Running From A Wolf

Chapter 11.

"Coach." Ryan was already at the shotgun seat. I sprang forward to defend myself. "I didn't do anything. I didn't even misbehave! I was just minding my own business before those-"

"You have training tomorrow," Ryan sounded pissed. "Shouldn't you be packing to move into the campus dorms?"

"Uh," I gulped. "I was planning to pack after I went back home."

"Listen here, kid." I tried not to let that comment get to me, since he wasn't much older than I was. "You are a trainee on probation. Until the time you prove yourself to me, you're not allowed to attend any gatherings."

"I didn't know that," I bit my lip. "Seems a little extreme, especially since you didn't really choose me as your trainee."

"You mean to say that you don't want to train under me."

I took a deep breath. "No offense, sir. You're way beyond my league and I should be flattered that you selected me, but you just did that because you wanted to prove a point. Not because you wanted me for... For me."

He twisted in his seat to look at me. For a moment, it hit me that he was indeed too young to be an Expert, maybe in his mid twenties while most were qualified for the title in their thirties. His dark eyes locked on mine. "Why do you assume that I don't want to train you? That I don't see your potential?"

I froze. "You do?"

"You're the top scorer of the year. One among three students who qualified in the first round of examinations, and you're the highest among the three. With the unusual face paint of yours, you are very notorious."

"That's my makeup," I groaned, but my cheeks heated. "And yes, I wasn't very welcome in most clubs during school due to my shifter species, so I spent the time studying instead. Helped me with my grades, but my popularity is surely lacking."

"You're a cat."

"Ahem, yes."

"So, what type of cat are you? There are many breeds. Are you a wild feline?"

I winced. "Well, I don't know. I won't know until my kitten transforms on my eighteenth birthday. But my shifter aptitude isn't very convincing."

"What does that mean?"

"I'll probably be a type of housecat."

He faced forward again. I fidgetted awkwardly, tensing in the uncomfortable silence. Faint noise reached us through the windows, and I watched from the tinted windows of the backseat as a few familiar faces ran past the cars, giggling and hollering as they raced naked.

"Kids these days," Ryan huffed, his fingers sliding through his curls when a bare skinned blonde flashed at us, posing with her curves out. "No modesty whatsoever."

"You don't look that much older, grandpa," I snorted. "Besides, we're shifters. Shouldn't you be used to seeing exposed bits regularly as an instructor?"

"I'm twenty six," he growled as a dude twerked on the bumper, arching in a suggestive way. Ryan slammed his hand on the horn and the guy jumped, paling when he squinted and saw Ryan's face. Then, he raced off too. "And while nudity is a common occurrence, why would I even watch them before they shift."

"To each their own," I laughed.

"You've got a mouth on you."

"So I've heard." My mind flashed with images of a tall, handsome Alpha with his wolf canines bared. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Because I can?"

"Then why are you sitting here in the car with me? I doubt you came here just to catch me. And where's Frayer?"

A strange glint shone in the reflection of his eyes, but it was gone almost immediately. He hesitated for a moment, like he was choosing his words, but before he could speak, a shadow approached us.

Frayer got into the driver seat and buckled his seatbelt without a word. He turned to the side and blinked when my head popped between the two of them, his eyes lingering on the black mole I had drawn on my cheek with my eyeliner.

"Where were you?"

Frayer glanced at Ryan. "That's not your business."

"But why would you come to a party, with him, nonetheless," I point at Ryan, ignoring his glare, "but not even spend some time?"

"Go to the campus," Ryan ordered. "We're done for the night."

"Wait!" I leaned forward. "My best friend and the car. I can't leave them behind."

"Your best friend is your car?" Frayer asked.

"No! My best friend and her car. I had to drive her back. She was drinking. How is she supposed to go back alone?"

"Can't you get someone else to escort her?"

"No. I'm the only one she trusts."

The two of them exchanged annoyed looks. Irritation made me grit my teeth but I stayed silent. They didn't have to act like I had dumped a problem on their heads. None of this would have happened if they hadn't butted their noses into my business.

