Chapter 2. A New Life Ahead

Ainsley

I spend the night in the woods huddled under a tree to try to keep warm, finally getting a moment of solace once the sun rises the following day and the rain finally lets up for a little while.

With still a while before school starts and with no place to go until then, I’m shit out of luck. No money to my name or clothes to wear other than the sopping dress my father threw me out in, I’m really not sure where to go from here.

Not only that, but I never got to say goodbye to my grandmother before I’d been forced to leave.

She’ll wonder where I am. Will my father tell her? Or lie to her and say I’ve been sent away?

“Ainsley?”

Turning quickly, I spot a familiar figure just beyond the fog that’s collected on the ground. “Grandmother?”

She smiles at me, her wrinkled face looking radiant. “Oh, my poor dear. I heard what happened.”

Tears prickle my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nonsense.” Her red eyes—a familiar trait of our bloodline, so similar to my own—soften as she stares back at me. “This is what you were meant to do. To go live out your dream just like we talked about.”

Guilt wracks me. “What about you?”

As one of our pack’s elders, she isn’t allowed to leave the packlands at all. Stuck forever behind our borders in the name of protection and guidance for our younger generations. It isn’t fair for a brilliant woman like her to be trapped in a role she never asked for. She should’ve been a scholar like the one she’s always encouraging for me to be.

“Don’t you worry about me.” She smiles again. “I’ll always be with you.”

Deep sorrow shakes me. Stepping close to her, I draw my arms up to wrap around her, to pull her into a hug, only to be stopped at the last moment when I realize she has something looped around her arm. She takes it off to gently hook it over my head and onto my shoulder.

A bag?

“It has enough money to get a hotel for the time being and our two favorite books. Oh, and a little gift I thought you might like,” she explains.

My heart hurts. I want her to come with me and have half a mind to ask her to do so, but I know what her answer will be.

“My time has come and gone, Ainsley. Now it’s your turn.”

Instead of arguing or trying to talk her out of her decision, I reach out to hug her but freeze when she jerks her head to the side.

“I’m sorry, Ainsley, but he can’t smell you on me. You know what he’ll do if he does.” Her voice breaks, the cracks traveling all the way to my heart.

I’ll never be able to hug her again.

Something close by snaps in the forest, causing us both to freeze. As we both hold our breath, not daring to make a single sound, we listen for any signs of a patrol unit coming our way.

It’s too soon in the day for one to be looping back to this spot, but that doesn’t mean my father isn’t doing whatever he can to ensure I’m chased out of my own birthplace.

My grandmother quickly motions for me to go, whispering, “I love you, my little bookworm. Now, go change the world. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

Backing away from her, my hands clutch onto the strap of the bag. I wish I could stay. I wish we could have a proper parting. But the longer she stays out here with me, the worse she’ll be off if she gets caught.

I turn and begin to run through the woods, leaving my grandmother and my old life far, far behind me.

***

Arriving at NGU’s campus is both overwhelming and entirely exciting.

After having to live in a dilapidated motel room for the past few weeks, now that the promise of a real room and bed is on the horizon, I’m too excited for words. And not only that, but I’ll be surrounded by other academics, too.

The campus is bustling with humans, the scent of them all hitting me like a ton of bricks. Back at Redmoon, I’d gone into the human town a handful of times, but it was always short trips. Being surrounded by so many people like this permanently is an entirely different world.

Thankfully, I find my dorm room easily enough and escape the fray that’s happening outside. It’s on the ground level, toward the end of the long hallway, with other dorm rooms on either side of it. Some doors are plastered with decorations and name plates while others lay bare and almost forgotten-looking.

Upon opening my own door, I’m hit with another overwhelming wave of scents I’m unfamiliar with, along with… smoke?

I cough.

“Oh!” someone says, quickly shifting around inside the room. “Sorry about that. I should’ve opened a window.”

Fresh air quickly sweeps into the room.

“How’s that? Sorry, I like to burn incense to cleanse my space from any bad juju. You don’t mind, right?”

