Free Sorority Wolf by Rebecca Royce Page B

swirling crowd created a noxious, heated cloud of sweat and
     perfumed stench. I covered my nose and breathed through my mouth.
    I can’t do this .
    Nervousness froze me. I knew nothing. This place wasn’t for me.
    Emotion choked me, and I forced back the fear welling in my eyes. I’d dreamed of my
     release from Jacob’s control for years, plotting and planning what I’d do. I’d never
     fathomed this as my fate. How stupid was I?
    Jacob always, always chose the worst scenario for me. This was my living nightmare—all
     those people. Humans—whom I’d never been around—and shifters—who’d declared me an
     abomination.
    I’d become too complacent. This was my punishment for being ill-prepared.
    Realizing the massive wolf I’d slammed into still loomed beside me, I inhaled deeply
     through my mouth and ordered myself to move. Avoidance only created more trouble. Accept your fate, and move the hell on . It’d been my motto for years and saved me many nights.
    “Thanks.” The dismissal seemed to go unheard as he dragged me forward. God, he was
     tall. Taller than Jacob—and not many could say that since the Alpha leader was well
     over six foot. This guy was much wider across the chest, too, but his hips were lean,
     his legs long and powerful thighs beneath his jeans. “I can handle it from here.”
    “This way.”
    He tunneled a path through the crowd with his muscular body, my suitcase in tow. When
     had he gotten my suitcase?
    I followed helplessly, darting apologetic gazes to unseen masses of people as I hurried
     along in his wake until we entered a smaller second room. I took a few moments to
     look around, relieved we’d parted company with the crush of bodies in the other room.
     Folding tables, manned by a couple of people at each, formed a half-moon in the room.
    A few students stood at most of them, chatting away with the smiling attendants. Human.
     Fae. Wolves. Lions. Tigers. Pumas. I read shifter faction after shifter faction, each
     one slicing my soul. Each beautifully decorated sign, complete with colorful emblems,
     sealed me within a tomb of doubt. The encroaching apprehension squeezed, crushing
     my few moments of normalcy with brutal efficiency.
    I was none of those things.
    “Well?” He flashed a grin and crossed his arms. “Don’t leave me guessing all day,
     sweet mouse.”
    Heat streamed through me. I grabbed the suitcase beside him before he could stop me
     and studied the options one final time. A handwritten piece of poster board leaning
     against the wall denoted my fate.
    Other.
    I foraged what self-confidence I’d squirreled away and closed the distance between
     me and the desolate table. I could feel the stares of those around me as I nudged
     my way past the lingering wolves and tigers.
    Several shouted to the looming shadow I’d inherited. “Macen.”
    The name continued echoing around me in a stream of welcomes, which agitated me. Maybe
     he wasn’t following me. He’d done his obligatory duty and gotten me in here—wherever
     “here” was. I thought a moment before I took the final few steps to the table.
    The coastal scent of pine and salt water had rippled through Macen’s aura when I’d
     been near enough to scent him. The memory heated my insides with a renewed awareness
     of the man still shadowing me, even though we’d passed his pack moments ago. The unique
     musk already embedded in my brain as him blanketed me in the realization I was not alone—he was there behind me, his heat
     near enough for me to sense, yet distant enough for me not to flinch in discomfort.
     Why was he still there? Did he mean his presence to be comforting or threatening?
    I’d grown accustomed to being the bug under the proverbial microscope of existence.
     Pinned in place and unwillingly sliced apart time and again by others for amusement
     or perhaps to appease curiosity, I’d numbed to the ridicule and animosity.
    Until now.
    Whispers traveled as I closed the