The Claiming Curse

Chapter 2

*Becca*

I’m practically sprinting down the hallway. When I finally reach my door, I struggle to get the damn thing unlocked. It’s so fickle. You’ve got to pull on the knob, insert the key, slowly wiggle the fucker, quickly turn it and push all simultaneously. Pain in the ass, yes, but at least I know no one is breaking in anytime soon.

My room is your typical college dorm, naturally cold with cinderblock walls painted a pale cream color. Only one window that doesn't open and a brown tile floor. There are two closets on the far wall with a large dresser with a built-in mirror between them.

I have done my best to make the dorm feel more like home. I placed a large round yellow carpet on the floor and a bean bag chair in the corner of the room. On my bed is a homemade quilt with a ton of colorful pillows. I even made curtains out of some old bedsheets and twinkling white Christmas lights hung around the room. On the wall, just two pictures hang. One of my family, the other a sketch of a beautiful wolf with a four-leaf clover Sean drew for me when I turned ten. He even made a frame out of twigs and branches for me, it’s one of my most cherished possessions.

I let the door slam closed behind me, tossing my bag on the spare bed. Ah, yes, I have the whole room to myself. I got lucky when my roommate transferred out three weeks into the fall semester. I stand in front of my bed, pulling my wet denim jacket off, then face planting onto the pile of pillows letting out a muffled scream. Never in my life have I let a man affect me like that guy… what’s his name, did today. Who the hell am I kidding? I know his name; I don’t think I'll ever forget it. Connor. I roll over, taking one of the pillows with me in a weak attempt to smother myself at the memory of my embarrassment. There is no use, and all I can hope is that I never see him again. I pull the pillow from my face and stare up at the ceiling. Ugh. What a f*****g day.

A tear starts to roll down my cheek as my eyes fall to the wolf on my wall. “Sean,” I whisper. Finally, after holding my emotions together all day, I lose control. Letting my tears run freely. I can’t help the sobs that rip through me. Sean was my knight in shining armor and would defend me against the monsters that would hide under my bed. As I got older, he made sure every unmated male knew not to come within ten feet of me. Ha, my guy friends used to love to drive him crazy, but then… then he died. After that happened, I slowly started to withdraw, but it was his friends that pulled me back from the brink. Even my best friend Trinity, they’ve all stuck by me.

Rolling onto my side, I pull the blanket up. I'm now committed to not leaving my room for the rest of the day. Sleep comes swiftly, but it’s short-lived. The buzzing of my cell phone makes me jump. I look down to the floor in search of the wretched device. I pick up my jacket, to “mom,” flashes across the screen as it falls from my pocket. I quickly wipe away my leftover tears, take a deep breath, and answer.

"Hey Mom, how are you?" I ask hoping that she doesn't hear the crack in my voice.

"Hello, my sweet girl. Ummm, what's wrong?"

How does she always know…? "Mom, it’s nothing. I was looking at something that reminded me of Sean.” I notice a change in her breathing. “Sometimes I can’t believe how long it’s been. Three years, damn it mom three f*****g years in a couple of days."

"Oh, my sweet child I know, but please don’t use that language with me."

"Sorry… Are you okay, mama? How is dad holding up?"

I close my eyes as she begins to speak but her voice seems so far away and in a flash, my memories bring me back to that night.

I'm in my parents' living room. Laying on the couch attempting to read Jane Eyre, but I could barely focus. My mom was in the kitchen absentmindedly making a cup of coffee, and my dad was looking through old maps at the dining room table. Sean was off at a study abroad semester in Ireland. Sean always had a sense of adventure, and this semester he was doing independent study. He was set to graduate in the spring and take over as Beta from my father. But a few days ago, we found out that Sean was missing and we really don't know what happened. Dad just keeps staring at the maps, hoping that he can remember his homeland when he leaves tomorrow.

