He stands his ground. “No.”
I give myself a moment to strategize. All I have to do is get out of this room. I'm faster than all of them. If I can just get past all three of them, I can go after her. They won’t be able to use their wolf speed because we’re on campus, so it will just come down to regular running. And I know for a fact I can outrun all three of them. I just need to get out of this room. “Slate, let’s talk about this,” Zane says from behind me.
I turn around, trying to make it look like I’m not going to run. I wait for the perfect moment. Zane talks, but I don’t listen. I get my moment a few minutes later, when Reid moves away from the door. I’m out the door and running, ignoring Zane’s shout behind me. I take several stairs at a time and ignore girls screaming as I tear past them. I follow her scent outside. My mate is out here somewhere, and nobody will keep me from finding her.
Chapter One
Tessa
“Could you please slow down? My legs aren’t as long as yours,” I complain to my bestie, Evie...the same bestie who is currently practically dragging me across campus.
“You’re only a little shorter than me,” she reminds me.
“Uh, that’s not the point.”
Evie pushes open the door to the dining hall, and we step inside. She finally drops my arm and takes a breath. “Now what should we get?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Not so fast, Evie Bennett. I want to know what all that was about.”
She gives me an innocent look. “All what?”
“Seriously? I walk into your room this morning to help you pack, because I’m a good suitemate and also your best friend—”
“Thank you,” she interjects.
“And I run into the one and only Slater Thorne—”
She interrupts me again. “I told you he’s one of Zane’s friends and roommates.”
I continue as if she didn’t interrupt. “And he looked like he was going to murder me.”
Evie laughs, but it’s high-pitched and straight-up weird. “He did not.” I pin her with a look, and she caves. “Okay, maybe he did. But that’s just how he is. Slate is always like that, believe me. He always looks like he’s contemplating either murdering somebody or burning something to the ground.”
“Well, he’s kind of a jerk then.”
Evie’s eyes widen. “No. No, he’s really not. He's actually a really great guy. He...” she pauses here, and I can’t figure her out.“He’s...shoot, I can’t think of anything at the moment, but it will come to me.”
I sigh. “Well, they say never meet your heroes. I guess we’ll just sum that up with Slater Thorne.” I grimace. “You know I used to have his posters on my wall? Well, it wasn’t just him. It was him and a few of his teammates, but still.” Evie stares at me. “What? I love sports; you know that. And FMU is my school; it always has been. My stepdad went here, my mom, my brother...it’s in our blood.”
“Wow. That's—” Evie pauses, and I grin.
“Crazy, right? No, seriously. I watched every soccer game of Slater’s freshman and sophomore years of college. I know all his stats by memory; which I won’t bore you with at this present moment. But yeah, I have a thing for him. But like I said, meeting your heroes and all that. So, I guess it’s time to move on.” I close my eyes and bow my head.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Evie asks.
I lift my head a moment later. “Moving on. All right. What do you want?”
Evie blinks. “What?”
“I moved on.”
Evie shakes her head. “That doesn’t even...I don’t...Does that mean you’re not going to watch his games anymore?”
I laugh. “Who are you kidding?”
She looks relieved. “Oh good. You scared me a minute.”
“It just means I’m not going to think about him ever again...outside of watching him play of course.”
