Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,48

class, I immediately threw myself into my art. Taking pictures was the only thing keeping me sane right now. I’d talked Sage into letting me do a series of four shots of her a few weeks ago and they all turned out amazing. Her vibrant red hair against the muted background I’d chosen was perfect.

“These are impressive, Miss Calloway,” Professor Woods spoke from behind me as I laid the prints out on my desk.

“Thanks. I was thinking of doing a nature series next.”

He nodded. “Well, you might just get your wish, because today we are all going on a field trip with Professor Hines’ class after lunch.”

Excitement thrummed through me. “Where are we going?”

Please say something cool like to snap pictures of a cemetery or something.

“The Dark Forest.” He winked and moved on to the next student.

It sounded ominous, but I had no idea what the Dark Forest was.

“Holy shit,” Chris whisper-screamed from behind me. “The Dark Forest? I wonder how the alpha approved that?”

I spun, stepping over to his and James’ shared table as I fiddled with my wide-angle lens. “What do you mean? Is it haunted or something?” I whispered back.

Chris chuckled. “Yeah, by wolf rebels and hybrids that want to cut our throats out.”

I froze, looking up at him. “What?”

Chris and James shared a look that said “Aww, the cute blond is an idiot,” before leaning back into me. “Seriously? Your parents didn’t tell you about the Paladin family? Or the Ithaki?”

The whati? Hadn’t Sage mentioned the Paladins at the welcome dinner?

I shook my head. “Who are the Paladins?” Sounded like some made up fantasy stuff to me.

Chris chortled. “The original alpha royals. Before the Hudson family stole the crown.”

James slapped him on the chest. “That’s not true, they weren’t royal, just badass. Back when you became alpha by fighting, and not by bloodline.”

My eyes bugged. “And they are still alive?”

James nodded. “They live in the woods like animals. I heard they don’t even have plumbing or toilets. They attack us every once in a while, but obviously our army is stronger.”

Holy crap. Between the vampires and these … Paladin’s, Wolf City was way more dangerous than I thought.

“And the other group? The Itakie?”

Chris laughed. “Ithaki. They’re worse than the Paladins, they—”

“Okay, class!”

Before I could respond, Professor Woods called our attention to the front and I pushed what James had said to the back of my mind.

“Please finish up any work you have in the darkroom today and post your final pieces in the display cases out in the hall. The staff will be voting on who should be showcased in the end-of-year exhibit.”

We scurried to get our work together, James running into the darkroom and Chris mounting his photos to the blackboard. I snatched up my prints of Sage and slipped out into the hall to tack them up into the cases. I decided to keep them raw with no border or anything fancy, let Sage be the beautiful part of the piece.

Reaching the first case, I flipped the lock and opened it up, pulling some of the pins out and sticking them on the corners of the photo. I was halfway through my second photo when I smelled him.

My heart hammered in my chest as I ignored the footfalls and earthy scent of sexy almost-alpha male. I’d singlehandedly avoided being alone with him for two weeks, but I guess my time was up.

“Demi?” His voice held mock shock, “Weird seeing you here. We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

I positioned a pin between my fingers and spun, pointing it at him threateningly. “You’re pre-med. You have no classes in this building, which means you’re stalking me.”

His face fell and he sighed deeply as he stared at the cuffs on my wrists. “Demi, you’ve been ignoring me…”

I scoffed. “Sawyer, you imprisoned me!” I held up a cuffed arm and shook it in front of his face.

He stepped closer to me and I held the pin up, narrowing my gaze at him.

He produced his arm, shoving it right in front of my face. “Go ahead. Stab me if it will make you feel better.”

I snort-laughed, I couldn’t help it. He was funny and fucking adorable. “Eugene will kill me.” I gestured to the giant man standing thirty paces back who was trying to pretend he wasn’t looking at us.

Sawyer shook his head. “No. I deserve it. Quick, before I change my mind.” He mock flinched as if anticipating great pain.

Part of me really wanted to drive this