Professor Wolf - J.L. Wilder

Chapter One

CAIT

“Name?

“Caitlin Sterling.”

The registrar typed in her name. Caitlin held her breath; this was the moment. She was about to find out if her attempt to alter the student records had been successful or not. If it hadn’t, she would be sent across the road and into the complete nightmare that she knew awaited there. But if it had—

“Caitlin Sterling, freshman, wolf, beta, age eighteen?”

A smile of pure relief broke over Cait’s face. “That’s me.”

Well, almost me. With one little detail changed.

The registrar handed her a thick blue folder. “Welcome to Shifter University.”

Shifter University. It had worked. She was really there.

She traced her fingers over the institution’s logo on the cover of the folder and waited as the registrar scrolled through screens on his computer. “Okay,” he said. “Your orientation group is meeting by Claw Hall. There’s a map in your folder that will tell you how to get there. Your group leader is Victoria.”

“Okay,” Cait said.

“You’re living in Dormitory One, room 163. After orientation, you’ll be able to go there and settle in. Then, you’ll have the rest of the night to yourself.”

“When do classes begin?” Cait asked.

“Tomorrow,” the registrar said. “You’ve got a schedule in your folder too.”

“I didn’t sign up for any electives,” Cait said.

“We don’t have any during the first semester,” the registrar said. “You’ll all be taking the same course load. Then, after the first semester is over, you’ll be able to specialize in something if you want to.”

“That’s great.” Cait felt a rush of excitement at the idea of choosing a specialty. Hell, just the idea of making a choice felt magical. When was the last time she had actually chosen anything for herself—apart from walking onto this campus.

“Of course, some classes are reserved for alphas only,” the registrar said.

Cait nodded. That was no big deal. She felt no desire whatsoever to enter the world of the alphas. It would be a relief, actually, to have most of them on a separate track after the first semester ended. “I’m sure the course offerings for betas are more than enough to interest me,” she said.

The registrar smiled. “I hope you enjoy your time here at Shifter U,” he said. “Go ahead and head over to your orientation meeting now. You don’t want to be late. That’s where a lot of people make their first friends.”

Cait tucked the folder under her arm and left the administrative building. Once outside, she pulled out the map she had been promised.

It was so confusing! The campus was huge. Well, that was to be expected, she supposed. This was the only place for shifter learning in all of Canada, and she knew that wolves and bears alike came from all around to study the ways of shifter life there.

I’m just lucky I got the chance at all.

It hadn’t been easy convincing her father to let her come to school. He was deeply traditional, rooted in shifter culture, and he had wanted her to marry young. There were a lot of alpha potentials in their pack who had had their eyes on Cait for years.

A bunch of assholes.

She located Claw Hall on the map and made her way over, doing her best to put her father and the pack back home out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about what they would say if they could see her now.

A cluster of students stood in front of the stairs leading up to Claw Hall. Cait hesitated, but then she berated herself. If you’re going to do this, you have to be tough. You have to act like you belong here.

So she walked over with her head held high. “I’m looking for Victoria’s orientation group,” she said.

“I’m Victoria,” a tall, slender, dark-haired girl said. “Are you Caitlin Sterling?”

“Yes,” Cait said. It was never going to stop being amazing the way everyone here seemed to expect her, as if she belonged, as if she weren’t completely out of place.

Victoria nodded. “That’s everybody, then,” she said. “Let’s go inside, and we’ll talk about what you can expect during your first semester at Shifter U.”

Victoria led the way into Claw Hall and down a corridor with tile floors. Cait looked around at the rest of the people in her orientation group. They all looked to be about her age, and there was a mix of male and female students.

They entered a classroom. Victoria grabbed some folding chairs from the wall and began to arrange them in a circle, and the rest of the group caught