Page 190 of Wicked Savage Wolves
“I’ll pass on living with the wolf and take door number two, please,” I tell him, and he chuckles.
“Des isn’t that bad.”
I snort. “Are we talking about the same person here?” Desmond Pierce very much is that bad. He gets under my skin in a way no one else can, and the pull he has over me, urgh. I hate it. Sometimes so much so that I think I hatehim. When we’re in the same room, I want to kiss him and punch him in the same breath. It drives the tigress in me crazy, which in and of itself is infuriating. She shouldn’t be drawn to him. I keep telling myself it’s because he's hunter-born. Because he’s strong and capable and a wolf above even Alpha’s. That’s why my tiger wants to slash at him and purr all at once, but the human in me knows he’s an asshole and to stay far-the-fuck away.
Zheng gives me a light-hearted shove. “Alright, sis, have it your way. But don’t come crying to me when you realize the grass isn’t greener on the other side.”
A gust of wind blows my hair into my face and I hastily push my black curls out of my eyes. “I won’t,” I assure him. “The grass on your side is already dead and yellow so the bar is set pretty low.”
He smiles, his eyes scanning past me, and I turn to see a familiar black Escalade roll up beside my mother’s car. The broody asshole I just mentioned parks his overpriced SUV and three doors open, letting out Des, Rafael, and Jordy.
Somebody please shoot me now.
“What are they doing here?” I groan.
Zheng throws his arm over my shoulder, the smell of black cardamom and mint falling like a comforting blanket over me as he pulls me into a side embrace. “They’re being good friends and helping you move into your new place.” The fact that he genuinely believes that should be concerning. Rose-colored glasses, anyone?
“Whose idea was this?” I ask with an unintended snarl in my voice.
Already their presence is drawing curious looks from some of the girls. It won’t take long for them to realize who and what they are. God dammit, he is such an asshole. It would have been bad enough if he came on his own, but bringing Rafael and Jordy is taking it one step too far. Human girls go crazy for these assholes. I swear it's some weird shifter fetish, but they get even worse once they realize they play Infernum. There’s talk of it becoming a national league game, televised and everything, so the guys who play in college have like this, celebrity status almost.
“Des’s,” Zheng confirms what I suspected, and my mother being the weirdo she is, gushes, because why wouldn’t she? He’s our Pack Hunter which makes himsoooospecial.
“Isn’t that so sweet of them, Meiying? It makes me so happy to know you’ll have such a great support system here. Makes me feel so much better about my baby girl going to college.” She sighs, the smile on her face wistful as she turns back to the house. If I grind my teeth any harder, I’m liable to break a tooth. She cannot be serious right now.
“Yep. Soooo sweet,” I tell her while giving Desmond my most murderous glare. Does he shake in fear like he should? Of course not. Instead his eyes flash with his wolf and he smirks like the cruel bastard he is and heads right for me, Rafael and Jordy right on his heels.
I’m going to make him regret this. I cannot believe he’d set me up like this.
The guys do that guy handshake bro hug thing as if they didn’t all see each other a few hours ago, then Des turns his full attention on me, and I have to force my expression to remain impassive. Age has only worked to sharpen his features, making him even more striking than the boy I used to look at from afar when we were just kids in the Pack.
With his hair tightly braided away from his face, his sharp jawline and full lips stand out in stark relief, and I can’t decide if I want to kiss him or punch him—a frequent struggle of mine, so I do what I’m best at and just antagonize him.
“Are you so desperate for female attention that you have to drop in on the girls of Kappa Eagle for a little bit of an ego stroke?” I smile in satisfaction when his dark brown eyes narrow, his eyes flashing silver.
Desmond has this edge to him that’s difficult to describe. He’s both regal and rugged; the juxtaposition between the two is likely what makes women flock to him. He has two thin slashes in his right brow that somehow take him from attractive to dangerous, and after graduation he filled out to a full six-foot-five, stacked with all the muscles you’d expect a shifter male to have. The effect he has on people is hard to miss.
When he scowls the way he is doing right now, he’s damn near terrifying to behold. It makes your flight or fight instinct rise up and a small part of you suddenly feels like prey. But when he smiles, a real smile that doesn’t hold an ounce of malice—and mind you those are rare—his entire face lights up, and for a second it’s like standing in the sun after months of nothing but rain.
God, I hate him.
“I don’t need an ego stroke. Not a single woman here can hold my interest,” he says, his eyes boring into mine and waiting for a reaction. One I refuse to deliver.Asshole.Of course he’d say something like that. Desmond hasn’t dated, like seriously dated, for as long as I’ve known him. He gets around, I’m sure. Shifters don’t bat an eye when it comes to skin privileges. We’re tactile creatures, and our beasts crave simple comforts. But the only girl I’ve seen him with more than once is Tamara Vinzent. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet. She’s a wolf so I’ve seen her in passing, but we’ve never spoken, and she’s always his date to any event or function that requires one. I don’t really understand their relationship, and for my own sanity, I try not to think about it too much, but somehow she’s outlasted everyone else and has managed to sink some sortof a hold into Desmond where no others before her have succeeded.
When Desmond realizes I’m not going to respond, the corner of his mouth curls into his signature cruel smile. “You worried someone will catch my attention?” He scans the growing crowd. “Not really my type, but maybe I can—”
“Yo, Baby Liu,” Jordy says, cutting Desmond off from whatever he was about to say and cutting through the growing tension in the air. “You gonna show us the new digs? Introduce us to your new lady friends?” He winks, and if I didn’t know him better, I’d think he was serious. But Jordy is head over heels in love with his Joaninha, one of my best friends, so I know this is for show and he’s just helping me out. The softy. Too bad his little act of kindness won’t keep him safe if he and the others don’t get the hell out of here before anyone realizes the school’s star Infernum players just showed up.
I shake my head. “Hard no. You three need to leave.”
Rafael smirks and Jordy clutches his heart as though I just wounded him. “Baby L—”
“Stop calling me that and go home or I’m going to tell Jo about your big surprise,” I warn.
He sucks in a sharp breath. “You wouldn’t. You love me?” He meant it as a statement, but it comes out more as a question.
“Wanna bet?” Because today is day one of campus life for me and I’m not going to let these three muck it up.
Jordy backs away, hands raised in the air. “You win. I’ll stay in the car.” He turns and jogs back to Des’s Escalade. One down. Two more to go.
