Chapter 1

Denny

“Go Warriors!”

Archibald Reynolds College is the greatest place I've ever lived. I could be perfectly content to spend the remainder of my life here.

“Would you calm down and try to act normal for once?” Monte grumbled.

“What? It's freshman orientation. I'm just getting them psyched up. Go Warriors!” I yelled out again as we passed another group of incoming freshmen.

“You're such a dork.”

I shrugged. “So what? You're still required to love me.”

“You're insane.”

“I'm pretty sure it's legally binding in the Delta Omega Gamma handbook that you must love your chapter president. Just call me El Presidente.”

He rolled his eyes.

“I still can't believe we were dumb enough to vote you in.”

“Two years running.”

“Yeah, and I fear you're never going to graduate just so you can continue holding the title.”

I shrugged. “It's not a bad idea. I could live here forever. Maybe I'll switch majors again and go into education. Then I could just stay here on staff and teach something.”

He snorted. “What the hell are they going to let you teach?”

“I don't know. I'll come up with something.”

“Basket weaving?”

“Too cliché.”

“Underwater basket weaving.”

“Better, but wolves aren't much for being under water.”

“True. You could always do creative sports like mattress surfing.”

“Good one. I could incorporate some of my personal faves like that time we played Hot Potato with actual firecrackers.”

“Braxton almost lost a finger that time, and Chad banned us from ever playing it again.”

“Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Besides, Braxton's fine and Chad is no longer the man in charge around here.”

He groaned.

A group of giggling girls walked by, pointing in our direction.

“Welcome to the ARC ladies. Go Warriors!”

“Go Warriors!” they yelled back before bursting out in giggles.

“I love freshman orientation.”

“That's disgusting. You're practically an old man now. I'm not even sure it's legal for you to look their way.”

“What?” I asked innocently. I may be a flirt, but I rarely acted on it, especially with underclassmen.

He shook his head.

“In all seriousness, I'm really looking forward to our next class. I do love pledges. Chase Westin called and gave me a heads up that his nephew will be here this weekend. I think he's hoping the kid will rush this semester.”

“Whose kid?”

“I don't know, why?”

“I'm pretty sure Liam Westin also attended. If it's his kid, the guy could be a legacy.”

I scrunched up my face and shrugged. “I know Chase is the baby of his family, but I was honestly surprised to hear any of his siblings were old enough to have a kid enrolled already.”

“Or you're just getting to be that old.”

“Hardy har har. Laugh it up. He said the kid wasn't a wolf, so I'm guessing it comes from Jenna's side.”

Monte shrugged. “Don't know anything about her family except they’re a bunch of panthers. I guess it wouldn't be the first panther brother we've had, huh?”

“No, it would not.”

I smiled fondly thinking about our frat brother, Kian, the panther prince. He'd found his princess, graduated, and moved on to bigger and better things.

And before that, Chase Westin had shocked the hell out of everyone by mating a panther princess. It had caused a short-lived war between the wolves and the big cats, or so I was told. Chase graduated before I arrived at Archibald Reynolds, but his legend lived on. Well, that and the fact that he returned often to visit friends, so I'd gotten to know him over the years.

There was a bond of brotherhood between the men of Delta Omega Gamma, and I was proud to be setting my own legacy here. Someday future brothers would be sharing stories about me too. I just hoped they were good things and not some of the boneheaded things I'd done in my first few years here. I liked to think I'd matured some. Then again, not enough to actually want to grow up and leave, much to my parents' dismay.

We walked into the cafeteria and grabbed clean plates to load full of everything the buffet had to offer. Shifters ate a lot more than humans. We needed it to sustain our high metabolisms. So I didn't feel guilty in the slightest for taking an extra plate and piling them both high with food.

“I'm starving,” I said as I followed Monte to a table where several of our brothers were sitting.

Remy nodded my way.

“Welcome home brothers,” I said.

Several of the guys had arrived yesterday, but I'd been too busy prepping for freshman orientation to see them.

“It's good to be back,” Caleb confessed.

“Senior year!” Braxton cheered.

None of them had to be back so soon, but Remy, Monte, Caleb, and Braxton always did everything together. That also meant that Pete and Sadie were nearby because they seemed to always be with them as well. The other girls, too.

“I can't believe we're actually seniors,” Braxton said.

“Seems like only yesterday we were the freshmen and Sadie was just figuring out what she was. So much has happened in these four years. I'm going to miss it when we all go our separate ways,” Remy said.

“So don't leave. Archibald Reynolds has been growing their grad program over the years. Stay. It works for me.”

“You're not in the grad program,” Monte reminded me.

“Yet,” I said with a grin. “I'm considering switching my major to education, then after completing grad school I'll just get a job here.”

Caleb groaned. “Of course you are. You change your major more than most people change their underwear. You could have graduated a year early, but now you're already a year behind and thinking about another major change? Dude, just pick something and stick with it.”

I shrugged, completely unbothered. “That works for you. This works for me.”

“You're going to be the oldest senior in the history of the ARC if you don't start channeling all those credits towards something,” Braxton teased.

“But I'd go down in ARC history.”

Their jabs weren't going to get to me. I still wasn't certain what I really wanted to do with my life, so why not spend this time learning whatever I want as I figure it all out? It made perfect sense to me, and I only had myself to worry about.

“So what's your plan for today, Denny?” Braxton asked.

