Talley was too distracted by the problem that was Walker of the Helkamp Pack to notice if there were any blatant stares or pitying looks thrown her way as she walked to the bathroom. For the life of her, she just couldn’t figure out why he would have sought her out. With the others, it had been obvious. As a newly tapped Potential, Talley had the eyes and ears of the Alpha Pack, the ruling body over the Shifters and Seers of the world. The other Shifters came with the hope that by attaching themselves to Talley, they would also gain the attention of the Alpha Pack. All four of them were young, handsome, and strong. They were all wolf Shifters, which are universally recognized as more dominant than coyote Shifters. Walker was most definitely a coyote, and if Talley was being perfectly honest, not all that handsome. He wasn’t exactly ugly, but the others had all been very typical Dominants. Their bodies were lean and muscular, and they carried themselves with so much confidence they were impossible to ignore. One of them was so attractive that Talley had waited several hours before forcing herself to touch him. She was enjoying feeling like he was really interested in her, that all of his smiles and compliments were genuine. Of course, she eventually did brush up against his arm, and because of her Sight, knew he was constantly comparing her to the girlfriend he’d just broken up with so he could try to climb up the Shifter ranks by charming poor, clueless Talley Matthews.
Talley made sure he was in a car on his way back to North Dakota by nightfall.
Walker was different than the others in every possible way. His looks and level of dominance allowed him to slip into the background, where the others shone bright no matter where they went. Where Dominants were smooth and charming, Walker was clumsy and awkward. Most interestingly, though, was Walker knew what she Saw. None of the others had, which had worked to her advantage. None of them suspected that she would be able to pull their thoughts and feelings from their head with just the briefest of touches. Walker, on the other hand, not only knew, but purposefully used it to communicate with her. Which begged the question, who had sent him?
Chapter 2
“Sarvarna,” Jase Donovan clutched his phone in one hand and a can of Red Bull in the other. “How is my most beloved queen this evening?”
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
Jase eyed the blue and red can with a burning desire. Would she consider it rude if he took a swig while on the phone with her? He wasn’t sure, but since it was a possibility, he decided to sit it on his desk just in case. Above all else, he needed the Alpha Female to only feel warm and fuzzy emotions where he was concerned.
“It’s noon here.”
“Ah, but I know how you college boys are.”
College boy. Jase didn’t really identify himself that way. Maybe it was because this wasn’t what college was supposed to be like. Six weeks in, and he hadn’t been to his first frat party, seduced a single coed, or slept past seven in the morning. Instead of living in the Wildcat Lodge with the rest of the team, he was living in a dorm that smelled of pee and hadn’t touched a basketball in months. The partying and girls he didn’t really regret, but he couldn’t help mourning loss of the future that was supposed to be his. It was selfish of him, two of the people he cared for most in this world were in much worse situations, but still he felt the loss of his dream as if it were a person. He eyed the energy drink again and this time couldn’t resist its siren song.
“Sorry to ruin your mental image,” he said once he had drained the remaining third of the can while keeping the phone at arm’s length so as not to offend the Alpha Female with his gulping noises. “I’m currently in the too-much-to-do-to-sleep phase of college life. I haven’t seen my bed in days.” Which was a lie. He had seen it, but only for a few short hours here and there. Balancing a full course load with political espionage was really cutting into his beauty sleep.
“Ahhh… Caffeine IVs. Rumpled hair. Falling asleep in the library, your glasses pressed into your forehead.”
“You forget. I’m a Shifter. I have no need of glasses.”
“Potential Donovan, if I want you to wear adorable horn rimmed glasses in my fantasy, then let it be so.”
“Of course, your majesty. Forgive me. I meant to say, you must have spies keeping an eye on me since your description is one hundred percent accurate.”
Not for the first time, Jase looked around his room, searching for the tell-tale reflection of a camera lens. He was just joking around when he said that Sarvarna had spies following him, but once he said it, he feared it was true. She was, after all, the most powerful woman in the supernatural world, and Jase was definitely on her radar. If she wanted to know what he was doing every minute of every day, he had no doubt she could get that information with a snap of her fingers.
She doesn’t know anything, he told himself to calm the pounding in his chest. If she had any idea of what you’ve been doing, you would be dead already.
Surprisingly, that pep talk didn’t really help all that much.
“My fantasy also has you sitting in your dorm room right now in jeans and nothing else.” Her silky British accent made the already suggestive statement sound even more scandalous. If she hadn’t been married or completely evil, he might have found it tantalizing. But since she and her husband, the most powerful Shifter in the world, tried to kill his sister, he mostly felt skeeved out. He crossed his arms over his Captain America shirt as if to hide himself from her lecherous fantasy.
But no matter how he felt, he had a job to do. “You do have spies watching me, don’t you?” He forced his face into a smile and hoped the effort reflected in his voice. “Someone is sending you a live feed, right? You can actually see me lying across this bed, can’t you?”
“Mmmm…. If I could, I’m sure it would make a most delicious picture.”
Jase was starting to feel the kind of dirty a shower wouldn’t fix.
“To what do I owe the honor of your call?” he asked, changing the subject from what he was wearing and where he was wearing it. “Did you need to know what color to paint the walls of my room? Because I’ve always been partial to a nice milk chocolate color.”
“Milk chocolate? You should have said something earlier. The walls are already a nice grey with a hint of blue. I hope that is to your liking.” Although, she couldn’t really care less if it was to his liking or not. The main concern was it was to her liking. It hadn't taken Jase long to figure that one out.