A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3) Read online

  The principal droned on about what a prestigious university Hollow Crest was and how we were lucky to have it close to us, but I tuned it all out. I glared at Pierce, knowing that the university wasn’t opening their doors out of the kindness of their dark hearts. He felt my eyes on him and looked up with a smirk. There was a challenge in his eyes, and I didn’t like the arrogant attitude he was wearing.

  After the principal ended his long-winded speech, Pierce set down his phone and swept his eyes over the room. A chill ran down my spine as his dark eyes met mine, and I looked into their soulless depths. No, Pierce was definitely not here for any good reasons.

  “Is anyone missing who’s supposed to be here?” he asked in a demanding tone that had every student in the classroom looking around frantically, desperately wanting to be able to answer his question.

  I sat there with my arms folded across my chest and stared him down. He wasn’t the only predator in this room, and I wasn’t going to jump to do his bidding like the rest of them. More than one of my classmates called out that everyone was present, and I could feel an air of apprehension in the room. I wasn’t sure how much Pierce was using his abilities to influence the teenagers here in the classroom. How much of it was his good looks and commanding presence, and how much was lamia mind control?

  The bell rang, announcing it was time to get to our first-period classes, and a few students twitched, but no one got up out of their chair. Pierce stood and waved a hand towards the door. “Go.”

  Everyone quickly moved toward the exit, but I stayed seated, unwilling to follow the sheep. Pierce gave me a smile that showed a few too many teeth once the last student had disappeared through the door.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked bluntly.

  “I’m a graduate student TA at the university,” he said smoothly. “I’m perfectly capable of supervising some high school kids.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him and didn’t move. “Really?” I asked sarcastically.

  Pierce winked at me and retook his seat. “You better get moving if you want to make it to your next class on time.”

  I sighed and slid out of my seat. I didn’t trust Pierce for even a moment.

  “Better hurry,” Pierce said with a smirk. “I’d hate to have to give you detention.”

  I shot him a dirty look, but I did pick up my pace. I needed to intercept Kannon before I went to my first-period class and let him know about Pierce’s presence. Maybe he would have an idea on how to handle this latest unpleasant development.

  Chapter 10

  Lori

  I followed the crowd through the hallways as there was a mass exodus to the cafeteria. I had been late to my first class after finding Kannon in the hall earlier this morning. He had been just as surprised to hear that Pierce was ‘teaching’ at our school. He had texted Gray, but we hadn’t been able to do anything but go to our classes like normal. I hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything my teachers had said today. Their words had been drowned out by my worries.

  I set my things down on my usual lunch table across from Lynn. She usually ignored Kannon and me in favor of reading her books, but today she was empty-handed, and her attention was focused on the front of the room. My eyes narrowed when I saw what she was looking at.

  “What’s he up to?” I mumbled as I spotted Pierce chatting up students at a table in the front.

  “He’s here from the university,” Lynn offered. “Taking signups for the tour.”

  My head jerked up in surprise. She never really spoke to me unless it was to ask Kannon and me to shut up. “I’m going up there,” I announced. If Pierce was going to be taking a bunch of students, then I should be there to make sure they were all returned safely.

  “Don’t!” Lynn cried as she grabbed my hand.

  My jaw dropped, and I looked down to where she was desperately holding onto me. “What’s wrong?”

  Lynn swallowed nervously. “It’s just…there are plenty of other schools to go to. You don’t need to be on their radar.”

  “I already am,” I admitted. “I did a summer program there, and I work in the lab.”

  Lynn’s eyes widened. “And you haven’t noticed anything…” she hesitated and glanced around before leaning closer to me. “Anything strange?” she asked in a whisper.

  My eyebrows raised. “Um, not really. Like what?”

  Lynn let go of my hand and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Nothing, I’ve just heard some weird stories.”

  I looked at Lynn suspiciously. She had previously warned me about things in this town not being what they seemed. Had she been talking about the university? What did she know about what lurked within the walls? Had she seen something she shouldn’t have?

  If I wanted her to be honest about her secrets, I was going to have to earn her trust. I might not be able to tell her the whole truth, but I could let her know that I was on her side. “Yeah, I’m going to keep an eye on things,” I told her confidently.

  “What makes you so sure you can do anything?” she asked bitterly

  I shrugged. “I can try.” Lynn and I were going to need to have a long talk one day soon. I could tell there was a lot that she wasn’t saying.

  I could feel Lynn’s eyes on my back as I marched up to the front of the cafeteria to where Pierce was sitting. I got in the line of students who were waiting to speak with him and tapped my foot as I waited for the group of giggling girls in front of me to put their names on the signup sheet Piece was directing them to.

  The girls finally moved out of my way and walked back to their lunch table as they shot glances back at Pierce.

  Pierce smile at me. “I think you already spend enough time with us at the University, Lori. You don’t need to take another student’s spot on the tour. I only have so many.”

  I heard a gasp from in back of me when Pierce revealed that I was still spending time at the university, but I ignored it. “I never got an official tour,” I told him sweetly as I reached for the paper.

