Nate stretched and sat up. The sky had dimmed noticeably since he laid down for nap. Aiyana looked up from her bed where she sat surrounded by books and grinned.

"My hair is sticking up again isn't it?"

She nodded, then went right back to her notebook. Cliff sighed loudly from across the room where he was sitting in the only chair and flipping through a text book.

"Why don't you go look around the dorm for a bit," Aiyana suggested. "Maybe those wolves are lurking outside."

"I'm supposed to guard you."

"And you will be. It's called checking the perimeter. Nate can stay with me."

Cliff looked between them then gave another sigh. "Fine. I won't be gone long. Behave."

Nate was going to count to thirty after the door shut, but he only made it to ten before he glanced at Aiyana. Her face lit up in a slow grin, and a split second later, they were both rubbing their noses from coming together too fast. That didn't deter him long. Compared to the eternity he'd been waiting to kiss her again, a broken nose was a minor impediment.

Five glorious minutes later, or maybe it was ten, whatever it was, it wasn't enough, someone knocked on the door. He released her reluctantly. Cliff already knew they were in there and probably knew what they were doing too, but Nate didn't like flouting his win. Cliff was not a total jerk - he'd been decent enough to be friends with Aiyana when they were little and he was serious about protecting her. "You look like you've been thoroughly kissed," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"So do you."

The knock came again, louder.

"Think he'll go away if we pretend we're not here?" Nate whispered.

"He knows we're here and I need to study anyway."

Nate let out a loud sigh and moved toward the door, pausing in front of the mirror over the sink to see how bad his hair was. Eh. It could be worse.

He opened the door expecting Cliff to storm past him or growl or perhaps attack, but there was nobody there, just a scent. Oh no, not her. He quickly shut the door again without looking to see if she was in the hallway. It didn't close. The toe of a red sequined sneaker was in the way. Delicate fingers with perfectly shaped and painted nails that matched the sneaker curled around the door. Sophia's melodious voice, tuned to sound innocent and sexy at the same time danced through the crack in the door.

"Nate, I know that's you. Stop fooling around."

He could tell her to go away, but he knew she wouldn't listen. He'd just have to let Aiyana meet Sophia and hope she believed him.

He backed away and the door swung wide open. Like always, Sophia was dressed to perfection. Her wavy, chestnut brown hair curled around her heart-shape face, emphasizing her soft brown eyes and full lips which also matched her shoes. Her dress was casual - jeans and a T-shirt - but they fit her perfectly and he was sure they were designer. Her mother wouldn't let her wear anything less.

"Nate!" She flung herself at him and trapped him in a tight hug. "I've been so worried. Are you okay?"

She looked up at him like she expected a kiss. He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed until she finally backed up a step. He knew it was all an act. He had Aiyana's scent all over him, yet Sophia was acting like she couldn't smell a thing. "Sophia, why are you here?"

"I heard about Jeremy and about your illness. I'm your mate, so I came." She tried to get closer again. He pushed her away as far as he could reach.

"Sophia, for the last time, you are not my mate."

"Just because you can't feel the bond doesn't mean it's not there." She looked past him to Aiyana who had sat back down on her bed with her books. "Who's that?"

Aiyana popped off her bed and stuck out her hand. "I'm Aiyana, one of the medical staff who cared for Nate while he was sick, and you are?"

Sophia looked taken aback but only for a moment. She'd probably been hoping her announcement would cause some angst between him and Aiyana. Actually, her plan was working, it was causing him a great deal of angst. Aiyana didn't look bothered at all. "I'm Sophia Henderson from Oregon. My parents are the Betas of the Portland pack."

"Nice to meet you. Nate was being kind enough to help me study. I have two finals tomorrow and I'm a bit stressed. Last two though."

Aiyana's phone rang. She turned her back on him as she dug it out of her back-pack. "Hi Doc....Sure, we'll be right down." She slid her phone into her pocket as she turned to him. "Your mom is on her way here with something for you. There probably aren't any parking spaces available, so you should wait for her out front."

"There aren't," Sophia sniffed. "I had to park in the visitor lot and walk here."

"I don't want to leave you alone."

Aiyana sighed. "I suppose I could use a break." She slipped her lanyard with her student ID and room key over her head. It was long enough that it hung down below the wolf's-head necklace she'd been wearing all day. She looked up at him with a half-smile, but her eyes were sad. Nate wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the pain away but he sensed she wouldn't like that, not in front of Sophia. "Come on then," she said.

————————————

So Nate did have a mate. She should probably be sad or mad or something, but she didn't feel anything. She'd known he was too good to be true.

The stairwell smelled like someone had been smoking weed with the doors closed. To her wolf senses, it was overwhelming. She paused at the door and turned back to Sophia. "Did it smell like this when you came up?"

"No."

"Let's go down the other stairs."

"Aiyana." It was faint, but she swore she heard her name. A hand appeared on the railing where the stairs made a U-turn, then a dark head came into view.

"Cliff!"

He stumbled and collapsed on the landing. She scrambled down to his side. He wasn't bleeding or hurt that she could see. He touched his neck. "Poison. Sorry, Aiyana. Not...good...guard...either."

She sniffed at his neck. Silver. "Lay still." She felt oddly calm although her brain was spinning, trying to think what to do. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and tossed it at Nate. "Call Doc."

"Where are you going?" Nate asked as she ran up the stairs and past him.

