III

~Akia~

“So?” I turn and look at Esme, raising an eyebrow. She’s my roommate, and we hit it off the moment we met. We are under different majors, but we have a lot in common, “Akia.” I put my chips down and focus my attention on her.

“What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me. I’ve seen Matt looking at you. What’s going on with that?” Matt is in a few of my classes, as we share the same major. We speak here and there, and he’s been over to study.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We are just friends who help each other in class.” Esme continues to eye me, making me uncomfortable. “What Esme?” She sighs and leans in closer.

“Why don’t you date?” Here we go again. Esme has approached this topic with me a few times, but I’ve always managed to avoid it. I don’t want to let her know about my past. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to let her get close to me, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I can only hope that my issues are over, but I’m not so sure.

“Haven’t we discussed this already?”

“We have, and you didn’t really answer the question. What are you hiding, Akia? What aren’t you telling me?” My chest tightens as all the memories flood my brain. I’m scared, and I don’t think talking about this will be the best way to go. Thank the Goddess for Matt’s interruption.

“Hello, lovely ladies! How’s your day going?” I can feel Esme’s eyes digging a hole into the side of my face while I try my hardest to ignore her.

“Hey, Matt. Did you get that paper done?” Matt sits across from me, placing his bag on the table.

“Barely, but only because of your help. You are an absolute lifesaver. You have to let me take you to dinner to thank you.” I look at Matt, taking in his features. He has blonde hair, longer on top than on the sides. He has ocean-blue eyes, a strong jaw, a chiseled nose, and somewhat thin lips. He’s cute, I can definitely say that, but I can’t see myself with him. I can put him in any danger. My thoughts go back to Scott, and I can feel my body reacting.

My wolf, Bree, tries to calm me down, but it isn’t working well. Esme wraps her arm around my shoulder and squeezes. “There’s a party I’ve been invited to. How about you join us, Matt? You can be the designated driver.” Matt looks between us and nods his head.

“We can do that. I haven’t been to a party in a while, so it should be fun.” I could kiss Esme right now, but I won’t be fooled. I know that she’s going to have questions that I don’t want to answer right now. Matt checks his phone and stands up. “I have to go. I’ll see you in class.” The further he walks away, the more my body relaxes.

“I just totally saved you. I think you owe me an explanation.”

~Unknown~

“So what are you going to do?” I roll my eyes and sigh. I’m so sick of this constant conversation. I wish I could just be left alone. “Answer me!”

“What do you want from me?! Why can’t you leave me alone?!” I jump to my feet and rush out of the room. I’m not able to handle this right now. I just want to be left alone.

I run past the treeline, shifting into my wolf. I sit back and let him have control, zipping through the trees. I need her. I haven’t been the same without her, but I haven’t been able to find her. I’ve searched her entire pack, sure that I’d find some clue as to her whereabouts. I broke into the packhouse and searched the Alpha’s files, but I came up empty. I went to her school and searched through their files as well. The only thing I could find was that she left, which I already knew. There was no other information.

I tried to dig into her parents’ backgrounds, but my father started to ask too many questions. I haven’t even been able to collect the money to find her because my dad has been keeping a tight leash on me. He’s determined to make me follow the path he set out for me, and it pisses me off. Now, he wants me to take the next step in my life when all I want to do is find my girl and make a life with her.

I spend the night out in nature, letting my wolf have total control. I think I needed the time to unplug from the world. I needed to be able to let go of my heartache for just a moment, to gain some sort of control.

I find my way back into the packhouse, determined to take a shower. I want to renew my efforts in finding her. I need to revisit all of the old leads because I know she’s out there somewhere. I’m not going to be right until I have her in my world again, and that’s nonnegotiable.

My mind is so occupied that I missed the clues to let me know that I wouldn’t be alone in my room. I open the door to find my father slowly walking around my room, looking at everything. I internally sigh, not wanting to do this so early in the morning. “You were gone all night. Where were you?”

I step forward, wishing I could get him out of my room. “I didn’t realize that I had a curfew.” He sighs and stands in the middle of my room, looking right at me.

“I’m not here to fight. We did enough of that yesterday. I put some information on your desk. It’s nonnegotiable. You need to get down to the school. Choose your own courses, but you need to take at least three. I don’t care if you attend in person or online, but it will happen.” He walks past me and out of my room without any response from me.

There’s a lot I could say to him, but I don’t see the reason to bother. My father doesn’t ask questions or make requests. He issues demands; that’s it, that’s all. I could speak until I’m blue in the face, but it won’t change anything. It looks like I’m going to college.