ad mutated into something large

wl shook the lockers. In another he had half-shifted in the hallway before his teammates pulled him back. Neit

as the last thing he'd said

that made them mean something other than what they sounded like. He'd given me the angle

believe that

tly d

up when I walked in, which was normal. What wasn't normal was the way his shoulders shifted slightly when I g

day," I

t," h

lled me

omeone who had decided this conversation had a limit and was already aware of

nded th

on the Blackwood name. It was about that and nothing else." H

re I finishe

ear of what they'd seen in the hallway or uncertainty about what Jaxon's reaction meant, the resu

knowledging my existence,

times he happened to be nearby w

through before it left his mouth. Lunch, a girl knocked into me hard enough to spill half my drink. Jaxon materialized at the end of the line and she moved away fast without being asked t

ned. Never acknowledged it. He wasn

t worse, someh

he hallways emptied quickly. By the time I headed for the exit

oice sto

len

asy confidence, the voice of someone who had never once in his

ooking at me like he'd been waiting a while and hadn't minded. He was wearin

have done two weeks ago. It tighten

ing here," I sai

it simply. "Thought a fre

ferred to

oward me, stopping close. Closer than was necessa

said. "I

already decided the conversation was going to go his way. "Selene, what happened with

u were embarrass

She twisted that. She's always twi

art where you didn't

st a second. Just on

al. I'm standing here telling you I made the worst m

he held himself like the world was arranged around him as a courtesy to everyone else

ickle. The same instinct that had been going off in strange mo

, Damien

nce left

, the warmth completely gone. "You moved into that house and you've go

telling you

, the way they always did when tension reached a certain volume. "I drove

ou to do that,"

im. I watched the control

two years. Not for a wolf who called you Omega on your first da

losed arou

nd of grip that was meant to te

of me,

til you

d. He t

me noticing. Students stopped,

Damien said. "Stop bei

on the floor. Omega echoing through hallways. Every moment of the last we

like something snapping. The wat

de, chest rising and falling. When he turned back, the mask was gone entirely. What was u

came acro

gainst the metal, ears ringing, cheek burning, the hallway silent in the specifi

dy m

et and absolute.. The kind of voice that didn't need vo

ur hand

turned

e way wolves arranged themselves around their Alpha without thinking about it. His hands were at his sides. His fists were

, real rank, real power. I watched him hold his ground for exactly two steps befor

ed at him the way you look at something you have already decid

and certain and carved fro

he biggest mista