Chapter Eleven

BILLIE

On my first day of classes, after the unsettling encounter with Spader, Raven and Thorne escort me to their art class, where Raven has me sit on a stool while he does several sketches and Thorne sculpts in a corner using metal and a blowtorch. Afterward, Thorne escorts me to the Performing Arts building, where I meet all my dance instructors and my advisor, and have a full morning of classes. Fleming is waiting outside afterward to escort me to lunch, then we have English together. After the Phantom shows up in my history class, I realize this can't be a coincidence. These are first year classes, and the guys are beyond that.

“Tell me the truth,” I say to Thorne during my Philosophy elective. “You guys aren't even enrolled in any of these classes, are you?”

“Nope,” he says companionably. “We're just keeping an eye on our newest prospective member. Don't worry, it's sanctioned by the administration.”

“Really?” I ask doubtfully.

“Really really. There's a lot about werewolf college that's different from the human-majority schools. We do things a little differently. The safety of our members is a responsibility we take seriously, and no one’s going to let an unattached, prospective Omega run around all by herself. It's not safe, small girl.” He pulls on a lock of my hair. “You’re surrounded by mostly male werewolves who would love to make you a member of their gang instead of ours, and some of them aren't afraid to come on strong or intimidate you. It would be best if you just joined the Underground.”

“So I've been told,” I say wryly, still not entirely willing to give up my independence. “What…what would it be like, exactly, as an Omega?” The humans I've heard talk about it make it sound like a life of misery and servitude.

“For our Omega? We've never had one, yet, so we'd spoil the shit out of her. She would be pampered and protected. She would be expected to provide physical affection–I don't mean sex, but touching and cuddling, kissing and hugging–as well as emotional support. We have food delivered and a housekeeper, so she wouldn't have those duties. She would be expected to be sweet, submissive, and supportive; and when her feistiness shows up, we would play with her a little unless it got out of hand, and then we would discipline her. Tris or Raven would be in charge of that, and knowing them it would be spankings and corner time.” Thorne has a look of longing in his eyes as he paints this picture for me, and I find myself feeling a longing, too.

“Spanking?” I whimper, torn between fear and arousal.

“Don’t worry, they know how to make punishment pleasurable for the receiver,” he says reassuringly. “And by your reaction, Tris is right. You definitely have Omega instincts.”

Philosophy was my final class of the day, and Fleming shows up to walk me back to the Rock House. “I'm meeting Tristan at the library later,” I tell him.

“Don’t worry, he told me to keep you here until then and then he'll pick you up.”

At dinner, we eat in the massive Underground dining hall, which makes me think of a country club or banquet hall. I finally meet some of the other members, including a couple girls majoring in drama with Fleming and Tristan. One, Cara, is really nice to me, and could be a potential friend; but the other, Amber, looks down her nose at me as if I were the help. I wonder if fraternizing with humans is considered uncool by the rare female wolf shifters. I wish there wasn't a divide, I have so many questions.

So does Amber, apparently.

“So why did you choose a werewolf college to apply to? Did you not think, as a human, there might be some…complications? Or are those complications what made you decide to come here to shake your ass on stage?”

“Complications?” I ask.

She smirks. “Well, here you are, a human female surrounded by whole gangs of male werewolves, with apparently two of them fighting over your…favors. Is that why you came to Crescent?”

“I applied here because I can’t leave Meridian…for personal reasons, and because the Dance program is top rated. I don’t want any turf war over my ‘favors’. I just want an education.”

“If you say so,” Amber says, and turns away to a group of guys on her other side.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cara tells me. “Werewolf culture can be really sexist about some things. Don't let the gossip get you down.”

“Thanks,” I say, giving her a smile. “I appreciate you saying that.”

“Sorry about that,” Fleming tells me. “I know you wanted to meet some girls. Shifters can be really insular, and there's going to be some jealousy with the attention you're getting. Especially from Tristan. All the girls in the Underground have vied for his affections at one point or another. It's not so much that he likes you, it's that everyone knows he's been looking for a human girl, and here you are, and he can't take his eyes off you when you’re in the same room.”

“He thinks I'm this human girl he's been looking for?”

He smirks. “You'll have to ask him for the rest of it.”

After dinner, I feel restless and intimidated about being alone with Tristan during our study session, so I decide to change clothes to boost my confidence. I put on a tight pair of gray jeans that mold to my hips over a black velvet off-the-shoulder bodysuit. I pile my hair on top of my head and put on some smokey eyeliner and dark lipstick. Then I pull on my knee-high boots over my jeans, and hang a long string of black beads around my neck.

I look in the full-length mirror the guys put in my dorm suite. That's better. I look confident.

I can handle one obsessed, dark, charismatic, painfully attractive werewolf gang leader.

No problem.