Letting go

"She is my sister, Heyes. So watch your tone." Colton warns him.

You-know-who widens his eyes a bit at that little piece of information. "You're Alistair's daughter?"

Alistair is indeed my father, alpha of the Blue Moon pack. Not that it is any of his business.

"Unless I'm adopted." I deadpan.

He narrows his eyes at me.

"How you doing, freckles?" A voice calls.

I notice then that standing beside the soul crusher is Liam, the future beta of the Shadow Pack. Poor him, having to deal with the dark lord for the rest of his long werewolf life. I also notice that I must have been in a blind rage the last time I saw him, or I would have noticed how cute he is.

"Hi Liam," I offer him a bright smile.

Aiden (I'm not afraid of his name, I simply prefer not to think/say it.) gives his friend a very angry glare. I pretend not to notice or care because I really shouldn't.

"And how the fuck do both of you know Violet, may I ask?" Colton has his eyes squinted with suspicion, looking at them with a much more unpleasant face than when they first walked in.

"You should ask Aiden that, he's the one who seems to have pissed her off..." Liam answers, basically selling out his alpha.

When the culprit stays quiet, I rapidly intervene, wanting, by all means necessary, to hide the truth from my brother. "Just a misunderstanding. It's been cleared."

I beg my heart to beat at a normal pace. It's calmed down since Aiden walked in and I don't need it to pick up again and expose my lies.

"What type of misunderstanding?" Colton insists.

"Nothing of importance, bro. Now, are you trying to delay the ultimate ass-kicking I'm giving you?" I point to the video game remote.

He doesn't seem too convinced but, thankfully, let's the subject go.

We resume playing the game and I can't help myself from looking at my would-be mate from the corner of my eye. He seems mad about something, but I'm starting to think that may just be his natural face. My body is hyperaware of his presence as we finish this round, so I'm blaming him for my lack of focus and ultimate defeat.

"Ha. Looooser," Noah teases me from the grandpa chair beside the couch.

"Shut up, Noah. I want a rematch." I complain, sulking.

"Sure, shortie. Whenever you want," he winks at me. He has always been very flirty, but I know he's not interested in me.

"Are you going to keep messing around or can we talk about important shit, knight?" The dark lord says angrily, glaring at my brother.

Jesus, the guy should smoke some weed, loosen up. (This coming from a girl who has never tried it, but whatever.)

"Chill, dude. We're done." My brother mutters, annoyed.

Between both, I'm not sure who would win in a fight. Colton is badass but Aiden seems sort of deadly as well. Thank Goddess our packs have never had any trouble.

"We're gonna talk business with her here?" Aiden has the nerve of asking.

"Violet is completely trustworthy. She's family." My brother defends me.

"I'm not saying she's not loyal. But the information we're discussing here is dangerous. What are you going to do if Tyler goes after her for it?" Aiden's tone is completely condescending.

Colton growls. "I'll kill him."

The future alpha from the Shadow pack shakes his head. "And start the war we are all trying to avoid?"

I'm very confused. "What war?"

"And who's Tyler?"

Colton sighs and looks at me. "Tyler is Josiah Dagon's son, who is the alpha of the Legion pack. He goes to Woodbridge too."

"Okay...and why the hell would there be a war?" I ask.

Surprisingly, it's Aiden who answers my question. "Legion has always been jealous of the power American packs have. Especially mine, since he and my father have a troubled past. Last year, we got intel that they are trying to start a revolution in Europe and invade our territories. Fortunately, most packs there agree that Josiah is completely mad and want nothing to do with his plan."

"Then why is this a problem? He can't beat all of us, why would he even try?"

"No one knows. But Tyler has been a lot more confident about his pack since the start of this year. He never had the guts to anger me before, now it's all he tries to do. Something changed."

"But why would the university even allow him here? And why doesn't the council intervene?"

It's the reason why it was formed, to put a stop to the many disputes that tend to grow within our race.

Colton speaks now. "It's not that simple, Vi. Samuel and dad have been trying to talk to the other alphas and make them understand that this threat is real. But they are all too full of themselves to believe a few revolted packs can cause any sort of real damage. We would agree with them, but we also believe there is something we aren't seeing. Anyway, the University can't exactly expel Tyler for something he didn't yet do."

Samuel is the alpha of the Shadow pack and, therefore, Aiden's dad. He is known to be an incredibly powerful wolf and a great leader.

"So now you know." Aiden says. "Which means you have to be careful. This year Woodbridge may not be as safe as it once was."

I feel like screaming at him to not act as if he cares. But that would be childish and pointless.

