Chapter 18

18

M y eyes went wide as yet another girl walked by in a thin tank top and barely there lace shorts. Apparently, Pajama Day was some sort of code for lingerie.

Katy snorted when she followed my gaze. “Yeah, that’s always a thing. We should've warned you.”

Almost a week had flown by since I had first shifted. A week of bonding with my pack.

Okay, mostly I was bonding with Katy and Larkin, practicing shifting, and catching up in all of my new classes. I had settled into a routine at Granite Peak that felt refreshingly normal. The beginning of the week had ushered in Fall Fest, and it was fascinating to see the school buzzing with excitement.

The students, and faculty, were all very involved in participating.

The week had kicked off with Pack Color Day on Monday, Clash Day on Tuesday, and, my personal favorite, Rainbow Day, where students wore as many colors as possible. The insane creations some people came up with were hysterical.

I had resisted all of Katy and Larkin’s urges to join in, not sure how I felt about the different themes, but I finally caved on Pajama Day, but I was glad I opted for a casual pair of red and black flannel bottoms with a black t-shirt instead of a skimpy, lacy outfit that most of the girls were prancing around in.

As was true in the shifter world, girls here were outnumbered easily three to one by guys, ensuring a lot of male attention went to the girls who opted to show more skin. That didn't bother me, but I had finally started to not be seen as the shiny new girl at school, and I was more than happy to keep as many eyes off me as possible.

I watched the girl in the matching pink lace outfit turn a corner down the hall, noting no less than a dozen pairs of hungry eyes on her.

I shrugged as I turned my attention back to my friends. “She looks cute, though.”

Katy arched a brow. “Why, Skye,” she started in a slow, southern drawl, “are you coming to play on my side of the fence?”

Larkin giggled behind me as she shut her locker, also dressed in a pair of flannel bottoms, but with a matching long sleeved top. It was baby blue with flowers and bunnies and was one hundred percent Larkin.

I smirked at the redhead with a wink. “You wish.”

Katy nodded solemnly. “I do.”

“You have a girlfriend,” I reminded her.

Katy shrugged. “Maren thinks you're hot, too. We can share.”

Larkin outright laughed, and I flushed. She was kidding ... right?

Katy threw back her head and laughed. “Face it, Skye, you're pretty fucking hot. Even if I’m positive my mom has those same jammies.” She winked at me and turned, heading down the hall in her set of silk forest green pjs.

I glanced at Larkin who grinned at me. Rolling my eyes, I put some of my books into my locker, getting out my English Lit book.

“Ladies!” Rhodes greeted, coming up behind us and throwing an arm across Larkin's shoulders.

I couldn't help but laugh every time I saw him coming. He had worn a bright yellow footed onesie today. He stood out like crazy when he walked... anywhere, really. What was even more disturbing was Ryder has opted to wear a matching one in hot pink. The sight of the tall shifter with a ton of tattoos coming at me in a pink onesie during breakfast made me choke on my orange juice.

I closed my locker and noticed Remy had come over with Rhodes, but he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt. With the exception of Pack Color Day, he hadn't seemed to care about joining in the daily dress challenges.

“Hey, Remy,” Larkin greeted. She shrugged Rhodes' arm off and barely spared him a glance. “Hey.”

My eyes met Remy's, and I winced at Larkin’s brush off.

Ever since Rhodes had announced he was taking a girl from one of the Canadian packs to the dance at lunch at the beginning of the week, Larkin had given him the cold shoulder. Breakfast the last two days had been seriously awkward. The worst part was Rhodes truly didn't seem to get why Larkin was brushing him off.

Which made Larkin even more frustrated.

“I need to get to class,” Larkin told me with a thin smile.

I saw Remy frown out of the corner of my eye. Clearly, he noticed something was going on with his friends.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll meet you later? Same spot?”

“What spot?” Rhodes asked curiously. “I want to come to the spot.”

The spot was the copse of trees on the edge of the property that Katy and Larkin and I had been using to work on my shifting.

“You can’t,” Larkin said sharply.

Rhodes blinked and took a step back. “Why not?”

“Girl time,” I said quickly, flashing him a weak smile.

Rhodes grinned unabashedly at me. “You know I love girl time.”

I scrambled for another excuse. “Larkin and Katy have been helping me catch up on my classes and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Remy said suddenly, snapping his fingers. “Katy mentioned you guys have put together some kind of study group.”

I smiled at him, grateful for the assist. The secretive smile he returned made my stomach flip in the best way possible.

In the last week I had gotten closer to Katy and Larkin, but I had also gotten to see more sides of Remy. From him settling a fight between younger shifters from different packs to the way he was almost revered around GPA. There were other alphas on campus, but even they seemed to seek out Remy when they needed help.

I still wasn't sure why he had seemed so bothered coming out of Elias' office, and even this past weekend when we were all hanging out at the cabin with a few others from the pack, Remy stayed in his study with the doors closed most of the time.

Katy and Rhodes both said it happened from time to time, but I could sense both of them were a little concerned.

