Chapter 26
Tessa
I can’t seem to process anything; my mind seems to have officially gone blank.
My comm device goes off at that instant, startling me.
“Tessa? You missed your last check in. Everything good on your end? And did you check the South end?” I jerk at his words and grab for it.
I look up at Slater, trying to wrap my mind around what to say. “Tessa?”
Slater puts a hand on my shaking one. “Just tell them you got delayed checking out the South end. Everything’s good, and you’re heading to your next check-in now.”
I don’t give myself a chance to overthink it. “I’m good. Nothing to worry about here on the South end. Everything’s good. I’m heading to my next check-in now.” I hold my breath and wait for a reply.
“Okay. Move on quickly and see if you can get back on track.”
I nod in relief. “Will do.” I lower my arm and glance at Slater and then Evie and Zane. I literally have nothing to say right now. “I have to go.”
Slater’s eyes snap to my face, and he nods.
I glance over at the hideous black creature.
I don’t even know what sort of animal it is; I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Evie suddenly shrieks, setting off my nerves again.
She’s backing up, horror on her face. “That’s. ..no...” her words are full of panic.
Zane grabs her around the waist and pulls her close and says something to her that I can’t hear. This is all too much. “I really have to go. Are you going to take care of this, or do I call it in...or what?” I ask.
“We’ll take care of it,” Slater says.
“Okay.” I look over at Evie one more time, but she’s completely distraught. I don’t want to leave her, but I have to.
“Tessa,” Slater says, stepping into my path.
“I can’t; I have to go. You have to deal with.
..that.” I step around him and keep walking.
I walk as fast as my shaky legs will carry me.
I don’t look back. I make it to my next check-in in record time, do a quick check, and then scan my phone before moving on to the next one.
I jump at every little noise, and I can’t handle the quiet.
Part of me wishes Slater was still here with me, even if it was just to tease me about being scared of a mouse.
My thoughts sober when I think of him, but I don’t allow myself to think about what happened tonight.
I refuse to let my mind go there. When I finish my check-ins, I head back to the shack to sit behind the screens for a while.
The first screen I check when I sit behind the desk is the camera that faces the South end behind the dorms. I sigh in relief when I see the particular area we were in is a blind spot.
“How’d it go out there tonight?” I jump in my seat and hit my knee on the desk. “Whoa, sorry.”
I take a breath and turn to Hayes. “Hayes. You startled me.”
He watches me carefully. “Are you okay, Tessa? You look really pale.”
“No. I’m fine. I mean, probably a little sleep deprived, but who isn’t that works on security, right? You’re probably tired too, right, Hayes?”
He frowns. “You’re acting weird. You sure everything’s okay?”
“Peachy,” I say with a bright smile.
Just then, Steven comes in. “Tessa, you were late for a few of your check-ins. I know we sent you out of your way. Everything good out there?”
I face Steven, who’s in charge of the entire night shift. He’s a senior and takes his job very seriously. “Everything was good. Yeah, it just took me out of my path. But all’s well.”
I feel Hayes’s eyes on me, but I don’t look over at him. Steven studies my face. “Something happened.”
“Yep,” Hayes says from right beside me. “She’s acting weird.”
“I am not.”
Hayes puts a hand on my shoulder. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m not lying.” But that time, even I felt the lie. It’s true; I’ve always been a terrible liar. It’s always made my older brother laugh and given everyone in my family an edge when we play bluffing games. I can never get my face to portray what I want it to.
Steven disappears, and I’m hoping that’s the end of it. But he’s back a moment later. “I’m going to check it out.”
“I’m coming too,” Hayes says, grabbing his jacket.
“Guys, wait.” I scramble after them. “There’s nothing to check out.
Guys!” I scramble to find my phone, so I can text Slater to get out of that area.
Panic grips me when I can’t find it. “No.” I must have dropped it in the mess.
Now, I have no way to warn Slater and Zane.
Some instinctual side of me may not understand what all went down tonight, but I know that it’s not going to be good if the security guys find out about it.
I race after Steven and Hayes. “Guys, wait!” But they’re already gone.
I shove through the door and run after them.
I catch up to them, huffing and puffing.
“Where’s your coat?” Hayes asks. I have no idea, and that’s literally the least of my worries right now. “Tess, whatever it is, we can take care of it,” Hayes says with a frown. “You don’t have to come with.”
“I will, so I can prove to you that there’s nothing out there,” I say stubbornly. I hurry to catch up with Steven, and Hayes does as well.
“Here.” Before I realize what he’s doing, he drops his coat around my shoulders.
“Oh, I’m fine. You don’t need—”
“You’re shivering, Tessa. Just wear the coat.”
I don’t argue. My mind is racing, trying to figure out an explanation to what happened tonight.
Maybe I can tell them it was a rabid dog.