My brother puts an arm around me. "There are reasons why Dad didn't want you coming here, other than being his little girl. The only reason he let you is that Noah and I are here."

Since our pack is large in numbers, it does seem odd that there aren't more members attending Woodbridge.

"I just thought it was because of how far it is..." I confessed. "I'm even more surprised I managed to convince dad now."

"He knows we have your back," Noah assures me.

"We all do," Ryland winks at me and Aiden coughs.

I'm pretty sure he was trying to hide a growl.

The mating pull must be pushing him. Even if his human side doesn't want me, his wolf must hate to see another male flirting with me. Just like my wolf hates seeing him with Erin.

"I'm still surprised...not that I'm doubting your skills," I admit. My dad is the one my brothers copied their over-protectiveness of me from.

"He knew how excited you were to come here. Besides, he wanted you to meet new people. He knows being the only girl in the pack from your year isn't ideal."

Our pack has many kids close to my age but, unluckily, I was the only female born in my year. Female wolves aren't as common as males, so it's not such an odd occurrence.

But I missed a Cami in my life, someone exactly my age, who would be the Bonnie to my Elena. Hell, even a Caroline.

"I'm glad he let me," I say, even though my smile is sad.

Cami is amazing...but I have a long way left to heal from the wound one of the people in this room created. I think he knows it too, judging from the frown that rests on his stupid pretty face.

"Violet..." He starts like he read my thoughts about him. " Woodbridge will be safe for you."

I blush. What does that mean?

"I'll take you home, sis," Colton announces before I'm able to respond, looking between me and Aiden with a frown on his face. "Our meeting can wait 10 minutes."

"It's okay, I can go on my o-" I start to say.

"Don't be stupid. We just told you there are dangerous people in Woodbridge." Ah, there is my real true mate.

How can someone be this freaking irritating? This hot and cold scenario may even be worse than ignoring me.

But I will be the bigger person. Someone has to.

"Fine." I release through clenched teeth.

As Colton accompanies me back to the dorm buildings, we settle into a comfortable walk.

"I miss home," I confess, rubbing my arms to protect the human skin from the cold. The sun has already set, and the temperature drops a lot here, during the night.

"Me too, Vi. I always do. But it feels good to be on my own too, you know? Here I feel like I have to step up more and grow up. Back home it's easy to forget that actions have consequences, with dad and River always covering my ass." He shakes his head in amusement. "My first year was a shock, even with River here. I got into a lot of trouble."

"Really?" I scrunch my eyebrows. "You guys never told me that."

"One thing you will learn, little sister," Colton smirked. "What happens at Woodbridge stays at Woodbridge."

Laughter escapes me. "I like that."

We walk the rest of the way in silence until we reach the front door of my dorm building.

"So..." he suddenly says. "What's up with you and Hayes?"

I should have known he wouldn't let this go. He knows me too well. "I'm not ready to say," I answer honestly.

"Did he use you? Hurt you? Say the word and I can beat his ass." My brother declares fervently, before adding much more quietly "Probably."

"No, no. It's not like that." I mumble. "He has a girlfriend."

I only say the last part to get him to back off. If he thinks our issue is less personal, he is more likely to drop it.

"Alright. But I've got my eye on him." Colton warns.

"Sure, big brother." I hug him hard. "Go to your meeting before mister impatient over there starts huffing and puffing and tears your house down."

The big bad wolf.

Colton shakes his head in annoyance, muttering "Being the alpha-to-be of the Shadows is getting to his head."

I chuckle, before adding "And call mom when you can, she's being dramatic."

"Now that is something I don't miss."

"Liar." He's a total mommy's boy. I wave him goodbye as I enter the building, knowing he won't leave until I'm inside.

When I open the door to my room, I find Cami with her head resting on her desk, completely asleep.

"Cami!" I shout.

She lifts her head immediately, looking completely disoriented. "What? Why?"

I chortle and wait for her to focus on me before speaking again. "So....the dark lord showed up at my brother's place. They're sort of friends."

Her eyes widen and she gets up, coming to sit beside me on my bed. "Tell me everything."

I tell her absolutely everything, including the whole LegionvsShadow issue.

"Honey, I may just be speculating here..." she begins "but maybe that whole possible future war thing has something to do with him rejecting his true mate."

"I thought about that...but then it wouldn't make sense for him to stay with Erin."

"Okay, that's true." Cami agrees. "But I still think it's a factor."

"Honestly, Cami...I'm done wondering why he did it."

She hugs me. "I have some ice cream in my mini-fridge. You in?"

I grin. "Do you even need to ask?"