Fall Semester (Omega Wolf Academy Book 2)
Fall Semester
Omega Wolf Academy Book 2
JJ King
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
ALSO WRITTEN BY JJ KING
About the Author
Copyright
The characters, places, and events portrayed in this book are completely fiction and are in no way meant to represent real people or places.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this eBook with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Copyright © 2021 JJ King
All rights reserved.
Kindle Edition
ISBN- 978-1-989794-07-4
For my amazing Alpha readers. You guys are the best!
Acknowledgments
It has been so much fun exploring the world of not one, not two, but three mates, and I’m so happy you guys are along for the ride. Thank you for loving my wolves as much as I do!
Chapter 1
I swallowed the nerves that skittered up my spine as I walked across campus, glancing nervously around as if I were about to be jumped in plain daylight.
It was normal to feel this way, I reminded myself. The sun had still been in the sky when Randall had drugged me and stole me away from what was supposed to be my safe haven. Omega Wolf Academy had lost its sheen for me somehow. It felt… violated.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t mine, though. OWA had been a huge part of my first step away from my family, away from the past, towards a future of my own. It was where I’d staked my independence, found my voice, and my guys. It was where I’d found my mates.
A smile lifted my lips and chased away the nerves as I climbed the stairs of the Psychology building and found my classroom.
“Lexi!” a familiar voice exclaimed as arms wrapped around my body from behind.
I stiffened, then sagged a moment later with relief as I realized my assailant was Emily, not a twisted asshole from my past with a syringe and deadly intentions. I twisted my head to look at her and made a face. “Huh?”
Emily pulled back and smacked me lightly on the arm. “You disappeared in the middle of the semester, dummy. I was worried about you.” She looked at me with a mixture of relief and confusion in her eyes, which I noticed were a beautiful mossy green. I wondered absently if I’d ever noticed her eyes last term or if I were just seeing the world through sharper eyes, now.
Questions leaped to my tongue. Why did she care? We hadn’t spent much time together outside of class.
But that was stupid. She’d been kind and sweet to me from the first moment we’d met. I’d been the one that had pumped the brakes on a potential friendship. I’d been so wrapped up in my own little world of drama that I’d missed out on a friend. I decided to rectify that right now and pulled out two chairs, one for me and one for her.
“I had to go back to Ireland. Family emergency. It was really sudden. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know.” I offered her an apologetic shrug and turned the conversation back to her, hoping it would work as a distraction. The last thing I wanted to discuss was the details of my so-called family emergency. “What have you been up to?” I slid into the seat and began pulling things out of my backpack while listening to her chatter about taking a trip to Hawaii during break.
“I wish I could tan,” I complained, holding my arm up to hers, which was a golden brown that practically glowed. “I’d probably burn to death if I went to Hawaii for a week.”
“Not much sun in Ireland?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow inquisitively.
I just laughed.
Emily chuckled. “Not so much, I take it. So…” she drew out the word suggestively. “What’s going on with Chase?” She added unnecessary clarity that she was referring to sex by wagging her eyebrows.
I felt the blush like a sunburn and dipped my head to hide the flare of color.
“Mmmm hmmm,” Emily made a knowing sound and nudged my knee. “I’m going to need to know more. Are you free for coffee after class?” Her hand shot out and grabbed my knee, making my head pop up in alarm. “Oh! I almost forgot about Dimitri! What’s going on with him?”
I nearly bit my tongue.
There was a lot going on with him, with Chase, and with Lucian. They were my guys, my mates, my everything, and they’d been anxiously awaiting my return to campus. I chewed my lip and shrugged.
“We’re still figuring things out,” I murmured, leaving it at that. It was true, after all. We had a shit load of things to figure out. “Can I get a raincheck for the coffee?” I asked, hopefully. “I literally got in this morning just before class and barely had time to change. My stuff is still in my suitcase.”
“Sure, yeah.” She shrugged easily. “No problem. Here, give me your phone.” She held out a hand and quickly programmed her number into my memory, then passed it back as Dr. Daniels strode into the room, wearing his familiar suede elbow patch jacket. It warmed my heart a little and made me feel like I was somehow home.
“Welcome to Psychology 2023. I’m Dr. Nixon Daniels, your professor for this term,” he announced with a wide grin that encompassed the entire group but settled for a fraction of a second longer on me. His eyes warmed slightly when I smiled back and nodded my head. Without missing a beat, he clicked on the computer, logged in, and had the Smartboard whirring.
An image of a snarling wolf filled the screen a few moments later.
“The study of our biological and psychological connection to the animal within is a fascinating topic and one I have spent a great deal of my life focused on.” He clicked again and an image of a nuclear family popped up. A mother and father, and two young children, both wearing bright yellow rubber boots. The children laughed as they jumped in puddles while their parents watched with adoration.
