Chapter Nine

"Then tell us how you—" Minx started, but a buzzer rang out above us. "Shoot. We have to get to homeroom. But more later, okay?"

I nodded. Each of them hugged me, and Kiki whispered in my ear that none of what happened to me was my fault and she was glad I escaped. I appreciated the reassurance. Until Angie showed me the DNA results, I thought myself an only child. Father never mentioned another heir, so I assumed his efforts in having a son were all failures. Already, there was a connection between us. Akin to the bond I had with Angie but stronger.

Finishing off my coffee, even though it was now cold, I walked my tray to the place where everyone else deposited theirs. With my schedule plucked from my pocket, and its handy map, I saw that my homeroom was only one floor down and down the hallway a bit.

A wave of nervousness made me regret the coffee and the breakfast, but I had to take these steps to claim my life.

I felt silly with an empty backpack on one shoulder, but I expected to receive books and other materials that I wouldn't just hold in my hands.

As much as I wanted and needed to go to my first class, my feet didn't move. A cold sweat spread out along my brow and the back of my neck as tingling ran down my arms and legs. My feet were glued in place.

The only other time I'd felt like this was the moment my body crossed over the invisible boundary to the compound. The moment my life changed forever.

"You're okay," a voice to my right said. The body the voice belonged to was next to me. The warmth came from them in waves. I forced myself to look up to find Pax standing there. His eyebrows bunched. He worked his lips between his teeth and ground his jaw. "Cleo, everything is okay."

Oh. Did he sense me freaking out?

"I'm okay," I repeated his mantra back to him and to myself.

"Yes. You are. Come back." Somehow his sentence snapped me back into reality.

I sucked in a long breath and then released it. "I have to get to class," I told him, my voice ragged and gravelly from the freak-out. Gods, let that not happen again.

"I'll walk you." He didn't ask permission and, while I had only been exposed to academies and schools on Angie's laptop via Netflix, walking someone to class seemed to be a standard for boys to show they liked a girl. Heat bloomed in my cheeks and down my neck, ending somewhere on my chest.

"Are…are you sure?" I'd never been around males who weren't my father's employees and did not speak to me or even look at me directly. Especially males my age.

Maybe I'd been watching too many of Angie's shows.

"I am. Let's go before we are late."

While we walked to the elevator, Pax stayed close behind me, a tall, powerful presence. His wolf lay close to the surface, a force to be reckoned with. My father taught me to sense the power in others, to determine if another person was a threat. Not that I was able to put his teachings into practice, but Pax was no threat to me, despite his power. He was a sheathed knife. Dangerous if the time called for it but so far, he had shown me nothing but kindness.

In the elevator, he threaded his fingers with mine. Too bad it was only one floor down. I hadn't exactly held his hand back either. All of this was so new to me and before I had time to react or process one event, another one happened. I supposed this would be the way for a long time until I grew accustomed to this new life.

His touch thrilled me but also, a calmness overtook my body. Sure, my mind was a mess because a boy was touching me, but overall, I wasn't half as worried as I had been only minutes before.

"We are here." Pax pointed to the door.

"We?" I asked.

He nodded. "Me and you. Same class." Truly a man of few words.

"Oh. Thank you for walking me." I paused between every word, making me sound like a robot.

"You are welcome."

We walked into the classroom, and I instantly felt the absence of his touch.

"Good morning. You must be Ms. Wulf. I have you all checked in. Pick a seat while we go over the announcements, please."

I sat in the back, behind Pax. It was the only seat available, but I was in no way sad about his closeness. At least I knew one person in this room.