Chapter 4
Chapter Four
The cafe at Spruce Tower was always full.
People who didn’t know each other would ask if they could sit in the empty seat at someone’s table.
But most students loved it. The atmosphere was conducive to studying, not because of anything the cafe did, but because everyone just wanted to study, so people left each other alone.
Toby was expecting his friend, Riley, to join him soon, but he had a few minutes before Riley’s class let out.
Toby and Riley had a routine they’d stuck to all semester.
And that was to meet at the Spruce Cafe at eleven o’clock every morning for a gab session.
It was the only one they got throughout the day, but they did text each other sometimes.
Toby had a paper due by the end of the week, and although it was finished, he had to touch up its grammar a bit and make sure he cited his sources correctly.
So he sipped his coffee and read each line with a fine-tooth comb. That was what he was doing when someone sat down across the table from him.
He didn’t bother looking up, but he knew it wasn’t Riley. Riley had a unique scent. Ash mixed with the scent of the Fortune Falls pack, and the scent of sugar and dough mixed in with the rest.
When he looked up, he didn’t expect to see the attacker from the park, but there he was, leering at Toby. Bobby Ball must have peeled himself off the pavement long enough to bail his son out.
Standing behind Bobby Ball’s son was someone Toby had never met before.
He appeared to be older than Head Dickwad by at least two decades, and he was most definitely a wolf shifter like Head Dickwad, although he didn’t smell like a Fortune Falls pack member.
His scent came from further down the mountain.
He wore a beat-up flannel coat and a red hat with a political slogan on it.
The hat turned Toby’s stomach. It also told Toby all he needed to know about Head Dickwad and his friend.
Whatever came out of their mouths wouldn’t be intelligent.
Stupid people are often dangerous people, Toby.
His dad had said that to him once. Of course, his dad hadn’t known how many stupid people there actually were and how right he was about them being dangerous.
“That seat is taken. I’m waiting for a friend.
” He knew they didn’t intend to stay, and Toby would move somewhere else if it came to that.
But if they knew he wasn’t alone, then maybe they wouldn’t do what they were about to do.
Not that Toby knew what that was, but Head Dickwad had already proven he was capable of nefarious deeds.
He had almost raped a woman while in a public park in broad daylight, after all.
Head Dickwad leaned forward. “I know what you did. I’ll tell everyone you’re a freak.”
Toby rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I’ve been called worse. And besides, my friend will be here soon, so move along.”
“Oh, we know all about your friendship with Riley Palmer.” It was the older guy in a flannel who spoke. It was more the implications of what he said, rather than how he said it, that put Toby on alert.
“How would you know that?” He needed the confirmation to know for sure that they’d been watching him.
“You run every day at seven in the morning like clockwork. You come here and meet with Sheriff Palmer’s son four times a week.
And you always go to the supermarket closest to your apartment building.
” They hadn’t been in the park to rape a woman that day.
They’d been spying on him. That woman was a bonus for them.
Someone they saw as vulnerable. An easy target.
But not the primary target. That had been Toby.
But how did they know what he could do with his magic before teleporting them away from the woman?
Toby’s stomach churned when the dread took hold.
He wanted to deny his ability, but he couldn’t get words to form past the fear.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to dig around for his phone in his bag as discreetly as possible, hunkering down close to the table.
He knew he made himself appear smaller. They’d think he was just that scared of them.
And while they weren’t wrong, he did it for another reason.
He found his phone in the pouch he always left it in and put it in his lap.
He had a recording app he sometimes used for journaling and for writing papers.
It was sometimes much easier to dictate the project than type it, especially when he was in a time crunch.
He pressed where he knew the app button was and then the record button.
Something about doing that one small thing, having evidence even though he had no idea if he could ever use it, gave him his voice back. “Whatever it is you think I did, I promise you, you’re wrong. I’m just a wolf from out west.”
“You don’t have a pack,” the older guy said, smirking at him.
He said it as though that was a bad thing.
For Toby, not having a pack meant he didn’t have to worry about this very scenario happening to him.
It was what his father wanted to prevent.
Someone would always use Toby for their own gain.
They only needed leverage. It was clear Head Dickwad, and the older wolf thought they had it, but Toby wasn’t attached to anyone anymore.
The only person Toby had ever cared about had died trying to save him.
“That’s true. I don’t owe you an explanation.
I’m a college student here. Dinsmore College is a safe space for everyone.
That’s why I chose it.” Toby needed the reminder that he was supposed to be safe at the college.
That no one cared that Toby was a lone wolf.
And no one paid attention to his scent being off because everyone at Dinsmore College was just a little left of center, and that was okay.
Or it was supposed to be, but Head Dickwad and his wolf crony scared Toby into being hyperalert.
Toby sighed in relief when Riley walked in wearing a blue cap that read Palmer’s Handyjobs. He went to the counter to order.
“My friend is here, and since you already know he’s Sheriff Palmer’s son, leave me alone.”
Wolf Dickwad leaned down, getting inches from Toby’s face. “I know what you are. And I know what you did. Mark Sibly died in that desert. You’ll pay, but not before you do something for us first.”
And with that, he headed out the back. Head Dickwad followed behind him.
Toby’s hands shook when he finally looked at his phone. Pressing the screen blindly had been hit-or-miss. It looked like he’d hit it out of the park.
He pressed the stop recording button just as Riley sat in the seat Head Dickwad had just left. He smiled, but his expression turned to concern when he met Toby’s gaze. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
He had, because he might not recognize the name Mark Sibly, but he’d only ever wished one man into the desert.
He was one of the men there the night Toby’s dad was killed.
He’d do some research on Mark Sibly and find out for sure if Wolf Dickwad knew what he’d done.
He already knew his past had come back to haunt him.
“I’m fine. Just worried about money.” It wasn’t a lie. Toby could always use more of the stuff.
“My brother needs help.” Riley pointed to his hat.
Toby smirked. “Do I get a hat if he hires me?”
Riley took his hat off and handed it to Toby. “Only if you can swing a hammer.”
“No problem then.” Toby had helped his dad build their cabin. He knew construction better than most. And he knew how to do things the way they’d done them in the past, when builders notched logs together and used dirt and water to fill in the gaps.
Toby could smell the hat even from a distance. His fangs dropped when his wolf came to the surface. He hid behind his computer just in case his stalkers were watching, but he put on the hat, pulling it to his forehead as low as he could get it without looking like an idiot.
Riley chuckled. “Either you love it or you hate it. I can’t tell, but you look very incognito.”
Good, but the last thing Toby wanted was for his stalkers to see him wolf out over a hat and come to the right conclusion.
And the right conclusion was that there was a scent on the hat that belonged to his mate.
He wasn’t sure who it was, and he wasn’t sure he should find out, but his wolf definitely wanted to know.
Toby just didn’t want to get his mate caught up in whatever Head Dickwad and his wolf dickwad friend had in store for him, and he would if he gave them even one inkling of a connection with whoever the scent belonged to.
“Come to the bakery later and I’ll introduce you to my brother. It’s about time you met him.”
Toby had been reluctant to get to know people.
The fewer people he knew, the less likely they were to figure out his scent was different.
And it went with his lone-wolf persona, so he got away with it.
But Riley had been saying something about Toby getting to know his family.
And Toby really could use the money, so he nodded. “I’ll be there.”