“Exactly. Studying,” Larkin said. She flashed a smile at Rhodes that was anything but genuine. “We all know that’s the last thing on your mind.”

Rhodes was still frowning at Larkin as she turned and walked away down the hallway. After she disappeared from sight, he turned and looked at us. “Am I missing something?”

I wasn't sure what to say until Remy grinned at his friend and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “All the time, man.”

Rolling his eyes, Rhodes shrugged off Remy's hand with a huff. “Whatever. I'll catch you guys later.”

Remy and I started walking towards English Lit. It was definitely my favorite class, and when I was actually being honest with myself, a lot of it was because of the alpha walking next to me.

We slid into our usual seats in the back row, and I glanced up to see Andy hurrying down the aisle.

My eyes went wide when he tripped over a backpack on the floor and almost went flying before stopping in front of my desk. Remy leaned back with an amused smile, but I could see him glance at me, checking to make sure I was good.

A herd of butterflies took flight in my tummy.

It felt nice to have someone care.

Who was I kidding? It felt nice to know Remy cared.

It was getting harder and harder to hide the fact that I had my first crush from Mom when she called.

“Hey, Remy,” Andy said with a nod, making sure to greet the alpha first. Then he turned to me and gave me a soft smile. “Hi, Skye.”

“Hey, Andy. How's it going?” Remy replied nonchalantly.

The smaller shifter shrugged. “Not bad. Hey! I heard you're going to the dance with Natalie! Good for you.”

Remy stiffened slightly beside me before nodding. “Yeah, she's cool.”

All the blood in my body drained from my head, pooling like ice water in my gut.

He had a date? When had this happened?

It wasn't like we were best friends or anything—definitely not anything—but wouldn't he have mentioned taking someone to the dance tomorrow night? Or wouldn’t Katy have mentioned it?

Then again… why did I care?

I was still trying to sort out my emotions on this when I looked up and realized Remy and Andy were staring at me.

Shit. I had missed whatever they said.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized with a sheepish shrug, desperate to downplay the roiling emotions in my heart. “What was that?”

Andy cleared his throat with a blush. “I asked if, um, you might want to come to the dance tomorrow? With me?”

My eyes went wide and the pen I held slipped from my fingers. “Go to the dance? With you?”

He nodded slowly, and I could see him bracing himself for rejection.

I glanced at Remy, who sat there with a completely neutral expression, staring at the front of the classroom like he hadn’t heard a single word.

“Sure,” I answered slowly as I looked back at Andy. I bit down on my lower lip hard, not sure if I was giving the right answer or not.

Andy's eyes went wide, an incredulous grin breaking out. “Really? O-okay, wow! That's awesome.”

I heard Remy snort lightly under his breath, but he was still a block of concrete when I checked him from the corner of my eye.

“So, do you want me to pick you up at your dorm?” Andy pressed. He gave me a big smile. “I can escort you in, my lady.”

Remy stifled a barely disguised laugh, morphing it into a cough at the last second.

“Actually, how about if we meet there?” I countered weakly, trying to ignore the awkwardness. “I’m not sure if Larkin is going with anyone, and I don't want to make her go in solo.”

Andy bobbed his head, understanding. “I get it. I'll bring some of my friends. Maybe she'll hit it off with one of them.”

“Sounds great,” I replied, not sure if Larkin was good that I had basically just wrangled her into a date, too. Several guys had asked, but she said no to each of them. I think she had been secretly hoping Rhodes would ask her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Andy said quickly. After a beat, he suddenly reached down and gave me an awkward, but fast, side hug. I barely had time to react and process what was happening before he was heading back to his seat across the room.

We still had a few minutes before class started, and this was usually my favorite time. Remy and I would chat about anything – books we were reading or had read. He would sometimes tell me about growing up in Blackwater or hilarious stories about the pack.

But right now he was still impersonating a statue. The sudden, stark silence hanging heavily between us felt awkward and off. Even my wolf wasn't happy about it.

As my shifting abilities had grown, so had my bond with her. Most times I knew exactly how she felt.

And right now? She felt annoyed and frustrated.

Me, too, girl.

Unable to take the weird silence, I finally asked, “Are you okay?”

Remy's head turned and he fixed those beautiful brown eyes on me. “Of course.”

“Oh. All right,” I murmured, looking away.

Remy cleared his throat. “Andy's a good guy,” he said, somewhat begrudgingly. “You two will have fun together.”

Then why did it sound like he was chewing broken glass to get those words out?

“Thanks.” My words were soft. “And you'll have fun with Natalie.”

Of course he would.

The shifter from Quebec was in our grade, lithe and willowy with pale blonde hair that looked like a silk curtain. From everything I had seen she was as kind as she was beautiful.

They would make a striking couple.

My heart clenched painfully.

“Yeah,” he replied absently. “Natalie's a great girl.”

“Yeah,” I echoed.

Thankfully the teacher came in and started class, but we didn't look at each other or speak to each other again for the rest of class.

And that made me even more sad for a reason I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Or wouldn't put my finger on.