“That seems to be the case.”
Mason, Neville, and Ansel remained so engrossed in their conversation—which from snatches I caught seemed to be about whether Montreal, Austin, or Minneapolis produced the best indie bands—they didn’t even glance at the rest of the wolves. I leaned back in my chair, feeling rather pleased with myself.
This is easy.
The mouthful of turkey sandwich I’d bitten off caught in my throat when Ren rested his hand on my leg, his fingers exploring the curve of my thigh. I coughed and snatched the bottle of water from his other hand, taking several desperate swallows before swatting his fingers from my leg.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I choked the words out. “Keep your hands to yourself.”
Ren opened his mouth as if to respond, but he suddenly jerked upright, looking behind me. I turned in my seat.
Shay stood in the middle of the cafeteria, staring at our two tables, a mixture of curiosity and fear playing over his face.
“I think you’re right, Lily,” Ren said. “That boy needs directions. He looks like he wants to come over here.”
Shay took a hesitant step toward us. His eyes fixed on me, mesmerized. I shuddered and shoved the remainder of my sandwich into the brown paper bag.
Sabine snickered. “My, my, that’s a love-struck gaze if I’ve ever seen one. It looks like the newbie has a crush on Calla. Isn’t that sweet? Poor little human.”
It was becoming too familiar, this mixture of fear and pleasure whenever I thought about the new boy and wondered what he might be thinking about me.
A low rumble stirred in Ren’s chest. “Maybe I need to have a chat with him about how things stand with us . . . and where his place is at this school.”
He started to rise. I couldn’t let him get to Shay.
“No, Ren. Please. He’s just a human. He doesn’t know any better.” I grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the chair. “Give it a day; he’s bound to figure it out. They always do.”
“Is that what you want?” His voice dropped low. “For me to leave him alone?”
“We’re not supposed to mix with the humans,” I said. “It will only draw attention if you confront him.”
He pulled my hand off his forearm, threading his fingers through my own.
I tensed but didn’t attempt to free my hand from his clasp.
Okay, we can hold hands. This is okay. This will be okay.
But my heart felt like I was trying to finish a marathon. I hated that I couldn’t control myself around him—and that I had to.
The rest of the pack, attuned to the sudden bristling of their two alphas, dropped their conversations and turned to the stranger. A rippling snarl emerged from their throats and my spine prickled. Their defensive reaction was the first unified act of the young Nightshades and Banes.
We are a pack.
With ten pairs of hostile Guardian eyes fixed upon him, Shay began to quiver. His glance shot around the cafeteria, settling on his lab partners from
Organic Chemistry. He hurried over to their table with a quick, regretful glance back at me.
A dark laugh rolled out of Ren’s throat. “Guess you were right, Lily. There’s the learning curve in action.”
I smiled weakly and crumpled my lunch bag, too aware of the disappointment still pinching me from the moment Shay had walked away.
FIVE
LAMELY TITLED “BIG IDEAS,” MY ONLY AFTERNOON course surveyed philosophy from the classical era through the present day. Despite its vague theme, the class had become my favorite, but when I saw Shay sitting in a desk near the tall windows of the room’s outer wall, my heart tripped over itself.
I headed to the back of the room, as far away as I could get. Shay’s eyes were on me as I took my seat. I pulled out the thick binder that contained our readings for the entire year and flipped to the homework from the previous night. As I tried to review my notes, the words blurred before me.
Who is he? Why is he here?
A low, husky laugh drew my attention to the door as the three Bane seniors entered the room. Sabine smiled up at Ren. My jaw clenched to see her arm threaded through his. Dax bounded in just behind the pair. Ren scanned the half-filled seats, his grin fading the second he saw our new classmate.
Ren pulled his arm free of Sabine, turned toward Dax, and jerked his chin in the stranger’s direction. The two Banes swaggered shoulder to shoulder up to Shay, whose eyes widened as the wolves approached. I gripped the sides of my chair, ready to throw myself between predators and unwitting prey if things got out of hand. Ren’s lips curled back in an expression that could hardly be called a smile. I fought back a snarl as I watched the alpha close in.
If you hurt him, I’ll kill you. I swallowed my own gasp at the unbidden thought, glad we weren’t in wolf form. Ren was the last person I could threaten. He was the pack’s future. My future.
He extended his hand. “I’m Ren Laroche. You’re new here. I saw you in Organic Chemistry.”
Shay frowned and slowly reached out, wincing when Ren grasped his fingers. But instead of shrinking down into his desk, as most humans would have, the stranger glared at Ren and ripped his hand out of the Bane’s grasp.
“Shay. Shay Doran.” He flexed his fingers beneath his desk.
“Good to know you, Shay.” Ren glanced at his hulking companion. “This is Dax.”
Dax made a show of cracking his knuckles. “Hey, man. Hope you make it here. Tough school.”
In a swift, unison motion Ren and Dax slid into the desks on either side of Shay. I clutched my pencil so tightly it snapped in half. From his newly selected seat, Ren winked at me. I sent him dagger eyes, but it only widened his smile.
The bell sounded and our teacher, Mr. Selby, began to write on the whiteboard. The scrawled question: WHAT IS THE TRUE STATE OF NATURE? filled the blank space.
“Before we launch into today’s discussion topic, I want to bring your attention to a new member of our class.” He turned and gestured to where Shay sat, tense, between the lounging Bane boys.
“Mr. Doran, would you say a few words about yourself?”
Shay shifted in his seat, glancing around the classroom.
“I’m Shay. I just moved here with my uncle. I was in Portland for the last two years. And then before that, well . . . I haven’t ever stayed in one place for very long.”
Mr. Selby smiled at our new classmate. “Welcome to the Mountain School. I understand that you may not have had time to catch up on all the assigned reading for this course yet, but feel free to join the discussion if you’d like.”
“Thanks,” Shay said, before muttering something under his breath that sounded like: “I’ll try to keep up.”
Mr. Selby turned back to the board. “From the reading: philosophers’ ideas about how the natural order of the world operates. Where it all began, what it looks like?”
“In paradisum. Paradise. Eden.” Ren flashed me a wicked smile.
“Very good, Mr. Laroche. The state of nature as paradise. Lost forever—maybe, maybe not? Enlightenment philosophers thought the New World might be the new Eden.” Mr. Selby recorded the response on the whiteboard. “What else?”