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“Everything is fine,” I assured the man. “I will pay for the damage.”

I heard Julie inhale sharply behind me, but I held the man's suspicious gaze.

“Send me the bill.”

Chapter 28

Kieran

Criminal Investigation Files

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“Why the hell are you bringing us to campus at this hour, man?” Cody yawned – dressed, as usual, in black jeans, scribbled-on Converse sneakers, one of his flannel shirts under a green Vanderwood Athletics hoodie, and a thick denim jacket covered with countless colorful enamel pins that he had probably collected at random – and ran his hand through his face as if he would rather be in bed right now. “I wanted to sleep.”

As far as I knew this guy, he spent his nights in front of the TV with mountains of unhealthy snacks, watching movies from the eighties and nineties, when he wasn't playing obsessively with one of his Nintendos covered in colorful stickers.

Cody Kaheel was a geek who had already repeated two years of high school before finally graduating and letting his strange father force him to study economics.

I shook my head and kept walking, followed by Emely, Nash, Noah, Cody, Hunter, and Harry.

I had chosen the pack members I had known the longest and trusted the most. And if I were honest, I had missed all of these idiots, even though I would never admit it out loud.

“No way, dude,” Noah laughed. “You wanted to game. You’d better come out hunting more often instead of acting like a neglected teenager and be a real man.”

“What did you say?” Cody asked, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him approach Noah and try to trip him, but Hunter pulled him back by the collar so Noah didn’t even notice.

Cody was the smallest among us, surprisingly a Delta who always wanted to prove himself, even though he was weak and had slight visual impairment in wolf form.

Emely appeared to my right, next to her Nash, who scanned the dark campus.

“Cody's right. What are you up to?” Emely asked, looking at me searchingly.

“I want to play basketball with you guys,” I replied seriously and grinned at her before turning around, and everyone stopped. “In honor of Emely’s candidacy for student council president.”

“Kieran!” Emely exclaimed, and Nash grinned beside her. “Don’t embarrass me!”

“Wait...” Cody laughed. “The elections don't start for another month, right?”

“And yet Emely is already preparing for them, and you guys don't even notice because you spend all day fooling around on the lawn or playing video games,” I sighed, and Cody looked sheepishly at Emely. Noah also stared at her, while Hunter nodded approvingly behind him.

“Hold on, Wheeler,” Harry Jones began, stepping forward. “You want to play basketball? At one in the morning?”

Now everyone looked at me in confusion.

Man, did it take them long to get that part.

“The Sports Campus District has been closed for hours,” Harry continued.

“Not for me,” I muttered, shoving my hands into the pockets of my black hoodie before I turned to continue walking.

“You want to break in there?” Hunter asked, sounding less than enthusiastic.

“Come on, the campus is ours,” I sighed, my gaze fixed on the illuminated athletic district in the distance. “That's not breaking in.”

“Are you completely out of your mind?” I heard Harry ask and smiled because he didn't know I had indeed lost all my marbles. “Emely, say something.”

I looked at Emely, who was walking beside me and turned to the others with a smirk.