Their Shifter Academy Book 1: Unwanted by May Dawson

Author:May Dawson [Dawson, May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lex

I’d expected Maddie to look different, I guess. More upset. When she opened her door, she didn’t look surprised to see me. She didn’t look like she’d been crying. She just looked weary. There were dark circles under her eyes, and lines of tension etched around the corners of her lips. I wanted to tug her into my arms and protect her.

“Hey,” she said. “Sorry. I mean. Good evening, sir.”

There was that faint tartness in her words that always irritated me—why couldn’t she just play by the rules like everyone else did—but today, I let it pass. Today, her attitude felt more like a shield than a jab of disrespect.

“Hey,” I said. I glanced out into the hall, but of course, there was no one there; it was the middle of the night. I didn’t want to be seen going into her room. I let myself in and closed the door softly behind me. “Do you want to do something that’s a very bad idea?”

“Probably.” A small smile curved her red lips. “That’s been my M.O. lately, it seems.”

“I thought maybe we could drive home,” I said. “See your sister.”

I’d meant to say your home. But hopefully she wouldn’t notice the fumble. I’d spent an awful lot of time there this summer, but it wasn’t my home. They weren’t my pack.

I had my own pack, not that I wanted to be a part of it.

“You know how badly I want to do that,” she said carefully. “I don’t know what Jensen told you, but I’m fine, really…”

“I’m sure you are,” I said, too quickly. It sounded like I didn’t believe her.

And I didn’t.

Piper would be able to see right through her, though. Maddie would talk to her sister.

“Do you really want to spend eight hours roundtrip in a car with me, Lex?” she asked. “Lord only knows what we’re going to talk about.”

“I don’t care what we talk about,” I said, even though that wasn’t true; I’d been avoiding the subject of what had happened between Maddie and me like it was my job. I cared more about her than I did my own discomfort though. “But you know the rules. Driver picks the music.”

“Why are you always the driver?”

“Because you have the attention span of a gerbil on speed,” I said.

It wasn’t the first time I’d said that, but she smiled anyway.

“Just a little Taylor Swift?” she wheedled.

“No way in hell,” I said, which was a lie. I’d probably give in. I always did before.

She was already throwing her jacket on, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

When the two of us stepped out into the hallway, Rafe was waiting, leaning against the wall with rumpled hair and a grumpy look on his face.

“Where’re you going?” he demanded.

“I’m taking Maddie home for the day,” I said. I didn’t want to tell him the truth, but I couldn’t lie to him either. “She needs it. We’ll be back by curfew.”

“She’s on restriction.”

“She’ll make it up next weekend,” I said.

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