I grabbed Dastien’s hand, linking our fingers together. “We heard that!” I said.
He winked at me and my heart stuttered.
Before we got to the parking lot, Mr. Dawson stopped us. Faint shadows under his eyes showed his exhaustion. “You’re needed.”
Imogene stood next to Mr. Dawson looking pretty satisfied with herself. All the hairs on the back of my arms stood at attention.
ips pressed against my forehead.
I flopped onto the grass, tugging him down too.
He hovered over me, his weight on his forearms as he lightly brushed his lips against mine. I growled. That was not the kiss I was going for.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to the dorm.” He pulled me to my feet. “We’re not going to have a repeat of the other night.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Being inside was suddenly very appealing.
When we got to the entrance to the dorm, he spun me in his arms. His lips weren’t soft this time. They demanded more. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to me. His tongue brushed against mine, and I lost it. I gripped the back of his shirt in my hands, pulling my body flush with his.
By the time he inched back, we were both out of breath. His forehead rested against mine. “I’ll pick you up in the morning for our trip off campus. Go inside. Be safe.” I kept my eyes closed for a second as I leaned back against the door. His heat was gone, leaving me chilled. “Holy shit,” I said to myself. He was beyond intense.
When I opened my eyes, he was already in wolf-form running across campus. A group of wolves waited for him next to one of the buildings. I watched until he disappeared from view, and then slid shakily to the ground.
It took me a few minutes to trust that my legs would work.
Meredith’s room was empty while I got ready for bed. I guessed they were still out, but I wasn’t upset about it anymore. Nothing they were doing could compare to what I’d experienced that day.
I went to bed smiling for the first time since I got to St. Ailbe’s.
***
The next morning, I was already dressed and ready to go on my date-ish thing with Dastien when Meredith stumbled sleepily into my room.
I clicked off my music. “Sorry. Didn’t meant to wake you?”
She waved me off and mumbled something incoherently.
I wore a flowy, short purple skirt and a grey tank top with flying little black birds printed across the front. “What do you think?” I said as I ran my hands down the skirt.
“About?”
“My outfit?”
“Are you going somewhere?”
I lifted my chin up. “Yes.”
“Really?” She yawned and curled up on my unmade bed. “Mr. Dawson lifted the jail-time?”
“Kind of. Dastien is taking me to the bookstore. Mr. Dawson said Dastien would be held responsible for me.”
Meredith laughed. “Wow. So. You and Dastien.”
“Kind of.” I couldn’t stop the blush from spreading. “I guess. We’re taking it slow. Very slow.”
She jumped and swung me into a hug. “This is so exciting. Were we right? About the mate thing?”
“It’s weird that you can just pick me up like that.” I tapped her shoulder and she put me down. “And ix-nay on the ate-may. That word is now verboten. Freaks me out.”