Searching

RORY

Ophelia’s words are ringing in my ears. “You’ll only find books like that at the university library.”

I need to get my hands on those books.

~It’s for the safety of the pack,~ I remind myself as I hurry across the lawn between the pack house and the orphanage.

I’m on my way to visit Mama for the afternoon, hoping some time with her might help chill me out.

My thoughts keep swirling. I need to get those books, but I can’t get to the university. The entrance is hidden according to Ophelia.

Of course, werewolves would hide the entrance to an institution dedicated to learning. They wouldn’t want to share their knowledge with the world.

At least, not with the human world.

But times are changing. That’s what Everett and I decided.

So maybe there’s a way I can find out how to get there.

Just then I notice a flicker of brilliant red hair in my periphery and I turn to spot Mia speedily strutting along a path nearby.

~Mia goes to Lupus University!~

~She’ll know where the entrance to the campus is.~

Mia and I haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot. But I’m her luna, which means she has a duty to help me out.

“Mia!” I call, waving like we’re old friends and hurrying to intercept her before she can scurry away.

She rolls her eyes as I approach, but she stops walking at least.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hey,” she says, unenthused. “What’s up?”

“I was sort of hoping you might be able to help me with something.”

“Right.”

She lifts an eyebrow as if I’d just asked her for a kidney.

“The thing is I need some books for this thing I’m interested in learning about—”

“What sort of thing?”

“Oh, it’s just some pack stuff. Luna duties and all that shiz.”

“Uh-huh,” she says.

“Anyway, I heard the university has some amazing volumes that could be really handy.”

Mia leans on her back foot, popping her hip out to the side and surveying me like I’m a mannequin wearing last year’s clothes.

“You want to know where the entrance to the university campus is?” she asks.

I feel my cheeks growing warm.

“If that isn’t too much trouble,” I squeak.

For a second, Mia stares at me with a blank, slightly confused expression. Then she bursts out laughing.

“You want me to tell you where the ~secret~ entrance to the college is?” she chortles. “And you thought I would just tell you because you’re the luna or something?”

I run my toe along a crack in the footpath.

“I was hoping.”

“Didn’t they teach you anything at luna school, dear?” Mia says, her tone increasingly condescending. “Lupus University is a college for wolves and ~only~ wolves.

“There has never been a human student, and there never will be.”

I grind my teeth.

The way she says the word humans disgusts me.

~She wouldn’t speak to me like that if she remembered I was actually a Goddess.~

“Just because you’re a luna doesn’t mean I’m going to break with hundreds of years of wolf tradition.”

“I don’t want to be a student, I just want to visit the library,” I say, crossing my arms.

“The library is just for students,” Mia snaps back. “So I’m afraid I can’t help.”

I huff and look away.

“Is that everything, Your Highness?” she asks.

My blood is boiling, but I know I can’t rise to her weak taunts.

“Yes, that’s everything,” I mutter.

“Have a nice day.” Mia shoots a massive fake smile in my direction and begins strutting away.

She’s so sour and resentful. I was asking for help as a fellow pack member. And she kept talking to me as if I was a spoiled luna who’d never had any real struggles.

I nibble on my bottom lip as an idea occurs to me.

I ~am~ a luna. And certain privileges come with that title. Maybe it’s time I start embracing some of them.

I turn on my heel and head back in the direction of the pack house.

***

EVERETT

Ever since my visit to the rogues, the pack’s safety has been on my mind.

I lean back in my desk chair and stare at the blank screen in front of me. I have a blank document open on my computer with the heading: “Plans To Unite The Packs.”

And underneath it…nothing. A flashing cursor.

I know I need to do something. The rogues want revenge. That much is clear.

They’ll do anything to get it. To get at me.

It’s my job to protect my people.

But nothing is coming to me.

Even though we rarely saw eye to eye, I wish Robert was here. He was my point guy at the Red Moon Pack.

He was always willing to negotiate...albeit begrudgingly.

Without him, I don’t know how I’m going to make any headway.

I’m starting to feel like maybe I need a snack to get my creative juices flowing and have decided to head to the kitchen when Aurora appears at my door.

“Can I speak with you for a minute?” she says. “If you’re not too busy.”

I glance at the blank screen.

“I’m never too busy for you.”

I stand and move to her, wrapping an arm around her little waist and kissing her on the cheek.

We wander to the sofas where I hold meetings and take a seat next to each other.

“What is it?”

Aurora turns to me, nibbling on her lip the way she does when she’s thinking about something.

“I was wondering if you knew where the entrance to Lupus University is,” she says, her eyes wide and painfully adorable.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’ve been trying to think of ways to protect the pack, you know, because of what my mother said, and I think there might be some books there that can help.”

My heart swells. Aurora has only been the luna of my pack for a few months and already she’s going the extra distance for my—our—people.

But unfortunately, I can’t help her. I rub the back of my neck and then take her hand.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “The entrance is a secret, even to me.”

“But you’re the alpha,” she protests.

“I know, and a former student.”

Aurora’s mouth drops open.

“Wait, you went there?”

“Craziest four years of my life.”

My mind is suddenly swarming with memories of college parties, frisbee on the quad, girls from my wolf-studies classes...

Aurora coughs and I dart my attention back to her.

~Am I blushing?~

“If you went there, how can you not know how to get in?” she asks.

“The entrance is enchanted, so only current students and the faculty can see it. They move it every year.”

Aurora sighs and slumps back against a pillow.

“But so many of our wolves go there, it has to be near the pack grounds, right?” she asks, sounding hopeless.