  Pierce slid it out of my reach. “We’ll have to remedy that,” he purred. “I’ll be more than happy to give you a private tour this weekend.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him in irritation. “I’d rather go with my classmates.”

  “He already said no,” Tiffany said nastily as she shoved her way beside me. Her two clones, Britney and Lacey, followed suit.

  “Those spots should go to the students who deserve it,” Britney added as she smiled at Pierce.

  There was grumbling behind me as more students agreed with the popular girls. It was apparent I was going to cause an even bigger show if I kept pushing for this.

  Pierce took pity on me. “Go ahead and put your name on the paper,” he said kindly. “I can’t promise you’ll be one of the students selected, but we will look at your credentials.”

  I wrote my name as slowly as possible as I tried to take in as many names as I could. Almost half of the names were starred with red pen, but he took the list back from me before I could figure out the correlation between the names that he marked.

  I leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. “Everyone comes back from the tour, right?”

  Pierce laughed, but it wasn’t genuine. “The school isn’t that big, Lori. I have no intention of losing anyone.”

  Tiffany nudged me with her hip, and I decided just to head back to my table. I had felt Kannon come into the room a moment ago with our pack bond, and I was eager to speak with him.

  Kannon had already unpacked our lunch for us by the time I threaded my way through the crowded cafeteria. I greeted him with a smile. “I’m so happy to see you.”

  “Well?” Lynn interrupted. “Are you going on the tour?”

  “Most likely not,” I admitted.

  Lynn let out a sigh. “That’s probably for the best,” she muttered to herself as she picked up her book.

  “Pierce is letting students sign up for a tour of Hollow Crest University now,” I explained to Kannon. “He let me put my name on the l
ist, but only certain students get to go.”

  “You think he checks GPA and stuff first?” Kannon asked before he took a bite of his sandwich.

  I shrugged. “Pierce already has some names starred.”

  Lynn huffed. “It’ll be obvious once you see the kids he puts on the bus.”

  Kannon and I looked at each other in confusion. “What’ll be obvious?” I asked curiously.

  “They only take the most attractive students.”

  My eyes widened, and I almost choked on the water I had just sipped. Lynn knew more than she was letting on - probably more than it was safe for her to know.

  “Lynn,” I said slowly. “Do you know someone named Lily?”

  Lynn stilled. “What do you ask?” she rasped out.

  “No reason,” I backtracked. I had expected Lynn to tell me that she was familiar with the girl I had seen at the university, but Lynn’s face looked like she had just seen a ghost.

  “She was my sister,” Lynn whispered.

  “Was?” Kannon asked me with our bond. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “What happened?” I asked her sympathetically. Whatever it was, it must have been traumatic for Lynn.

  “Lily went missing her first year of college. She went to Northeastern University and was doing great until her roommate reported her missing.” Lynn swallowed. “The police closed the case and said she ran away because she couldn’t handle the stress.” Lynn scoffed. “That was ridiculous. She had a free ride at an awesome university far from this hellhole, why would she just give that up for a life of poverty? Why wouldn’t she just come home if she needed a break?” Lynn shook her head. “Something happened to her, but the police refused to listen.”

  Kannon and I looked at each other. This was sounding like less and less of a coincidence. Lynn’s sister goes missing, and now there was a girl named Lily who looked just like Lynn at Hollow Crest University? It was becoming all too obvious what was going on.

  “Did Lily go on a tour of HCU?” I asked hesitantly. That would explain why she would have attracted their attention.

  Lynn gave a sharp nod. “They gave her an ‘exclusive invitation’ to apply, but after making her go through several rounds of interviews, they send her a generic letter saying she wasn’t accepted.”

  Lynn’s story was painting a dark picture. Was this what they were up to? Find attractive students, lure them in with promises, collect information, then make them disappear? Were they kidnapping humans to use as a food source?

  I cleared my throat. “Do, um, a lot of kids from this high school go missing?”

  Lynn’s eyes sharpened, and she leaned in towards me. “Let’s talk after school. Meet me in the back after the last bell.” Her eyes shot towards Pierce at the front of the cafeteria, and she shuddered.

  “What are we going to do about this?” I asked Kannon worriedly. “We can’t let the lamia kidnap humans.”

  “Let’s wait until we know the full story,” Kannon said gently. “We’ll meet Lynn after school and figure out what to do once we have more information.”

  I nodded, and the three of us ate in silence for the rest of our lunch period. My thoughts were swirling as I considered all the horrors that those humans might be experiencing. The depressive subfloor where I had first seen Lily was disturbing enough, but I couldn’t banish the image of her blank eyes from my thoughts. I had known that lamia fed off humans, but I hadn’t thought about the logistics or the reality of it. Now the truth was right in my face. What was I going to do?

  Chapter 11

  Lori

  Kannon and I met Lynn in the back of the school parking lot just as she asked. She glanced around as if she were worried about who was going to see us, but the other students were so happy about being set free for the day, no one cared what three social pariahs were doing together.

  "We usually meet at my house," Lynn said quietly to me. "Did you drive?"

  Kannon shook his head. "We live close enough to walk, and the weather wasn't bad today."