Blinking through the tears in my eyes, I come face to face with a girl my age. She’s a bit shorter than me with dark hair chopped short and dyed at the ends a vibrant fuchsia color. Her eyes are the deepest blue I’ve ever seen, complimenting her tanned skin and the freckles that line the bridge of her nose.

“Wow!” Her eyes widen. “Those are super cool contacts. Where did you get them?”

Contacts? Oh. “Online.”

She grins. “I love them. Super unique and kind of demon-y. I’m Iris, by the way.”

I smile back. Her vivacious energy is contagious. “Ainsley.”

“Guessing you’re my new roomie? I swear I’ll be a good neighbor. I’m just a little bit into witchcraft.”

My eyes widen. “Are you a witch?”

She laughs. “Oh, no. Well, not like the ones you see in movies. I mostly do like little rituals and stuff like that. Anyway, come on in! You can take the bed by the window if you’d like.”

“Thanks.” The room is quite small, with two beds on either side of it, one underneath the window and one closer to the door.

Both of them have matching twin desks at their feet and a lamp that’s already attached to the corner. I pass by a small door and peek inside, seeing a closet that looks like it will have just enough room to fit the few outfits I managed to buy with my grandmother’s stash she gave me.

I heft my bag down onto my bed and gaze at the woods beyond the window. They surround the campus property—an incredible view, honestly. My wolf itches to let loose in them.

“You got any classes today? You came kind of late. Everyone else moved in a few days ago.” Iris’s cheerful voice pulls me away from the view.

“Ah, yeah.” It had taken longer than I had hoped to sort out living arrangements on campus. “I have mythology soon.”

Iris grins. “Me too! We should walk together.”

“I’d love that.”

Before I know it, I’ve got my backpack packed with my things and I’m following Iris out the door. It’s really blowing me away that I’m actually here—actually living out my dream. Even though I’m hours away from home, I don’t feel homesick at all.

Well, besides for my grandmother. I hope she’s doing okay.

“If you want, I can introduce you to my friends,” Iris is saying as we head to our classroom. “We’ve all been hanging out since we got here last week.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you, Iris.”

“No worries! I know it’s kind of tough to come here by yourself.”

I find my body settling the moment we enter the classroom. Students of all ages and backgrounds are sitting in their seats with their study materials out, waiting for our professor to arrive. It all feels so academic.

Goddess, I’m so tempted to pinch myself.

“Come on.” She nudges me, nodding over to a pair of seats up in the front.

I’m so happy that I got assigned to a roommate like Iris. While I’m not shy by any means, I’m definitely an introvert, which has made making new friends—especially humans—difficult. I hardly know what human culture is like outside of what I read in books, so everything is a total guessing game.

My father’s strict rule over my life hasn’t helped much either.

Iris seems more than happy to show me the ropes, though, and for that I’m grateful.

We settle down in the two seats right at the front of the room, facing the blackboard. Chalk already dusts the dark surface of the board, remnants of the class before us. I wonder what they were learning? Most likely it was all introductions since this is the first day of classes, but I hope it was something more.

I hope we get to dive into something today other than going around the room doing icebreakers like I found were popular from my research into how humans are when meeting new people for the first time.

Iris chats away as I pull my things out of my bag and stack them neatly on the desk in front of me.

We aren’t kept waiting long before the door at the front of the room opens and in steps a man in a dress shirt and tie. A musky scent wafts over the room, hitting me instantly. I breathe in deeply, surprised at what my nose picks up. Not human smelling at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

A shifter?

The man sets his briefcase down on the table at the front of the classroom before turning to the blackboard and grabbing a piece of chalk to scroll his name up onto it.

Prof. Liam Kurtis, it reads.

The moment he turns around, I’m struck instantly. Not by what he looks like but by the sheer force of energy that slams into me like a physical barrier. I’m almost knocked out of my seat and have to force myself to grab onto the sides of my desk to keep from doubling over.

His eyes land on me, sending another shockwave rushing through my system.

No way.

My heart thuds hard in my chest.

Mate.