"Did you meet your roommate when you grabbed your armband?" Gavin looked at her as they walked towards the dorm.
Erza hesitated for a moment. "Um yeah, and she is… an interesting character." Erza chuckled at the memory of going into her dorm room.
"Oh yeah? How so?" His curiosity was piqued as they walked down the path. Most of the students were inside the buildings by this time so it was a lot more peaceful of a walk. "You know, when there aren't thousands of students running around, this place is actually peaceful."
Erza looked around and noticed that Gavin was right. Without the hustle and bustle of the students, the campus pathways were indeed peaceful. Erza could hear the chirping of the birds and the chattering of the ground squirrels in the woods. "Yeah, it almost reminds me of that trail we hiked on our first date."
Gavin grinned at the memory. "Yeah, just need to grab our swimsuits and head for the pond on campus."
Erza chuckled as she bumped her shoulder against his. "Get your mind out of the gutter wolf boy."
A few of the students walking around glanced at Gavin and whispered between themselves. "That's the guy that went crazy in the dorm building!"
"That's the dangerous guy we heard about. I thought they were going to expel him!"
Gavin heard these whispered words and tensed next to Erza. She felt his body language shift and caught the tail end of the whispered comments.
Her anger snapped as she turned to face the other students. Her mana flared out around them whipping up the wind. The girls cried out nervously as the wind picked up around them.
"It was self-defense you morons!" Her bitter words filled the courtyard. She stood there, tall, angry, and hurt. Erza's eyes glowed their vibrant amber, rimmed with crimson as she glared at them.
One of the students, a petite blonde girl scoffed. "Yeah right. I heard he went crazy and almost killed an innocent student." Her friend that stood beside her joined with a mocking laughter.
"Yeah, for real. Only an idiot or a monster loses control like that."
Gavin gritted his teeth as he pulled Erza back towards him. He was stunned to feel her arm trembling under his grip. "It's fine… Let it go." His whispered words weren't angry or defensive.
Worse. They were robotic. Nonchalant.
Tears pricked her eyes at his cold reaction. "But Gavin, it's not true. You know that."
They aren't wrong though. He squeezed her hand in his as he looked at her.
He shook his head. "I don't care what they say. Bottom line is they aren't exactly wrong. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters to me is that you are here, and you are safe." His whispered words brought warmth to her heart.
She let him pull her along. The mocking laughter from the students grated on her nerves, but she didn't press the matter. Another fight today was the last thing either of them needed.
They arrived at their dorm and walked inside. Traces of the earlier fight were still evident. Gavin passed by the impact crater in the wall. Memories of Bradley hitting that wall made him sick. "I have to stop letting the instincts take over." His whispered words made Erza's heart ache.
"We will get there baby, one day at a time." She reached up to rub his back. Her touch soothing and grounding to his frayed nerves.
"Right. After all, what doesn't kill us."
"Only requires years of therapy and drugs." She finished with a laugh. The sound of her laughter helped to calm his nerves as they walked through the hallway and down to the elevator. Hand in hand they exited the elevator when it reached their floor and headed to Gavin's room.
As Gavin was about to open the door, he got a whiff of something that instantly set him on edge. He could tell his eyes had started glowing red as he sniffed the air a few times in front of the door. It smelled musky. Like a combination of sweat and other things. Gavin smirked in realization.
But, there was another, underlying scent. Similar to what his grandpa had around him.
Whoever it was, they were inside his dorm with his roommate. He was about to rip open the door and track down the source of the scent when it opened from the inside and a disheveled-looking short girl with short blue hair almost ran into Gavin.
Her clothes were a wrinkled mess, and she had a deep shade of red creeping up her cheeks. There was a thin layer of sweat that covered her skin and her hair clung to her cheek. Her eyes glowed a barely noticeable red in response to seeing Gavin's glowing eyes.
"Helena?" Erza asked in surprise.
She let out a surprised squeak as she recognized her. "Erza?" Helena finished buttoning her shirt all the way as she glanced up to see her.
Gavin noticed the strange scent was coming from Helena, and he caught a trace of red around her eyes as she glanced at him. "You know each other?" He kept his gaze on Helena.
Erza nodded. "Yeah, this is my roommate. I met her when I went to grab the arm band." She explained as she examined Helena's state of undress. "It looks like she has already met Jackson." Erza snickered and gave the other woman a knowing look. "They seem to get along pretty well it seems."
Helena bristled under Erza's comment. "Oh bite me red." She retorted as the door opened and Jackson stepped out in just a pair of jeans, his hair still wet.
