Avoiding Alpha

“Can I see that one?” Dastien asked. I handed the newest book to him, and went back to the one with no title. Something about it called to me.



Unfortunately, every word was gobbledygook.



Rise to the west, and the soul to the east…Light the candles clockwise to find the one you seek.



I understood the words and maybe the sentiment behind them, but I didn’t quite get what they were accomplishing.



By the time Chris pulled into the St. Ailbe’s parking lot, I knew more about spells, but none of it was exactly helpful. Hopefully one of the other books would be marginally less confusing.



I slipped the books into my bag and hopped down from the car. Chris tossed me the keys, and I caught them. A few weeks ago, this would’ve been a shocker—my coordination used to be less than fantastic—but being a Were was good for some things. Dastien walked so close beside me that our arms brushed. If it’d been anyone else, I’d tell them to take a step to the side, but with Dastien, it was comforting.



When we got to the edge of the parking lot, Adrian, Shannon, and Dr. Gonzales were waiting. Adrian and Shannon were the other two people—besides Dastien, Meredith, and Chris—that I hung out with.



I was really glad to see Adrian. Since he had more experience with the magic stuff, my first mission was going to be pulling him from class, but since he was here, we could dig right in.



Dr. Gonzales stepped forward first.



Oh no… My heart stuttered. “Is Meredith—”



“No change.”



I shoved my shaking hands in my pockets. “That’s good.” I guessed.



“We were more concerned with you. When Dastien ran off and we realized you were missing, we thought you might be coming back injured.” Dr. Gonzales patted her black messenger bag. “But you look fine.”



“We had a little scare, but she’s okay.” Dastien put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side. “I might not ever be fine again, but Tessa’s snarky as ever.”



“Shut up.” I elbowed him.



Shannon’s eyes were red, making her green eyes bright. She tucked a piece of her curly red hair behind her ear. “Did you get Meredith sorted?” Her singsongy Irish accent rang clear. Shannon still had a thing for Dastien and it’d been tense between us. This was the first time she’d directly spoken to me in a week.



“Maybe. It was worth the trip.” I paused. “I tried to talk them into breaking the curse, but Luciana won’t unless I let her curse me and move in with the coven.”



Shannon narrowed her eyes. She’d probably like it if I accepted Luciana’s terms.



“That’s never going to happen.” I left no room for argument. “Anyway…I got some books from my cousins. They said the books might be helpful, so I’m hoping that’s code for definitely helpful. If all of you wouldn’t mind looking through them with me, that would be awesome.”



“I have to go back to teaching, and you need to eat,” Dastien said.



“I’ll eat later.”



“Tessa.”



I sighed. I wanted to keep working on this, but needed to stay level-headed, which made eating a priority. “Okay. I’ll go by the common room and grab some sandwiches, and then we can meet in the admin building in a few?”



The others nodded and Dastien agreed. With that figured out, I made my way across campus. I wanted to run to the common area, but made myself walk. It was a fast walk, but I was keeping it together.



I was banking on these books, because Plan B was not an option.



But if the magic doesn’t work…



I silenced my inner doubt. It would work. I’d spend every second I had to make sure Meredith was okay.



That was the only option.



Chapter Six



After grabbing food, I reconvened with Shannon, Adrian, and Chris on the first floor of the administration building. Shannon led the way to a conference room. Most of the space was taken up by a long rectangular table surrounded by chairs. A buffet table in the back held a stack of yellow legal pads, a cup of pens and highlighters, and a case of water bottles. Maybe this was where they held the pack meetings? For some reason, I’d pictured them taking place in the woods around a campfire, like where we voted whether or not to keep Imogene in the pack, but maybe they were usually more conventional than that.



We spread out around half the table. I sat on one side with Adrian and Shannon across from me. Chris took a seat at the head. I took the three books out of my bag and placed them on the tabletop. “This is what we’ve got to work with.”