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In the shadows, I found a destiny that was never meant to be mine. All my life, I've been an outcast and the target of cruel jokes. But fate flings me onto a different path when I receive a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious university I never applied to. As the new girl at Evergreen Elite, I'm surrounded by whispered secrets and danger that lurks in every corner. Then I meet Raffe Wright, the university's sexy, broody quarterback, whose presence stirs something deep within me. Every instinct warns me away from him, yet I can't fight the magnetic pull between us. As I unravel the mysteries of the university, I uncover truths about my own past and secrets that could change everything. Each step leads closer to Raffe, and the destiny that brought me here. But the deeper I delve, the more I realize that Raffe might be both the answer to my questions and the greatest danger of all.
Chapter 1 One
CHAPTER ONE
My blood jolted in my veins.
M
Hands tightening on the steering wheel, I drove under the black iron sign with the words Evergreen Elite University molded into the center. Even on this cloudy day, the words, thick with large gaping holes between each letter, were easy to see. Add in the two gigantic brick pillars on either side of the road that held up the sign in all its glory, and it was an old-world version of a neon light. Already, this school screamed prestige and wealth, and I couldn't believe I was here.
I hadn't even applied.
The thought had never crossed my mind.
My blood gave an extra jolt, informing me that coming here had been a bad idea-as if I didn't know.
Only the top five percent of applicants were admitted to this exclusive Portland, Oregon university, and one semester here cost more than what my parents made in a year combined.
I couldn't even dream of affording it, despite having straight A's from my two-year community college. The university was so prestigious that even most class valedictorians didn't believe they had a chance of getting in. Believe me. I knew. I was one of them.
This place was known for producing some of the greatest minds in America, along with shaping the future of students from the country's wealthiest and most influential families. Some people dared to say it was even more elite than the Ivy Leagues out East.
Mysteriously, I had received a full scholarship, including room and board. The advisor assigned to me still hadn't given me a clear answer as to why. All he'd said was that an anonymous donor had sponsored me and believed I had the makings of greatness, which this place supported and celebrated.
Anyone saying something that nice about me was a first, and my parents had practically pushed me out the door to attend. Mom couldn't believe I'd seriously considered not coming here, and Dad had piped in, proclaiming it as an opportunity of a lifetime.
Maybe it was, but I suspected my parents were also eager to get me out of the house. I tended to hole up in my room whenever I wasn't out hiking, and they worried about my lack of social life.
As I coasted onto campus, my heart sank. Two parts of me were at war, one part telling me to turn around and drive the two hours back home and the other part bursting with butterflies of excitement because this was a fresh start.
I had to calm down. How was I supposed to meet my roommate like this? We'd texted one another after getting our room assignments, and Lucy seemed like a fun person. I'd let her know when I planned on arriving, and she'd said she'd be there to meet me. But whenever I got anxious, weird shit happened, and "weird" wasn't the first impression I wanted to make.
No one I knew went to school here, so there would be no preconceived notions about me. I had a chance to make my first real friend and, maybe- just maybe-fit in.
The latter was the scariest hope of all because I doubted it would happen. My emotions were running rampant. The last thing I needed was to put pressure on myself, hoping to find a place that might feel like an actual home.
With my track record, that wouldn't happen.
I was setting myself up for an inevitable disappointment.
A huge brick stadium that housed the college's renowned football team towered to my right, and the student center loomed straight ahead. The pictures I'd seen online didn't do justice to my view of the towering cherry trees framing the lawn in front of the student center where myriad students gathered and lounged lazily on this Sunday afternoon.
The administrator had told me to take a left here for the quickest route to the apartment I'd been assigned, and I followed his instructions, driving
past soccer fields and tennis courts.
Hope expanded in my chest even as cold tendrils of fear knotted in my stomach. The two opposing emotions contrasted with each other like repelling magnets. My breathing quickened, and my blood jolted higher, informing me everything was about to crash and burn.
Whenever my blood jolted and worked up to a hum, strange incidents occurred around me-things that didn't make sense and proved that something was seriously wrong with me: Dishes rattled on the table, lights flickered, and a sense of how people were feeling sometimes swamped me. The jolt was the first sign of an episode, making me feel as if I'd gotten a dose of some drug and could go full-on humming at any time.
I took deep breaths to calm myself. Soon, I passed the administration building, and the parking lot the advisor had instructed me to use appeared on the left. I was here. As in, going inside and unpacking my stuff in my room imminently.
As I pulled into the lot, my breathing technique was not working, especially as my janky old Honda Civic passed by Lexuses, Mercedes, BMWs, and a Rolls-Royce.
My vehicle screamed outcast, and I hated to see what would happen when I did something so strange it defied the laws of physics.
By the time I pulled into the last spot in the back corner farthest from the apartment buildings, my blood had an extra fizzle to it. The fizzle came between the jolt and the hum.
If I didn't squelch this now, there would be no reining in the weirdness. My eyes homed in on the woods behind the apartment buildings.
Woods.
Comfort.
Freedom to be myself.
A place I could escape to get my anxiety under control.
I got out and slammed the car door shut, locking it with the fob. It was the only bougie thing my car could do.
