Chapter 6
Zoey
It wasn’t the first time I’d had to sneak into my own room. And at least as president I no longer had to share it with anyone.
I pushed the screen and window up before climbing inside wearing a T-shirt two sizes too big on me and a pair of drawstring workout shorts that tightened enough that they didn’t fall off during my escape.
Maybe it was the cowardly thing to do, but I just wasn’t ready to face him.
Physically I was recovered from my near-death experience, but emotionally I was even worse off now after spending time with him, even if it was in my fur.
Monte.
Not only did I have a name to go with that face, but I’d seen more of him than I bargained for tonight. He’d shifted and strutted around in his birthday suit like it had been no big deal. And I got it—nudity was no big deal among shifters. But hot damn!
I’d never seen a male sculpted like that before, at least not in real life.
He’d been handsome enough in his suit, though if I were being honest, he probably wouldn’t have stood out to me if my inner wolf hadn’t been losing her shit and screaming “Mine” in my head.
So, I hadn’t been prepared to really see what lay beneath those clothes.
And now I feared I’d see nothing else every time I looked at him or even just when I closed my eyes.
It did make me wonder where the hell he worked out to earn abs like that.
My mouth watered at the thought.
Pull it together, Zoey.
I knew I had a house full of people to entertain still. The sooner I returned, smiled, and pretended everything was perfectly normal, the better. Yet I couldn’t seem to make myself take off his clothes.
First, his wolf had coated me in his scent. Then Monte had managed to discreetly cover me in his human scent too by offering me his clothes. It was comforting and torture all rolled into one.
I should take a bath and wash it off, but I don’t want to.
Emotionally I was very conflicted and didn’t know what to do.
Will he even come back to the party?
Something told me no. He would not.
Did he realize I left?
That was probably a yes.
Was he mad?
I didn’t know him well enough to even guess. But I’d done what I felt I needed to do for my own sanity. If I’d stayed there, I would have done something I would regret, or at the very least something irreversible that would strengthen our bond. I didn’t want to make such a rash decision.
Remembering the rock climbing gear I’d been sent to trial, I considered that maybe it would be best if I got off campus for the weekend. I could give it a shot. How hard could it be?
But first, I forced my body to move to my closet where I found a navy dress that was actually comfortable to change into.
For a moment I remembered the gold dress and how I’d stripped it off to carefully preserve it but left it lying in the dirt.
Did I even really care to retrieve it? It seemed so trivial after everything that had happened tonight.
Deciding I would worry about it later, I applied fresh makeup, brushed the wild look from my hair, and rejoined the party.
The moment I stepped into the main room where the band had already begun to play, I knew instantly that Monte wasn’t there.
I wasn’t even sure how I knew for certain because there were so many people crammed into the room, but I knew.
And if there had been any doubts, the bordering depressive state of my wolf confirmed it.
Still, I pushed my feelings aside, plastered on a smile, and pretended everything was perfectly normal.
I was used to warding off male attention, but this time, when the first guy stepped up to ask me if I wanted to dance, I wasn’t sure if I was going to punch him or puke. My wolf simply wanted to rip his throat out and preceded to flash pictures of Monte naked through my mind.
The room warmed to an uncomfortable level, or maybe that was just me.
“Gross. Think about anything else, please,” Jax whispered behind me.
I jumped and my cheeks heated impossibly more.
“Can you see the images in my head?” I whispered back.
“No. Thank God. But your thoughts on them are loud enough.”
“Please just get out of my head. You’re making this so much worse.”
He sniggered. “That’s what he said.”
I shot him a look, confused if he was cracking a joke or if Monte had actually told him the same thing.
Jax winked. “You’ll never know.” Then he walked away.
What a weird guy.
I heard that.
No you didn’t.
Much to my relief, he didn’t stick around. It didn’t take long before Denny cornered me though. As president of Delta Omega Gamma, I knew I owed him an apology.
“I’m so sorry,” I started the second he got within arm’s reach.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” the woman on his arm said. I knew she was his mate, Lauren.
“That’s kind of you but disappearing in the middle of my party was not okay and not something I make a habit of.”
Denny shrugged. “I’m sure you didn’t plan to choke in front of everyone. I would have needed a break after that, too.”
“Who wouldn’t? Besides, you gave Monte an excuse to bail without getting his ass chewed. So it was sort of a win-win,” Lauren added.
