"Hey Aiyana."
Oh no, had someone noticed the boys in her room last night? She smiled innocently at the boy behind the front desk. No guilty person here.
"Hi Michael."
"I haven't seen your dog friend in a while. How's he doing?"
"He's much better."
The boy glanced at Nate and Cliff who had come into the dorm behind her. "That's good. He seemed like a nice dog. Done with finals?"
"No. I have two more, both tomorrow."
"Yuck. You staying in the dorm next year?"
"No. I'm moving into an apartment."
"Oh, well, we'll miss you. By the way, someone came by looking for you."
"Who?"
"One of the girls on your floor came in and said your aunt was looking for you and asked if I'd seen you."
"My aunt? She's not supposed to come until Saturday."
"You should check your phone. She said you weren't answering."
"What time was this?" Cliff demanded.
"About ten."
"Anything on your phone?" Nate asked, noticing she'd pulled it from her pocket.
"No."
"Did you see the woman?" Cliff asked Michael.
"No, she stayed outside. Is something wrong?" Michael asked, looking between Aiyana and Cliff.
"Yeah. It's a family thing. Let me know if you see any dark-haired people with Scottish accents."
Michael looked at her curiously. "Scottish? Aren't you Native American?"
She shrugged, then grabbed a piece of paper from the scrap pile and jotted down her number. "Take a picture if you can, then text me so I can see who it is."
"Sure," he said, taking the scrap of paper, "but my shift is almost over."
"Can you tell the next person then?" she asked sweetly.
He looked up into her eyes and nodded, "Yeah."
His voice sounded strange. She wasn't using coercion again was she? Did that even work on humans?
They had to dodge an older man carrying a refrigerator, a woman with a suitcase, and a girl who was probably their daughter carrying an armful of pillows as they walked through the lobby. People were already starting to move out, lucky them. Aiyana recognized the girl, although she couldn't remember her name, and wished her a happy summer. "Are you staying around here this summer," Cliff asked, "or are you going home?"
"Up here. I'm working at the animal hospital full time this summer and I hope to find a part-time job somewhere. Vet school isn't cheap."
"I thought you had a scholarship."
"It doesn't cover vet school."
She smelled it when they reached the top of the stairs. Another wolf had been in the hallway.
"How many wolves are in this dorm?" Nate asked in a low voice.
"Just one that I know of and that doesn't smell like him."
"Whoever was asking about you was probably just trying to make sure you lived in this dorm," Cliff said.
The scent was even stronger in front of her door. "Let me go in first," Cliff said, as she put the key into the door.
She didn't need her sense of smell to know the wolf had been in her room. All the drawers from the dresser on top of the desk had been pulled out and dumped. The boxes and shoes she'd hidden in the bottom of the closet were now all around the room. The clothes that had been hanging above them were in a jumbled mess in front of the sink. Her mattress was stripped and was laying across the mattress and box springs on the floor with the few pieces of jewelry she owned scattered on top of it. It felt as if someone had slapped her - several times.
"Is anything missing?" Cliff asked."
I-I couldn't say."
"Aiyana." Nate looked at her in concern with his arms open just enough to make his question clear. She dove into them just as a few tears escaped. They'd been careful not to be too affectionate around Cliff all day but she needed a hug.
"Cliff and I will help you clean up," he said into her hair. "You were going to move on Saturday anyway, right. This is just a head start."
She nodded against his chest, afraid to try and talk. With all the stress of finals and now this, she didn't know what she'd do if Nate hadn't been there.
"I'll go see if I can find some boxes," Cliff said gruffly.
She took a deep breath and managed to regain control of herself before Cliff reached the door. "No, that's okay. I have bags." She pulled away from Nate and pointed at the cloth and plastic grocery bags that were now laying all over her room. "They're easier to store and carry. If you guys can start with the shoes and the clothes on hangers, I'll pull out what I need until Saturday, then we can pack everything else."
——————————-
She turned to Nate and not him, but Cliff couldn't blame her. Nate seemed to be a nice guy. Except for that kiss on the stairs yesterday and that one incidence of blatant flirting, Nate hadn't tried to rub his relationship with Aiyana in Cliff's face. In fact, Nate and Aiyana seemed to be trying hard not to provoke him. Other than a few elbows when they'd teased each other, they'd barely touched all morning. She'd smiled and laughed at Nate as they'd escorted her to her exam, but she'd smiled and laughed at him too. He bent to pick up a pair of shoes and noticed she was already working frantically to stuff all her underwear into one of the cloth grocery bags. He turned away to give her some privacy and noticed Nate doing the same thing.
