Chapter 8

Lauren

It was weird how close I felt to Denny, like I could confide anything to him. I don't know what possessed me to open up to his friends like that. Maybe it was a Pack Mother thing that caused me to tell her my story even knowing the rest of the table was listening.

I didn't need sympathy in my life. I may have been young, but it had always been my choice to protect Kylie and myself. She wasn't a burden or anything. She was an incredible person that I had the privilege of helping raise. I'd never once resented doing what I'd done. Family takes care of each other. That's just what we do.

People look at us and think I was the one that gave everything up for her, but they don't know how much it helped me as well. Losing our parents so suddenly would have destroyed me if I hadn't had my little sister to focus on. Sure, I was terrified. What kid wouldn't be? But I'd channeled all of that into making sure she got the care she needed.

Who would I even be without her?

I didn't know. I probably would have been a troubled kid with a lot of anger inside if I were being honest with myself. I'd had to dispel my anger over the years knowing it wasn’t healthy for Kylie. But if I’d been left all alone in this world, I had no doubt my anger would have consumed me.

I was a far better person because of her.

But people never looked at things that way. When they look at Kylie, they see someone lacking because she can't hear and if she tries to speak it comes out a little different. They easily dismiss her when they shouldn't. It pisses me off.

When she asked to go to Gallaudet University, I'd gotten scared. I could feel her pulling away from me. She'd been fighting shifting, claiming it made her feel scared. Wolves relied on their hearing and she was deaf. That did make her more vulnerable, but I knew if she just spent more time in her fur that she would learn to adapt just as she had in human form.

But even more than that, she adjusted better to the deaf community than her own Pack. I thought if she was immersed into the shifter community in the same way she had been immersed into the deaf community for high school that she would have a better life experience. She couldn't ignore her animal instincts forever.

Driving across the country had been taxing. She was angry with me, and I knew it. Ultimately, it hadn't been entirely my decision. Our Alpha had made the final choice for her, taking that burden from me. But that didn't mean Kylie wasn't aware of where I stood on the issue.

I was just relieved to see her happy here. We'd been so lucky to fall into this group where these kids were ready to embrace her.

And then there was Denny. He wasn’t fighting this bond between us. Instead, he was embracing it. It made me nervous because I had no idea what to expect. When he touched me, it was a mix of warmth and comfort but also a jolting excitement of awareness. I liked it. It made me curious for more.

I was so out of my element.

His arm had still been around me when Kylie linked hers through mine and pulled me away from him.

Denny hadn't complained, though. He'd just followed behind us.

His presence made me feel safe in a way I had never known or knew I needed. Maybe needed wasn't the right word, more like wanted in my life.

I still didn't know much about him, so I couldn't honestly say I was open to having him in my life. However, I was open to learning more and seeing how things went.

If Kylie had noticed, she didn't acknowledge it. I was kind of thankful for that because I didn't think it had quite sunk in that this man was meant to be my mate yet. But then again, it felt as if I'd known him forever.

“Professor Jones is supposed to be in her office today,” Troy said. “If we can catch her there maybe we can convince her to hold a free class for conversational ASL if we can't all make her class work in our schedules.”

“I like that idea,” Mark said.

“I never thought I'd be okay with taking on extra work, but I think it'll be worth it,” Jett added.

“This is important,” Autumn said. “Are you up for this too, Oscar?”

“Pretty sure it was my idea.”

“So we're all in agreement then.”

“If she needs more interest to make this happen, I'll open it up to the doghouse. My brothers will want to learn this too.”

I turned to look at Denny. Was he being serious?

“You really think they'd be interested?”

“Yeah, I'm sure they would.”

I reached out and grabbed his arm and squeezed. The contact just felt so natural, which was weird because while most wolves craved touch, I had never been a touchy feely sort of person.

Kylie watched our interaction closely but didn't say anything.

