Chapter 6

Lauren

My only saving grace was sheer exhaustion. And even still, my body buzzed with an odd mix of excitement and anxiety as I laid in bed tossing and turning thinking of him.

My mate was here. I'd been too hurt and stubborn all day to allow that to fully sink in.

Denny was my mate.

I'd already begun to build him up in my mind as an asshole who I was better off without, but that wasn’t the case at all. Or at least I suspected it wasn't. Our talk before I came back to the hotel room had left me even more confused.

I had this odd need to go back. It wasn't my usual concern for Kylie or needing to check up on her. I had a strange peace leaving her there. She was making friends, and somehow I trusted Denny to watch out for her just as I would myself.

It was freaking me out.

I had never entrusted anyone with my sister's care. In my mind there was no one who could look after her as well as I could. On top of that, I did not trust people easily. But I trusted him.

Mentally, it was screwing with me. I didn't know this guy. I had no reason to trust him. Yet intuitively there was no denying that I did. I trusted him, and it was driving me even more crazy knowing it.

Despite my turmoil, exhaustion won out and I slept soundly that night, though I woke up the next morning feeling like I had a major hangover.

My phone rang before my feet even hit the ground. It was Kylie. I answered it and then propped the screen up with pillows so I could see her while freeing up my hand. Back home I had a stand that the phone clips into so I could communicate with her.

That's when it dawned on me that it was morning and she wasn't here.

“ Oh my gosh. Where are you? Are you okay? What time is it? ” I started frantically signing.

Modern technology was a wonderful thing. Video calls could be run through a dozen different applications, allowing us to communicate easily. Well, as long as I remembered to stay back enough for her to see my hands. Before that, in order to use a phone, deaf people had to use special equipment and call into a translator who would then call and relay the message for them. Options like that were still available and when calling people outside the deaf community Kylie sometimes had to use it, but with features like texting those times were rare.

“ Lauren? Are you there? ” she signed, catching my attention.

“ Sorry. Where are you? I thought you were coming back here to sleep. ”

“ I was, but it was late, and Autumn and I swapped assigned roommates so we could be together. ”

That warmed my heart to hear. She made a friend. It took a weight off my shoulders, and I knew I could go home more easily now.

Mate, my wolf growled in my head at the thought.

More easily where Kylie was concerned. I feared Denny may be a whole different battle.

“ But you're okay? ” I signed.

“ Great .”

She genuinely looked happy.

“ What's on the agenda today? ”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “ I thought you had it memorized. ”

She was right. I did, but now I couldn't remember a damn thing on it.

“ Just refresh my memory. ”

She laughed. “ Free day to roam campus. There will be volunteers out to talk with. They are everywhere. ”

“ Did you have breakfast yet? ”

The look on her face made me laugh.

“ Lauren, it's almost noon. We're heading over to the cafeteria for lunch. ”

Another face appeared over her shoulder. Autumn.

“Hi Lauren. Want to meet us for lunch?” she asked.

I looked down at my pajamas and blushed.

“Um, sure. I'll need a few minutes to get ready.”

Kylie turned toward her and made some weird gestures that were not normal signs, but even from her back I saw the classic motion of sleeping and knew she was making fun of me sleeping in late just in a way that Autumn could understand.

Then she turned back to me and used ASL instead. “ Well, come on if you're coming. ”

“ You want me to? ”

“ Yes. I need a translator. The gang wants to talk to the teacher about offering basic ASL so they can understand me better. Everyone from yesterday wants to do it. ”

Tears pricked my eyes, but I didn't wipe them away, trying not to draw attention to it.

“I'll be there soon.” I was signing and speaking now that I knew Autumn was there listening in too.

Disconnecting the call, I moved quickly, taking a fast shower and getting dressed. I didn't want to waste time drying my hair, so instead I just threw it up into a messy bun, grabbed my purse, and left.

The drive over to the school was short. I was good with directions and understood the layout after yesterday's tour. I easily found the cafeteria and parked as close to it as possible.

When I got out of the car, I took a deep inhale of breath.

Mate! my wolf excitedly announced.

I looked all around me before I even realized what I was doing. And then I froze. Denny was walking toward me like he'd known I was going to be there or something. But he also didn't seem to see me there as he was too busy talking and laughing with the Alpha from Alaska and his mate that were on the tour with us yesterday.

