Chapter 10 #4
So I was right. I would have asked about his father, but I wanted to hear that from Caedmon.
I ate my food quietly as Dakota and Julian began talking about a class they had together, making me wonder who I had in my classes.
I bet none of them would be in mine, something that made all of this a bit more terrifying.
Oh well, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I was determined to be brave today. Determined to give this my best shot, even if it felt like I was falling head first into a rabbit hole of unknown possibilities.
“Are we waiting on Tore before going down to the office to get her ID?” Dakota asked.
Julian opened his phone and showed off a message that said he would meet us outside.
I frowned, wondering if I needed to get a better phone.
Well, actually, I probably needed to just carry a phone around in general.
I would also need to locate somewhere I could use a computer, probably the library.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a walk from our dorm.
I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of nights there.
After a few minutes, Julian took my empty plate, and my stomach tightened, realizing that I had eaten more than usual.
I rubbed my stomach slightly as Dakota took my hand and kissed it gently, making my eyes widen as he tugged me to standing.
I pulled on my coat and then zipped it up, tucking my scarf against my throat.
My gloves were securely on with my backpack over my shoulders before I realized Dakota was looking over my outfit, smiling slightly.
“I like our clothes on you,” he rumbled. “Although I would rather you wear my hoodie.”
I smiled slightly. “I kept it in my room, I didn’t want to give it back yet.”
“You don’t ever need to give it back, but I may need to scent all your clothes,” he mumbled, and then when Julian laughed, he just shrugged.
“Scent all of them?” I asked sincerely.
“Totemic wolves can be a bit… territorial,” Julian mused, his lips pulling up.
“Oh.” I nodded in understanding despite not fully getting it.
Wait, was that one of the species of wolf shifters? Totemic? Was that what he was?
My pulse flared as I realized that meant he was possibly territorial over me? I liked that. A warm flush tinted my cheeks as I tried to not mull on that thought too much. As we stepped outside, I immediately spotted Tore.
Jealousy sparked through me, realizing that there was a woman talking to him.
Specifically, another fenrir wolf. I froze, not knowing how to react, as Dakota gently led me forward from my standstill.
I heard Julian murmur something to the other man as I increased my speed, watching the way she leaned towards him.
Tore wasn’t paying attention to her. In fact, when the wind shifted, my wolf pacing around anxiously, his blue eyes met mine immediately.
I saw something flare in his gaze, something that felt like heat, as he stepped around the woman, ignoring her confused expression.
I wish I could tell you I didn’t wrap my arms around him possessively, but my wolf had me doing that and nuzzling his chest the minute we were pressed against him.
Tore let out a deep rumble, blocking out the surprised noise from the woman, as a happy sigh escaped my lips.
His arms wrapped around me tightly as I heard the other two approaching.
I should have been embarrassed, but instead I realized that this was possibly my first real hug.
I savored it and leaned into him fully before looking up at him.
“Morning, lil bit,” he whispered.
“Morning,” I whispered back, loving his new variation on the nickname.
I ran my hand over his chest and let it rest there, before turning to look at the woman who had been trying to talk to him.
Her eyes were wide as they nervously bounced between the four of us, her face bright pink as if embarrassed.
“So it’s true?” she asked, her green eyes flashing with interest as she nervously tugged on her blonde hair. “You guys found—”
“Effie,” Julian filled in easily. “This is Effie.”
“Nice to meet you.” The girl seemed almost panicked as she adjusted her hair again.
“I didn’t realize that the rumor was true.
I feel so stupid now. Sorry, Tore, I should have realized you were on your way.
In fact, I am going to leave now. I think I have embarrassed myself enough for one day.
Effie, I am so sorry, and I hope there are no issues between us. ”
She was gone then as I felt true shock radiate through me.
“What the heck was that?” I asked sincerely. Also, I found myself rubbing my cheek against Tore’s shirt, not liking the faint smell of her perfume that lingered in the air. “Also, I don’t like her perfume. I can smell it on you.”
Tore chuckled softly, tightening his arms around me and burying his nose in my hair as I closed my eyes, feeling ten times better about today already. Julian rounded Tore and offered me a curious look. “You’re scenting him.”
“Am I?” I mumbled against the large man’s chest and then smiled slightly, deciding that was a good thing. “Oops.”
Dakota let out a deep laugh. “Well at least we don’t need to worry about confirming the rumors.”
“Rumors?” I asked softly. “Why was she acting so odd?”
“Trying to be polite, I imagine,” Julian mused.
“Why?” I looked at the two of them, Julian and Dakota, both of whom were watching me and Tore with interest.
“What do you mean, why?” Julian asked.
“I mean, I’ve been around a lot of fenrir wolves…” I hedged as Tore tensed slightly. “They have never been worried about being polite to me.”
“Bitten wolves are considered a big deal, lil bit,” Tore explained softly.
I met his gaze and saw only the truth there. Before I could say anything, Julian frowned. “We should talk about this after class today. We need to get her books and her ID, all before her morning class.”
“Shit,” Tore mumbled before intertwining our fingers and leading me forward. I found myself relaxing, loving the three of them around me, despite really feeling as though Caedmon was missing.
As I basked in the comfort of the men surrounding me, a weird pang of betrayal went through me in the realization of how crappy I’d been treated the past few years. If what they were saying was true, then I had been wronged. My wolf and I didn’t like that idea at all.
I was learning fairly quickly that the green-eyed woman’s reaction was far from unusual.
In fact, it seemed like everyone was steering clear of us.
