“You’re really pretty when you smile,” Chris said as he leaned toward me.
“Thanks,” I said. My cheeks heated.
“It was merely my observation,” he said with a wink. He settled back into his relaxed pose.
Yeah, I wasn’t buying that for a second. The guys here were way too smooth.
The chair next to me scraped against the floor. Dastien stepped into the empty space and leaned in close to my ear. “I need to talk to you.”
I froze, unable to look at him. My pulse sped up at the sound of his voice, his breath hot on my neck.
I was seriously messed up where he was concerned. He ignored me ever since he bit me and here I was, drooling at the chance to get close to him. This had to stop. My body, heart, and hormones might want to do whatever he wanted, but my head was in charge of the lot.
I turned away from him. “No. You can’t just come over here and—”
He gently circled my arm with his fingers.
Jealousy. Rage. It swamped me. My stomach burned with it. My heart raced and I had an urge to rip something apart.
The intensity of his feelings made it hard for me to breathe. Was he really that mad?
He squatted down next to me. “Now. Outside.” His words weren’t a demand, but a plea.
I tried to jerk my arm away, but he slid his hand down to twine his fingers with mine. Dastien’s hair stuck out all over the place and his shoulders hunched down. He mouthed the word “please.”
I glanced around the table. Shannon and Meredith’s mouths hung open, but Chris sat forward, every muscle tense. His eyes were bright as he stared at Dastien.
I shook my head. I didn’t need Chris to protect me. Dastien had already done his worst by turning me into a werewolf.
I was probably going to regret this. “You’ve got five minutes.”
I followed Dastien out the door. He kept walking until he hit the tree line between the dorm and the classroom building. His grey T-shirt wasn’t tight, but he couldn’t have hidden his muscles if he tried.
Use your head, Tessa. “Are you going to keep walking, or do you want to talk?”
He spun, eyes glowing. “Stay away from Christopher Matthews.”
I had a second to be freaked out by the eye change, before I got seriously pissed off. “You’ve got some nerve. You’re the one with the fucking girlfriend.”
“What? I don’t have a girlfriend. Just please. Tessa. Just stay away from the guys.”
“What do you call Imogene?”
“A friend. A very old, very loyal friend.”
“Well guess what. Chris is a friend. A very new, very fun friend.” My blood boiled. “News flash: I haven’t done anything wrong. You have no right to drag me out here and yell at me. Hello? You bit me. Now, I’m here and struggling to keep my head above water. So you need to get your shit together.”
His eyes dulled back to his normal light amber. “I—”
“No. Don’t say anything. There’s no taking back what you did.” I took a couple steps toward him and poked him in the chest. “And now you want to boss me around? Tell me who to talk to!”
“You’ve been flirting with Chris.” His voice was more growl than anything else.
“You’re jealous. You’re a big ball of lime green jelly.” It wasn’t a question. It was a fact. Maybe my visions were coming back. But why was it just words and emotions? Why didn’t I “see” anything.
He punched the closest tree. I ducked as splinters rained down. “Merde, Tessa. S’il vous plait…”
I took a giant step back. “What’s your deal?”
He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. “I don’t know.”
“You have no right to tell me anything. To speak to me. To be around me. What you did is unforgivable!” I forced myself to take a breath, but it didn’t help calm my anger. “You can’t ignore me, and then come over, drag me out of lunch to tell me who I can and cannot talk to. I don’t care—” My skin started tingling and my knuckles cracked. “Shit. This isn’t happening. This can’t happen. Christ. I didn’t eat enough.” Hair sprouted down my arms. My breath came out in gasps as I watched it thicken into fur.
“It’s going to be okay, Tessa. Just let the shift take over.”
I looked up at him, unable to keep a tear from escaping. I crumpled to the ground. “No. I can’t. I—” I panted as pain swept through my body, my muscles moving and shifting.
“If you don’t want to shift, then let me help.” Dastien leaned close to me. He brushed a gentle kiss over my forehead. “Shhhh.”