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Chapter 3

Woo hoo another chapter! I've spent the last few hours writing these so I hope you guys enjoy! Please make sure to tell me how I'm doing hehe. Thanks again everyone!

That's another picture of Jake to the right!

Jessica leaned back in her chair and chewed her pen thoughtfully. She had spent two hours on her first essay for English that it felt like her head was going to explode. She was staring down at the table when two tanned hands dropped down in front of her.

“I was looking for you everywhere,” said Nicole.

“Sorry, I was hiding in the library doing my homework.”

“Where’s Natalie?”

She had been on campus for two weeks and they were already known as partners in crime. She was nothing like her friends back home. In fact, Now that she thought about it, all her friends did were follow her around like lost puppies. They just wanted a taste of what it felt like to be friends with the pack leaders daughter. There were a few people she could rely on but Natalie was completely different.

“She had to go to a study group for some statistics class.”

“Ugh I hate statistics,” said Nicole, taking a seat in front of her.

Today she was wearing an orange tank top that made her brown skin look like it was glowing. Her black hair hung in loose curls as she absentmindedly twirled them with her finger.

“Well I wanted to personally tell you girls know that you both made the sorority. We have you rooms all ready for you so please move in as soon as you can.”

“Awesome!” squealed Jessica. “She’s going to be so excited once I tell her. I’ve been missing home so some girl time will be fantastic.”

“Yeah, we’re not a very large group of girls but we sure do know how to party. Plus,” said Nicole as she bent forward and pulled a piece of clothing out of her bag, “We’re sisters now so you gotta look like us.”

Jessica grabbed the jacket and held it in front of her. It was a beautiful black track jacket that had neon blue lines going down the arms. Across the back there was the word ‘Howlers’ written and below it was a crescent moon. On the front it said her initials J.S.

Nicole raised an eyebrow as Jessica’s graze landed on her initials. She looked up from her inspection and gave her friend a shrug.

“This is super nice. Thank you so much.”

“I didn’t know your last name was Strype,” said Nicole.

“Um yup. Pretty cool right?”

“You guys are the ones that live in the woods next to Brooks city aren’t you?”

She let out a loud sigh and searched her face to see if maybe she was just taking a shot in the dark. It looked as if this girl new about her packs so Jessica had no choice but to nod her head in agreement.

“I knew it! Once I saw the name I knew you were from that pack.”

“Yeah but I don’t want people to know so can we just keep this to ourselves?” whispered Jessica.

“Yeah of course. I wouldn’t want people to know either that there were tiger shifters mingling with us. Especially the pack leader, I heard he was a tiger and the female was a wolf. Man do I feel bad for their kids.”

At first she was taken back by the comment but then realized that Nicole thought she was just some distant relative or something. The tiger inside her was begging that she defended her parents honor but she just smiled and nodded.

“Yeah we don’t see much of them. It was cool growing up in a place like that though.”

“I could only imagine. Well I have to get going now. Give this to Natalie and We’ll see you later on today once you move in.”

They said their good byes and Nicole left without another word. She was glad that her sorority president hadn’t figured out who she was but at the same time she was sad that being with tigers was considered weird.

Jessica gathered up her things and walked back to the dorm. She had only been there a few minutes when Natalie came tumbling through, literally. The door always got stuck and it really took a lot of force to open it. Good thing they wouldn’t be having to do that anymore.

She let out a sigh and put her hands under her pillow, laying flat on her stomach. Natalie eyed her suspiciously and went to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I hear Nicole was telling people if they made it or not…I guess this is bad news”

“I don’t even want to talk about it,” said Jessica into her pillow so she could hide her smile.

“Oh wow that bad? I guess I should’ve known. Maybe if you weren’t so toned then Nicole wouldn’t feel threatened.”

“Yeah you’re probably right.”

She yanked her hands from  under the pillow and managed to take Natalie by complete surprise. The girl had to grab onto the bed so she didn’t tumble of the side.

“I don’t feel like talking about it so I guess I’ll show you instead.”

She held out the jacket in front of her friend’s face and beamed down at her. There was a loud ‘oomph’ in the room as Jessica went flying into the wall.