Dr. Daniels moved around the edge of the classroom, making the circuit as he clicked from picture to picture, each apparently at odds with the one before. “Our world is civilized, but were we always that way? Was there a time when the beast ruled over the human side?” The next slide was of a familiar monster, a werewolf howling at the full moon.
Smiles slid across faces. Werewolves were mythical monsters created by Hollywood, the antithesis to who we were. They were primal and single-minded killers at the core. They weren’t real. Yet, they held endless fascination and amusement for many of us.
“Popular culture has played with the werewolf legend for years, creating as wide a swath of characters as the brain can dream up.” Movie and television posters flashed quickly, moving from Jack Nicholson’s Wolf, to Michael J. Fox’s Teen Wolf, to Underworld, to An American Werewolf in Paris, to Ginger Snaps, to Twilight. “Each depiction is fictitious, though some come closer to the truth of who and what we are than others.” He smirked. “As frivolous as the Twilight series is, they actually come fairly close to the truth. My personal favorite, however, is Blood and Chocolate.”
I smiled at the memory of watching it with my sisters months after being released from our mountain cage. I’d been so thirsty for knowledge of
the outside world; I’d watched a thousand movies and read even more books.
My thoughts turned from class to my sisters. We were connected through blood and shared experiences, shared traumas. I felt closer to them than I had thought possible to anyone else.
That was before I knew I’d find a mate. Before I’d discovered that fate had something a little different in mind for me.
I chewed on my lip and thought of the group I’d visited in Ireland. They’d dispersed with time and rising levels of confidence. Only a few still lived with Rose and Liam, or in the forests around their home.
I’d spent the last few weeks running with them, called to the moon with them, and ignored the world beyond my fur. It had been liberating and exactly what my overloaded mind had needed for a few weeks. Of course, it had meant no text messages, which had meant no communication with my guys.
I shifted anxiously in my seat at the knowledge that I’d see them before the day ended.
My plane really had come in early this morning, delivering me and another precious package to Omega Wolf Academy. Alyssa had followed me to her dorm with wide eyes and nervous ticks but had nodded bravely and murmured that she’d be alright when I said I had to go drop my things off at my building.
It was like having an anchor around my waist, having her here. Coming to Omega Wolf Academy had been my first step towards freedom, and now she was here, too, and I felt burdened. It made me feel horrible that I felt this way.
Class flew by in a blur, as did the two others scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’d signed up for what I considered some of the best classes offered at OWA; English 2700: Lord of the Rings, Art 2201: Intermediate oil, Art 2500: Abstraction in play, and Women’s Studies 1700: The Sisterhood. I was excited to dive into my course load for the term, but I was more excited to see my guys. My brain just wouldn’t or couldn’t focus on anything but them.
My nerves danced, making it almost impossible to settle down as time wound closer to when I’d see them again. It was as if something inside me shivered with need. My wolf, I supposed, as I hurried from my last class towards my dorm room. Absently, I wondered if Alyssa had a good first day and pushed away the guilt of knowing I had no plans to go check on her.
I had other plans tonight.
My mind spun with all the possibilities of the evening. I'd left so soon after my abduction that we hadn't had the chance to discuss what had happened between us, the bond that had snapped sharply into place when we'd closed the circle.
I chewed my lip as waves of fluttery nerves flowed through me. I'd thought of that moment often, and still it made my heart swell. There was something tangible between us now, something fated and bigger than I could've ever imagined.
I'd spent all of summer semester wrapped up in the mystery and excitement of my attraction to three indescribably hot wolves. I'd known that what I felt wasn't usual, and now I knew that it was because the mate connection was amplified by three and echoed back through me. I didn't know what that would mean for each of us, if being bonded like that would be painful or joyous. Probably some combination of both, I thought, knowing life was never so black and white. We had a lot of things to figure out, but, at least, we had that foundation to stand on. None of us could deny any more that we were linked for life.
I slipped into my dorm room, glancing at the time on my phone, and rushed to freshen up. While my brain understood clearly that tonight would be mostly discussion and emotion, my body was fully aware of the sexy possibilities having three mates presented. We'd have a lot to discuss in that area, too, I thought, slowly blowing out a shuddering breath as my core tightened.
Time passed in leaps and bounds, jumping drastically between each glance at my phone. I put my hair up to keep it dry and took the fastest shower of my life, then agonized over what to wear until I realized I was being an idiot and pulled on a teal blue cotton dress that complimented my eyes and made my freshly touched up pink hair shine.
My stomach fluttered the entire time.
