Shadow Mate - Jen L. Grey Page 0,15

burgers?" Bree arched an eyebrow as she tossed me a menu. "Does that sound good?"

I quickly glanced over it and nodded. "Yup. All the way."

"Great, it'll be right out." He turned and headed off toward the kitchen.

"So, how long have you and Nate been a thing?" I took the seat so I could see the front door. I don't know why, but I’d always had a thing where I didn't want someone to walk up behind me.

"Oh, about a year now." Her eyes lit up at his name. "We don't get to see each other a lot, but when we do, it's amazing."

She sounded way too happy for it to be a normal kind of relationship. "Is he your mate?"

"Shhh ..." She glanced around and lowered her voice. "Yes, but no one knows. Okay?"

"But that should be a good thing." Why wouldn't she want everyone to know?

"Yeah, it should be." She sighed and glanced at the ceiling. "But he's not even going to be a pack alpha. My dad won't allow it."

"Allow it?" Mates were mates. I couldn't even imagine what my parents would do if they hadn't found one another. "Fate kind of trumps job status."

"One would think so, but that's not the case for me." She took a deep breath. "It's like I can't do anything without Dad or Liam showing up."

The front door of the cafeteria opened, and I glanced up to meet her brother's eyes. The three other heirs were close behind him.

He frowned and shook his head as he beelined straight to us.

I already regretted leaving the dorm. It wasn’t even an hour later, and I was about to go round two with him.

Chapter Five

"Hey, what's the matter?" Bree turned her head to follow my gaze. Her shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. "Of course he’d show up here. It's like they have ears everywhere."

As weird as it seemed, that didn't sound like a far stretch from what I was seeing.

"What are you doing here?" Liam's voice was deep as he approached me. His jaw was clenched, and his buddies flanked him once again.

It felt weirdly like they were keeping tabs on me. "Eating. What does it look like?" I'd just resolved myself to not run my mouth, and yet here I was.

"Wait, isn't that the girl from that party?" The guy whose skin was light olive tilted his head as he stared me down. He ran a hand through his ash-blond hair, and his amber eyes danced with mirth as he took me in. "How the hell are you here?"

"It doesn't matter how." Liam cut his eyes at his friend in warning. "Don't encourage her any more than she already is."

"Your brother has a weird definition of encouraging." He was challenging me in every way. Our wolves were at war with one another, and I just couldn’t help myself. "Between you and me," I said the words as I lifted a hand where the guys couldn't see my lips move. However, I didn't lower my voice. "Yup. I think he's definitely overcompensating for something."

"Oh, damn." The blond-haired friend barked out a laugh before clamping his mouth shut. "She's really asking for it."

"She's asking for something, all right." The palest and largest of the four caught my gaze. His gray eyes verged on a light silver as they took on a glow. "I didn't realize our dads were letting in charity cases now."

I took in a sharp breath. Were they the heirs to the council? All four of them? This was going to get bad. "I'm here for the opportunity; that is all." Honestly, I only wanted to stay under the radar.

"You guys don't even normally eat here." Bree leaned forward and sighed. "So why today?"

"We're starving and..." The light-haired one began to explain.

"Shut up, Simon," Liam growled. His eyes stayed on me though. "We don't have to explain why we're here to anyone."

"Come on." The dark olive-skinned guy pointed toward the back where there was another booth away from everyone. "Let's sit over there."

"Sounds good." Simon lifted his hands as he took a step back. "We don't want to chance getting loser on us."

"What are you then?" You'd think for them to be considered badasses, their insults would be more on point.

"Hey." Simon took a step back in my direction with a snarl on his face.

"Quit it." Liam lifted his hand and pushed his friend in the chest. "She's not worth it. Let's go." He turned his back to me, and the four