Gavin noticed that Jackson smelled different, clean, and sterile. It was obvious he just got out of the shower compared to Helena.
"Oh, hey buddy. Gavin this is Helena. Helena this is Gavin, my roommate."
Gavin snorted. "Yeah, we've already met." His eyes glowed red as she looked at him. His wolf could smell the scent of her. He recognized it as what it was.
A lone wolf. A rogue. Here at the campus. His instinct was to demand answers from Helena; to either have her under his authority and command or push her away and out. Why? Why am I thinking like that towards someone I just met?
The answer is the natural instincts of the wolf Gavin. It's nothing to get afraid of or worried about. Veronica stepped in to answer Gavin's question.
"Oh, right." He leaned over to place a kiss on Helena's cheek. "Call me later?" He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his body.
She bristled under Jackson's soft kiss. "Shut up Romeo." She snapped and walked down the hall. But Erza noticed the faint smile on her face and a blush in her cheeks.
Gavin chuckled while he walked through the door. Erza and Jackson followed him in. "I was only gone a couple hours and yet you already found someone."
Jackson preened with pride as he looked at Gavin. "Did you see her though? She's freaking gorgeous."
Erza laughed and shook her head as she walked in and leaned against the back of the couch. "She is a mess. What all did you guys do?"
Jackson faced her in pride as he said. "Well, it started on my bed, then the couch." He said nodding to the couch that Erza was leaning against.
"Gross dude. Please tell me you guys were actually in your own room," Gavin asked him as he glanced at the couch as if he expected to see a pile of fluids somewhere on or around it.
Jackson grabbed his shirt from the back of the couch and put it on. "Enough about my personal encounters, how'd it go with the principal?" Jackson asked suddenly.
Gavin sobered up instantly as he debated how much to inform him. Jackson already knew some of his history but not all of it.
"Are you sure that you want to know everything? It's a long story," Gavin asked him.
Jackson nodded as he grabbed a drink off the counter and went to sit on the chair facing the couch. "I'm all ears brother, tell away," Jackson said.
So, Gavin did just that as he went to sit on the couch. He told Jackson everything. He started by telling him he was adopted, how he shifted for the first time and the fact he had already killed two people with his own claws that night at the studio.
"Damn, so if I hadn't stopped you earlier, you really would have killed Bradley?" Jackson asked suddenly as he realized just how ruthless the wolf could be.
Gavin nodded grimly as he confirmed his answer. "Yes," he replied coldly, without any emotion. "Most of the time, I can control my shifts just fine. But there are certain situations where it feels like my humanity is pushed aside. Time's where it feels like only the animal is there," Gavin replied in answer, his voice was a quiet whisper.
"My inner wolf feels like a natural disaster that is constantly brewing and on the edge of letting loose." Gavin explained. "I feel like I'm walking a tight rope. One wrong step and an unholy disaster will happen."
Erza walked over and rubbed his back gently. "We won't let that happen."
Gavin went on to explain how when he was out cold from the mana depletion, the god Koray appeared to him and issued him a quest and a command.
"Woah, that's some seriously heavy stuff there, man," Jackson said as he leaned back and let out a soft whistle. "To think that the gods are actually real."
Gavin nodded, his face set in grim determination. "I have to find the other alpha clans; I have to find the strength to find these clans in hiding and do whatever it is that Koray expects from me." Gavin responded as he clasped his hands in front of him and leaned forward. "But this is not something I can do alone. You said your family were historians, right?" Gavin asked him suddenly, an idea forming in his mind.
Jackson snapped his head to meet Gavin's eyes, instantly aware of what his friend wanted to ask. "Yes, we are," Jackson replied calmly. Internally, his heart was racing. This sounded like one of those action comics he read growing up. Full of lies, deception, battles and trickery. I'm so in.
"I can't find these clans alone. Nor can I protect them solo. I was wondering, man, if you would join me on this ridiculous task that blonde asshole gave me?" Gavin asked Jackson. He rubbed his hands uncertainly back and forth against each other.
Jackson beamed like a kid on Christmas day. "Oh, you know I am in. This sounds like such an epic adventure man. Count me in," Jackson instantly agreed, a smile stretched across his face.
Gavin felt his heart lighten a bit as he now had a comrade in arms in this fight. With the resources and knowledge his family possessed, Gavin was sure that Jackson would be a huge asset during this mission from Koray.
"Awesome, then our first task is to do well during the trials tomorrow," Gavin said with a grin on his face as he offered his fist to Jackson and gave him a brotherly fist bump.