a polite wave to Miss Favero, the librarian I’ve spoken to on several occasions since starting here at North Five University, I head to an empty corner seat and pull out several textbooks and assignments we’ve already been handed by our professors. I slide my cell from the back pocket of my jeans, rush out a quick text to the group chat I share with the guys telling them I’m where I told them I’d be this morning, before settling in for a couple of hours of studying and completing assignments.
Only an hour and a half passes before I receive a phone call, my cell buzzing on the desk with Creek’s face appearing on the screen before I answer with a hushed tone. “Hey, handsome.”
“Hey, beautiful girl. How’re you today?” he asks, the steady thumping of workout music sneaking through the speaker .
“Good. I’ve finished two assignments so far, and I’m bored out of my brain. How’re things on your end?” I answer, smiling at the laugh that caresses my eardrums.
“I wish I could say the same,” he says, his laughter fading into a groan. At the same time, a chill slithers down my spine and the hair on my arms stand on end, a strange, sinking feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.
“That doesn’t sound promising,” I whisper, ducking in my seat as I peer around the library in search of what could possibly be making me feel out of sorts and off kilter. There’s an eerie awareness crawling over my skin, one I almost recognize but can’t quite place.
Creek huffs a tired laugh. “It’s not. Doesn’t look like any of us can get out of class when we planned. Apparently, we’re all stuck here for the foreseeable. Geo offered to help coach with training and volunteered me as a part of my first assignment. Lowie has a meeting with his professor, and Leylan is cleaning up after an accident that happened in his lab class. We don’t know how long any of us will be, so if you want to head on home before work, then we’ll meet you at Gabby’s as soon as we’re free.”
I’m nodding along to his words, but my focus is on the chilling sensation I can’t seem to shake. “Mhm. Okay, yeah.”
“J? Are you hearing me?” Creek asks, the notes of concern in his words, which forces my focus to the conversation at hand.
“Sort of. Sorry, I got a weird feeling and it distracted me for a second,” I confess, clearing my throat and peering around once more, an alarming sense of paranoia coming back to me like the releasing of a stretched elastic band.
“Weird?” Creek wonders, and I can hear the frown in his words. “What kind of weird? Are you alright?”
“I’m okay, handsome. Don’t stress. Just a strange feeling, but it’s nothing,” I brush off quickly, not wanting him to worry about me. “What were you saying?”
“We’re all stuck here for a while longer, so no need to wait for us. Go home, get some food in you, and we’ll all meet you at work,” he repeats, the sound of concern growing with every word. “Are you sure everything is okay, babe?”
I shiver at the nickname, but the sudden sense that I’m being watched overcomes me with such ferocity that I harshly whisper, “Something doesn’t seem right.”
“What is it, Juno?” Creek rushes, alarmed now.
“I don’t know, but it feels like someone’s watching me, C,” I hurry to answer, gaze scanning every inch of the library that my eyes can see.
“Is there anyone around?”
“Only a couple of stud—ohmyfuckinggod,” my words end in a rush as a hand clamps down on my shoulder, scaring roughly ten years off my lifespan.
Eyes wide and startled, my head snaps up in the direction of the hand’s owner, only to monumentally relax when I find a professor attached to the other end. Professor Barnes Champion’s stoic and emotionless expression flickers with guilt, a wince marring his painfully handsome features.
“Apologies, Miss Baines. I didn’t mean to startle you. Miss Favero wished for me to check on you. She mentioned you looked a little distressed, but the phone rang before she could check on you herself,” the art and English lit professor explains smoothly, his expression smoothing out as he speaks. “Is everything alright? You’re jumpy, you’re looking around warily, and I can see your pulse fluttering rapidly in your neck.”
Breathing a harsh breath out, I nod and say, “Everything is alright, sir. I appreciate you checking.”
“Are you certain?” he pushes, a crease forming between his eyebrows with a concerned frown, my pulse giving away the fresh wave of anxiety that now spreads through my body. The relaxation I’ve felt all weekend with my guys has been thoroughly undone, and paranoia eats at me as I try to peer around every corner and behind the professor to check who’s around and whether or not I recognize them .
“Juno? Please answer me?” I hear called from the cell I hadn’t realized I’d lowered from my face.
Nodding quickly, relaxing under the worried gaze of my professor, I rush to say, “I’m fine, sir. Just a little paranoid.”
Professor Champion nods slowly, as though he doesn’t quite trust that all is fine, but he decides to take me at my word and says, “Alright. I’ll be with Miss Favero should you need anything.”