“Don’t tease me like that, it’s my job!”

“It’s your job to tease yourself?” asked Jessica, sitting up and smiling.

“Oh shut the hell up you know what I meant.”

She admired the jacket for another few seconds before throwing it over her shoulders like royalty. Her hand snatched a near by umbrella as she began to march around the room.

“On this day I declare that Jessica and Natalie…ow, hey, what the hell?” said Natalie, rubbing the side of her head.

There was a small plastic bowl lying on the floor and a hug red mark going across Natalie’s face. Jessica let out a snort and ducked just in time to hear the bowl crash against the wall.

“Your British accent was so bad that I just couldn’t take it anymore,” said Jessica, successfully dodging another plastic item.

“You’re just jealous. Anyway, when do we start moving in?”

“She said to get our stuff there as soon as possible. What happens to our dorms? Do we still pay for them?”

“No,” said Natalie, pulling out her phone. “They’ll use the rest of the rent money towards our tuition for next semester. I’m going to call my brother really quick and ask for help.”

Jessica started to pack her things and listened as Natalie put on her best begging tone.

“Nate please! If you bring your truck over then we only have to make one trip. Yes, Jess will be here.”

She paused to roll her eyes and then quickly continued when the voice on the other end started to get louder.

“Yes I’m listening and I’m glad the only reason you’re helping is because Jess is here. Yeah see you in a bit.”

She hung up the phone and flung in onto of the bed. Jessica found herself grinning at all the attention she was getting from Nate. He may be Natalie’s brother but he was pretty damn good looking. His red hair was kept short and spiked and it looked like he worked out daily. In fact, Natalie had made fun of his fraternity because all they did was work out and drink.

**

“Where are you going with that smile plastered across you face?” asked Jake.

“Natalie made it into the sorority so she needs my help to move right now,” mumbled Nate, trying to hide the fact that Jess was going to be there.

“Did Jessica make it in?”

‘Damn,’ he thought.

“Yeah she made it in too. They both needed my help.”

“Hmm for a second there it seems like you didn’t want me to know she would be there,” said Jake, rubbing his neatly trimmed beard.

Nate lifted his hand to his chest and faked a hurt look. “What? Me?…never! I guess they could use two strong guys like us to move all their fancy things.”

“Good, then just give me a second to put my shirt on and change out of these pants.”

Nate watched him walk into the bathroom and shook his head in disappointment. Jake was loyal, funny, mean at times, and the best friend he ever had but the thing that really ticked him off was his stubbornness. If he wanted something then he wouldn’t stop until it was his.

Nate didn’t want to see the girl get hurt since Natalie had confided in him that she was already having a hard time in school. He would try to help her out while still making sure that his best friend knew he always had his back. It was a guy thing.

**

There was a loud knock at the door which wouldn’t stop. Jessica walked over and expected find Nate instead, she frowned and put both hands on her hips as if trying to prevent entry.

“What are you doing here?”

“He’s here to help,” said Nate, draping one hand over his friend’s shoulder.

Jake smirked at her before shoving his way into the room. Jessica and Natalie sat back while the boys moved everything as if it weighed nothing. They had done all the packing and the boys agreed to load it in the truck and help them unload it at the house.

She had to admit, both of them were very easy on the eyes but she enjoyed Nate’s personality much better.

Jake, on the other hand, kept quiet most of the time. He would look over at Jessica occasionally but his face was blank so she didn’t understand what his intentions were. The only thing he ever really said to her was mean so she figured he probably owed Nate a favor.

They drove to the house in complete silence and started to help the boys unload. At first Nate protested but Jesscia couldn’t stand sitting around much longer. She enjoyed the physical labor since it took her mind off of school and the reasons she came here.

Nate and Jake had worked up and a good sweat it was inevitable that the shirts would come off. It seemed at that second, all the girls had to go do something in the living room. Coincidently this also gave them a perfect view of the stairs where the boys were going up and down.

Jessica walked past them and smiled. “Really subtle girls,” she whispered.