I could see fear on their faces when looking at the guys, mainly Tore and Dakota.
Some friendly smiles were directed towards Julian, but they were more polite than anything.
Men seemed to be authentically trying to offer nods of respect, and the women seemed…
well, much too friendly at first before looking scared of me.
I didn’t understand that last part. I had never scared anyone, ever.
Currently, I was just glad that Tore had yet to bring up my odd behavior of scenting him.
Even now, sitting in the administrative office, waiting to get my picture taken for my student ID, he seemed relatively calm.
His large hand was wrapped around my thigh, his thumb brushing one of the patches on my jeans, as Dakota sat with his arm across my shoulders, playing with my hair.
Julian was talking to the older woman at the desk up front.
She had seemed nice, and I regretted not catching her name, considering she had given me a mail key and my schedule as part of late registration.
Tore had put my key onto my ID holder’s silver ring, and Dakota was looking over my schedule with interest, the four classes listed making me smile with curiosity and excitement.
Oddly enough, declaring a major was truly that easy.
As in, she literally put it in the system and it adjusted one of my classes.
“So, you have ‘Shifter History and Groupings’ later today,” Dakota hummed. “That will be mostly freshmen. Basic Economics this morning will be a mix, though.”
“Isn’t that the one that Caedmon helps out with?” Tore asked.
“Lucky bastard,” Dakota muttered.
I offered him a small smile, feeling a bit flush at his obvious desire to be in class with me, but also because… I would see Caedmon. Was I ready for that? I suppose I didn’t really have a choice. Tore continued, “So you have those two on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
“What about Tuesday and Thursday?” Julian asked, walking over and sitting down, grabbing a chair and pulling it out of the neatly arranged formation it had been in the waiting room.
“Mythology,” Dakota answered, “and Calculus, both in the afternoon.”
I perked up at the concept of Calculus. “I love math.”
Julian shook his head and smiled. “Insane. Absolutely insane, Effie. No one loves math.”
I blushed and shrugged. “Makes a bit more sense than people sometimes.”
“I get that,” Tore grunted.
I wanted to ask them what their majors were, but the door we were waiting on opened right at that moment.
A man, around my own age, if I had to guess, saw Tore and froze before his eyes flickered over all of us, finally resting on me.
He offered a small, polite smile as Dakota let out a dark growl, making me jump and causing him to look down and step to the side.
I hopped up and walked towards the door, but Tore was there, walking in front of me as he looked in the room before letting me through.
“Take the picture, let’s get this over with,” Tore demanded, the other two waiting outside. I thought he was talking to me and I frowned, realizing that instead he was talking to the guy. I hesitantly sat on the chair as he swallowed audibly and walked over to the camera.
“Name?”
“Effie Harlow,” I offered as he used a laptop to pull up what I assumed was my school profile.
I wasn’t positive what information it really contained, though, since I had never filled out an application myself.
No, that had one hundred percent been whoever applied me to SFU in the first place.
I frowned slightly, feeling uncomfortable with that.
“I have Eclipse Three, floor five?” he asked. “Food plan included.”
“Yes?” It wasn’t exactly an answer, but it was the best I had.
He nodded as he stood up and went to the camera. Tore let out a rumble as the man paused, backing up slightly. “Okay, smile.”
“Don’t tell her what to do,” Dakota demanded sharply, leaning on the door frame. The guy paled even more. Julian was smiling, seemingly thrilled.
“It’s fine,” I smiled softly. I jumped slightly when it flashed.
The man went back to the computer and then frowned. “Okay, we will have to do it again. For whatever reason, it is coming up blank.”
I nodded and sat forward, really wanting this picture. I hadn’t had a picture taken of me ever, that I could recall. I smiled as the camera flashed again.
When we tried four more times and were still unsuccessful, I felt my face flush in embarrassment. I knew that made no sense—because how would camera issues be my fault?—but it still made me feel awkward.
“We must be having technical issues,” he muttered, sliding past the boys as I offered a frown. Well, that was weird.
“This kid is goddamn incompetent,” Tore muttered.
“He’s trying,” I promised as all of them looked at me, offering looks of slight frustration. A softness then filled Julian’s gaze as he smiled slightly, the other two looking almost as if they were pouting. Dakota especially… which was oddly cute. Tore just grunted and looked down at the floor.
I didn’t know how to take their response. Were they upset that I was trying to give the guy a break? I didn’t think that was the case, not completely.
“Okay, we must be having technical issues.” The guy came back in and offered me the ID, backing up immediately. “The ID is activated and will work for everything. If you need to prove anything, use your license, but just come back to take the photo next week. I have no idea what is going on.”
Was it a problem that I didn’t have a license? Or any form of ID?
“Let’s get out of here.” Tore took my hand as we walked out of the room and I said goodbye to the woman up front. Julian was saying something quietly to Dakota as Tore led me from the room.
“What next?” I asked Julian, feeling far more comfortable with the situation at hand as I slipped the ID into its holder and put it in my jacket. See? I could do this.
“Bookstore,” he insisted, leading me downstairs as I nodded happily. So far, this morning had been relatively unstressful compared to what I assumed it would include. I had to admit, I knew that was in large part due to the men at my side.
As we made our way downstairs, a weird sense of apprehension hit me, making me look around as we walked towards a counter.
Almost instantly I realized why, my eyes meeting Caedmon’s from across the building, through the glass windows.
At once I saw a flash of emotions that were almost too complicated to dissect, the biggest one, indecision, covering his face.
My biggest question—would he walk over here?