“Well, you fools are going to scrub down the doghouse.”

They all groaned.

“We aren't pledges anymore.”

“I know, but I don’t have any pledges to abuse at the moment and the others haven't returned yet. So you are the lucky fools, at least until the next class of pledges arrive.”

“We came early to hang out and have fun. Not clean,” Remy argued.

“It's not so bad, guys. We had the freshmen do a deep clean before they moved out, so really, it's just a wipe through and a bit of dusting,” Caleb insisted.

Remy snorted. “Says you. You actually enjoy cleaning.”

He shrugged. “It's better than living in filth. I don’t care what the fraternity stereotype is. I am not living like that. It'll take maybe an hour. Don't worry, Denny. We'll have it done.”

“Thanks Caleb.”

“If we're doing all the dirty work, what exactly are you doing?” Braxton asked.

Monte snorted. “Hyping up the freshmen. It's downright embarrassing to walk across campus with this guy.”

I just shrugged. “Not my fault you have no school spirit.”

He didn't even bother to respond.

“I heard Damon has a kid he's sending down here. Mark, I think he said. So you might want to be on the lookout for him. He's an Alaskan wolf.”

A group of guys walked over to us and stopped. I looked up then grinned.

“My grunts have returned! I didn't think you guys would be in until next week.”

Kevin and Joseph were from Westin Pack, even though Kevin wasn't a wolf. His adoptive parents were Westin wolves, though. I still didn't understand exactly how an opossum shifter got adopted by a couple of wolves, but he was a good guy, and now a full-fledged brother along with his closest friend, Joseph, who was a wolf.

Delta Omega Gamma may have started out as all wolves, but had opened up to other canines like coyote shifters. There was even a dingo once, straight out of Australia. Somewhere along the way others had joined in. We've had a jaguar, panther, and even a squirrel that I know about. The brotherhood went a lot deeper than our species. As president last year, I hadn't turned Kevin away, and I certainly wasn't going to start now should other shifter types want to join the best fraternity in the world. I mean, really, who could blame them.

I glanced over his shoulder to see two nervous boys and one gorgeous lady. I was certain I'd never seen her before.

“Hi, I'm Denny,” I told her.

Kevin scowled, and I was pretty sure I heard him hiss even over the growing noise of the room.

“Dude, that's his little sister.”

I checked myself quickly. Flirting with a pretty freshman was one thing, but flirting with the little sister of a brother was not cool unless she was my true mate, which wasn't very likely seeing as how she was an opossum.

“Sorry man.”

“It's okay. Guys, this is Autumn, my sister who is entirely off-limits.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Hi. I've heard a lot about you guys.”

“Are you here for orientation?” Caleb asked her.

“Yes. This is Oscar and Jett. They're new here too.”

“Oscar? As in Chase Westin's nephew?”

“Yes, sir.”

“He gave me a heads-up to be expecting you. Are you planning to rush Delta Omega Gamma this year?”

“I don't know.”

“You don’t know?” Braxton blurted out. “Your uncle sort of gives you legacy status, or close enough. Chase is like a legend around here.”

“Actually, my father gives me legacy status. I just haven't decided if it's right for me yet.”

“So, you’re Liam Westin’s kid?” I blurted out.

“Yeah.”

“But not a wolf?”

He frowned. “No, I'm not.”

“I know Chase mated a panther. What’s your mom?” Monte asked.

“She's a wolf.”

“If your parents are both wolves, how are you not? Is that even possible?” Braxton asked.

“I've never heard of such a thing,” Caleb said.

“Liam adopted him,” Autumn said. “Not that it's any of your business.”

“Autumn,” Kevin warned.

“Come on guys, let's go find our own table,” she insisted, and the three freshmen walked away to sit on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

“What's her deal? It was a valid question,” Braxton insisted.

Kevin sighed. “It's not always easy being in a Pack and not being a wolf. When I came here last year, Autumn leaned on Oscar. And when it came out that he took after his bio dad and is a tiger shifter, they grew even closer.”

“A tiger? That's crazy,” I said.

“How?” Braxton asked, clearly still confused.

“His mom had to have banged a tiger,” Remy said.

“Remy!” I admonished.

“What? That's what had to have happened.”

“There’s a lot more to it than that, but that's Oscar's story to tell. Not mine,” Kevin said.

It made me curious, but I didn't press it any further or allow the others to either.

“Well, he's still a legacy. It'll look bad if he doesn't rush Delta Omega Gamma. So we need to encourage him to do so. It's not every day a legacy comes to the ARC. The closest we've had in the past that I know of are a couple younger brothers.”

“I'll talk to him about it,” Joseph offered. “It's been a bit of a shock to the whole Pack since he came out this summer.”

“He just found out he's a tiger?” I asked. “And they just sent him off to the ARC?”

That sounded like a nightmare to me. No wonder he seemed to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

“No. I think he's known for a while. He just kept it to himself for a few years.”

I couldn't even imagine what the kid had gone through. My heart went out to him.

“Leave him be right now and let him get settled in. We'll reach out later,” I informed them.

The others nodded in agreement.

We settled in and ate while catching up with everyone. It felt great to have so many home early.

I looked at the time. “Shit! I'm leading a tour group for orientation in ten minutes.”

“You better run.”

I got up to leave and then grabbed the last sandwich on my plate before sprinting out of the cafeteria and across campus to the green.