Page 61 of The Golden Receiver

The impulse lasted for less than a second.

I charged after Evander, fighting the urge to call his name out. I wasn’t going to draw any attention to the giant werewolf barreling toward my attackers. That was the last thing he needed.

I got one last burst of speed just as he got close to Willis and Reyes. I tackled Evander to the ground. “Evander,” I hissed. “Stop. Just fucking stop.”

He looked at me, and I swear even if I hadn’t seen him in this form before, I would have known it was him immediately. Somehow, those light brown eyes had become ones I would recognize anywhere. I kept my eyes trained on his, ignoring the burst of pain the tackle had caused me. It was worth the pain to keep him from doing something that he would regret. And I knew Evander well enough to know he would. That was my biggest priority, making sure he didn’t do something that he’d regret in my name.

Evander seemed to vibrate underneath me. His body grew warmer under my touch, and a second later, the man I’d come to know was back underneath me. Replacing the furry, angry beast that had been there just moments before.

And he looked afraid. I couldn’t handle that.

“Hey,” I whispered. I rolled off him. “Help me up. Let’s take a walk.”

Evander didn’t say anything. That was a first. He was never speechless. I could understand him not talking the night before. His giant werewolf tongue didn’t look like it would be great at human speech, but in human form? This was extremely out of the ordinary. He stood up and reached a hand down to me. I let him pull me up. He made it seem effortless, like I weighed nothing.

He tossed one more look toward Willis and Reyes’s retreating backs. They had left the steps and luckily started walking in the opposite direction of us. I couldn’t be sure that I’d be able to hold him back a second time. Not if they were face to face, right within attacking distance. I pulled him in the other direction, back toward the dorms. I stopped at the first trailhead we reached. I tugged him through the opening.

We had walked a few paces before I realized where we were.

It was the same trail we’d first hooked up on.

Somehow, we always ended up back here.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I drew up the nerve to speak. “Are you okay?” I asked him quietly.

“You keep asking about me,” he muttered. “I’m not the one that got hurt.”

“No, you’re the one that lost your cool the moment you heard what happened,” I pointed out. I wanted to sound angry about it, but I couldn’t. His reaction made me feel safe. I felt safer just having him walk beside me, especially after seeing Willis and Reyes. If I hadn’t had to focus on saving Evander from himself and his baser instincts, I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted.

I don’t know if I would’ve been able to remain calm and collected with the memories of their attack so fresh in my mind.

I could feel Evander’s eyes on me. The same way I could that morning when I tried to tell him what happened. I’d been fighting every moment during that confession, trying to keep the memories at bay, and trying to keep the words coming. I didn’t like to show weakness. At least I could trust Evander; I could trust that he wasn’t judging me.

After a few moments of silence, he reached out. I looked down at his hand resting on my forearm and then back up at him. “I’m surprised you didn’t lose it when you saw them,” he said softly.

“I was too busy keeping you from doing something you’d regret.”

Evander snorted. “I wouldn’t have regretted it.” I gave him a look, and he shook his head. “I mean it. I wouldn’t have regretted it. I know I would have gotten in trouble, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Not if they would’ve got what was coming to them.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “And how would that help?” I demanded. I was surprised by the anger in my voice. I didn’t like Willis or Reyes or any of the guys that attacked me. I didn’t think I would ever be able to look at them after what they’d done to me.

At least it solved the one doubt that had been bouncing around my head for weeks. I’d been wondering if I belonged there, and I knew I didn’t. They’d made it damn clear to me last night. But I no longer regretted coming to Creelin University. If they thought attacking me was going to drive me off the team and out of their lives, they were wrong. I was more determined than ever to make my name on that team.

They weren’t going to run me off and get their way like that. Fuck that. I was too stubborn for that shit.

I was too stubborn to let Evander get himself kicked off the team on my behalf either.

He hadn’t answered my question. He hadn’t told me how beating them black and blue would help anything. I stared at him, arms crossed over my chest, while I waited. When he stayed silent, I shook my head. “You don’t know the answer to that either, do you?” I questioned. “You know what would have happened, right? You would have gotten kicked off the team. Hell, you might have gotten kicked out of the school.”

“If I got kicked off the team, I’d probably leave the school,” Evander admitted. “I’m not really that invested in my degree.”

I couldn’t relate to that. The idea of going into all kinds of student debt for something that I didn’t care about was beyond me. I’d done a lot of research choosing my major, back before I came to Creelin on full scholarship. “Are you on a scholarship? Would you lose it if you got kicked off the team?”

Maybe he didn’t care because of that.

He shook his head. “Nah. I just really came to school so I could play football. Kali and Luke like it because I’ll probably walk out of here with a degree and can get a decent job, but if not, I could probably learn a skill or something.” He sounded so nonchalant about it all. “So, still would’ve been worth it.”

I groaned. “Not to me. It wouldn’t be worth it to me for one of our best players to get kicked off the team because he was defending me.”