Mark knocked on the door labeled Professor Jones. A pretty blonde opened the door and for some reason I didn't fully understand, I stepped in front of Denny. This caused him to run into me, his arms wrapping around my waist to keep himself from falling.

His touch soothed me and helped calm my wolf, who clearly did not like him being in the presence of this woman.

Before he could move his arms, I reached down and held him to me.

It did not go unnoticed as Kylie watched us closely.

“ What's going on? ” she signed.

This caught the attention of the professor but also drew her attention to my mate. She perked up and smiled.

“Denny. I thought tours were coming through yesterday.”

“Yes, ma'am. This is my group, and they have a question for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“What can I do for you young people?”

I started to relax a bit when she turned her attention away from my mate. I knew Denny had to have noticed because my grip on his hand eased, though even when I relaxed and let go of him, he kept his arm possessively around me.

Kylie waved to get my attention. “ What is she saying? ”

Admittedly, I hadn't been paying attention. It was hard to concentrate while in his arms.

I took a step forward to put a little distance between us so I could hear what was being said.

“I think what you all want to do is great. But I'm sorry to say that I've accepted a new position and won't be teaching here this year.”

“What?” Denny asked. “Are you serious?”

“I am. I wish you'd all shown up sooner. There simply wasn’t enough interest in ASL this semester to justify keeping the program.”

I signed what she said to Kylie who became visibly upset.

“ But you said there would be kids here who studied ASL. ”

“ I know what I said. That's what they told me. ”

As we went back and forth discussing it, everyone stopped and watched us.

“ Are you deaf? ” the professor asked Kylie.

She started to make an inappropriate gesture. I could see it in her eyes. I clamped my first two fingers against my thumb in warning. Pausing, she rolled her eyes and simply replied, “ Yes .”

“ Thank you, ” I quickly motioned to her.

“Are you going to be attending Archibald Reynolds this semester? Or just here with your family?” Professor Jones asked and signed.

“ I'm enrolled here. ”

“And you all want to learn ASL?” she asked while continuing to sign for Kylie's benefit.

“Yes ma'am,” Oscar said. “All of us.”

“ Will you require translation for classes? ” she asked Kylie.

My sister shrugged.

“We don't know yet,” I explained for her. “She’s very good at reading lips but college courses may be too fast paced or if a professor teaches with his back to the class, then she might require assistance. I was assured this wouldn't be a problem.”

“I heard rumors last semester that we were getting a deaf student, but no one confirmed that with me. When I saw my class registry, I was disappointed at such low attendance this year.”

“We didn't know to sign up for it,” Mark said.

“I didn’t even know I'd want to learn it until we met Kylie yesterday,” Jett said.

Professor Jones smiled at them proudly.

“I don't know if it's too late or not. Let me put in some phone calls and see what we can do.”

We left there trying to stay optimistic, but I could see how defeated they all looked.

“Guys, don't worry. Lauren and I can teach you the basics so you can all talk to Kylie,” Denny said.

“ Lauren is a great teacher, ” Kylie signed.

“What is that first sign? Is it for you?” Denny asked. “It sort of looks like Mom only with an L.”

I smiled so broadly my cheeks hurt. “Only a deaf person can give you a name sign. That's mine. She was eight when she gave it to me, claiming I was like a mother but Lauren, so she took the sign for Mom and did it with an L and that’s become my name.”

“ That's so cool. What's mine? ” he asked Kylie.

She laughed and shook her head.

“She doesn’t know you well enough for that.”

“Maybe,” Denny said. “Or more like she doesn't know me well enough—yet.”

I shook my head. He oozed confidence.

“Can we start tonight?” Troy asked.

“Yeah, I need to know how to ask Kylie on a date,” Jett said.

“Hey, I was going to ask her out,” Troy argued.

“I think we should probably make a pact that none of us get to date Kylie,” Oscar said. “But we all have to watch out for her and help her integrate into life here.”

“I like how you think, Oscar,” I said proudly.

He smiled and then winked at Jett.

“Asshole. Sucking up to her sister is low even for you,” Jett argued.

