My appetite forgotten, I hung on the girl’s every word.

“Yeah, I heard it was the fourth massacre this month and that it was from Shifters who never learned to control their animals,” she said.

Fourth? There were more?

“Don’t be silly, Shifters only attack humans for good reason,” the other girl responded, but by this point I was past listening. I couldn’t believe it. It never occurred to me before, but given the Brighthaven letter and the sudden attack…could Shifters be connected? But why?

Something warm and light blossomed in my chest, and it took me a second to recognize it—hope. Maybe I was meant to come here, not just to hide out, but to try and find out what had happened to my family. Maybe there was the slightest chance my parents were still alive somewhere and I could save them.

I started toward the girls to see if I could ask for more information without seeming totally weird, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned, ready to brush off whomever it was, but the words froze on my tongue as I looked into the piercing green eyes of Zel.

“You look a little lost,” he said in his usual stoic, slightly suspicious tone. “The drinks are that way.”

I only hesitated for a second before saying, “Oh, right.” No point in interrogating those girls now. I’d have to wait for the perfect moment. Not exactly something I could do with a jaguar staring me down.

If I was right and there was information to be found here, it would have to wait until I wasn’t with my roommates. I could keep pulling the mysterious Suzuki card with everyone else, but these guys were around me too much for me to be sneaky. And like he’d said, good luck trying to out sneak a jaguar. So I played along and resigned myself to getting a drink with Zel.

We got our cider, Zel and I moving to the outskirts of the circle of tables—no surprise that the jaguar preferred lurking—and then we just stood there. Silently.

“So,” I asked, figuring I may as well make some headway with him, “Where’s your family from?”

As soon as I opened my mouth, he fixed me with another of his dagger glares. If you don’t want to talk to me, why did you come over at all? I fumed silently. I could be getting information about the massacres right now! Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Look,” I said, letting just the barest edge of annoyance into my voice, “it’s cool if you don’t like me, or don’t want to know me or whatever. I can be civil with you while we live together and leave you alone. It’s not that big of a deal.” After another beat of stoic silence, he turned away from me.

I was about to walk away when he said, “My family is from Veracruz.”

He didn’t offer up anything else. Still, I had to stifle a smile as I sipped my drink. All right. It’s a start.

…

The party started to wind down after about twenty more minutes, with students heading off in twos and threes. I was feeling a little tired, but I couldn’t get what those girls said out of my mind. I managed to get away from under the watchful eye of Zel, with some excuse about maybe finding food before they cleared it all. Really, I was scanning the students to see if I could spot those girls again.

I was so busy searching for those girls I wasn’t looking in front of me and smacked straight into a wall. Or at least, that’s what it felt like until hands closed around my shoulders, and I realized it was a man. Alexei, actually.

“Sorry,” I breathed, still a little stunned, and not only by the collision. The smile he beamed down at me did not help.

“No worries, I’m glad to have caught you in the crowd,” he said with a wink before letting me go. “Now I can invite you to the real party.”

I blinked. “I thought this was the real party.”

“Of course, you did,” he teased. “There’s a little after-party going on near the gazebo around the forest edge of campus. Just about everyone who’s anyone is going to be there, and as a Suzuki, you absolutely have to be there.”

This had easily been the longest day of my life, and my bed in that moment felt more attractive than a Shifter after-party. Seeing my hesitation, Alexei sidled a little closer.

“Darius insisted I ask you, as he said he was going and so is Shane,” he said, lips quirked up in a sexy half smile. “You’ll be well attended to, I promise.”

Three out of five isn’t so bad, I reminded myself. And he was right. It might look weird if Makiko didn’t show up to this kind of thing. Besides, I might be able to find those girls again. I relented.

“Fine,” I said, “Lead the way.”

He did me one better, reaching for my hand, but he didn’t just take it. He slid his fingers across my palm before interlocking them with mine, the look on his face making the simple action feel naughty, somehow. I let him whisk me away from the official party and off towards the campus grounds.

It was dark, without all the lights and candles, but that didn’t seem to hinder Alexei. He could see fine. Should I be nervous right now? I was out in the dark with no clue where we were going, being led by a dragon shifter who was a known playboy. No matter how gorgeous and charming he was, maybe…

Before my nerves had the chance to kick in, I saw torchlight flickering through the trees. As we got closer, I could make out the lovely, old-fashioned gazebo near the woods and the group of students partying beneath it.

