Shadow Mate - Jen L. Grey

Chapter One

My hands were so sweaty that I had trouble opening the door to my brother's dorm room. It was ridiculous. I was eighteen years old and graduating high school next Friday; a week from today. I'd been to parties before, but to be honest, I hated them.

The door swung open, revealing my brother on the other side. The movement startled me, which was exactly why he did it. Somehow, his wolf had always been able to sneak up on mine, which pissed me off.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were nervous to see me or something." His dark eyes twinkled as he ran his hands through his longish, dirty blond hair. "You do realize I'm your brother so you don't have to be all jittery around me?"

"Oh, shut up, Max. And what are you—eighty now? What teenager uses the term jittery?" I pushed past him and stepped into his room. "And you know how I am." His roommate was gone, so at least he didn't embarrass me in front of someone ... this time anyway. "I'm underage and don't even attend this school."

"You do realize the school isn't actually hosting the event?" He snorted as he shut the door and turned around. "It's even off-campus at a house that a couple of my friends rent out together. You're fine. Anyway, you'll be attending here next year, so what's the big deal?"

"You're right." I flopped onto my back and sighed. "I'm being stupid."

"You said it, not me." He chuckled as he sat on the bed next to me and stared at me. "We need to work on your resting bitch face. It scares guys off even when you clean up nice like tonight."

I reached over and punched him in the arm. "I am nice."

"Ow, shit!" He shook his arm and huffed. "You have an odd way of driving your point home."

"It didn't hurt. Stop being a wimp." I scanned the room, taking in the dinged up walls and how there were only about five feet between the beds. It was obvious that this was a guy’s dorm room because it held an overall stench of body odor. "Do you guys not bathe?"

"I did today." He pointed at his blue polo shirt and jeans. "And I dressed up too."

"Most people don't consider that dressing up." I loved him dearly, but most of the time, he ran around in T-shirts and sweatpants. "I mean, you're not even wearing khakis."

"Don't hate." He glanced at his watch and stood up. "Come on. I told them we'd get there a little early."

"Are you sure he won't mind me staying the night?" Max had assured me that his roommate wouldn’t be back until early in the morning; it felt weird, sleeping in someone’s room that I didn’t know. Even though our family home was only about an hour away from Kansas City University, I didn't want to drive back late at night.

"Mia, how many times do I have to tell you it's fine?" He rolled his eyes and pointed at his roommate's messed up sheets and the food scattered all over them. "I must really love you to let you have my bed. He’s a slob."

"Sorry.” I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, Mom and Dad are expecting us home by lunch, so we need to make sure we get out of here early."

"Fine, fine." He nodded to the door. "Come on."

"All right." I jumped to my feet and glanced at the mirror in his room. My dark hair cascaded down my back, and my eyeliner made my emerald eyes pop. I pulled the bottom of my solid black, off-the-shoulder shirt down over my pink skirt and nodded in his direction. "Let's do this."

We pulled into a subdivision of older houses that were only five minutes from campus. Cars were parked all along the street.

"I thought you said we were getting here early?" At this rate, we might not find a parking spot.

"Well, I guess everyone’s just excited to celebrate the last weekend before summer break." He sighed, and his eyes locked in on one of the last remaining parking spots, which was super narrow.

"Are you sure you can squeeze this car in there?" Granted, he drove a Volkswagen Jetta, but still ...

"Of course I can." He swung into the tight space with no issue at all.

"Show off." I climbed out of the car and slammed the door shut. The whole ride down here, I had a feeling that something was going to happen tonight, and