“Hey, seriously though, I think we may need to put a Kaitlyn pact in place,” Denny said.

“What's a Kaitlyn pact?” Troy asked.

“I know. My Alpha put it into place through the code of brothers. She was like a little sister to him, and he made the whole fraternity take an oath to protect her while making her completely off-limits. Karis says they took it too far and threatened anyone who even looked her way.”

“I like this pact,” I said.

Kylie growled at me for it, even though I hadn’t been dumb enough to sign it.

It always amazed me just how good she'd gotten at reading lips.

I just shrugged. “ Well, I do. You should be concentrating on your studies, not boys. ” That time I did sign to her, earning me a typical teenage huff in reply.

“What happened to Kaitlyn?” Jett asked.

“She found her true mate and she's now Pack Mother of a small Pack in British Columbia,” Denny told them.

“So, if we're not in line for Alpha we don’t stand a chance with Kylie. Is that basically the moral of this story?” Troy asked.

I laughed. “I'm okay with that.”

“They were true mates. Trust me when I say, it's fine to have fun while you're here, but somewhere out there is your one true mate and she's worth the wait, fellas.”

My cheeks warmed at his words.

“Whatever,” Troy said. “My brother found his true mate. Not Will, our older brother.”

“Definitely not me,” Will chimed in. He'd been quiet, staying in the back but hanging out with the others. I knew from yesterday's tour that he wasn't going to school here and was just in town to support his twin and help him settle in. “I would be okay with never finding my true mate. But if I have to, I hope it's a long, long time from now. I'm going to be a cowboy, and a mate would just get in the way of my dreams of being head rancher someday.”

“You can still do that with a mate, can't you?” Oscar asked.

“Yes, but it'll be easier without because I'll be away on the range a lot.”

“Well, not to change the subject, but I talked to housing today,” Autumn announced. “I'm trying to see if it's possible for Kylie and I to room together this year. Apparently, I've been put in a triple with two other girls, so if one of them doesn't mind switching to Kylie's assigned room and the other is okay with her moving in or if her assigned roommate would be okay to switch with me, then we can stay together.”

The two girls clung to each other, and I knew they would make great roommates. I said a quick prayer that it all worked out.

“Do you already know your roommates’ names?” Troy asked.

“Yeah, but only because I inquired about it first thing this morning,” she admitted.

“Jett and I are rooming together,” Oscar said.

Troy huffed. “I wish Mark and I could room together.”

“We could try asking,” the boy offered.

Troy shrugged. “I guess it couldn't hurt, huh?”

“Worst they can do is say no,” Mark said.

“Cool. Let's do it.”

“They're already closed for the day, so just wait until morning,” Autumn told them.

“But they did tell you your roommate’s names?”

“Yeah. Some girls named Alicia and Bridget. They didn’t tell me anything more than that. But I do know that Kylie's roommate is a Collier wolf. They thought it was important for her transition here to be with a wolf.”

“We're from Collier,” Troy reminded us. “What's her name?”

“Caroline.”

“Yes!”

“If it doesn't work out, then that's cool at least. Caroline's my best friend. She’s been in Europe with her family all summer. She won't be back in the country until next week. She’s hoping to do a semester abroad either next semester or first semester next year, so if it doesn't work out this semester, maybe next. She's the best. You're really going to love her,” Will said.

“There's this place just off campus my dad told me about called One-Eyed Jacks. Why don't we go hang out there and talk?” Oscar said.

“Yeah.”

“Sounds great.”

“You can always hang out at the doghouse,” Denny said.

“Maybe next time,” Mark told him.

As a group they turned to walk away, Kylie included. I started to follow, but she turned back and shook her head.

I stopped and nodded. My eyes burned with more unshed tears.

Standing there watching her walk away made me feel lonely and empty inside.

Or at least it did until Denny's arms wrapped around my waist. I leaned back against his chest, letting him hold me as I battled all the emotions coursing through me.