Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,23

know if I can do this.” I stood and paced to the other side of the room.

I liked him, but so did half the school. This was crazy, I’d become my worst nightmare. I was some boy-crazy girl. Why else would I do this?

I liked him.

There, I admitted it to myself. The way he yanked me from my seat today during the vampire attack and tucked me to his chest, it was like he’d instinctually gone into protector mode. The entire school could have been under a zombie level attack and he, the second most important person in Wolf City, had saved me … I was the first item he’d grabbed in a house fire.

He also changed his class from what was no doubt a full schedule of pre-med classes to have a stupid photography class with me. He bought me a camera because he knew I’d love it, not because it was a flashy gift.

“You okay?” Sage frowned, curling iron in midair as I paced before her.

I sighed. “I like your cousin. I do. It’s just … this isn’t my thing. Fighting for a guy … it feels icky.”

She nodded, setting down the curling iron, and walked over to me.

With a sigh, she looked up at me with a haunted expression. “This summer … for an entire week, right before school started, Sawyer ran away.”

My eyes widened. Sawyer didn’t seem like a rule breaker to me.

Sage continued. “My uncle went nuts, thought he may have been kidnapped, until he found a note from Sawyer. ‘I can’t do it,’ the note said. It was about his mating year.”

My heart tightened in my chest and then skipped a beat. Never for one second did I even think that he might not like this as well.

My mouth dropped open as the story pulled me in. “What happened?”

Sage chewed her lip. “My uncle sent half the pack out to look for him. Brandon, Welsh, and I scoured the entire state until he finally called me on the seventh day and said to come get him.”

When I didn’t speak, she went on: “He was in an off-grid cabin in Montana. Hadn’t shaved, was living off the land. I’d never seen him so depressed, and I’ve seen him through a lot of shit.”

“Fuck.” I couldn’t imagine the pressure he must feel to be alpha of the largest pack in the world, to be forced into a set of rules he never signed up for.

“I’ll never forget what he said to me when I got there.” Sage looked out through my window into the dark woods that lay beyond my dorm.

I leaned forward, my mouth going dry as I hung on her every word. “What did he say?”

Sage chewed at her bottom lip. “This is private family shit, okay? You promise never to tell that I told you this story?”

My heart practically leapt out of my chest with anticipation. “Yes.”

Sage nodded. “He looked me right in the eyes and said, ‘What if I never find anyone to love me for me?’”

And just like that my heart broke in two. He wasn’t worried about finding love … he was worried about being loved in return. Being the alpha’s rich son, it must have fucked with his head. Now he wasn’t sure who wanted him for him and not just his status or money.

A tear fell down my cheek and I quickly wiped at it before I straightened. “Okay, we’re going to be late. Are you almost done with my hair?”

I made a decision then. Sawyer was a decent fucking guy, the only decent guy I’d met in a long time, and I was going to fight for a chance to date him.

“This is so fucking weird,” I whispered to Sage as we entered the giant ballroom. Five circular tables that sat ten girls each were laid with white linen tablecloths and fancy dinnerware. At the head of the room was one small table, where I assumed Sawyer would sit.

“So weird, but tradition is tradition.” She shrugged and snagged two appetizers from a passing waiter. She was wearing a long black cocktail dress with a slit up the thigh, and her red hair was twisted up into a sleek high bun.

“Should you even be here?” I walked to the table with only a few girls at it. I didn’t know them, so it seemed safe. “You’re related.”

She grinned. “I’m a spy. Gonna sniff out the bitches that just want his money.”

I grinned as we took a seat. “You’re