I offer him a grateful smile and watch as he walks back to the reception desk where Miss Favero remains, phone clutched in her hand and pressed against her ear as she speaks in hushed tones. The moment he’s gone, I’m pressing the phone back to my ear, only to hear Creek speaking quickly, “... going to be right there, who even needs a fucking college education when my omega is in trouble? Fuck it all.”
“I’m fine. I’m okay. Professor Champion scared me, that’s all,” I blurt quickly, brushing my hair from my face as I sink into my seat with a tired sigh. “Don’t leave your classes. I’m alright, handsome. I just got really jumpy and weird for a minute there.”
Creek’s sigh is loud and filled with relief, though he still sounds worried when he asks, “Are you sure, beautiful? I don’t care what it costs me, I will be out of here quicker than you can wink if you need me. Or if you need absolutely any of us, we’ll be there.”
His words make me smile, and I relax that little bit more as I confirm, “And as much as I love you for that, I think I’ll survive the nothing that I’m currently suffering. Just my overactive imagination.”
There’s a pause of silence that comes from the phone, and I have to check my cell to see if Creek is still there. Sure enough, the call is still connected, and I have to ask, “Creek? You still there?”
He clears his throat and sounds a little choked up when he says, “Still here, beautiful.”
“Are you okay?” I wonder, the emotion in his voice confusing me.
“Better than okay, beautiful,” he answers with a smile I can actually hear. “What else do you love about me? ”
I pause, because it’s then that I realize what I let slip without even a single thought, simply allowing the words to fall free of my lips because they’re true. They’ve been true for years and years, and it’s just second nature for me to tell them at this point. Apparently, my feelings are like an un-popped cork of a champagne bottle, and now that the cork has popped free, declarations of love are exploding uncontrollably out of me.
Huffing out a laugh, slightly embarrassed that I just blurted those words out to him like that, I quietly confess, “Too many things to list over the phone. Now, get lost. I have one more assignment to complete and then I’m gonna head into work early. Maybe see if Gabby is feeling generous enough to cook me dinner before my shift starts.”
“Pretty sure Gabby couldn't deny you a damned thing, beautiful,” he laughs, sounding more like himself now, only a smidge happier than before. It makes the smile on my own face double in size, my heart warm in my chest, and butterflies exploding in my stomach. The shadow of paranoia and anxiety continues to cling to my skin like a thick tar, but it doesn’t stop the mushy feelings rushing in. “Anyway, you finish your assignment, and I’ll see you at the diner.”
“Okay,” I whisper, smile softening.
“Alright. Miss you already, beautiful,” he practically croons down the phone, melting me from the inside out.
“Miss you more,” I reciprocate, ending the call a moment later before delving into the last assignment I have in my planner, spending almost two more hours seated in the library under the watchful eye of Miss Favero and the occasional Professor Champion.
By the time I’m done, and my nerves are set at ease from simply sitting in the comfort books and very little people bring, I’m not so jumpy and my nerves have had time to calm down. Backpack packed with all of my things, I head out with a wave at a red-cheeked Zira Favero and a head nod from an intense-looking professor.
I’m only a few steps away from the entrance of the library and slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and answering a few concerned texts from the other guys, when those same feelings of being watched in the library come hurtling back at the speed of an oncoming freight train.
With the hair sticking up on end, my steps slow and I’m paranoid all over again. I tuck my cell back in my pocket and haul my backpack up further on my shoulder while I subtly check my surroundings. Nothing seems amiss but the feeling doesn’t disappear, so I head down the sidewalk with an abundance of caution, my senses on high alert.
There’s but a short amount of distance between me and the truck when I spot it. The watcher. Standing between the trees, far in the distance to be invisible to the unassuming eye but close enough to make out the figure of a man with dark hair, bulky build, and wearing a pair of sunglasses that cover a big portion of his face, is the reason for the chills that wrack my body and fray my nerves further than they had been before. I watch in horrified silence as the stranger tilts his head, right before he points directly at me, then at himself, and makes a gesture that has my blood chilling under my skin. Slowly and deliberately, the creepy fuck drags his hand beneath his throat, right before he taps his wrist twice, all without taking his sunglasses-covered eyes off me.
Distracted by the figure, frozen in fear and worried to take my eyes off him in case he disappears, I don’t hear my name being called before I collide into a hard body that smells of smoke and leather, a scent so painfully alpha that I damn near have a conniption. A scream finds itself lodged in my throat, my heart falling to my ass as large hands steady me on my feet.
