Conner's Game (Sample Only)

5 - Childhood

Conner

I want to kill someone. Not a new feeling, but this gut-wrenching pain brings out the worst in my wolf. He is clawing to go rip that little prick to shreds. I can feel him scoring his black claws down my stomach, each scrape sending a fresh wave of agony.

Dad warned me of this. Females suffer worse if they are being cheated on, but we have it pretty bad, too. My wolf is urging me to go Claim my female, holding him back causes this agony. Our wolves just can't handle the rules of humans. He is wild, and his instincts are all that drives him.

Last night the prick and my mate were fucking, too. Damnit, it makes me hate her, just a little, my own mate. She has to know what this does to me.

I see the light of the door open and curse. A week ago I had to chase off a pair of sophomores trying to get busy in my lovely storage room. I don't need any speculation about why the alphason of ClearHowl hides in a fucking closet.

"Conner? Is that you?"

Bailey. Her voice of liquid sex washes over me and my wolf starts whining like a drug addict looking for his fix. He wants comfort, and this chick can bring it to me.

"Come here, Bailey," I mutter.

She edges closer, almost tripping over a stack of mildewing Petri dishes with some unidentifiable light brown substance caked on their sides. I'm definitely telling Uncle Alex to stop funding State.

Bailey edges closer and I can see that her face is still pale from her recent bout with the flu. Shit, are all of the chemicals in here going to make her sick again? What if this is how she suffers from the mate bond abuse? It takes a human for-fucking-ever to recover from every-damn-thing, what if-

A fresh wave of searing pain cuts off my own thoughts. I double over, gritting my teeth to ride out the pain.

A soft, cool hand slides over my stomach. Fingers splayed open wide, her touch is tentative, but a wave of ice washes over the pain, dulling it immediately.

My hands are gripping my hair. She slides to the floor and I collapse my head into her lap. She smells sweet, comforting, like... hell, I don't know, but I like it. My wolf does too, his attention captured by her touch, he stops clawing at my insides. She starts to talk and he settles down.

"I got an internship, finally. I was worried that I may lose my scholarship if I didn't get any volunteer hours in."

"Work-study," I grunt.

"No. I was told they were all full. I guess freshmen don't get work-study often?" she asks, doubt in her voice.

She should feel skeptical. Some of those work-study programs suck, like cold-calling alumni for donations, but that's why there's always more of those jobs for freshmen.

"Clubs?" I rasp out. I mouth her pants leg with my teeth and hope she doesn't notice. It's starkly embarrassing, something teething pups do for comfort. I think I'd rather piss myself, but it helps.

She snorts indelicately. "Also a big-fat 'no.' Well, a bunch of 'nos' if you're going to get specific. And I asked to volunteer at the hospital and wasn't accepted there, either... As a volunteer!" Her frustration rings in her voice.

"Got an internship, though?" I mumble as the pain continues to face. I'll have to remember to tell Uncle Alex to make sure she doesn't ever have her scholarship taken away.

"Mmhm. A really good one, too," she says. "At Honieker Labs."

"Haven't heard of them," I wrap an arm around her waist and nuzzle her legs.