The Silver Dagger

Memories

He put his head against her chest. She put her hand on his head. It surprised her how much she'd missed him now that he was here. It had only been two days.

"I guess I should ask a better question. Do you want to go to class with me?"

He nodded.

"Come on then, we need to run."

It felt like everyone on campus turned to watch them go by. No one stopped her as she led Nate into the building - they were too busy pushing themselves into the wall to give them room to pass or abruptly deciding they should go the other way. They got to class with one minute to spare. The teacher was already up front but she was speaking with the TA and had her back to the door. Aiyana urged Nate through the door and immediately to the left. The other students didn't look pleased, but they didn't say anything. She sat behind the table at the end of the last row. Nate crawled under the table and was soon not quite snoring, but breathing long and deep. She was tempted to take off her shoes and use him as a footrest. How rude would that be? Somehow, she didn't think he would mind. How had he found her? The farm was five miles away and he was blind. He couldn't have tracked her scent - she hadn't been there since the last full moon.

The professor used up every single minute of class trying to cram in all the information on the syllabus that they hadn't yet covered. She was going to have to go over her notes later today or else she'd forget all the things she hadn't had time to write down, but first, she'd have to take care of Nate. She took her time stuffing her things back in her backpack to give everyone else time to leave before she woke him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kobe Bass, the only other werewolf in her year who had also been accepted into the DMV early admissions program, glared down at her from the other side of the table.

"Sitting here."

"With him," he lowered his voice, "that way?"

"He's injured. Besides, everyone thinks he's a dog."

"Only idiots would think that."

"A wolf-dog then." She looked directly up into his face. "Why are you so upset about it?"

"I'm not," he blustered, looking down to avoid her eyes.

She smiled to herself. Kobe was smart and sweet but he was also easily intimidated, at least by her. It was very different from the way most other wolves treated her.

"I'm going to take him back to the farm. I just brought him here because I was running late for class. I heard Professor Turner always puts something from the last lecture on the final exam and I didn't want to miss anything."

Kobe bravely raised his head again. "Who is he?"

"His name is Nate. He's from the Yellowstone pack."

"Why is he here?"