By the time we stepped into the torchlight, Shane was already waving us over. I joined up with my roomies at the edge of the gazebo, and Darius handed me a drink. I took a sip and immediately choked. That was decidedly not the cider I had earlier. Grinning, Shane took the cup and sipped it himself but didn’t comment.

Darius, however, cackled. “Uh-oh, looks like princess here hasn’t ever had a drop of alcohol before,” he said.

I blushed. “I didn’t have a lot of time for parties back home.” Technically true, especially with moving all the time. “This is kind of my first party,” I admitted. “Ever.”

“Really?” Alexei asked. “I’m surprised someone so elite wouldn’t have attended her fair share of parties.”

I covered with, “Well my family is…you know.” I gave a helpless shrug, hoping he’d drop it. I needn’t have worried; Darius shot him a look.

“You don’t need to say anymore,” he insisted as he poured me another drink. “Tonight isn’t about that at all. It’s about fun.”

I accepted the drink and took it slow this time, with the tiniest sip. It was warm going down my throat, not burning like last time. It might taste like fruity mouthwash, but taste wasn’t exactly the point of drinking, was it?

I looked around, but didn’t see the gossiping girls. Disappointment threatened to swallow me, but I pushed it aside. I would follow up tomorrow, and the day after that and…well I had all semester to uncover this mystery. I wasn’t going to let a minor setback get me down.

Shane cleared his throat dramatically and held up his cup. “I propose a toast!” he said. “To the Wayward Crew!”

“You have got to stop calling us that,” Darius muttered, but he sipped all the same. Laughing, so did I.

…

An hour or so later, and I was kind of—very—tipsy. Now, I really was ready for bed. I said my goodbyes, but for the most part, my roommates were occupied. Alexei seemed to be choosing among five girls for tonight, Darius was deep in discussion with a member of some prominent family or another, and Shane was dancing in a group of people and seemed to be carrying on eight conversations at once. Zel, was, of course, nowhere to be seen.

Alone, I started making my way back to the tower. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was dark, late and I was way too tipsy to be walking alone through a campus I had barely mapped out. Still, this was so much better than the recent nightmare my life had become that I didn’t worry. Sober Moriko never had this much fun, but apparently drunk Makiko does. I wasn’t sure why, but that thought sent me into a fit of giggles, and I had to lean against a tree until it subsided. Laughing and walking was apparently too hard for drunk Moriko. Makiko?

After another minute or two of laughing, I finally looked up…and realized I was totally lost. I was surrounded by trees, which meant I was moving through the woods and not the campus grounds.

It’s fine, it’s totally fine. All you have to do is turn around.

Except when I did, it looked the same. I spun in a dizzy circle, but I couldn’t see the torchlight anywhere, so I had no idea which direction was which. Oh no…no no no…

Suddenly, that feeling of unease, like something watching me, poured down my spine like ice. I waited a moment, but it didn’t go away like it had in the library. This was more like the feeling I had back home. The happy drunkenness was replaced by fear and paranoia. The woods had gone from peaceful and serene to cold and foreboding, with menace lurking in every shadow.

I heard the crunch of branches underfoot somewhere ahead of me.

My voice shook as I called out, “Who’s there?”

There was no answer, but after a beat of silence, a whirl of shadows spun across me. I threw up my arms to protect my face, and there was a single flash of light, then pain. Something cut me!

I didn’t waste any more time on stupid questions. I ran.

Footsteps crunched through the underbrush behind me, far too close. “Help! Help me!” I cried, but I was sure no one could hear me. The nightmare of the slash marks on the walls from home sprang to mind as I felt blood gushing down my arm. Had the attackers found me after all?

There was another whistle of those living shadows and then another cut on the back of my leg. I stumbled and fell. But I didn’t stop. With terror and anger racing through my blood, I scrambled back, trying to get up. I would not die in these woods as someone else.

But a swirling mass of shadows was building in front of me, and I couldn’t get up fast enough.

A howl tore through the night as a huge black wolf soared over me and charged straight for the shadow creature before it could attack. I tried to make sense of the vicious scuffle, but between the wolf’s inky black fur and the shadows, I couldn’t make out what I was seeing. It was all I could do to get to my feet. They broke apart and the shadow lunged for me again, but the wolf was there, standing over me, snarling.

I should have been terrified; this thing could kill me as surely as the shadows, but for whatever reason…I wasn’t. The wolf stared at me with deep, penetrating blue eyes and howled again. The shadows moved, and I made my choice, backing up against the comfort of the wolf’s black fur as it stood over me, growling protectively as the inky shadow creature advanced on us.