“Thank you,” Chasm grinds out, giving Danyella a look. He snatches my hand and drags me back toward the school. My eyes meet Danyella’s as I pass by, and I dig my heels into the grass to stop Chas from pulling me away.
Unfortunately, I have my phones in my pockets, and I don’t know if Danyella has hers or not. Also, I’m wearing my book bag with the heart pin on it, so I can’t exactly be free with my words. But I have to let her know that I believe something’s going on, something she can’t or won’t tell me about.
“If you need me, I’m here for you,” I tell her, and she glances away sharply.
“Don’t talk to me, Dakota,” she murmurs, and then she, too, turns and heads back in the direction of the school. We chase after her, passing by her slower pace, and heading past the side steps toward the parking garage.
Chasm seems to know where he’s going so I let him lead me, reentering the school from the parking garage’s first floor entrance.
“I repeat—and I mean this, Little Sister—do not go anywhere without me today. Or ever again.” Chasm deposits me at my first period class before slipping away; I make sure he gets to his classroom door before stepping inside my own.
What the fuck were those girls going to do with those knives? Stab us?
I get a small reprieve from the bullshit by arriving just before the automatic computer system reports me as having cut class to Tess in a damning text message that I so do not need right now. I’m so frazzled that I don’t absorb a single word during that entire period.
Everyone keeps stealing glances at me. Some of them are curious, some of them hungry, some of them downright vicious. Either way, the immediate danger might be over, but there is nothing pleasant or safe-feeling about that class or really, as the day drags on, slow but smelling of violence and subterfuge, any of the following periods.
Luckily, I don’t need these last few days of studying: Chasm has prepared me so well that I’m actually ahead in most of my classes. Final exams aren’t until next week (which is why our prom is being held on the last Friday after school rather than earlier like it is in most places). Guess the ‘best and brightest’ need to focus on their studies before anything else. Makes sense, I suppose.
By lunchtime, I’m completely strung out. I catch sight of Lumen in the hall and our eyes meet. Her brown ones narrow as she whips her head away from me, smacking me in the face with her honey blond hair as she saunters past.
“I know something’s going on with you,” I whisper, and I swear, she stumbles. She catches herself so quickly that I wonder if I didn’t imagine it.
“Do you enjoy playing with fire?” Chasm hisses, grabbing my arm and guiding me down the hall to our favorite place on campus—the handicapped bathroom. It’s a single room with a lock—and no cameras.
We’ve dumped our phones in Chasm’s locker—mine inexplicably caught fire this morning and the administration can’t figure out a reason why. They kept asking me if I was keeping a lighter or fireworks inside of it. Like, fireworks. In my school locker. Seeing as there was no evidence whatsoever, I didn’t get in trouble, but I might have.
“Tell me the truth,” I tell Chas as he props his ass on the edge of the sink, slides his hands into the pockets of his slacks, and crosses his long legs at the ankles. “Were those girls planning to physically assault me?”
He grimaces, holding his teeth clenched together as he shakes his head.
“Maybe. Probably. I don’t know. But I’m worried enough to be afraid for you.”
“For both of us,” I add, and he shakes his head yet again.
“For you, Little Sister. The guys here are wary of getting involved because they’re still at least somewhat afraid of me. That, and they aren’t sure whether Parrish is coming back yet. They’re hesitating. They won’t touch you. But the girls? Clearly, they’re after you for one reason or another—and I doubt the cars or the fire have much to do with that. I smell Slayer all over this.”
“Jesus, wolf packs,” I murmur, and Chasm gives me a look, one pretty brow raised. “What? In the wild, female wolves control other females. Males control males. I’m simply making a comparison.”
“You learn that from Danyella, too?” he quips, his voice harsh with annoyance toward her. I can’t very well tell him that no, I read way too many werewolf and shifter books to be considered healthy or sane. I shrug nonchalantly. “Speaking of, stop trying to make friends with them.” He slaps one hand into the other for emphasis. “When someone fucks you over, you stop associating with them. You don’t invite them to your birthday party and bake cupcakes.”