"Frayer." Ryan unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Understood." Frayer did the same. To my surprise, he got out of the car and walked away, the door closing behind him.

To my further astonishment, Ryan climbed over the console, his massive figure folding gracefully into the driver's seat. I continued to stare as he buckled the belt again and ran the engine.

"Sir."

"Yes?"

"Are you seriously driving me to the campus?"

He frowned, reversing the car in a smooth maneuver that had me melting. "You're troublesome."

I sighed, choosing to ignore the jab. "Frayer will escort her home, then?"

"Tell your friend that Frayer will be sending her back." Ryan hit the accelerator and we moved between the trees. "Send her number to him, too."

I nodded and did as he said. Soon, we were heading to the campus.

I sat silently with my head against the window. A light drizzled had begun and my absent gaze followed the drop trails.

I would usually have put up more of a fight, but I was mentally exhausted. The orientation day was over at last. Not only had I been qualified as a student, I had been recruited under an Expert. I had planned to keep a low profile, which should have been easier than in school, because Bluedale University was one of the best shifter universities in our Realm. The place was literally filled with the best and most powerful of creatures.

Yet, I had been mocked, taunted, and humiliated publically. Tomorrow would be a new day, but gossip about my less than elegant entrance would spread like fire, and I would be famous yet again. But for all the wrong reasons. The bullying would probably start from tomorrow too. I should have known better than to wish for some semblance of normality when I had a talent for being disliked.

I felt so cold. But it wasn't much different than how I usually felt. My mind wandered around with thoughts of the past and the present. Figures flashed and screams echoed in my head. But they didn't register.

I just stopped thinking.

~•~

"What happened back there?"

The girl in the backseat startled at the question. "What do you mean?" Her botchy makeup couldn't hide her nervousness.

Ryan rolled his eyes. His patience had been tested time and again by this wreck of a girl, and it had barely been a day since she entered his territory. "Before I interrupted you. What happened?"

"Nothing," she scoffed. "Just a few kids from school. Except for them, everything was going fine tonight."

Ryan looked doubtful. The university's gossip mill overworked itself during major events, such as parties, competitions, battles, and selections. Most of them had been bits and pieces of inconsequential news, such as suspected rivalry, and lewd intrigue. But this girl had dropped into their midst like a flash bomb, catching the entire teaching faculty off guard.

Kelsie Kiara. A cat shifter. Ryan had never met any of her kind before. Although she seemed too weak and breakable, she held a fire within her. A fire of passion. Even when she disrespected him, he saw her determination to become stronger. Every instructor, be it an Expert, an Elder, or a Trainer, had wanted to lay claim to her and grab this prodigy as their own recruit. Her results, aptitude, and potential were off the charts, and he had been eagerly to recruit her too. To mould her into a warrior, just like he had trained several of the fiercest shifters in the Realm.

He had not expected her to make her grand entrance through the noise and clamour like she did. Many hated her, and those who didn't were halfway there when they saw her own classmates mocking her. He had stepped forward to distract the crowd from her, but then she had fought back. She had challenged him, refusing to bow her head to the stronger predator.

And that had him hooked. He wanted that fire, that resistance. He had to ensure that her flame was never extinguished. The world could use more warriors, and that was what he would make of her. He swore it, even as he glared at her dismissively.

But then, he saw her seated on a car by the lakeside, almost hidden behind the trees. Her grotesque foundation was twisted into a snarl as more of those pesky school kids surrounded her like dogs in a street fight. She had held out on her own, of course. But the pride he felt at her dispersed the longer those dogs spewed obscenities at her.

She was his trainee. She was his recruit. To him, every student who accepted him as their Master, was his to protect. And that included her. Especially when he caught a glint of darkness in her eyes. Like she was... Lonely.

Almost an hour later, Ryan watched as Kelsie waved goodnight and ran into her flat. She had convinced him to drop her home, after all, with promises to make her own way back to campus. His brows were scrunched up in thought, wondering how to get beneath her skin and make her into an impenetrable shield. With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and drove away.

In his distraction, he failed to notice a cold figure watching him from a black Maybach parked across the street.