She jerked me along, and I followed, not because I really wanted to sit with her, but because I could see who was sitting at a nearby table.

Harper “Scout” Donovan Someday-To-Be Cole.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t gawk at her because all of my concentration was needed to navigate the lunchroom. Ashley wasn’t lying, the freshmen were squirmy, and there had to be at least a million of them. They moved in clumps, knuckles white around their trays as they wandered aimlessly down the aisles, often stopping abruptly for no good reason or without any warning. Ashley’s insistence on hanging onto my arm didn’t really help the situation.

We made it to our booth with minimal injuries, and Ashley quickly slid into one of the seats. Since it was the one with the best view of Scout, I slid in beside her. “You don’t mind me sitting here, do you?” I asked, even though I didn’t really care one way or the other.

“Works for me!” She practically glowed. “I like to get close. Really close,” she said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I made the mistake of looking down, and once again her boobs seemed to have a life of their own.

I stuffed a few fries into my mouth to save myself from having to comment on that and swept my gaze over to Scout’s table. When I first spotted her, she had been sitting with Talley. Now, Talley was still there, but she wasn’t the only one. A guy was sitting entirely too close, smiling at her with entirely too much familiarity.

My wolf strained beneath my skin.

“Who is that?” I asked Ashley. It was only proper to know a guy’s name before you killed him.

Ashley stopped talking just long enough to search for who had caught my attention. “The guy wolfing down the Doritos?” I nodded my confirmation. “That’s Jase. Everyone around here thinks he’s like a rock star or something just because he’s like some sort of basketball prodigy or whatever, but he’s a total jerk.” She curled her lip, and I was pretty sure that was actual hatred shining in her eyes.

“You guys used to date?” I guessed.

“What? Me and Jase? Oh, hells no. Jase will date anyone with tits just long enough to get what he wants, and then drops them like a celebrity mom drops her baby weight.”

They sounded like a match made in heaven.

After looking at Scout’s table with enough venom to make a cobra jealous, she added, “I respect myself too much to even consider dating Jase.”

If I was a betting man, I would put a large amount of money on Ashley actually being bitter that the guy who would “date anyone with tits” wouldn’t date her, especially since she obviously put a lot of effort into her own set. Still, I was going to side with my new friend on this one. I didn’t like Jase. Just by looking at him you could tell he was popular, arrogant, and…

A Shifter.

This time the whisper in my head was accompanied by recognition. I had seen this guy before. A few days ago, Liam and I saw him at The Strip. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I had caught his scent. And now, even with the millions of cafeteria and student related smells hanging in the air, I caught it again. Every hair on my body stood at attention, and I had to work to keep a growl from escaping my throat. My entire body shook with the desire to Challenge the coyote who was sitting too close to my Scout. I was actually considering it when she turned around. Her eyes locked onto mine and all thoughts of Jase vanished.

Calm yourself, Cole, I told myself. He’s just another obstacle to overcome. And you will overcome it. She belongs with you. It’s destiny, and no one can escape their destiny.

I took a deep breath and turned my attention to Ashley, knowing if I didn’t distract myself and kept seeing her with him, I would forget my most recent words of wisdom and do something stupid.

***

“Please tell me you have at least some intelligence and writing ability.” Meg looked at me very intently. Her entire essence seemed as tightly coiled as her hair, which was in a very severe librarian-worthy knot atop her head. Someone should mention to her the correlation between an overdone Type A personality and a short lifespan.

“My mama said the kids in the normal classes would be mean, but I told her I was just as smart as the next kid as long as they don’t make me do math. Or read. Or breathe through my nose.”

“Oh my God, Meg! You were just mean to a special kid!” The girl who introduced herself as Joi-with-an-i was the exact opposite of Meg. This one more closely resembled a squirrel on caffeine. “You can’t be mean to special kids. That’s just wrong!”

Meg rolled her eyes. “He’s not special, Joi. He’s sarcastic.”

Joi gave my hand a little pat. “It’s okay. I think you’re special.” It took me a second, but I finally saw the glint in her eye. Joi might have been a bit energetic, and probably just naive enough that her whole gullible act was believable, but she was purposefully antagonizing Meg. I decided rather quickly that I liked her, although not quite as much as I liked the girl who was sitting down next to me.

“We just keep running into each other,” I said, unable to keep a giant grin from stretching across my face. It was all different kinds of not smooth, but it was the closest I had been to her since she practically ran over me - and then away from me - after our math class. This close I could sort out the different layers of her scent and hear the way her heart kicked up at my words.

Things were definitely moving in the right direction.

“Yes, it seems karma is intent on us spending some time together,” she said. “Obviously, I did something horrid in my previous life.”

“Or maybe you’re my reward for being so good.” Not that I had ever truly been good enough to deserve her, but who was I to argue with destiny?

Scout looked very intently at her notebook, doing a rather good job of ignoring me. Since that wouldn’t help with my let-Scout-get-to-know-you plan, I pressed on. “So, I was going to sit by you at lunch, but your boyfriend beat me to it.” And I managed to not beat him, so please give me a reward. Perhaps a smile. Or a kiss. Or lots of kisses.

“Who? My what?” A little line of confusion formed between her eyebrows. “Do you mean Jase?”

Of course I meant Jase. Jase the dates-anyone-with-tits basketball-hero Shifter. She was too good for him. I would make sure she realized it.

“You and Jase have lunch together?” Joi’s big-eyed disbelief wasn’t put on this time. “But I thought there had been a royal decree that the Donovan Twins weren’t allowed within 500 feet of each other on school grounds since the Ms. Tubbs incident.”