I watched them for a moment. They looked like old friends with Denny showing no trace of unease around the Alpha. In my experience Alphas could be intimidating, especially to those outside their Pack. Did that mean Denny was an Alaskan wolf? I was pretty sure he hadn't mentioned it yesterday.

It was obvious the moment he realized I was there.

Our eyes met across the parking lot, and it felt as if the whole world faded in the background, only leaving the two of us to exist in that moment.

Oh shit! This is going to be harder than I imagined .

He waved. There was something dorky but endearing about him. It made me smile and my hand seemed to wave back of its own accord.

He said something to the couple and then jogged over to me.

“Good morning, Lauren. I hope you slept well. Kylie was worried about how exhausted you were from the drive in. It took a lot for me not to drive over and check on you last night. And I hope you're not upset that I didn't call about Kylie staying on campus. I did text you though. You saw it, right?”

I hadn't, but I also wasn't mad about it.

Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through and found the text.

“Got it now,” I said.

“Oh shit. I should have called.”

“No, it's fine. Apparently, I needed sleep. In fact, Kylie basically woke me up less than an hour ago. They should still be at lunch.”

“Well, I'm right on time then. Damon, Karis, and I were heading there too. Care to join us?”

It felt as if I could feel his nerves. Was he afraid I'd say no?

Even if I wanted to, I wasn't sure I could. I was far too curious about him. More so than I even wanted to admit to myself.

“I'd love to,” I heard myself say.

What was happening to me?

I'd never taken interest in a guy before. My life was far too busy to waste time on dating or even dressing up to attract a man. There was simply no room in my schedule for it.

But with Kylie staying here, I honestly had no idea what to do with myself now. I knew time was no longer going to be an issue. In truth, I was going to have a lot of free time on my hands with no clue how to fill it.

I couldn't think about that right now.

Butterflies were taking up residence in my stomach as we walked side by side. When the back of his hand brushed lightly against mine a shiver ran down my spine.

All the emotions were so new to me. I didn't know if I liked them or wanted to run away and hide from them.

As we reached the cafeteria, he opened the door and allowed me to enter first as he possessively placed his hand on my lower back and escorted me inside.

What was happening to me?

My whole body felt like it was on fire from his touch, but there was a part of me that wanted to lean in for more.

As we walked in and I scanned the area, Kylie found me from across the room. She lifted her hands into the air and started shaking them back and forth. It was the equivalent of clapping and cheering, or in this case, a sure way to get my attention.

Suddenly, all of her new friends had turned and were waving their hands in the air, too.

I blushed and turned my face right into Denny's broad chest. His hand that had been on my lower back wrapped around me as he held me to him and lifted his free hand in the air to wave back at them.

“Stop it. You're embarrassing me,” I warned.

He immediately stopped.

“Sorry. I don't think they realize they're cheering for us.”

Us? I almost choked as he said the world so casually.

There wasn't an us. There couldn't be because I was headed back to New York in a few days and his place was here and then who knew where, Alaska I supposed.

He must have sensed my discomfort because he loosened his hold on me and led me over to get a plate. Then we separated to get food. He was still busy by the time I loaded mine up, so I left him and went to check on my sister.

“ What's going on? ” she signed as I was sitting down.

“ What do you mean? ”

“ They say you like Denny. Is that true? ”

“ Who says? ” I signed back, not daring to say it aloud even though I knew the others were watching and waiting like they somehow knew exactly what we were talking about.

“ Everyone. You looked cozy when you came in. ”

“ How would you know that? ”

“ My eyes work just fine. ”

She was being such a smartass, and I was hell-bent on avoiding her accusations.

My defensive posture shifted, and I began to suddenly relax. It took me a second to realize it was because Denny had just sat down next to me.

“How's it going guys? Did anyone actually manage to sleep?” he asked, taking the time to sign his questions so Kylie could easily follow along. I knew it wasn't necessary, but it was a sweet sentiment that I knew she appreciated.

“We want to talk to Professor Jones and see if she'll teach us basic ASL this semester,” Autumn said.

My heart swelled with gratitude for these kids who genuinely wanted to include my baby sister in their lives. I said a quick prayer of thanks that we were lucky enough to find them yesterday and be a part of this group.