I take my eyes off the stranger between the trees and come eye to chest with a tall guy wearing a black shirt that hugs a wide chest and a leather jacket that clings to thick arms.
“Juniper?” the man clutching me in place asks, voice firm but soft enough that I’m not sent running with a scream of terror.
My head raises and a pair of honey-gold eyes peer down at me, pretty eyes filled with worry, his eyebrows drawn down in a frown. Coffee-colored hair sits atop his head, a faux mohawk styled messily but stylishly, and there are a couple of scents that cling to his clothes that I instantly recognize. It’s those scents that relax me, and my voice comes out strained and panicked when I finally manage to rasp, “Pace?”
“Yeah, hon. Are you okay? What the hell happened there?” the fifth member and alpha of Munro’s pack asks, rubbing his hands up and down my arms as I continue to shiver, those warm eyes watching me like he’s just caught a terrified kitten being chased by a rabid dog.
Clearing my throat and gripping the guy I’ve only just met around the wrists, I damn near wheeze, “I’m pretty sure there’s someone following me. Back there, between the trees near the building with the large bay windows.”
Pace Larsen peers over my shoulder, keeping his hold on me much to my relief, because there is no doubt in my mind that I would simply collapse if he let me go. I watch his face as those pretty eyes darken, his entire face changing from warm and comforting to intimidating and dangerous so fast that I almost get whiplash. “I see him. Come on, let’s get you out of here. Now.”
I nod, my heart rate picking up a rapid pace that makes me dizzy and light headed. It’s why I let the guy lead me to my truck, holding his hand out for the keys that I willingly hand over, trusting the man as much as I trust Munro, Aero, Haze, and Rage.
With very little effort, Pace gets me in the truck and climbs into the driver’s side, asking, “Where to?”
“Gabby’s,” I answer instantly, knowing that’s where the guys will expect to find me, even if a single text could get them to meet me at home. Pretty sure I’m shaking too much to actually pull my cellphone out of my pocket again, so Pace simply nods and drives us to the diner without uttering a word.
By the time we pull up outside of the diner, my heart no longer feels like it’s about to burst free of my ribcage, but my nerves are absolutely shot to shit and my mind is reeling a mile a minute .
Larsen turns the truck off and turns to face me, a seriousness that is vastly different to the guys’ expression painted over his face, and he asks, “Do you know who that was back there?”
I shake my head.
“Seen him before?”
I’m shaking my head once more, lost for words and trying to calm my mind enough to think straight.
“Do you think you’re up to working tonight? Because, let me tell you hon, you look shaken up worse than a cola bottle after it’s been dropped on the floor,” he tells me, and I snort in surprise at the analogy.
“I have no idea what the hell I should be doing right now. My brain resembles a scrambled egg, I can’t stop shaking, and I need to text my pack,” I blurt in a hurry, words almost blending together until it’s almost impossible to decipher the words I’m spitting.
Pace nods, smiling slightly as if to soothe me, and it strangely works much like a smile from the rest of his pack would. I don’t feel so on edge, and I appreciate the vibes he’s emanating and the gut feeling I have about the guy is enough that I can breathe a little easier around him. “Alright, then let’s call your pack first, and get you inside second. I’ll call the police when we’re inside, and I’ll stay with you until your shift ends and drive you home.”
I’m nodding, already scooping my cell out of my pocket, when I explain, “The guys are meeting me here, but I really appreciate you stepping in like you did.”
“Of course. Pretty sure Munro would kill me if I let his unbiological twin come into harm's way, anyways,” he jokes, lips twitching and making a dent in the serious expression Pace has worn since leaving the school grounds.
“That checks out,” I choke out with a slightly haggard laugh, feeling strung out and wired all at once.
Revealing a warm smile, Pace pats my knee and says, “Come on. Let’s get you inside and we can get the ball rolling on the phone calls and such. ”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay,” I agree, taking a deep, steady breath before climbing out of the car before following after the alpha into the diner.
The moment Gabby sees me, all movement stops, and her mama face is plastered over her face faster than it takes to blink. She points at me with a notepad, pen tucked behind her ear where her copper hair curls around it, and demands, “You, sit right there before you fall over with a gust of wind. I’ll get you a hot chocolate and you can tell me what put the fear of Gods in those eyes and why there’s a handsome man I’ve never seen before escorting you to work.”
So, without any fuss, complaints, or objection, I go about doing exactly as I’m told. And the whole time, Pace sits beside me, helping me fill in the blanks and offering support like any close friend would.