It was mine as well—another common trait between us.

Sam led me through a small hall and out into the huge, open main room, and the farther we went, the more certain I was that I’d been down here before. I just couldn’t recall when or for what.

“Do you see it yet?” Sam asked.

I couldn’t see much, so I called on my wolf to rise up and assist me. For once, she responded immediately, adding her power to mine. The darkened room came into clearer focus so I could see exactly what I’d been missing before.

“What. The. Fuck?” I took a step forward. “What happened here?”

Sam was motionless beside me, as if to not disturb the spirits of this place. “I have no damn idea,” she whispered. “How is it possible for there to have been this much destruction without the rest of the school suffering from it as well?”

The basement had been burned, black scorch marks across the room, reaching as high as the far-off ceilings. My human eyes hadn’t seen the destruction, but my wolf ones saw it all. There was nothing left besides piles of char and blackened fixtures. “I read the pack meeting agendas, going back a few years,” I said softly. “No fire here was mentioned.”

I’d been trying to find some sort of evidence about what happened to me, but I would have remembered a fire in the school.

“I asked around too,” she admitted. “Hence why I knew this was odd. Judging by the damage, this would have been a raging inferno, unable to be hidden. But someone is hiding it, because no one I’ve spoken to knows a damn thing about a fire in the school.”

I nodded. “This was no ordinary blaze. It would have burned high and hot, with zero chance of being extinguished without outside help. Someone knew about it.”

That swirling feeling in my gut was growing harder and harder to ignore, and as I walked farther into the room, the scent of old ash filling my nose, I stopped trying to calm the swirls. My gut was telling me something.

Allowing my senses to roam free, I paused at the point where I scented smoke the strongest. Staring up, I noticed there were a few chains hanging from the very high ceiling, but no platform to go with them.

“You think the fire started here?” Sam asked from close by, half-scaring me to death. I’d been so focused, I hadn’t even heard her approach.

“Yeah, I think so,” I muttered, still trying to see into the dark ceiling. “Those are scorch marks up there, and the damage here looks worse than anywhere else.”

When no new evidence from above appeared, I focused on the ground, leaning down to run my hand across the cement. I expected to pick up black residue, but my fingers came away squeaky clean. The dark smudges were just the burn marks that had remained once the ash had been cleaned away.

“What are you going to do with this information?” Sam asked.

I straightened and faced her. “I’m going to follow my gut.”

She had no idea what that meant, but she got onboard anyway. “Can I tag along? It’s been a long time since I’ve had an adventure.”

“I’d love that,” I said, linking our arms again and dragging her back the way we’d just come. “You’re the first new friend I’ve made in a long time. Apologies in advance for the full force of my personality, but if you think you can handle it, you’ll never have to question my loyalty.”

“I could really use a friend,” she said matter-of-factly. “Let’s do it.”

Sure, we’d just made friends like toddlers in the park, but why did adults have to complicate everything? If you click with someone, be their friend. If they prove they’re not worthy of your friendship, bury their body and start again.

It’s simple, really.

I had a good feeling that Sam wouldn’t betray my instant friendship. Like with Simone, sometimes you just knew.

When we left the school, the swirling feeling in my stomach disappeared, as if it had never been there. There was something really off in that room, and I wasn’t going to stop now until I figured out what it was. I’d have to come back tonight when the school was empty so I could really bash around in there, delve into what had happened, and sniff—

“Shit. We should have shifted.”

Sam stared at me. “You think we missed something the wolf might have picked up?”

“Definitely worth trying, because there is more to that room, and I’m determined to figure out what it is.”

I waited for her to look at me like I was insane, but she just clapped her hands together and nodded. “I’m ready to head back whenever you need. I have classes to teach tomorrow though, so maybe this weekend?”

“What about tonight?”

I expected tonight would be too soon for her to mentally prepare herself, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Then she surprised me. “I’ll meet you here around nine,” she said.

I blinked before nodding overly enthusiastically. “Yes! Perfect! We’re going to get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing we do.”

Despite my ominous words, Sam’s confident smile never faltered. “We will figure it out. Now do you need a ride somewhere?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I think I’ll just take a walk to clear my head. I want to be in the right mental space for tonight.”

“We’ve got this,” she said, leaning in to pat me on the shoulder. With a final smile, she walked to her car, got in, and drove off slow and sedately, which made me laugh.

I loved women built in shades of grey with contrasts at every corner. There was a mystery to solve in Sam, and maybe, while solving my own life, I might learn a thing or two about my new friend.

12

Torin came for me that night. I wasn’t surprised, especially after the way I’d humiliated him in front of the pack. He’d been pretty restrained not knocking me down then and there to reestablish his dominance, but I’d known his restraint wouldn’t last for long.

When the rickety door to my apartment slammed open, Torin marched in like he owned the place. I was already waiting in the living room, threadbare couch at my back. My wolf drifted in my chest, closer to the surface than she’d been for a long time, thanks to the impending full moon.

“Mera!” Torin growled, and he was so pissed, his nostrils flared, hands already half shifted into claws. “Where the fuck have you been? Why aren’t you answering your phone? I’ve checked this place five times today.”