Chapter 6 #3
Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been concerned about me being alone with her.
I wasn’t exactly known for being gentle.
It was somewhat in our nature as fenrir wolves, which was why it goddamn infuriated me that she grew up around my kind.
I knew what we were like, and we fucking sucked.
So the idea of anyone being surprised by how gentle I was being with Effie wouldn’t be all that shocking, and I knew we would face the same on campus.
I looked down at her once again, not surprised he was staring like an idiot as she broke away from me and nearly sashayed towards the kitchen.
I let out a low, frustrated sound at her distance as she looked back at me, her eyes warm and questioning.
I followed after her like a pup, wanting her hand back in mine.
Every time she was out of my grasp, I felt like a child that had their favorite toy taken away.
Julian offered her an affectionate smile, clearly not as surprised by the mass of hair she’d been hiding.
Where the hell was… nevermind.
Dakota appeared behind Effie, out of literally fucking nowhere, his magic creating a dark cloud-like signature that came off his skin as he watched her freeze momentarily.
After looking back at him for a minute, seeming to gauge something, she relaxed and took another Bagel Bite that Julian offered her.
I frowned, wanting her to eat something with more substance. Or just more food in general.
Dakota ran his fingers through her hair with seeming fascination, and I watched as she offered him a curious glance instead of protecting her neck around the totemic alpha.
Nope. She wasn’t concerned in the least. I wondered if any of us needed to warn her about how dangerous Dakota was.
Somehow, I didn’t think it was necessary, because I wasn’t the only one acting out of sorts.
In fact, it worried me more that Dakota hadn’t fucking snapped Caedmon’s neck yet.
It seemed like something he would do on principle, and the fact that he hadn’t was eerie.
Then again, I suppose it wasn’t all that surprising that Dakota’s reaction to Caedmon was a bit off as well.
To say he held a grudge against the man for ditching us was the understatement of the century.
Still, I think he had been far more hurt about his choice to move floors than he would ever let on to us, because the two of them, up until that point, had essentially been best friends.
Julian and I had always been better friends with one another than them, our personalities tending to meld better with one another, but over the past two years, all of us had become like brothers.
Caedmon just fucked that shit up at the end of last year and spent all of last semester being a piece of shit.
He was back now, though, and there wasn’t a damn thing his father could do about it.
Although I had absolutely no doubt he would try. He was a piece of abusive shit.
“Ready to go?” Julian asked conversationally, breaking the staring party up as he tracked the way Effie partly ignored Dakota in favor of her food.
I don’t think she was doing it on purpose, but she was seemingly so comfortable around him that she didn’t bother to protect herself, which would normally be a horrible move around someone like Dakota.
Not that he would ever hurt her, but I had to wonder if there was an element of instinct that would kick in at some point in terms of protecting her neck.
That part surprised me more than anything.
Bitten wolves like Effie were typically and unsurprisingly extremely sensitive and weird about people touching anywhere near their bite mark.
Well, unless you were their mate, apparently, because I’d seen Effie get near Julian’s neck several times, and he hadn’t once looked annoyed or uncomfortable.
This from a guy who’d once snapped someone’s wrist for touching his neck.
“Are we going off campus or staying on? I have the truck outside,” Caedmon offered curiously, his eyes running over her worn shoes and jeans.
I knew it was probably driving him crazy that she was in obviously worn clothes.
Personally, I liked them, because I knew she didn’t give a shit about stuff like that, unlike some of the pack princesses on campus.
No, Effie wasn’t like that, and that somehow made me want to give her all of that more.
With that being said, I knew that it would make Caedmon really upset, because in his mind, he would view it as him not ‘providing’ enough.
His father had convinced him that all women wanted to be treated to gifts, and while that was nice, I didn’t think Effie was someone that could be bought.
Especially her affection. Then again, his father had been through so many ‘mates’ that he just kept buying them presents till they gave in, and then they either were left by him…
or they disappeared. But that was a far larger issue.
Dakota let out a low, frustrated sound at his words, but Effie seemed to light up. “Oh, is that the little downtown area I saw while in the taxi?”
“You took a taxi to campus?” I demanded, nearly snarling, and mentally cursing as she tensed slightly before offering me a small, shy look as if afraid about my reaction. I ignored the scowl Julian shot my way, because fuck him. I was really trying here.
“I had a meeting with Caedmon,” Julian explained lazily, offering her another Bagel Bite. “I figured it was safest to get her onto campus instead of hanging in town.”
It had been smarter, but I still didn’t fucking like it. Why didn’t he call one of us?
“Do you want to go downtown?” Dakota asked curiously, changing the topic.
“Yes!” She nodded before seeming to deflate slightly. “I mean, as long as everyone else wants to.”
“We do,” Caedmon easily bridged the gap as she flashed a sweet smile and floated past me again towards the door to her new room. I wasn’t positive what she was doing, but the minute she was out of earshot, Julian was talking.
“You need to calm down, Tore,” he insisted, not blaming but still annoying the hell out of me. “Also, she needs a ton of different shit. She has one duffle bag only.”
Okay, even I hated that. Caedmon tensed and looked over to her door, making me wonder how this was going to go down.
Some women would love to have somewhat unfamiliar men buy them shit…
but I had a feeling that Effie wasn’t one of them.
I nearly groaned with frustration on how to handle this, but instead, I turned to go to her room.
Not before I heard Dakota mumble something about ‘everyone noticing her.’ I nearly yelled back that we better get used to it, because let’s face it, someone like Effie was impossible to ignore. It was like trying to ignore the brightest light in the room.
As I found myself in her doorway, I watched as she crouched down by her bag and grabbed out a small, worn wallet.
It appeared to be a men’s wallet, and it made me wonder if it was hers or just a temporary one.
Either way, she wouldn’t need it, but I had no idea how to tell her that without coming across as an over-controlling ass.
I frowned at the duffle bag she had, the Whitepaw crest making my memory pause as if I could recall something about them…
but I lost it the minute I tried to focus on it.
I was nearly positive it wasn’t because of a positive correlation, which made me want to remember it all that much more.
“Ready?” I asked softly. She snapped her head up and nodded.
I briefly saw her cell phone sitting on her bed, but I didn’t remind her of it.
It was a small pay-as-you-go phone, if I had to assume, and I worried about how well she would actually be able to call one of us if something was to happen.
I frowned, not liking the concept of not being able to reach her at all. We would need to get her a new phone.
As I followed her out of the room, I looked over my mate and realized that I would be perfectly happy doing this… well, forever.