“What do you mean?”
“Monte’s the one that saved you. Everyone else was trying to figure out what to do or just freaking out, but he stayed calm and did what was necessary.
He was ordered here tonight and not happy about it.
When he ran out, presumably to check on you, he more likely was using it as an excuse to ditch out, I can’t even fuss at him for it. ”
Calm? I wasn’t so sure about that.
“Please give him my thanks,” I said, unable to confess or deny that he was with me much of the evening.
I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t wanted to come here tonight though. He was a frat boy, and Delta Omega Gamma guys didn’t exactly have the greatest reputation. It had improved some during my time here, but not that much.
It was well known that the D.O.G.s cherished the idea of a true mate, and some had even stopped sleeping around to wait for “the one”.
Was Monte one of them? But if that were the case, why had he snubbed me at dinner?
And even while I was alone with him, I didn’t get the vibe that he was very happy about finding me.
Now I was curious and wanted to understand.
Why wouldn’t he want to come to a Theta party?
I looked around the room seeing our houses mingling nicely.
There really hadn’t been any concern that things would go poorly.
I knew we’d had a few issues here and there, but even though my house had a sometimes-bad reputation around campus, I really didn’t think the D.O.G.s were that concerned about it.
Hell, a lot of them contributed to that reputation.
“I think this party was a big success,” Lauren said. “I’m sorry that it wasn’t as great for you, but we were able to rein everyone back in and calm things down. Denny’s great with stuff like that.”
She was his mate, so it made sense that she would gush over him. It was really cute though.
Would I ever feel that way about Monte?
I pushed that thought from my mind as fast as it surfaced.
Do not go there, Zoey.
“I’m sorry I worried everyone. I was just a little stressed and needed some air after everything.”
Everything, as in meeting your one true mate and then choking in front of everyone.
My head was still spinning from it all. But all they knew was that I’d had a near-death experience and was overwhelmed by it.
I fought back the urge to snort. If only it were that simple.
“People tried to follow you, but I was able to wrangle them back inside with a reminder that you’d just gone through something traumatic and probably needed space.”
“Thanks, Denny. I did.”
But almost dying was not the traumatic experience of my evening that had me so flustered.
Some time away would do me well.
With my mind set, I discreetly booked a room at a lodge in the mountains that I’d already looked up before the party.
They offered rock climbing classes for beginners, and I figured I’d need something like that to survive testing the harness that was sent to me.
Plus, that sort of extra content was gold for videos.
Maybe if I focused hard enough on work, I could temporarily stop obsessing over him.
“Hi Zoey. I’m Braxton. Would you like to dance?”
No, I did not want to dance. Just the thought of being touched by a male that is not my mate was making me sick to my stomach. But before I could reply, he swooped me up into his arms and led me to the dance floor.
My wolf growled angrily in my head.
“Where’s my boy? He followed you out, yet you returned and he did not. Don’t tell me you broke his heart already.”
I gasped and pulled away to stare at him.
He smirked back at me.
If my life hadn’t been turned upside down, Braxton was exactly the kind of guy I would be in risk of falling for.
We’d even flirted before, but I was careful not to let guys like him too close.
He was handsome and everything about him screamed charismatic.
When he walked into a room, people noticed.
There had always been sparks between us, but now there was nothing and it was freaking me out.
Worse, there was less than nothing. It felt more like revulsion when he touched me.
His smile faded. “You did?”
“Did what?”
“Broke his heart?”
“Whose?”
“Don’t play coy, Zoey. I know you better than that.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“So where’s Monte?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
I wasn’t ready to confess I even cared. Not yet. Not when I was feeling so vulnerable and trying to get a grasp on my own emotions.
Brax leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “Because you’re covered in his scent and I know what I saw when you two met in line. How the hell have you not met before?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.
My body was starting to shake. This was too much. I needed to get out of here sooner rather than later.
“Relax. Your secret is safe with me.”
Fortunately, Remy intervened to ask him something and instead of waiting around to finish the conversation, I bailed.
I couldn’t handle it anymore.
This was too much.
I retreated to my room like a coward, packed my things, and snuck out through the window I’d arrived in after sneaking out of Monte’s room.
The lodge wasn’t expecting me until tomorrow, but I was going anyway. If they didn’t have a room for me for tonight, I’d just sleep in my car.
Yup, I was that spineless.