"Any idea what they're after?" Cliff asked, stuffing a second pair of shoes into the bag. He'd thought all women were shoe collectors, but he only saw four pairs, five if you included the running shoes she was wearing. "Your aunt wasn't very forthcoming."
"Yes." She tied the handles of the bag with her underwear shut and unzipped a long pocket on the strap of her backpack. "This."
She pulled out a long, thin dagger, silver in color. It even had a sheath.
"You carry a dagger around school?"
She pulled off the sheath and held it where he could see it. "It's a letter opener."
"For all those letters you need to open in class?"
"Yes, exactly."
He reached out to take it but she shook her head. "It's silver."
"You're touching it."
She shrugged and handed it to him. He tilted it so he could see the markings on the blade, but before he could decipher anything, his hand started to burn. "Ow." He dropped it on the mattress and shook out his hand.
"Better wash your hand," she smirked, picking up the small blade as if it didn't hurt at all. His hand felt marginally better under the cool water, but it was still red.
He didn't see a towel, so he shook off the drops then wiped his hand on his shirt. "Why do you have that?"
"It was my dad's. The people who visited my aunt said he stole it from them. My aunt doesn't think he did."
"Why are they coming after it now? Your dad's been dead, what, twenty years?"
"Yeah."
"What do you know about your dad," Nate asked. "Where did he work? Did he have any family?"
"I think he was some kind of archaeologist. My aunt said he and my mom used to travel around the country visiting ancient werewolf sites. That's how they met. My mom was giving a tour of a museum and he wanted to see the were part of it. I don't know if he had any family. My aunt never mentioned it. I know he was Scottish, with red hair and blue eyes."
"Really?" Nate asked, scanning her face.
"I know, I take after my mom."
"But your wolf must take after your dad," Cliff said.
"Your wolf?" Nate asked.
"You haven't seen it then?" Cliff asked. That he hadn't made Cliff inordinately happy.
"No." Nate looked toward Aiyana with a soft look that Cliff, with a sinking heart, was forced to admit looked like love. "I was hoping I'd get to yesterday."
Aiyana shook her head with a little smile. "You'll just have to wait another month. I phased when I was taking a shower last night."
Nate pouted. To Cliff's delight, Aiyana elbowed him. "You are not a poor, injured wolf anymore. Pouting will get you nowhere."
Nate's pout got bigger. Aiyana rolled her eyes and kissed Nate on the cheek. "There you go, you poor thing. Maybe you should lay down and take your nap now."
Nate's pout was quickly replaced with a pleased, rather sultry grin that he lavished on Aiyana. She soaked it up like a dry seed. The anger Cliff had managed to keep tamped down since Aiyana had forced him to, started to rise. He directed it to an empty pop-tart box that he kicked toward the trashcan. It missed and hit the sink, but, to his pleasure, the noise was enough to get Aiyana to look away from Nate.
"You know, cleaning up this mess would be easier if there was something in my stomach," Cliff said. She smiled and his wolf urged him to nuzzle her. Yeah, that would go over well.
"I guess you guys aren't used to pop-tarts for breakfast. There are lots of places on campus or we can go off-campus. What are you hungry for?"
"Hamburger with fries. You still owe me, remember?" Nate said.
"Hey, I got those for you. You were the one who fell asleep."
It took Nate a moment, but he came back with, "Where's the proof?"
"I'm sure Doc would be glad to provide a receipt."
"Ha!" Nate said triumphantly. "You didn't get it. He did."
She waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "Details."
"Hamburgers sound good," Cliff interjected.
"Let's go to the Student Union then." Aiyana retrieved a couple of books from the floor and stuffed them in her bag. "I hope you don't mind if I study while we eat. I have two hard exams tomorrow and I didn't plan on packing today.
"Nate grabbed her backpack as soon as she'd zipped it shut and slung it over his shoulder. "I don't mind. I'll even help if you want."
Cliff wanted to punch him, but even as he thought it, some forced pressed against his mind and he knew if he tried it, he wouldn't be able to lift his arm. He hadn't know coercion could be permanent.