A loud pounding on the front door startles everyone in the house. Dad jumps to his feet to answer the door, but I beat him to it. I pull the door open and gasp at the large figure standing there. The man doesn’t come in, he just hands me a letter. As I take it from him, my dad turns on the front porch light, and I realize it’s my friend Scooter. He looks like he's in a daze, staring at the envelope in my hand. It appears to be old parchment paper. It feels homemade. Odd, I thought only witches still used parchment. I look back up to ask him where this came from, but he’s gone.

I crawl up onto the couch. Turning to peer out of the window to see where Scooter went but he's nowhere in sight. My dad sits back at the table, watching me holding the envelope. “What is it, lass?” I shrug my shoulders while slowly opening it. My mom turns to get a better look but before she can, I lift the flap and a bright light, brighter than the sun, comes out. Dad yells and mom screams as they are both thrown across the house from the sheer force. I’m thrown off the couch, hitting the brick wall right next to the fireplace. Last thing I remember before the darkness consumed me was a giant hole in the side of our house and my parents screaming my name.

“Rebecca, Rebecca? Are you there? What is going on? Have you even listened to a word I’ve said?” my mom almost shouts into the phone. Startled by the volume of her voice, I blink a couple of times and I’m back in my dorm room. Weird, I’ve never remembered that night so vividly.

“Yes, mom, I’m here. I’m just very tired today.” I try to deflect her inquiries.

“Well, I’ve been trying to ask you when you think you can come home again, and there was silence on the other end of the phone.”

“I’m really sorry mom. I promise I’ll be home next weekend. I have a few assignments that I need to get a grip on, but I promise I'll be home for my birthday.”

“Okay, I was kind of hoping you could come home this weekend. Alpha Aaron has a big meeting and since there will be a few packs coming in for it… Well, we thought we could throw you a birthday party.” I want to groan with every bone in my body.

“Ma, I love you but that is the last thing I want.”

“Oh stop, most of Full Moon is coming, you know what a fun bunch they are. Especially the triplets,” she says with a giggle. The triplets, Tony, Tim, and Tom are the top three warriors of our royal pack. They are also my best friends' brothers- in-law, and they are a freaking trip. Since my wolf didn’t come on my eighteenth birthday, they made it their mission to make sure I knew how to protect myself. I mean yes, I have always been stronger than the average human girl my age, but still nowhere near as strong as I should be. The triplets took it upon themselves to make sure I became efficient in all forms of defense. Which eventually rolled into my brother's best friends joining in on the training.

Even though my dad has had me training as if I was an Alpha male, not being a full wolf makes me a bit weaker. Plus, I'm clumsy as hell, always making my parents worry that I'm never safe. But secretly, I have ways of protecting myself that they don’t even know about. The guys have been training me even harder as I got older. I have gotten pretty good if I do say so myself. Their training tactics are hilarious. One time Tony had a scarecrow stuffed with sensors. If I hit the dummy in what he called “the money shot,” which are supposed to be areas on someone that are guaranteed to bring them to their knees, the eyes would light up. Only downfall to the exercise was after one roundhouse kick to the face the scarecrow's head went flying, along with all the sensors.

“Why didn’t you lead with that mom?” I chuckle. Hearing a buzzing coming through on my phone I quickly look at the screen to see my other best friend Matt calling in. “Ma, let me run, Matt is calling.” She says goodbye and I switch the call over.

“Hellllllo.”

“Hey Bec's, what's shaking?”

“Nothing, what's going on with you? Wait, shouldn’t you be on patrol or something?”

“Yes, nosey, but that is not why I'm calling. We, and by we I mean James, Taylor and I are off tomorrow night and all day Thursday. I was thinking we could come into the city and hang out with you for the day. I know it’s not baseball season but maybe we could catch your second favorite sporting event—”

“Wait, you want to go to a hockey game?” I ask excitedly.

“Yeah, we're going to come in after patrol tomorrow. Can we crash at your place?” I look around my tiny dorm room. There is no way three huge men are going to sleep comfortably here.

“I only have two single beds in this room, do you guys want to sleep on the floor?”

“Personally, I don’t care but maybe we should get a hotel. James is a bit of a diva.”

“James?”

