Shannon waited in the hall. “How was chemistry?” Her smooth Irish lilt made me smile, even though I wasn’t sure that she liked me.
“It was fantastic,” I said. “I think I’ll go shoot myself in the face now, and avoid the pain and humiliation of flunking. How am I so far behind?”
Shannon laughed. The sound of it lessened the tension in my shoulders a little bit as we walked to the cafeteria. I didn’t know how I was going to face the next round of classes after lunch.
I piled my tray high when we got there. I needed a plan, fast. In a mere forty minutes, my classes were going to take a turn for the strange and I was already at my stress limit.
Chris smiled when I took the seat across from him. “How’s it going?”
“As well as can be expected, I guess.”
“She’s got Were classes after lunch,” Meredith said.
Adrian laughed. “Be prepared to hear some funky shit.”
“Don’t scare the girl, Adrian. She’s already panicking,” Shannon said. “You should try to be open to what Mr. Dawson has to say in Were history.”
“I’ll do my best.” But I still didn’t know what Were history meant.
“Hell, I wouldn’t buy any of it if I were you,” Chris said. “But I know what I know.” Chris’ easy smile comforted me. I wasn’t threatened or intimidated by him like I was with other guys.
Like Dastien.
Chris relaxed, reclining in his chair a little, muscles at ease.
“We all have martial arts and yoga class together,” Meredith said. “It’s fun, promise. So keep that in mind while you’re in the more wolfy classes.”
“Wouldn’t picture you as a yoga kind of a guy,” I said to Chris.
“Hey. You don’t know me that well. Plus, I’m an artist. It’s hip and arty to do yoga.”
“Whatever, dude. You like it so you can check out all the girls’ butts in downward dog,” Adrian said, shoving Chris.
“Hey!” Chris shoved Adrian. “You’re doing the same thing!”
“I’m a dude, dude. It’s what I do.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the boys. The tension in my shoulders eased some more and I smiled.
“You’re really pretty when you smile,” Chris said as he leaned toward me.
“Thanks,” I said. My cheeks heated.
“It was merely my observation,” he said with a wink. He settled back into his relaxed pose.
Yeah, I wasn’t buying that for a second. The guys here were way too smooth.
The chair next to me scraped against the floor. Dastien stepped into the empty space and leaned in close to my ear. “I need to talk to you.”
I froze, unable to look at him. My pulse sped up at the sound of his voice, his breath hot on my neck.
I was seriously messed up where he was concerned. He ignored me ever since he bit me and here I was, drooling at the chance to get close to him. This had to stop. My body, heart, and hormones might want to do whatever he wanted, but my head was in charge of the lot.
I turned away from him. “No. You can’t just come over here and—”
He gently circled my arm with his fingers.
Jealousy. Rage. It swamped me. My stomach burned with it. My heart raced and I had an urge to rip something apart.
The intensity of his feelings made it hard for me to breathe. Was he really that mad?
He squatted down next to me. “Now. Outside.” His words weren’t a demand, but a plea.
I tried to jerk my arm away, but he slid his hand down to twine his fingers with mine. Dastien’s hair stuck out all over the place and his shoulders hunched down. He mouthed the word “please.”
I glanced around the table. Shannon and Meredith’s mouths hung open, but Chris sat forward, every muscle tense. His eyes were bright as he stared at Dastien.
I shook my head. I didn’t need Chris to protect me. Dastien had already done his worst by turning me into a werewolf.
I was probably going to regret this. “You’ve got five minutes.”
I followed Dastien out the door. He kept walking until he hit the tree line between the dorm and the classroom building. His grey T-shirt wasn’t tight, but he couldn’t have hidden his muscles if he tried.
Use your head, Tessa. “Are you going to keep walking, or do you want to talk?”
He spun, eyes glowing. “Stay away from Christopher Matthews.”
I had a second to be freaked out by the eye change, before I got seriously pissed off. “You’ve got some nerve. You’re the one with the fucking girlfriend.”
“What? I don’t have a girlfriend. Just please. Tessa. Just stay away from the guys.”
“What do you call Imogene?”
“A friend. A very old, very loyal friend.”
“Well guess what. Chris is a friend. A very new, very fun friend.” My blood boiled. “News flash: I haven’t done anything wrong. You have no right to drag me out here and yell at me. Hello? You bit me. Now, I’m here and struggling to keep my head above water. So you need to get your shit together.”
His eyes dulled back to his normal light amber. “I—”