Some of them giggled while others faked a hurt look. She let out a light laugh and continued her way up the stairs. Once everything was in the room they all sat down on the floor to take a break.

The awkward silence was finally broke by Jake clearing his throat. “So, since we helped you move I think you guys should take us to lunch.”

“Wow a little demanding are we?” scoffed Jessica.

“I agree, it’s only fair,” said Nate.

“And here I thought you were just being a nice older brother,” said Natalie, hosting herself up with the help of the bed. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Well if we’re paying then we get to pick,” said Jessica.

“You are correct Madame!” said Natalie, saluting her.

This earned a laugh from everyone and even a small smile from Jake. It was the first time she had spotted anything but anger or disgust on his face and it made him look charming. Just as quickly as the look had come, it disappeared, being replaced by his usual blank expression.

“Just don’t make it anywhere too fancy because I don’t feel like changing or showering.” said Nate.

“No, neither do we. We’ll just go grab a burger from that diner down the street,” said Natalie.

They all shook their head in agreement and started mumbling about how good the food was. Jessica had never been there so she wasn’t sure if it was all that remarkable or not. She lifted herself off the ground and pulled a pair of black shorts out of her bag and a teal v-neck shirt off her counter.

It took her two minutes to change and she wasn’t even sure if anyone realized she had been gone. She walked out to find both guys staring at her legs and then making their way up to her face.

“You two are gross, “ squealed Natalie, throwing pillows at both of them.

Jessica looked at herself in the mirror to check if she looked too sluttly. It was pretty cold out but to her it didn’t matter. Their blood was always at a boiling point so the cool weather was simply amazing.

Her tan legs looked very long in her black shorts but nothing out of the ordinary. She pulled back her dirty blonde hair into a pony tail and made sure that her eyes were still their greenish gold color. When she let her tiger take over her eyes usually started to become more gold like her dad. When she let her wolf take over they became green like her moms. She was glad that nobody back at home ever noticed the subtle changes.

“Well if you’re done gawking over Jessica then can we please go? I’m so hungry I could eat a…camel!”

“You’re fucking weird,” said Jake, standing up and throwing his shirt back on. “Well let’s go before Natalie eats camel toe.”

“Yeah before I…hey screw you!”

“Let’s not bring that up again Natalie,” said Jake, winking at her.

She turned a bright red to match her hair and mumbled something that no one could hear. Nate pinched the bridge of his nose but chose not to say anything at the moment. Instead he just followed Jake out the door and called for the two girls to follow.

“So what’s that about Nat?”

“Ugh, we got really drunk one Christmas at our house and things got a little out of hand. My parents kind of knew but didn’t say anything because they didn’t want things to be awkward.”

“Ew gross, he’s a douche but I will admit he is good looking.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled, turning a darker shade of red.

They arrived at the diner few minutes later and realized it was packed for a Tuesday. The place was pretty big so they were seated in less than ten minutes. After ordering their drinks and watching the waitress flirt with both boys, it was finally time to relax.

“Where are you from?” asked Jake.

“Umm,” she hesitated for a second before letting out a small sigh. “Brooks.”

It wasn’t the truth but it was close enough. Brooks was the city in which Scott was the pack leader. They two little boys but neither of them was old enough to be Alpha yet. If she said Brooks then they wouldn’t question her much about the tigers.

“Oh, so the tigers…”  said Jake, trailing off.

“They mainly live in the woods next to the city. It’s fun growing up with different kinds of shifters.”

“Tigers? Oh wow that’s awesome!” said Natalie.

“Yeah I guess. Where are you from Jake?”

For a brief second his eyes showed a deep hatred that made her breath catch in her throat. It was soon gone and he quickly recovered from the emotion.

“Far east,” was all he said.

“Don’t worry Jess that’s all he ever tells us. I think my parents know more than us but they won’t say anything.”

She looked over at Jake who just shrugged and stared off at the bar. There were college boys from the football team singing the school song and drinking beers. It was the typical college life that Jessica was experiencing and she absolutely loved it. For the most part it took her mind off of everything but occasionally she would get phone calls from her family that would make her come crashing back down.

“Hello? Earth to Jessica!” said Nate, waving a hand in front of her face.