Five students were loitering between the two five-story brick buildings, talking to each other like they didn't have a care in the world. The two women had an air of confidence, and three men towered over them, their muscular bodies emphasized by their tight shirts. Even as I told myself not to look, my eyes betrayed me, locking on the tallest one with dark hair and
a chiseled jaw, who seemed to tug at my very essence. The fizzing in my blood kicked up higher, teetering near a hum.
When his head turned my way, I forced my attention to the woods, not wanting to be caught staring at them. I needed to get out there and be alone so I could get myself under control.
Refusing to look at anything but the Douglas firs along the perimeter, I put one foot in front of the other. If I could get into the woods and immerse myself in nature, it should ground me.
It usually did.
Accepting the random scholarship hadn't been smart. I should've done the online college program at another university this fall. That had been the plan since I'd graduated with an Associate of Science from Columbia Gorge Community College last spring, but an online school would make it harder for me to get into vet school. Not like graduating from here. That was the only reason I hadn't fought Mom more.
Moments before I reached the tree line, my blood hummed. The needles on the fir I'd been focused on started to shake.
Shit. My heart squeezed uncomfortably, and I almost wished it would stop beating. I didn't understand why things like this kept happening to me.
The sounds of a sapsucker drilling into a tree filled my ears. No one was anywhere near me. Between the comforting sound of the bird and the lack of witnesses to my meltdown, I slipped into the woods, ready to surround myself with nature and calm down.
A few steps into the trees, I was sure no one could see me from the EEU campus. I rubbed my chest to relieve the tension. I hated how my emotions took over at times. It was as if something inside me amped them up, and the anxiety-controlling coping mechanisms countless counselors had taught me didn't do shit to help, though I still tried them.
I walked a mile into the woods, not slowing until I'd taken the edge off the hysteria. When I spotted a sizable fallen tree trunk, I sat on the wood, ignoring the faint dampness from the rain the night before that was soaking into my jeans.
A cool breeze contrasted with the warmth of the air, and I leaned my head back and looked skyward, hoping I'd see a bird fly overhead.
As I breathed in the forest pine scent, the wolf I'd helped right before I graduated from community college flitted into my mind. He'd been caught in a hunter's trap, a hunting practice that was illegal in that part of the
mountains. When I'd stumbled upon him, he'd growled, but those bright- yellow eyes had seemed so intelligent ... so real. I'd told him I was there to help him, and it was as if he'd understood me. It was the type of moment that made me want to be a vet.
A sense of calm embraced me. My lungs filled with fresh air, and the sounds of animals scurrying in the woods brought me serenity.
Home. The word echoed in my head, and a vision of the tall guy popped into my brain. My stomach bubbled, not out of discomfort but from excitement and expectation.
This had to stop. I had to clear my head.
The fizzle subsided to a jolt as I allowed the tranquility of the moment to wash over me. I dug my shoes into the mulch, slowing the momentum of the thoughts that kept invading my mind.
I was sitting there in silence, lost in the moment, when curiosity brushed against my mind. A branch snapped, and I wasn't surprised to find a deer twenty feet away. Its head tilted as it took me in and slowly inched forward. This was why I visited the woods: to be one with nature and see its miraculous creatures alone and up close. The deer continued toward me, curiosity brimming in its dark eyes. I held out both hands, wanting her to
see I meant her no harm.
A chill ran down my spine, and the hair on the nape of my neck rose.
I tensed as an all-too-familiar sensation washed over me, and the deer paused. She averted her eyes to my right, confirming my fear.
Someone was watching us.
Huffing, the deer spun and ran in the opposite direction, and the lump in my throat tripled in size.
I tried to swallow and failed.
Perhaps someone was merely hiking in the woods, but my skin was crawling. I'd seen the evil mankind could do when they encountered something they didn't understand-like a deer walking straight up to me without concern. Not that the deer had gotten that close, but it had been approaching.
I wouldn't stay here to see if the person meant me harm. After all, I needed to move my stuff into my apartment and didn't want to worry Lucy by how late I was.
I stretched as if I didn't have a care in the world. Showing my fear was the worst thing I could do; if this was a bullying tactic, it would make
whoever was spying on me feel more powerful. I pretended to yawn, hoping it would help my act, though my blood was already fizzing again.
I stood slowly, attempting to come off like nothing was wrong, but every cell in my body wanted to run. The last time this had happened was in high school. A group of students had cornered me in the back of the school and shoved me around. Worse, the ringleader had been Lizzy, a girl who'd been my best friend in preschool.
Acid inched up my throat as I started to hike back toward the campus. I had an inkling where the person was, thanks to my deer friend, so I made sure to move to the left of that area.
The woods were supposed to be my salvation, not a place where I didn't feel safe. This was the one place I could go to find a little sanity and feel as if I belonged.
Gritting my teeth, I listened hard for sounds that the person was following me or trying to cut me off. All I could hear was my rapid heartbeat.
Adrenaline shot through me, and the jolt turned into the fizzing sensation again. Something like sinister curiosity rolled over me, and sweat pooled under my arms. Something was definitely out here with me.
The trees thinned, and I was almost free.
My skin tingled as my blood hummed within me. I glanced over my shoulder, searching for the cause. Any pretense of calmness was gone, and I sensed that someone was nearly on top of me. I began to jog, often glancing over my shoulder for anyone behind me. Then I crashed into something that felt a damn lot like a brick wall.
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