The Lycans Nextdoor

5

Brandon

Four seven eleven. Four seven eleven. Four seven eleven.

I tapped my fingers against the tabletop, trying to focus. I didn’t know what it was, but something about this British weirdo deeply unsettled me. Not only did she live next door, now she was at our school.

She had a face you could not forget. I barely cared about remembering people the first time we met, especially if it was a flimsy encounter like the one we had at the airport.

Yet suddenly I wanted to know everything about her. Her past records and all. Why was she here? Who moves to a new country in their senior year?

I didn’t wait for the rest of the assembly. I quietly excused myself and walked to the student records office. I owned a key—illegally, of course—to be able to do things like this and also to make sure my record was not tainted by the silly little mistakes the principal loved to not ignore.

I pushed open the door, ignoring the CCTV camera. I was just going to erase the clip as soon as I was done.

The first thing I did was check my records to be sure it was still as stainless as always—weird, I know. People had always said I had narcissistic tendencies.

I thought not.

I wasn’t self-centered at all. I was kind and charming and I loved to help people.

Wait. That was probably what a narcissist would say.

I scoffed, then moved to the real reason I was here—finding the new girl’s record. I didn’t even know her name, but it would still be pretty easy to find. It was new.

I pulled out the only new file I could find from the middle and flipped it open.

Maxine Hannah Holmes.

British, just like I guessed.

I didn’t care about her birthday, so I went straight to her past academic records and grades.

Straight A’s.

Hmmm. Impressive.

She was on a 3.9 and 4.2 weighted. Excellent. Not as excellent as me, of course, but finally I could use the intellectual stimulation.

I just hoped she wasn’t as boring and uninteresting as the rest of the nerds in this school. That was why I didn’t date. The nerds were so dry and the interesting ones didn’t care about their grades.

I needed the intellectual attraction.

I shouldn’t be thinking about attraction. It was a distraction.

I smirked at the rhyme and shoved Maxine’s folder back in place, then left like I had never been there.

Assembly should be ending soon, so instead of going back, I headed for my locker to take out the assignments I had helped my brothers and friends write.

The trouble I had gone through to write four assignments in different ways so they didn’t look like they were written by the same person. Then I had studied their past work to create seamless mistakes because I was too perfect to make mistakes.

They did me favors in return when I needed them. Like telling me if a girl’s boobs were pretty enough to suck when I got the offers.

I passed them the papers as they approached me, the rest of the students swarming back into the hall behind them.

“Claudia, great boobs, smells great and is very clean,” Johnny said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I know. Been with her a couple times,” I replied.

I knew sarcasm, but I liked responding anyway.

Actually Claudia was my favorite. I had almost made her my exclusive at some point.

I walked away from them because we barely took classes together. Just Dustin and I took most classes together, but he could not handle or didn’t want to handle my advanced classes.

I checked my watch and winced when I saw 9:42.

I should have waited two more f*****g minutes. 9:44 made a better time.

Living with obsessive compulsive disorder made it hard to look at the time because what if I hated the numbers and it upended my day?

I wasn’t going to attend my first class. It was calculus, and I hated classes where I didn’t learn anything. So instead I retreated to my private spot at the library.

It was wrong, but I didn’t care about what was right most of the time.

Claudia appeared next to me.

“You are supposed to be in class,” I said to the she-Lycan whose wolf my wolf detected was very horny at the moment.

I wasn’t even her mate, yet the thought of being with me made her melt.

“You have a busy day today. I didn’t want to miss your free time. Plus, you could tutor me later,” she said.

I rolled my eyes. She was actually a good student thanks to me. Not as much as Maxine Hannah Holmes, but she was very easy to teach.

“Fine,” I said, and we both slipped into the library before anyone saw.

She took off her shirt and straddled me before taking off her bra. Her t**s sat pretty and full with pink n*****s. I held her waist and pulled her closer, wrapping my lips around them and sucking. Her fingers sank into my hair as her moans slipped out, low and sexy.

