“You shouldn’t skip your math class. You’ve got a low C in there as it is.”
“Trust me, showing up for class isn’t going to help my grade. I don’t understand a single thing that woman says. I swear, I get dumber just by walking in the door.” He jogged ahead a couple of steps until he was in front of her and then turned around and started walking backwards. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I’ve got to talk to you. Privately.”
“Jase, you’re going to have to stop doing this. Someone is going to get hurt.”
“Having private conversations with you is going to hurt someone?”
An older guy was coming up the sidewalk, saw Jase, and had to step off into the grass to save himself from being run over. “No, you not watching where you’re going is going to hurt someone. You almost plowed over a nontraditional student just now.”
“That wasn’t a nontraditional student. That was my history professor, and he totally deserves to be run over. The guy purposefully made a girl cry last week.” Still, he fell in step beside her. “We’ve got a problem, Tal.”
Another one?
“Did she call again?” she asked.
“No, but I think I’ve figured out who has been passing her information.”
“Do you have proof?”
He nodded. “Not much, but it’s worth looking into.”
Talley’s dorm was near the medical center. Normally she found the ambulances howling at all hours of the day and night a nuisance, but the noise was perfect for camouflaging their conversation.
“Is it Makya?” He’d been on her mind a lot since talking to Walker. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate his talking her up to a nice guy. Even though the whole affair had left her bereft, she appreciated the kind gesture. The problem was, Makya wasn’t exactly known for kind gestures. In fact, his hatred for all things associated with Jase and Charlie was common knowledge. Since Talley was an unquestionable part of the crew that made up Makya’s Most Despised, it didn’t make sense for him to talk her up to anyone. Sadly, ratting out Toby sounded way more probable.
“Are you kidding? That idiot doesn’t have the brains or guts to betray us.” He watched the street until another ambulance came barreling by them, sirens screaming. “It’s Joshua.”
Talley was fairly certain she hadn’t heard him right. “Joshua? As in your roommate Joshua? The guy who buys candy bars in bulk once a week?”
“Having an incurable sweet tooth and possible eating disorder doesn’t stop you from working with the Alpha Pack. Hell, they probably prefer their minions to embrace vice.”
“I don’t know, Jase. Joshua doesn’t seem like Sarvarna’s type. It’s not exactly like the Alpha Pack is known for recruiting outside the world of Shifter and Seers, and Joshua isn’t a Shifter.”
“But he could be a Seer. Liam told me there are guy Seers, but no one ever talks about them.”
“I know. I was in on that conversation. But don’t you remember the part about how no one ever talks about them because the Alphas want to make everyone believe it isn't possible for a guy to See?”
The muscles in Jase’s jaw jumped, and she knew he was getting frustrated with her.
“You said you had some proof,” she prompted, trying to dial back the confrontational tone.
His jaw muscles jumped some more, proving it hadn’t worked. “It’s not much.”
“But it was enough to make you think that your adorably bizarre roommate is keeping tabs on us and selling our secrets to the Alphas.”
“You think Joshua is adorable?”
Why did that matter? “Are you going to tell me what you found out or not?”
“Is ‘not’ an option?”
“No.”
Jase pushed his hat down further on his forehead. “He talked about you getting claimed.”
“Claimed?”
“You know, like a mate.”
Of course she knew what claiming meant. She just couldn’t believe Joshua would know anything about it. “Like he said he was going to claim me as a mate?”
Jase bounced on his heels. His hands kept finding their way to his cap where they would reshape the bill every few seconds. “He was warning me that someone would be claiming you soon. Obviously he knows what you are and about the never-ending parade of guys trying to get in your pants.”
“No one is trying to get in my pants.” That was ridiculous. Like anyone would actually want her that way.
“How is it that someone so smart can be so naive? What do you think Walker Helkamp was trying to do?”
Okay, so maybe one person had wanted to get into her pants, but she’d put an end to that. “Walker Helkamp is a nice guy.”
“Yeah, Walker is a saint, and Joshua is an adorable goofball. Has it ever occurred to you that not everyone is as good as you are? That there are actual bad people in this world?”
“That thought did occur to me when a group of power-hungry egomaniacs tried to kill my best friend.”
Jase paced away a couple of steps, his hands on his head. Just when Talley was convinced he wasn’t coming back, he turned around.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he said, the words spilling out in a rush of air. A ball of guilt took up residence in Talley’s stomach. She didn’t fight. She hated conflict in all forms, yet for some reason every time she was around Jase lately, she found herself prepping for battle.
It’s frustrating to see something you want and know you can never have it.
She wasn’t sure if it was a memory of something Scout had actually said or one of her own thoughts, but she knew it was right. Her unrequited love was the root of their problems.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s all my fault. I’ve been… edgy lately.”
“Edgy? Really? I can’t imagine why. It’s not like ‘a group of power-hungry egomaniacs tried to kill your best friend’ or anything.” He smiled and moved towards her, and for a moment she thought he was going to throw an arm around her shoulders just like he always used to before she got her Sight, but he ended up just leaning up against the giant cement planter next to her. “Anyway, it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I’m the jerk here.”
“We’ve already had this conversation. You’re not a jerk.”