“Okay. Um. So you can… leave?”
“I could.” He shrugs. “But we have Calculus together. Might as well walk you there.”
Resigning myself to the terrible fate of having to walk to class beside this hunk, I grab my backpack and step back out. “Don’t we have, like, way too many classes together?”
He shrugs. “With me? Only French and Calculus.”
“Right. And ugh, I hate math.”
“I don’t mind it so much,” he admits. “It’s easier for me than languages. Listen, about French… Think you could help me a little?”
“Me?” I laugh. “I’m your worst bet. I know very little. Ashton—”
“Screw the vampire.”
“His French is amazing.”
“Then it’s the only amazing thing about him.”
“Yeah, you don’t like him. Got it.” I narrow my eyes at Jason as we walk down the trail toward the school’s main building. “What has he done to you?”
“Ashton?” Jason adjusts his backpack strap on his shoulder. “We’ve had our clashes. But apart from being a self-satisfied, conceited, patronizing and opinionated son of a bitch… nothing.”
I stop. I hadn’t expected this. “So when you said the stake wasn’t meant for Ash…”
“I meant it.” He turns to face me.
“But then who is it for?”
“You want me to trust you, tell you my secrets, but you didn’t trust me to tell me you’re a witch.”
I wince. “Right…”
“Also, I might have wanted the stake for protection.”
“Protection? From the vampires?”
He grimaces. “Ashton may not have harmed me personally, but he’s not the only vampire here. Some hold a grudge.”
“Against you? Why?”
“Because,” he says. “I was the reason for the vamp-werewolf riots eight years ago. Are you honestly telling me that you don’t know who I am?”
“I know who you are. You’re Jason Kassidy.” I don’t tell him I know the real name of his family. Not sure it’s common knowledge.
He laughs, shakes his head. “All right.”
“So who are you? What am I missing?”
“I’m God’s Wolf. The Lost Wolf. No? Doesn’t ring any bells?”
Frustrated, I throw my hands up in the air. “I grew up inside a Church. Rarely saw any news. My cousin told me stories from her life and showed me magazines and stuff. I was taught old history, but very little of more recent events. So no, I don’t know who the Lost Wolf is.”
“Well, it’s me.” He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “And here I am, telling things about myself anyway. I mean, most people know who I am, vaguely. Nobody knows the whole truth. And it’s better if it stays that way.”
I nod, though I’m not sure what he means by that.
“Are you okay?” He reaches for my face and I take a step back. “You were pretty badly beaten last night.”