I would usually get hard immediately, but it didn’t happen.

I continued. Still nothing.

Fuck.

That could only mean one thing.

Prince has found our mate and I had seen her.

I had seen multiple girls that day. It could have been a new student or it could have been an old one who had recently turned eighteen and found her wolf.

My next class was one I loved to be in. It was the highest mathematics class my school could offer.

AP Calculus BC.

I slipped into class quietly and took the exact same seat I always sat in—alone.

I rested my head on the table. My wolf, Prince, was restless.

We had agreed to be docile and calm in school, so I didn’t know what was going on. I was going to put a bet on the mate thing though.

I could be wrong.

It was hard to tell. It was a school filled with a mix of humans, werewolves, Lycans and international students. We might both just be irritated.

I heard the teacher’s shoes when he walked in, but I didn’t lift my head until someone slid into the seat next to me.

It was a two-seater chair that was very close. I hated being so close to random people.

I looked up.

I gritted my teeth as Prince growled internally.

“Oh my f*****g god, would you please just get out of my life? Why are you everywhere?” I grunted when I saw Maxine in my seat.

She was new, so I understood she didn’t know no one sat with me.

She didn’t look offended at all. In fact, she just stared at me and suddenly started to giggle.

“What’s funny?” I asked.

“How you seemed very worked up by me is what it’s funny,” she said.

“Find a different seat,” I bit out.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Do you know the concept of having friends besides your brothers?” she asked.

“Why would I want to be your friend?” I crunched up my nose irritatedly.

I didn’t know if I wanted to strangle her or kiss her.

Up close she was very beautiful, smooth glowing glass skin and very charming blue eyes framed by long thick lashes. Her dark brown hair was in a slick-back ponytail, long and thick. Thin bangs fell over her face in just the perfect way that soothed my OCD.

She had a face you would pay for simply for being beautiful.

Prince was extremely unsettled again. I bounced my leg on the ground trying to calm him—and myself.

Four seven eleven. Four seven eleven. Four seven eleven.

I liked the shape of her lips. They appeared full and softly defined. The upper lip had a gentle Cupid’s bow, giving it a delicate curve, while the lower lip was slightly fuller, a natural plush look.

I would have actually broken my no-dating rule for her if she wasn’t human.

I can’t date humans.

“I’m smart, beautiful, intelligent, kind and highly resourceful,” she said, her British accent thick.

I liked it.

I scoffed with a smirk. “Say lopsided,” I asked, wanting her to say it in her accent.

“What?”

“Lopsided. Say it.”

She didn’t like that I was giving her a command, but she did it anyway.

“Lopsided.”

It suited my nerves to hear it.

“What’s your name?”

“Say ‘f*****g river’ and I will tell you,” I said.

She rolled her eyes at me. I liked that too.

“f*****g river—Bran don’t make fun of my accent because I will kill you,” she said.

I smiled.

“So you knew my name? I wasn’t making fun of it. I like it.”

“I just know Bran. Is it short for something—”

“Brandon.”

I badly wanted to sniff her scent, so I did. I took a deep sniff.

Fuck.

She smelled warm but cold, jasmine and peach. Like you were juicing a cold peach in warm weather.

“Would anyone like to come up and solve this?” the teacher asked.

No one answered.

Maxine stood up, probably trying to divert the awkwardness, then she went to the board and attempted to solve the equation.

It was a really hard one. I didn’t think she could do it.

But then she did.

And it gave me a f*****g b***r.

Urghhh. I had been craving an intellectual attraction for so long. This is so much better than sucking t**s.

Prince was trying to tell me something.

Just get it out, Prince, I snapped.

Maxine walked back to her seat as the class clapped.

“Why aren’t you clapping? Are you intimidated by me?” she asked.

“No, Butterfly. I’m intrigued,” I said.

‘Mate,’ Prince growled.

And the blood drained from my face.