Fall Semester (Omega Wolf Academy #2) - J.J. King Page 0,1

announced with a wide grin that encompassed the entire group but settled for a fraction of a second longer on me. His eyes warmed slightly when I smiled back and nodded my head. Without missing a beat, he clicked on the computer, logged in, and had the Smartboard whirring.

An image of a snarling wolf filled the screen a few moments later.

“The study of our biological and psychological connection to the animal within is a fascinating topic and one I have spent a great deal of my life focused on.” He clicked again and an image of a nuclear family popped up. A mother and father, and two young children, both wearing bright yellow rubber boots. The children laughed as they jumped in puddles while their parents watched with adoration.

Dr. Daniels moved around the edge of the classroom, making the circuit as he clicked from picture to picture, each apparently at odds with the one before. “Our world is civilized, but were we always that way? Was there a time when the beast ruled over the human side?” The next slide was of a familiar monster, a werewolf howling at the full moon.

Smiles slid across faces. Werewolves were mythical monsters created by Hollywood, the antithesis to who we were. They were primal and single-minded killers at the core. They weren’t real. Yet, they held endless fascination and amusement for many of us.

“Popular culture has played with the werewolf legend for years, creating as wide a swath of characters as the brain can dream up.” Movie and television posters flashed quickly, moving from Jack Nicholson’s Wolf, to Michael J. Fox’s Teen Wolf, to Underworld, to An American Werewolf in Paris, to Ginger Snaps, to Twilight. “Each depiction is fictitious, though some come closer to the truth of who and what we are than others.” He smirked. “As frivolous as the Twilight series is, they actually come fairly close to the truth. My personal favorite, however, is Blood and Chocolate.”

I smiled at the memory of watching it with my sisters months after being released from our mountain cage. I’d been so thirsty for knowledge of the outside world; I’d watched a thousand movies and read even more books.

My thoughts turned from class to my sisters. We were connected through blood and shared experiences, shared traumas. I felt closer to them than I had thought possible to anyone else.

That was before I knew I’d find a mate. Before I’d discovered that fate had something a little different in mind for me.

I chewed on my lip and thought of the group I’d visited in Ireland. They’d dispersed with time and rising levels of confidence. Only a few still lived with Rose and Liam, or in the forests around their home.

I’d spent the last few weeks running with them, called to the moon with them, and ignored the world beyond my fur. It had been liberating and exactly what my overloaded mind had needed for a few weeks. Of course, it had meant no text messages, which had meant no communication with my guys.

I shifted anxiously in my seat at the knowledge that I’d see them before the day ended.

My plane really had come in early this morning, delivering me and another precious package to Omega Wolf Academy. Alyssa had followed me to her dorm with wide eyes and nervous ticks but had nodded bravely and murmured that she’d be alright when I said I had to go drop my things off at my building.

It was like having an anchor around my waist, having her here. Coming to Omega Wolf Academy had been my first step towards freedom, and now she was here, too, and I felt burdened. It made me feel horrible that I felt this way.

Class flew by in a blur, as did the two others scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’d signed up for what I considered some of the best classes offered at OWA; English 2700: Lord of the Rings, Art 2201: Intermediate oil, Art 2500: Abstraction in play, and Women’s Studies 1700: The Sisterhood. I was excited to dive into my course load for the term, but I was more excited to see my guys. My brain just wouldn’t or couldn’t focus on anything but them.

My nerves danced, making it almost impossible to settle down as time wound closer to when I’d see them again. It was as if something inside me shivered with need. My wolf, I supposed, as I hurried from my last class towards my dorm room. Absently,