Chapter Ten

TRISTAN

“Sex kitten, of all the—”

“You heard me. Now eat. I won’t force you to be alone with me.” I tip my chin behind her. She turns around and sees Fleming and the Phantom walking towards us.

She turns back to me. “Thanks.”

“Thank you for wearing my gift.”

Her eyes flutter wide open and she gulps, but then my boys have arrived and she doesn’t have time to say anything to that. Of course, that was my intent.

I want her to think about her actions without any time to prevaricate from the truth or make excuses. I want her to know I see her.

And I really do want her to know it’s okay to accept my gifts, that nothing will be forced on her, there are no obligations here.

She’s a feral little kitten, and I want her to start coming to me voluntarily, not just when I coax her. But there will have to be lots of coaxing, first. I am infinitely fucking patient.

Bloodlust, and its cousin, uncontrollable sexual frenzy, are a problem for young werewolves in my community. Mix hormones with animalistic desires and needs and things explode. But I’ve never forced myself on a girl. Not even when I could smell her desire as she denied me.

I don’t know how well I’m going to be able to keep myself in check with Billie Black. If I smell her desire for me, will I be able to control myself, when I know fate has tied us together and our fucking is inevitable anyway?

I hope so. I don’t want to hurt her.

Hurting your fated mate, we’re told, feels like having your heart ripped out.

Billie’s ancient phone dings while she’s talking with Fleming and the Phantom, and she looks at it. “Oh good, the English department found me someone to tutor through the Writing Center. I have to do a volunteer obligation for my scholarship, and I’ve helped people write research papers before…” She trails off as her brain catches up to what she’s reading. “…it’s you.”

She looks at me. “Did you do this?”

Of course I did. “I’m not all-powerful, you know,” I say truthfully, but it’s not the answer to her question. Thankfully, she doesn’t notice.

“Well, I guess this is convenient since we live in the same dorm. When do you want to meet?”

“I’m having dinner with my family tonight. I can meet you in the library here afterwards, I may need to find sources.”

“Tonight?”

“Say 7pm.” I’m not used to asking anything.

“Okay, sure.” Thankfully, Billie seems to be a natural submissive. When her guards are down, due to distraction or, dare I hope, some trust, she accepts what I tell her. Raised as an alpha wolf and forming my own gang at age 14 has given me an unbending nature, but I try to work on it.

Alphas are not infallible. Betas and Omegas are not weak. Wolves don’t fit into neat little boxes. But though I am not the only member raised as an alpha, I am unquestionably the leader of the Underground.

The Phantom and Fleming take off a few minutes early, and I’m getting ready to walk Billie to her class, when it happens.

“You. Are they letting just any townie human skank into Crescent now?”

Spader is standing in the doorway leading to the courtyard, arms blocking either side of our exit. There are a couple girls from Kappa Delta with him, and they emit high-pitched giggles. I step in front of Billie.

“Don’t make it a big deal, Spader. It was one beer.”

“Are you fucking her now or something?” He sniffs the air. “No, but you want to. I was there first. I have dibs until I say otherwise.”

Jesus, he is being way too much of a werewolf.

“Dibs?” Billie says incredulously.

“Did someone ask the whore her opinion?” Spader says.

More giggles from the sorority girls. “Stupid Omega,” one says.

This is how you treat an Omega in some wolf circles. You put her down so she stays in line.

Not in my wolf circle.

“How’s your wrist, Spader?”

He winces visibly. “Just stay away from the skank and we don’t have to make it a thing. You said yourself, she’s nothing but a little townie.”

“Yeah, but she’s our townie,” Raven says from behind Spader, and when Spader turns around Thorne grabs him by the throat and bodily throws him in the opposite direction of Billie. The girls rush over to him.

“Stay. Away,” Thorne says.

Spader glares at Billie, points at her, and then they run off.

He was marking her.

She blows out a huge breath, as if she knows it. Raven and Thorne flank her. “When you didn’t stop by my art class to model for me, we got worried. With Spader on the same campus as you, things are going to get ugly.”

“Why does he think he has some kind of claim on me? He’s insane.”

Because he and I have been competing since we were toddlers, and you just became ten times more attractive to him because of me, I want to tell her.

“Because he’s a werewolf who lives in the old ways, and now I’m supposed to stand aside and let him have you first, like you aren’t…” I cut myself off.

“Aren’t what? What aren’t you saying?”

My fated mate, I think to myself. Which you are.You are, and he can smell it, and he’s pretending not to so he’ll feel justified when he tries to rape you.

Tries.

Because as the new human girl, you’re our Omega if we let you in the gang.

“He’s not touching you,” I tell her instead. “One of us will always be with you. Got it?” I should try to sound less alpha, but right now I need her to accept this.

She nods, a scared look on her face. “Got it.”

He really rattled her.

He’s going to have to pay for that.

Him, and all of Lunacy. This is a turf war now.