“Fine, I'm the diva.” I can practically hear his eyes roll through the phone. I can’t help but laugh because it’s so true.

“Okay, I'll make a reservation. There are two werewolf exclusive owned places here, so I know that the beds are big enough to hold your giant asses.”

“Nice, I think we will take the train in, and I'll get the tickets for the game.”

“Is Jenna coming with Taylor?” Jenna is Taylor’s mate and she's amazing.

“I think so, when are they ever apart unless she has conferences?” Jenna is one of our pack school teachers. She's like our very own snow white. I swear if the chick started singing in the woods the creatures would flock to her.

“Okay, just text me when you guys get on the train tomorrow and I'll meet you at the station. We can grab something to eat and walk to the game.”

We say our goodbyes and hang up. I quickly pull open my laptop, getting the number for the hotel. You can book online but last-minute reservations for exclusive hotels are tough. After working my magic with the reservation department, I text Matt letting him know I snagged us some rooms. I mean these are great rooms too, adjoining suites and check-in is at 4pm.

With everything done, I check the time and it’s almost eleven. I pull my blanket up, roll over and snuggle back into my pillow. Just as I feel sleep come for me, my eyes snap open as I remember that I have work today at noon. I throw my blanket off, jump out of bed like my ass is on fire, and rush about my room to get dressed. I zip up my backpack which is essentially my purse and reach for my research project. I reach for my research project stuffing it to the bottom of the bag knowing it won’t fall out. I'll have to work on it during my lunch break because now I'll have no time to get it done if everyone comes to town. Quickly, pulling my hair into a ponytail and check myself in the mirror. As I reach for the door, the smell of apple pie hits me again. The damn scent overwhelms my senses. Holy s**t, the dining hall is on point today with the desserts. If I can smell that s**t from here it must be good. As if on cue my stomach growls. Damn, I really need to eat something.

Thank god I work at a bakery and they have killer pastries. Hmmm, do I want an apple turnover with extra icing or do I want a cheese danish. My mouth is literally watering from the thought. No, wait today is Tuesday. That means the special of the day is fresh crumb buns with homemade icing. Yup, I know exactly what is going to be in my belly later. Hearing a knock at my door pulls me from my snack induced thought process.

“Hello?”

I freeze at the sound of the familiar voice— is that him?

“Hello?”

Shit, his voice is like a direct line to my core. I rub my thighs together to dull the very noticeable ache I’m now experiencing. Damn it, I look down to my nether region, get your s**t together, this is no time to go rogue on me.

Taking a big cleansing breath, I pull the door open trying to prepare myself for his Greek god-like features. Yeah, I failed. There is no preparing yourself for the s*x on legs that stands in front of me. Goddess he's so yummy. Like, come on now, his jeans are tight in all the right places. Oh my, do you think he's rocking a six-pack under there? Hmmm, I wonder if my very active internal monologue is a coping mechanism for not having my wolf to talk to. I always envisioned this is what it would be like too… but now the only thing I can envision is this man without his clothes on. I can’t help but lick my lips at the image.

“Ahem…”

My eyes snap back up to his. What the hell is wrong with me? I can feel my face heat with embarrassment. I’m practically eye f*****g him, s**t. I think I might need professional help, like do therapists offer “how to not be awkward around men” classes? He has this sexy little smirk on his lips… this fucker is thoroughly enjoying my discomfort.

“Um, hi,” I’m trying so hard to play it cool, but I’m also confused as to why he's standing here, but… I almost don't care. I could look at him all day. Clear your head girl, you don’t know this kid in your life right now! He could be a mass murderer for all I know, a guy who wants to take pictures of my feet or a s*x trafficker. Listen if I’m gonna jump off the deep end, I might as well go for gold.

Connor extends his hand to properly introduce himself. I reach out to take his hand but pull back just before we touch. The thoughts of our earlier encounter run through my mind. Rubbing my fingers because they start tingling and I haven’t even touched the man. It’s so odd, I have never felt this type of chemistry with anyone before. I’m not going to lie, I’m out of my element but I’m in no rush to get back to my dull one.