“It was when I went there.”

She thinks for a minute and I can tell she’s feeling stressed. Chaos starts barking. He hates that I’m letting her worry.

I take her other hand and shuffle closer.

“Hey, I know you’re worried about what your mother said and what happened with Red Moon’s old beta—”

“I could have helped him!” she erupts. “If I knew more about my power.”

“I know,” I say, trying to soothe her, and trying to ignore Chaos, who is still throwing a minor tantrum.

“I know. But you need to trust that I have things under control. Besides, you know that Robert was aligned with Stefan.”

Aurora’s head jerks up and her eyes meet mine.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks.

“I just mean that he thought humans were inferior.”

“And that means he deserved to die at the hands of rogues?”

Aurora’s face is turning red.

“No, of course not,” I say, backpedaling as fast as possible. “I just…I don’t want you to worry.”

“I am worried!” Aurora stands and throws her arms out. “Rogues are killing our people! Some dark force is after me! I need to do more to help.”

I stand too and wrap my arms around her; her shoulders are tense.

“I’m sorry,” I say, pulling her close. “I shouldn’t have been so insensitive. I know you’re worried, but I’m doing everything I can.”

“I want…no, I ~need~ to help,” she says.

“Maybe you can help me come up with some activities that might unite everyone?”

“Maybe,” she mutters.

I know this won’t be enough for my little mate. But it’s the only thing I can think of to keep her out of trouble.

***

RORY

“It’s so ridiculous,” I say into my phone. “It’s a whole university campus but no one seems to know where it is.”

“Ugh, that’s so weird,” Freya replies from her dorm room in Manhattan.

“Actually that’s not true. Some people ~do~ know where it is, they’re just too stuck up to tell me.”

“What are you going to do?” Freya asks.

In the background, I can hear voices calling out. Some guy is asking his friend if he bought beer, and someone else is bragging about a test they aced.

“What’s going on there?” I ask her.

“Oh, some of the boys from my film studies class are throwing a party tonight.”

“Another party?” I ask, suddenly reminded of the college party I went to with Freya. The night all of this started.

“Yeah, I never thought college would be so fun.”

I go quiet for a second, long enough for Freya to notice.

“Oh, sorry, I don’t mean to be insensitive, I know you’re having a tough time,” she says. “So what are you going to do?”

I flop backward onto my bed.

“I don’t know,” I say and sigh. “Maybe you have the right idea. You ~and~ Everett. Maybe I’m stressing too much and I should just relax a bit more.”

“You can always come visit me again.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I say, draping my arm across my eyes.

“Rory,” Freya says, using her serious, ~best-friend advice~ voice. “If something is bugging you this much, you should do something about it.”

~Bugging is an understatement.~

“But there’s nothing I can do.”

“Did I let my complete lack of pitch stop me from signing up for the a cappella group?” Freya asks me. “No.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It means that if you want to find a way to get to this library, then you can’t stop trying.”

I sit up and rub my eyes. The sun is pouring in through the open window. Without thinking, I stand and cross the room. I lean against the window frame and stare out at the grass.

“I guess you’re right,” I say. “But I’ve asked everyone and no one is going to tell me where the stupid entrance is.”

“So maybe you should stop asking and try a new tactic.”

As I stare outside, I spot Mia and a couple of other girls walking across the lawn with backpacks over their shoulders.

They’re laughing and chatting like friends…friends who go to college together.

An idea forms in my mind.

“Freya, I have to go.”

“Oh, okay, well call me if you need any—”

I hang up on Freya and run outside.

Without letting them see me, I follow Mia and her friends as they wander into the woods. We take a couple of turns and cross a shallow stream.

Mia glances behind her a couple of times, and I have to duck behind a tree, nearly losing my balance and giving myself away.

Eventually, we come to a large rock formation. A central boulder is surrounded by three smaller rocks.

I sneak behind a low-hanging branch, losing my balance and falling into a patch of moss.

Luckily, they don’t seem to have noticed.

They’re too busy chatting.

I crouch low to the ground as they circle the rock formation.

The girls all glance over their shoulders and then wander behind the biggest of the stones.

~Is this it?!~

As quietly as possible, I sneak around the rock formation, being careful not to step on any twigs.

I stop when I notice something super weird.

They’re gone. All three of them have disappeared.

~Where did they go?~

I know for sure this must be the entrance to Lupus University. But I didn’t see where they went or how they got through the entrance.

The only thing I know for sure is that they’re nowhere to be seen. I tiptoe closer to the formation.

I circle it, looking out for any sign of an opening, like the crack in the edges of a door, or a hole in the ground…anything.

For minutes, I wander around, but I can’t figure it out.

I’m about to give up when my foot catches on a branch. I tumble forward, right toward the sharpest of the smallest rocks.

I squeeze my eyes shut and brace for impact, for the dull thud of my skull colliding with stone.

But it doesn’t come. Instead, the instant I make contact with the stone, I’m blinded by a flashing light.

Rainbow streaks flood my vision, and I feel like my body is being turned inside out.

Then, all of a sudden, the world comes rushing back to me.

I tumble onto a patch of lush, green grass.

~Was that the secret entrance?~

A quick glance around me tells me I’m not in the woods anymore. Immaculately trimmed hedges sit behind me, and a daisy-dotted field lies ahead.

Wiping my knees as I stand, I lift my head and gasp.

Over the crest of a hill, a collection of grand, old buildings sit, with sunlight glinting off the windows.

~That’s it!~

~That’s Lupus University.~

~I made it!~