I’m scared Slater and Zane are going to be there, and this is going to get them into trouble.
I mean, Slater turned into a wolf and fought that thing.
So obviously, something is going on. A shiver runs through me as I think about the moment he jumped and turned into a wolf.
I push those thoughts into the far recesses of my mind.
Maybe I just imagined the whole thing. I mean I’m certainly tired enough.
I can’t even begin to process what I saw, and I refuse to.
It takes a little while to get across campus.
The closer we get, the faster my heart starts beating until I can’t hear anything over the rushing sound in my ears.
I even try to walk slower at times to slow them down, but they just keep plowing ahead.
I swear Steven lives for this kind of thing.
He looks excited, while I can hardly breathe because I’m so terrified.
As soon as the area comes into view, I scan it with my eyes, trying to see if I can see anything.
But it’s too dark, and we’re too far away for me to see anything.
I keep my eyes trained on the area, but I see nothing.
There is no movement, as far as I can tell.
The guys are combing the area, and I stay behind them.
When we get to the area that it all went down, I can barely breathe.
Hayes turns back to me. “Hey, you good?”
I force a smile. “I’m good. I told you there was nothing here.”
He stares down at me and puts a hand on my shoulder, the same thing he did earlier. Only this time, when he does, there’s a soft growl. My entire body locks up, and I freeze. I don’t meet his eyes, wondering if he heard it. “Tessa.”
I take a small step back, letting his hand fall and lift my gaze to his. “If something happened—”
“It didn’t,” I rush to assure him.
He stares down at me. “You can tell me.” I hear another growl, and my heart starts thundering. This time, Hayes lifts his head and frowns. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I ask, but my voice is breathless, like I’ve just run several laps. Hayes steps closer to me and pushes me behind him.
“Stay behind me, Tessa. I’ll protect you.” My heart is thundering in my chest. There’s no doubt in my mind that Slater is still out there. I can literally feel his gaze on me. I don’t know how I know; I just do. And it’s not by coincidence that there’s a growl every time Hayes touches me.
“There’s nothing out here, Guys. If there is, it’s just a stray dog or something. It...it probably has fleas. Just let it go.” I take a step back, putting distance between Hayes and I. I take another step, right into a hard body.
“I do not have fleas,” a low voice sounds in my ear, causing a shiver to run the entire length of my body.
"Some protector he is,” he continues right against my ear.
He drops a hand to my hip and pulls me with him around the front of the building.
“And he obviously hasn’t learned not to touch what doesn’t belong to him. ”
That snaps me out of my shock. I whirl around. “I am not yours, Slater Thorne,” I whisper fiercely.
He drops his eyes to mine, and I can see those dark gray eyes flash dangerously. They’re almost glowing in the dark. “You are definitely mine, Tessa Harper. I knew it the moment I scented you.”
“You scented?...what?” My voice is nearly a shriek.
“Tessa?” I hear Hayes call.
Slater’s eyes darken. “Take off his jacket. You smell like him.”
I lift my chin. “No. You are going to tell me what is going on right now,” I whisper hiss at him.
“Gladly,” he says in a low voice. “Right after you take off his coat. You want to smell like a male? You can have any of my clothes. All of them. Just take his coat off. It’s making you stink.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Did you just tell me I stink?”
“When you’re wearing another male’s clothes that aren’t mine? Yeah, Baby, you stink.”
“I am not your—”
“Tessa!”
I whirl around to see Hayes and Steven marching towards us. “Where did you go? Oh.” Hayes’s voice goes flat when he sees Slater. I take a step towards them, but Slater puts a hand on my hip again, stopping me. Hayes’s eyes drop there, and he doesn’t miss it. “Tessa, you okay?” he asks carefully.
“Take off his coat,” Slater mutters in a low voice right next to my ear. I resist the urge to shiver. I open my mouth to argue, but he steps closer.
Hayes steps forward. “Tessa, come on. We can head back.” He puts his hand out and curls it around my elbow. I feel Slater’s hand tighten on my hip.
“She’s not going with you,” Slater all but growls.
I know I need to put a stop to this now, or we will have another repeat of what went down with Connor.
All Slater needs is another fight. His coach might have let it go once, but there’s no way he’ll let it go again.
I pull my arm from Hayes’s grip and turn to face Slater.
“I have to get back to work.” I shiver at the very real threat I see in his eyes.
“Hey,” I say quietly. But he doesn’t look at me; he seriously looks like he’s going to murder Hayes.
And I don’t know what will happen if he gets angry enough.
I already watched as he shifted into a wolf once tonight.
Would he do that again and go after Hayes?
I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure we can’t afford to find out.
“Slater,” I try, but his predatory gaze is locked on Hayes.
I only have one idea. I step forward and step onto my tiptoes and touch my lips to his.