I felt them a moment before the knock sounded on my door. I reached out blindly to grab my desk for support as my heart broke into a furious staccato and my legs turned to jelly.
Chapter 2
My rubbery legs carried me across the room in a rush of frantic need, and I tore the door open, flinging it wide.
My wolf instincts saw them, smelled them, knew them, a split second before they surged through the door and overwhelmed me in the best possible way.
Arms, hot and sinfully tight, reached for me and pulled me in, sandwiching me in a mountain of men. I laughed in sheer delight as my heart swelled impossibly large and let myself be surrounded by my mates.
After a few moments, I slipped a hand through the mass of muscle and flesh and tapped out on Chase’s back.
“I can’t breathe!” I gasped through bubbling laughter.
They moved away, taking only a single step back, but the distance felt like miles. Unwilling to give up that skin to skin connection, but needing to breathe and see their faces to be able to talk, I reached out my hands and moved to sit in the far corner of my bed.
They sat with me, each one touching me in some way just as they had the night we’d bonded. It soothed my soul, surprising me at the depth of emotion that lifted into my chest. I’d thought I was doing what was best, taking the time to think and reflect in Ireland with my family, not that I’d had much of a choice in the matter. Rose and the others didn’t know I’d found my mates, and, for some reason, I hadn’t felt comfortable telling them, yet.
Now, though, sitting in a small circle with each of them touching me, my soul knew peace and fulfilment. I breathed out a sigh.
“Old Ones, I didn’t realize how much I needed this,” I whispered as tears filled my eyes. I pressed a hand against my chest, over my beating heart, and lowered my head. “I should have never left.” I lifted my chin and looked at each of them in turn, making a promise. “I won’t leave you again.”
Their fingers tightened wherever they touched.
“Shhh,” Lucian soothed, reaching out a hand to wipe the tears that spilled from my eyes. “You’re back now and we’re together. And maybe it wasn’t the worst thing to have time to think without all this buzzing electricity between us.” He moved his thumb in slow circles over the curve of my calf and set fire to my body. I didn’t have to ask what buzzing electricity he was referring to.
I swallowed, staring into his impossibly beautiful eyes, then glanced down at his fingers. The effect of that simple brush of his skin against mine made the world fade away and my body sing with pleasure.
“Lucian,” I murmured, unable to tear my gaze away from that small physical connection. “If you don’t want to incite a riot, you should probably stop doing that.”
He chuckled, a deep rumble, but stilled his fingers against my flesh.
Chase cleared his throat. “As much as I hate to say it, we should probably keep touching to a minimum so we can talk about what this is.” He shook his head, frowned, and ran a hand through his beautiful blond hair. “I mean, we all know what this is, but what does it mean? How did it happen? Are we the only ones in the world like this, or are there others?”
I licked my lips, wishing for a bottle of water, and nodded. “I’ve been wondering the exact same thing. But how do we ask without drawing attention to our…” I smiled, “unique situation?”
“Did you speak to Rose about us?” Dimitri murmured, raising his dark eyes to meet mine.
A shiver chased up my spine at his simple look. I shook it off, wondering how long I’d be able to maintain my distance from them when all I wanted to do was throw myself at each of them.
An image of me lying naked on my bed, writhing beneath their collective hands, mouths, and bodies, made my pheromones shoot into the stratosphere.
The moment they scented me, their bodies stiffened with need, making it almost impossible to breathe through the moment. We still had a lot to talk about, I reminded myself. We had to figure o
ut our boundaries, our hard and soft limits. Just the thought of hard limits, of hard bodies, of hard… turned my blood to fire.
I pushed off the bed, skirting between Lucian and Dimitri, to cross my small dorm room, giving us a tiny bit of space to think and breathe.
“No,” I said, answering Dimitri’s question. “I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid…” I stopped the thought and chewed my lip. “I was afraid she’d call us unnatural. Freaks of nature.” I shook my head vehemently. “I know she wouldn’t have said those things.” I tapped my forehead. “I know it up here, but I can’t chase away the fear in here.” I slammed my fisted hand against my chest, imploring them with my eyes to understand, and was relieved to see no judgement from any of them.
“Lexi.” Lucian reached out a hand, letting it dangle in the air as I stared at it, wanting too much to rejoin them on the bed. For that reason, I shook my head and took a step further back.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I’d played this reunion over in my mind so many times and knew I had a responsibility to each of them to share the truth of who I was. “I need to tell you about where I come from and who my family are.” I chewed my lip, scared once more to be called a freak. They wouldn’t reject me, I reminded myself, knowing the bond we shared wouldn’t let that happen. Taking a deep breath, I laid my soul bare.
“This is going to be a lot,” I said cautiously, lifting my gaze. “So, let me just get through it before I chicken out. Okay?”