The waitress was tapping her foot on the floor and giving her an impatient look. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and gave her an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I’ll have the avocado burger with the fries.”

She nodded once and her expression softened when she asked Jake what he wanted. A small smirk made its way onto his face as he ordered a rare burger with an egg on top of it. Natalie informed her that most of the football players ordered that since they thought it gave them extra protein.

“So I see my sister hasn’t scared you off yet. How do you put up with her when most girls can’t?” asked Nate.

She could feel Jake’s intense stare but brushed it off and  gave Nate when of her charming smiles.

“I get along with everyone. My parents said I had a knack for it. Older, younger, girls, boys, it doesn’t matter.”

She had lied to them again but it didn’t feel right to say anything when she felt like Jake as judging everything she said. He real response should’ve been that she had Alpha’s blood so other people with Alpha’s blood didn’t bother her. There was a constant struggle for dominance but both of them were doing a good job at keeping it under control.

“Sounds just peachy,” mumbled Jake.

She glared at him and was about to say something when her burger was set down in front of her. All words escaped her memory as she took a bite of the delicious burger. Even the fries were perfect and amazing. All of them ate in silence, occasionally stealing glances at each other.

Through Natalie’s protests, Jessica paid for everyone’s meal. It Didn’t come out to a lot and her parents had told her to have a good time. They didn’t say anything about not paying for her friends so that’s exactly what she did.

They were walking back to the car while Natalie was arguing with her brother over some stupid bet they had made. Jake brushed her arm and accidentally let out a growl.

“Oh I’m sorry do I really disgust you that much?” hissed Jessica.

“No, I just-”

She stopped him by giving him a glare that would make any regular human shrink back. He wasn’t a regular human though so it just caused him to flinch.

“I watched you all night. One second you’re checking me out and the next you’re giving me a look like the I’m no better than the crap on the bottom of your shoe.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It takes a lot more than that to offend me Jake. Just because I’m friends with Natalie and you’re friends with Nate doesn’t mean we have to get along. We’re not meant to be friends with everyone on this damn planet.”

He let out a sigh and ran his right hand through the long part of his hair. He usually kept it in a fo-hawk but the moving had taken all of the hair product out.

“It’s fine, just do us both a favor and try to leave me alone.”

He snapped his mouth shut so that his words wouldn’t do further damage. She was right, every time he looked at her he couldn’t help but feel some sort of hate. It wasn’t just like that for her but for almost any girl. His purpose of going to school wasn’t to get an education like he promised his uncle. It was to help his mom have some type of closure no matter how crazy she was.

He was people who kept tabs on all his enemies and it was only a matter of time before he ran into the person he’s been dying to meet since he was a child. He wasn’t sure if Jessica was that girl but even the thought of her being with tigers made his skin crawl.

They were almost at the house when Nicole popped out of the side window and smiled down at them.

“Hey guys glad you already moved in! We’re going for our first sorority run tonight so make sure you’re ready. We won’t go too late since some girls have class tomorrow.”

She waved at them one last time before bringing her head back in the window. Natalie smiled with joy but Jessica felt her heart drop to her stomach. She wasn’t ready to shift yet even though she told Natalie that they would eventually go. What if she lost control and her tiger decided it wanted to go for a run instead? The girls would probably call her some kind of mutant and kick her out of the sorority and school.

“Well don’t look too excited now,” said Jake, trying to lighten the mood.

She was about to glare at him again when it suddenly dawned on her that he wasn’t worth her time.

“I am excited Jake. Why? Are you afraid that I’m faster than you?” she said, deciding that being cocky was a good substitute for trying to rip his head off.

“Oh Jake doesn’t go running with anyone not even my Dad’s pack. No one has ever seen what his wolf looks like.” said Nate.

“Yeah he’s just a fricken weirdo,” said Natalie, agreeing with her brother.

Not wanting to be a loser like Jake, she decided that this would be the first time that she attempted to go for a run with the girls. She was happy at the University so keeping her emotions under control probably wouldn’t be that hard. She was risking a lot by going but not shifting would make her look a lot more suspicious.