Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)(27)

But he never did…

The seconds stretched to minutes, which turned into the full hour, and my heart sank.

He’d dropped the class.

He was so freaked about last night that he didn’t want to pursue me anymore.

Could I blame him?

I’d nearly gotten him killed. I was some human-wolf split shifter. I caught bullets, and I made him lie to his dad.

Future wife material.

By the time it was lunch hour, I felt sick to my stomach. I missed my best friend Raven and my parents. I actually sort of missed Delphi at this point. At least things there were predictable. I didn’t want to go to the cafeteria and see all of the women fawn all over Sawyer, so I decided to linger in the park for a bit. Walsh and Brandon were following me at a twenty-foot distance, but I could feel them just staring at me, waiting for a vampire to jump out and attack me or something.

With a sigh, I texted Sage.

Me: Want to eat outside today?

Sage: Yep, I’ll bring you carb loaded fattening high calorie food?

I grinned.

Me: Yes please. Meet you at the park.

I was about to put my phone away when it binged. The Sterling Hill app I had downloaded had a notification. I opened it and my heart leapt into my throat.



Dear Mating selection candidate,

Starting tomorrow, Sawyer will be picking two dates per day, one for lunch and one for dinner. He will do this each day of the week for the next month until he has had time to personally meet with each one of you one on one. At the end of the month, you will be informed if he has invited you to continue with the mating selection process and move into the top twenty chosen. Please be ready each day for a date in case you are chosen as these things can be last minute.

Have a wonderful day,

Mrs. Hudson



Fuck that. Be ready every single day for a month in case he chose me? This whole thing was starting to make me sick and pissed off. I growled and stomped into the park. I would be a lot more frustrated if this damn garden wasn’t so beautiful. A stunning pink bougainvillea had caught my eye. The way it curved over the stone arch entryway of the park and how the light filtered through it was enchanting. I had to get a picture. Pulling out my phone, I stood under the hulking lush flowers and tipped my head up to snap a photo. Only afterward did I realize I now had a fancy camera.

Slipping my phone into my back pocket, I pulled out the camera Sawyer had bought me, messing with the settings until I got what I wanted. I was on my fourth picture when my phone buzzed in my back pocket.

WolfDude_4 has uploaded a new photo.

I clicked the alert, fully prepared for a selfie or even a picture with Meredith.

When I saw the back of me, taking a picture of the pink flowers moments ago with my phone, I gasped and spun around the park searching for him, but he was nowhere.

My heart pounded in my throat as I read the caption.

It was … a poem?

“Some days, I am more wolf than woman and I am still learning how to stop apologizing for my wild.” Wolf and Woman by Nikita Gill.

What the hell, he knew poetry? And what did that mean? That I shouldn’t be sorry for who I was?

“Hey.” Sage called, bringing my attention back to reality and I jumped a little.

“Hey.” I quickly “liked” the photo, and then slipped my phone back away and into my pocket.

Sage handed me a plate of chicken fingers and French fries with extra ranch and I grinned.

“Thanks.”

We sat on a bench and Sage popped a fry into her mouth. “So the rumor mill is in full effect.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

She nodded. “Some people saw you and Sawyer go back to his place last night. Then they heard about the vampire attack. You’re a banished wolf.” She gave me a sly grin. “So naturally everyone thinks you are really in league with the vampires and are here to assassinate Sawyer.”

I gasped and a French fry lodged right into my windpipe. With a huge cough, I was able to spit it out, but it took a moment for me to gather my composure.

“Say what now?” I looked at my redheaded friend.

Sage laughed. “It’s ridiculous. No one believes it.”

I frowned. “But maybe they do. Maybe the alpha does, ohmygod maybe Sawyer does.”

Maybe that’s why he dropped the class…? But no, he was there last night, he saw the vampires try to kill me.

I sighed, throwing my head into my hands.

Rumors were powerful, and Sawyer dropping the class he had with me spoke volumes.

I liked him, like I had really allowed myself to like him, and now I felt a little crushed.

Stupid Werewolf Bachelor, not everyone came out of these things happy.

Sawyer would.

Another girl would…

And forty-nine of us would be heartbroken.

Sage waved me off. “Trust me, babe. Everything will blow over by next week.”

I wanted to believe her, but I just couldn’t.





That night I was fully prepared to just sit around and eat ice cream all night, but Sage had other plans.

“You just need to dance your way out of your funk. Let’s go to Moonies tonight?” she asked.

Moonies was the campus dance club and bar. I’d walked past it a bunch of times and written it off. But I did like to dance … Raven and I took a hip-hop class all through high school that was offered at Delphi and it was something I was good at. Getting lost in the music, moving your body to the beat, there was a therapeutic nature to dancing.