Shadow Mate - Jen L. Grey Page 0,23

reeked of skunk too. Dammit, that was my favorite pair.

Instead, I used my mouth to pick up my badge, key, and the note before trotting out to the two men.

"Do you want me to get your clothes?" Tripp grimaced.

I shook my head no and lowered the note on the ground.

“Got it,” Kai said as he bent down and to it.

I started making my way to the dorm. It wasn’t like I'd ever be able to get that stench out of them, not with my wolf nose.

“Well, at least let one of us carry your badge for you.” Kai approached me, and I dropped my small bundle into his hand and then nodded my head in thanks.

Kai and Tripp flanked me. One walking on each side. When we approached the backside of the large building that led closest to the dorms in the clearing, both Robyn and her friends were standing near the restaurant with Liam and his buddies. Their smiles dropped off their faces when their eyes landed on me.

Now I hated that I dragged Kai and Tripp into it. I didn't expect Liam and his friends would have the nerve to be here, but who was I kidding? He was the bully and had to see how this played out. They'd expected me to not have any help and be stuck wearing my clothes.

"Hey," Liam shouted as he began walking in our direction, but he was at least a quarter-mile away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just ignore him." Kai cut the corner sharper and sped up since we were closer to the dorms. "Act like you don't know he's talking to us."

"Got it." Tripp began to jog while Kai and I ran to catch up. It took only a few minutes at our fast pace before we were coming up on the girls’ dorm.

There was no way Liam was going to catch up to us before we got inside. They had been overly cocky and stayed too far away.

Kai scanned my badge, and Tripp hurried to open the door for me. As we entered the dorm, a few girls glanced our way from across the room but shrugged it off, returning to their conversation.

Tripp hit the elevator button and luckily the door opened immediately. By the time the three of us entered and as the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Liam bursting through the main front dorm doors.

"Uh... at least he won't know where we're heading." Tripp sighed and let his shoulders sag. "The last thing I need to do is get on the bad side of a future council leader."

I hated to tell him that Liam knew exactly where I lived and that he probably even had a key to it himself. I had a hard time believing Bree and he were related, but it wasn’t like I could tell Tripp even if I wanted to right now while in animal form.

The elevator dinged and the door opened when we reached my floor. I was headed for the door of my dorm, as it opened to reveal Bree.

Her eyes locked on mine, and she stumbled back. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry, she's trying to get to her room." Kai appeared beside me and glanced at Bree. "We'll get moving along."

"We’d better hurry in case he scopes the floors." Tripp glanced behind him like Liam was just going to appear.

This was stupid. I pushed past Bree and ran into my room. As I slammed my door, I heard the elevator ding out in the hallway.

"Come on in, boys." Bree's voice was tense, and I heard both guys enter the room. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened." Liam's angry voice pounded in my ears. "These two idiots got involved in something they shouldn't have."

"What did you do?" Bree's voice for once wasn't timid around him.

Realizing I didn't need to put her in the middle of whatever was going on between us, I shifted back to two legs and ran into my closet to grab some yoga pants and a shirt. As the horrid stench hit my nose, it occurred to me that the smell had stuck to my hand.

Dammit, I’d touched the clothes. At least, it wasn't all over me. I thought about washing my hand for a second before deciding not to. I'd make him suffer through it as well.

"I was teaching someone their place in the hierarchy." His voice was laced with so much anger. "But these two got in the damn