  Lynn looked at him skeptically. "It's freezing out here."

  "We can go in your car," I suggested. "If that's okay?"

  Lynn shrugged. "Hop in."

  The ride to Lynn's house was awkward and quiet. I made a useless comment about the weather, Lynn responded with something equally inane, and then we sat in silence. It was a relief when we pulled up to a cute two-story brick house that had a white picket fence in the front yard. Last year, I would have thought the house contained a happy human family, but I'd learned that surviving in the human world could be just as challenging as mine.

  Lynn entered a code into the keypad lock and hurried to enter her code into the alarm system to shut off it's squawking. "My parents went a little crazy with security," she told us with an embarrassed shrug. "There's not a lot of reported crime in this town, but after Lily..." her voice trailed off, and I was at a loss for words.

  "Are your parents at work?" Kannon asked as Lynn led us to the kitchen.

  "Yeah, they won't be home until after five, so we have time," Lynn assured us. She poured three cups of soda. "Sorry," she said apologetically. "I just have a generic brand, but it still tastes mostly the same."

  I nodded in understanding and took one of the cups. The soda did have a little bit of an off taste, but I didn't want to seem like a snob and refuse to drink it. "Thanks, Lynn."

  Kannon murmured a thank you and drank some of his soda as well. Lynn looked happier than I'd ever seen her before, and I felt a little bad for her. Had she really been that worried we'd judge her on something so silly?

  "Help me carry the snacks in the living room?" Lynn asked as she stepped into the pantry and rummaged around.

  "How many people are coming?" I asked curiously. Lynn kept handing Kannon and I bags of chips and pretzels as if she were planning on feeding a football team.

  "Three more," she said absentmindedly. "You can put that stuff out on the coffee table, we usually just sit on the sectional."

  The doorbell rang, and Lynn ran to open it as Kannon and I followed Lynn's instructions. "Hey," a familiar voice called.

  I smiled as I turned around. "Noah, good to see you."

  Noah was tall, blond, and handsome enough to be one of the most popular guys at school. What set him apart was that he was also one of the nicest people in Hollow Crest. He had frequently volunteered to be my partner in French class, and he had even given Kannon and I a ride home from school when we weren't feeling well enough to walk.

  Noah took a step towards me as if he was thinking about giving me a hug, but then glanced at Kannon and changed his mind. My normally sweet and easy-going wolf was giving Noah a death stare that making Noah uncomfortable.

  I squeezed Kannon's hand. "Everything okay?" I asked with the bond.

  "Yup," Kannon answered shortly. We sat together on the couch, and he put his arm around my shoulders to bring me close to him.

  "Noah's not interested in me," I told Kannon patiently. "He's just friendly because we have a couple of classes together."

  Kannon held onto me a little tighter. "That's not the only reason." The aggressiveness in Kannon's statement surprised me, but the arrival of the last three guests kept me from questioning him more.

  "This is Kate, Jenna, and Will," Lynn said as an introduction as several other teenagers filed into the room.

  "Lynn said you want to join our group?" Will asked as he sat on the opposite side of the sectional.

  "Um, maybe?" I said hesitantly as I looked over at Lynn.

  "I haven't told them anything yet," Lynn said with an embarrassed blush. "I just suggested we talk here after school."

  Will grunted and grabbed a bag of chips off the table. "Did you test them?"

  "Of course," Lynn said irritably. "I gave them each a soda laced with the powder and they would have reacted by now."

  "What?" I spluttered as I stood.

  "Relax," Noah said with a smile. "We just needed to make sure you weren't one of them.
"

  "One of what?" Kannon asked suspiciously.

  "Have a seat, and we'll explain," Kate said with an embarrassed look on her face. "I know this might look like we tried to drug you or try something shady, but I promise it's not like that."

  Kannon and I glanced at each other. "We should at least hear them out," I suggested. Kannon nodded in agreement, and we both sat back down.

  "This is a support group," Noah explained with a friendly smile. "We've all lost someone recently."

  "Someone we shouldn't have lost," Will retorted. "Brothers and sisters, not grandparents or elderly uncles."

  "Or cousins our age," Noah said softly. "And they've all died or disappeared their first year away from Hollow Crest."

  "That seems…odd," I said delicately. What did this have to do with them feeding us a mysterious substance?

  Will snorted and started crunching away on his chips.

  "Lynn said you might have some insight because of your experience at the university," Kate said nervously. "That you might have seen Lily."

  Kannon's arm tightened around me. "We can't admit to anything."

  I didn’t respond to Kannon’s silent words, but I understood his message.

  "I'm not sure," I told them honestly. "It could just be a coincidence."

  "I told you we couldn't trust them," Will muttered.

  "Give them a chance," Jenna hissed. "We haven't explained yet."

  Noah scooted forward a few inches in his seat and took the lead. "I'm sure you've been here long enough to have picked up on how weird the university is. No one from town ever goes there, and we never see anyone coming in or out. If you pay attention, you've noticed that a lot of people have missing or fuzzy memories surrounding it. We think it's from whenever they interact with someone from that place." His voice was bitter as he spat out the last word.