Chapter 7 #2
My eyes widened, and he offered me a small twitch of the lip as I realized that maybe I wasn’t far from the truth.
Could he hear my thoughts? I mean, he was somehow getting into my head for sure.
I jumped as Caedmon began to pull away from the parking spot, allowing me to move my focus away from the enigmatic, mysterious man and to the view from the windshield.
“What type of music?” Caedmon asked curiously. I noticed that he seemed a bit more relaxed now that he was behind the wheel. I craved his comfortable, relaxed posture, and it made me feel good to see him happy.
Goddess, this was dangerous. Maybe I should have stayed in the dorms.
Questions began popping into my head without warning, causing everything to become even more disconcerting.
Where was Julian from? Or Caedmon? Tore was from Washington and Dakota from Phoenix.
I had already mentally memorized that, but I was very curious where the other two had come from.
Was it too soon to ask them? How long had each of them been here?
What type of wolves were the other two? I didn’t want to be pushy, but I was also insanely curious.
I needed to find a casual way to bring it up…
“You could just ask.”
A small worried noise broke from my throat at my wolf’s actual voice in my head. Yeah, that wasn’t normal. I shook myself, refusing to focus on it. These changes were far too much right now. Far too much.
“Effie?” Caedmon drew my attention from my inner thoughts. Dakota rumbled something from behind me, but I was focused back on our driver, who was making the journey through the increasing snowfall. Was it going to storm? Or was this normal?
“Oh.” I tilted my head, remembering that he’d asked about music. “Well, I’m not positive. Usually we just listen to classical music, or Gerald puts on baseball. I haven’t listened to a lot of music, to be honest.”
Tore let out a low, dangerous noise at Gerald’s name, and I found myself wondering what he would do if he found out about the true extent of how I’d been treated by the man, images of past injuries flashing through my mind. Somehow I didn’t think he would be happy.
Another low, dark noise broke out from behind me, and I snapped my head around and met Dakota’s gaze, the other two staring at him.
I felt my face pale as I realized he could completely hear my thoughts.
Crap. I offered him a pleading look, and he looked out the window after holding my gaze for a minute, seeming to not know how to deal with what I had just told him.
Not that I’d told him on purpose.
Caedmon kept focused forward, asking, “You good, Dakota?”
“Fine,” he bit out in a low voice that almost sounded like a growl.
I did wonder if all the grunting and growling these men were doing was normal.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked it… I just didn’t understand why I found it attractive.
I felt like that was a weird thing to like.
I also didn’t remember the men in my pack doing it nearly as much.
If they did growl, it was usually terrifying, not sexy.
Julian leaned forward and grabbed the sleek black phone that sat between Caedmon and me.
He scrolled through it, and I watched with interest as he decided which music to pick.
I felt myself relax as a familiar classical song came on, and I sat forward, focusing on the drive, because let’s face it—I probably needed to understand where I was even living.
I mean, I couldn’t assume they would always be here to go everywhere with me.
Although, would that be the worst thing in the world?
“I think there is a storm coming in tonight or tomorrow,” Caedmon seemed to murmur under his breath, almost to himself, as I examined the snow that was falling more heavily than before.
“Not that they will ever cancel goddamn classes,” Tore growled.
My wolf let out a small excited noise at the concept of the storm, and I blushed, shrinking into my seat. Julian laughed and leaned forward, offering a curious look. “I’m guessing your wolf likes snow? I can literally feel how excited she is.”
In more than one way. I offered a small, shy smile. “Yeah. I mean, we are an arctic wolf species, technically. I don’t love it nearly as much as she does, but I don’t mind it when I can be cozy inside.”
“Luckily these buildings are made for exactly that, staying fucking warm.” He winked, his fingers tugging on my hair lightly.
I honestly had forgotten how people reacted to my hair after so long, and oddly, unlike usual, the looks the boys had offered made me feel way better.
It was filled with interest and something hotter than that, making me feel really good about myself.
Especially when Tore told me that people were stupid for not liking my hair.
