Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)(37)

He shook his head. “Just me, Eugene, and Sawyer.”

Great.

Following him out of the tree line, I scanned the area with paranoia.

They know, they all know that I’m human and my wolf is out there with Sage…

Except no one spared us more than half a glance.

This is so weird.

I was walking with Walsh, but at the same time fully aware of chasing Sage to a creek and rolling around in the grassy moss. How far apart could we get? Hopefully far enough…

Walsh silently led me back to my dorm. When Meredith tried to engage in conversation with him as we passed the common area where she sat with her Barbie friends, he ignored her. Making it back to my dorm, I slipped inside while Walsh stood outside my door like a sentinel.

I sat on my bed, nervously drumming my fingers along the satin sheets. Being without my wolf felt … weird. I felt half empty, and I was due in my next class in like fifteen minutes.

‘Come back to my dorm. We need to get to class.’ I tried talking to myself which only increased the feeling that I was going crazy.

‘Coming,’ a voice huskier than mine but still mine answered back.

Holy shit. I ran my hands through my hair, trying not to think too much about it. Was I two people? How? Chewing off all my nails over the next three minutes, I jumped up a little when I heard Sage’s voice.

“She’s good I think, she’s just too shy to shift outside. I couldn’t find her clothes,” Sage said just outside the door.

“I got them. Torn to bits.” Walsh cleared his throat loudly and I slipped back into my bedroom, tossing off my clothes to find new ones. This was going to be a hard lie to keep. I knew he had opened the door and let my wolf in. I could see through my wolf, which I would never get used to. Then he closed the door as she padded down the hall and into the closet where I was. When I saw her, tongue lolled out of her mouth, tail wagging like a happy dog, tears sprang in my eyes.

“You liked that, huh?” I knelt down and she came to me, nuzzling my hand.

‘We need it. To be free,’ she told me, and I nodded.

We did.

“Well, Sawyer is coming to get us tonight to do it again with the whole pack.” I rubbed her behind the ear and she gave me a wolfish grin. I’d finished dressing and now stood.

“Come on, we gotta get to class.” I tapped my chest.

Jumping up onto her hind legs, she put her paws on my chest and went ghostly transparent as she melted into me. A slight painful zapping sensation crawled along my skin, but only for a second. It was getting less painful, but still weird as all hell.

“Demi? Ready?” Sage’s singsong voice called into the apartment.

I peeked out of my room and gave her a shy smile. “Ready.”

She grinned when she saw me. “Your wolf is fast. You’re going to give the boys a run for their money tonight.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

We stepped out into the hallway and she leaned into me. “Sawyer, Walsh, and Quan hold the record for fastest run in wolf form. It’s kind of an untold thing that every full moon run is actually a race.”

A race?

Okay, no pressure.

“Well, I don’t want to race anyone.” I laughed nervously.

“You should. Some of these boys need their egos knocked down a little. Including my cousin.”

I grinned. “Alright, see you tonight, then.”

She nodded and stepped back into line with Walsh behind me, back on guard duty.

Now that I’d shifted, I was feeling confident that Sawyer’s plan tonight would totally work. I would stay in my apartment while he took my wolf on a run with the pack. Maybe this freak creature that I was didn’t need to be a bad thing. Maybe I could have the best of both worlds…





Later that night, when Sawyer knocked on the door a little earlier than planned, I was nervous but ready. I’d just been adjusting the aperture setting on my camera to practice shooting products.

Opening the door, I grinned at him. “Hey.”

His face was stock still, no emotion. “Hey.” He was hiding something behind his back.

Flowers? No. Not with that face.

“Everything okay?” I hedged, my eyes going to Walsh in the hallway.

You rat! Probably told him I almost shifted in public today.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

I stepped aside, letting him fully into the apartment.

“Look, I know today wasn’t ideal but—”

“But you almost showed everyone what you are,” he growled as I shut the door behind him.

I frowned, suddenly getting pissed. “What am I, Sawyer? Because I can’t seem to figure it out seeing as though all of the books are missing from the library and you won’t tell me what the fuck is going on!”

He sighed, pulling a torn book page from behind his back and handing it to me. “I remember reading it when I was twelve. It scared the shit out of me. Gave me nightmares for weeks.”

I grabbed the torn paper with a shaky hand, stroking the image stamped on the upper half of the page. It was a girl on her knees, screaming up at the moon while a wolf crawled out of her chest.

“I think this is what you are,” Sawyer said, and reached up to stroke my cheek. “If anyone were to find out about this … about you…”