Chapter 1
In the dream, she was beautiful. Her bright blue eyes were offset by the thick black hair brushing against her bare shoulders. Her skin looked soft and smooth, the shade much paler than the hand cupping her cheek. Even though she couldn’t see his face, she knew it was him.
“Jase,” she whispered just before his lips met hers--
“Is this seat taken?”
Talley Matthews gave a squeak of surprise, spilling at least half of her Dr. Pepper down the front of her shirt. The cold soda running down into her bra made her squeak a second time.
“Oh my God. I am so sorry.” Talley looked up into the flushed face of a guy she’d never seen before. He grabbed a handful of napkins and reached towards her. At the last minute, he realized where he would have to sponge and froze with his arm just inches away from her boobs. “Sorry. So, so…” His hand dropped to his side abruptly. “Oh God. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Talley said, pulling her shirt away from her now chilled skin. “Happens to me all the time.” Not that she made it a habit to pour drinks down the front of her shirt on a regular basis, but public humiliation was such a constant in her life that it didn’t really count as humiliation any more. At some point, you simply have to stop caring about such things and realize your life isn’t going to end just because you’re standing in the middle of a crowded college food court hosting your very own unplanned wet t-shirt contest.
Talley snuck a glance around, and sure enough, some girls with polka-dotted Greek letters splayed across their chests were snickering behind their hands. She might have been able to convince herself they were merely sharing a humorous anecdote about their professor if they hadn’t been looking right at her. Her face grew at least fifty degrees warmer as she began gathering up her stuff, including her textbook, which was now as soaked as the front of her shirt. If she hurried, she could get back to her dorm room, change, and make it to her Spanish lab before the TA locked the door. Maybe.
“Here, let me help.” Mr. So Sorry reached for her tray. Unfortunately, he pulled it towards him at the exact same moment she was picking it up. A tidal wave of her remaining soda swept over the table. “Oh God. I’m—”
“Sorry. I know.” He looked more than sorry, actually. His face was so red it almost matched his hair, which was bright enough to make a Weasley jealous. His brown eyes were stretched to their limit. If she didn’t know better, Talley would have thought he was more scared than apologetic. “It’s no big. Promise.”
“No, it is. I’ve screwed up everything and completely ruined your lunch.” His eyes dipped down, and Talley tried to rearrange her arms so they would cover the majority of her breasts. “And your shirt. I’ve probably killed it, too.”
“It’s a cotton t-shirt from the bookstore. It’ll wash, and even if it doesn’t, it’s not exactly irreplaceable. Really, it’s no big deal. I just need to go change—”
“Take my shirt!”
“I don’t think—”
But it was too late. He was already jerking it over his head. Thankfully, he had on a plain white t-shirt underneath, so she was spared the awkwardness of standing around with a topless guy.
“Here,” he said, shoving it towards her. “Please. Take it.”
Talley tensed. She wanted to take his shirt. Taking it would mean making it to class on time and not having to walk to the complete other side of campus in a shirt now rendered transparent. If she was a normal girl, one of the millions walking around the world safe in the knowledge they were smaller than 99% of fully grown males, then she would have reached for it without a second thought. But she wasn’t one of those girls. She sized up the guy who was looking at her expectantly. He wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn’t exactly one of those beanpole guys either.
“I’d hate to steal your clothes…” And would hate even more to suffer the humiliation of giving it back to you because it doesn’t fit.
“Please. I insist.”
Don’t be rude, her mother’s voice chided in her head. It’s not this poor boy’s fault you’re overweight.
“Thank you,” Talley said, attempting to turn the shirt to see what was stamped on the label, not that knowing would help. It wasn’t exactly like she could drop twenty-five pounds between the table and the bathroom. He was holding it in the middle, so she reached for the collar, but he moved his hand at the last second, brushing it up against hers.
“I really am sorry, Potential Matthews,” his voice echoed in her head. “This isn’t how I intended for this to go.”
Talley tried not to let the surprise she felt show on her face. It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to hearing other people’s thoughts. As a Soul Seer she was able to pull thoughts and emotions out of anyone’s head with a mere touch. She’d learned to block unwanted information from filtering into her head, but since she’d been purposefully eavesdropping, she expected to See something the moment his hand brushed against hers. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to use her Sight to talk directly to her. Even if she’d realized he was a Shifter, which she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have expected him to start brain-to-brain communications on first contact.
“As I said, you have nothing to apologize for,” Talley answered aloud since she could only take thoughts out of heads, not put them in. “If you will wait just a moment…?”
“Walker. Walker Helkamp.”
From what Talley could remember, the Helkamp Pack was located in Arizona, and boasted a grand total of four Shifters who were completing the Change during the full moon. Walker wasn’t the first unmated young Shifter to seek Talley out since she was tapped to be a future Alpha Pack Seer, but all of the other guys had come from prominent Shifter families. The Helkamps weren’t just small, they were considered inconsequential. None of their members were Dominants, which explained why Talley didn’t immediately realize what Walker was. She’d identified all the others on sight, their dominance buzzing over her skin, making it feel like ants were on parade up and down her arms. From Walker, she got nothing. Not even a tingle.
“I’ll be right back, Walker.” With any luck, wearing your clean, dry shirt.
“I look forward to it,” he said with a smile.