“We should shift together,” Dakota said suddenly, Julian’s eyes flashing dark with what almost appeared like jealousy. Why would he be jealous of that? Couldn’t he shift?
“That would be fun.” I nodded, meeting Dakota’s gaze, and then looked to Caedmon.
“Does your type of wolf shift?”
Caedmon seemed to shift awkwardly, turning down Campus Drive as Tore chuckled softly. I wanted to look back, but I was far too focused on the odd expression on Caedmon’s face. He spoke softly. “I can. But not the same way you can.”
Oh.
I nodded and then looked back at Julian. “Well, I would love to shift at some point. I didn’t get to shift a lot at home.”
“Why not?” Tore demanded, his eyes flashing black with concern.
“Well, people didn’t like that I could shift.
They thought it was weird because they didn’t…
So whenever I did shift, unless I was completely alone, people would throw bottles and other stuff at me in passing.
They treated me like a dog, so I avoided it usually.
I wasn’t allowed to do it in the house either. ”
My statement was followed by a silence that filled the space and had me feeling a bit awkward.
“Fuck,” Tore finally mumbled, breaking the tension.
Julian’s jaw tightened. “They threw shit at you?”
I shrank slightly and nodded, my wolf letting out a small sound as if very thrilled that they were angry for her. She had always hated it. I had as well, but she had wanted to be far more violent… but that wasn’t me. At least I didn’t think it was.
Dakota was oddly quiet, his wolf’s energy wrapping protectively around mine, but Caedmon stopped, my eyes snapping forward as I realized he had literally come to a full stop in the middle of Campus Drive.
“Um…” I looked around as people stared at us, making me feel anxious. “Caedmon, why are you not driving?”
His eyes were nearly black as he stared at me, not angry at me… well, I didn’t think so. I felt very awkward. I trembled slightly as his gaze looked over me once more before he opened his mouth to say something, but Dakota’s voice interrupted him.
“Caedmon, man, you need to keep driving. There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”
Do what? About what?
I frowned as the car lurched forward, and his hands turned white-knuckled on the wheel.
I leaned back into the seat and watched him cautiously, not knowing how to handle his odd mood changes.
I wasn’t worried about my safety, but I was a bit hesitant.
He seemed very temperamental, and everything about my past told me that was a dangerous thing.
Still, I didn’t find myself worried that he would hurt me.
“Where do you want to stop first?” Tore asked, breaking the odd moment.
I looked away from our tense driver and focused on Tore.
His eyes were still very dark, but he seemed to be trying to ease the tension, which I appreciated.
Especially because I had absolutely no idea how to handle this.
I wasn’t positive about what I had done to make them so upset.
I mean, clearly, it was about how I’d been treated when I shifted…
but that brought me back to the glaring truth—how I had been treated was unusual and wrong.
I’d been right all along. I had been completely right.
My wolf let out a low snarl at the idea of us having been wronged. I hated that. It made me far more angry than I was comfortable with.
“I need bedding,” I offered, “but other than that, we can really go anywhere. What do you guys need?”
I mean, why else would they have all decided to come out and run errands with me? I wasn’t going to assume it was just to spend time with me. Although, that would be extremely flattering.
“What about Diane’s?” Julian finally got out, his voice rougher than I would have expected.
I could literally feel his wolf underneath his skin, running like electric energy, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t seem to connect with him.
Not like Dakota’s wolf, who was sitting in the back of my subconscious as my wolf played around, offering me interested and curious looks at different things they said.
It made me feel very safe, but I did wish he would come forward more.
I felt like he didn’t get to relax his wolf very often.
I also wanted Julian’s to join us. While Tore didn’t have a wolf form, his magic was a predatorial energy surrounding me, but rather than being scary or threatening, it was comforting.
Caedmon, though… his was a bit different.
There was very much something there, dangerously lurking underneath his skin, making me want to urge it out. That probably wasn’t safe.
“Diane will be excited to see us,” Caedmon finally got out.