"I'll be right back." Of course, the one time she hadn't grabbed her purse, something like this would happen. She unlocked the door and, on second thought, grabbed her backpack. Best take the letter opener too in case that murderer was around. She ran the short distance back down the hall while digging into the front pocket. Medicine in hand, she pushed past Sophia on the stairs and slammed the EpiPen against the base of Cliff's neck close to where he'd touched it. Per the instructions, it should have been in his thigh, but he was a wolf, and she'd read the epinephrine could restrict blood flow at the injection site which is exactly what she wanted to do.

"What is that?" Sophia asked.

"EpiPen."

"What does it do?"

Only a wolf would have never heard of an EpiPen. "It helps with severe allergic reactions."

"Do you think it will work on him?" Sophia asked.

Aiyana sat back on her heels and massaged the site where she'd injected him. "I don't know. Wolves are allergic to silver, but it's different from most allergies. Just touching silver hurts a wolf but people with peanut or bee allergies can touch those things, they just can't eat or inject them."

"Doc is on his way," Nate said.

"Can you help me carry him to the door?"

He handed her the phone, then grabbed Cliff's shoulders while she grabbed his feet. Sophia hurried to open the door for them and ran ahead as they carried Cliff into the lobby.

"What's going on? Is he hurt? Should I call 911?" a random girl asked as Sophia opened the outside door.

"The doctor's already on the way," Aiyana said.

It seemed like forever, but really it was only a few minutes before Doc's old truck pulled up in front of the dorm. With Doc's help, they got Cliff in the front seat. Aiyana scooted in beside Cliff and propped him against her. "Go."

"I'm coming," Nate said.

"There's no room."

"Where are you going?" Nate asked, holding the door open as the truck began to roll.

"Campus animal hospital," Doc said.

"I'll see you there."

Aiyana kept her hand over Cliff's chest as they drove, taking comfort from the steady up-and-down movement.

"Nate said you gave him epinephrine?"

"Yes. I didn't know what else to do."

"Well, I don't think anyone has ever tried that, but then most wolves aren't injected with silver either."

"Can you help him?"

"Possibly. We can try EDTA. It binds to metal ions and the complexes are excreted by the kidneys. It's usually used for lead poisoning. I'll run in and make up a syringe-full. You'll have to stay in the truck with Cliff. Vets doctoring humans are frowned upon. I'll take him to the farm after this."

————————————

"Mom!" Nate ran back to where she was waiting in the short term parking spot in front of the dorm in her rental SUV. Sophia stuck to his heels like used toilet paper.

"What happened? Who was that?" she asked as he wrenched open the passenger door.

"Someone injected Cliff with silver. Doc and Aiyana are taking him to the university vet hospital." He climbed into the seat and shut the door, leaving Sophia on the curb.

"Can I get a ride with you?" Sophia asked, looking a bit lost.

His mother answered no, to his surprise. "There are some things I need to discuss with Nate in private."

"Oh. I'll, uh, meet you there then. Text me if you go somewhere else. My car is pretty far away."

"I don't have a phone," Nate said. Nor did he have her number, and he wasn't going to ask for it. His mom drove away while Sophia's mouth was still working to respond.

"What's she doing here?" His mother didn't sound happy.

"I don't know. She just showed up."

"Did she meet Aiyana?"

"Yes."

"How did Aiyana take it?"

"I don't know."

His mother shot him a sharp look. "What do you mean, you don't know? Weren't you there?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't read her. She didn't get upset and she didn't argue with Sophia when Sophia said she was my mate."

"What happened to Cliff?"

He explained how they'd found him on the stairs.

"Were you smoking weed?"

"No! Never! Gah. I hate the smell. Someone was smoking in the stairwell where we found Cliff."

Was it Cliff?"

"I don't know."

She sniffed the air and rolled down the window. After several quiet moments, she said, "The autopsy results came back on Jeremy and that hunter."

"How did they die?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious with the hunter. His skull was bashed in. They think it was the butt of his own gun. It was harder to tell with Jeremy. He wasn't injured and he didn't drown. Doctor Brown told them to test for metals or anything strange in his blood. They found silver."

"So he was injected too?"

"Yes."

"And the killer tried to cover it up by dumping the bodies in the lake."

"That's the assumption"

"And it's the same guy who's after Aiyana and just tried to kill Cliff."

"Most likely."

"But why?"

She stopped at a stop sign and a whole parade of people started crossing the road in front of them. His mom sighed and glanced sideways at him. "I think you know the answer. Who claims you as her mate although you've never felt a thing for her?"

"Sophia would never do something like this."

"I wouldn't count her out, but I don't think it was her. This sounds like something her mother would do."

"Her mother!"

"Not by herself. Penelope Henderson wouldn't risk getting her hands dirty. I bet she sent one of her wolves to do it. I bet he filled the stairway with weed smoke so Cliff or whoever used the stairs couldn't tell there was a wolf around." She sniffed again. "Even the little bit on your clothes is making it hard for me to smell you. That would also explain how Sophia knew where you were. If Penelope has one of her goons following you and Aiyana, she'd be able to tell her exactly where to go."

A memory was trying to surface. He remembered pain and a dark human shape looming over him and the dawning of recognition, but that was all.

"Why wasn't Cliff with you and Aiyana? I thought he was supposed to be guarding her."

"He was scouting the perimeter."

"Ah, I see. I bet the murderer saw it as an opportunity to get rid of him, then he'd only have to get past you."

"But if he killed me, wouldn't that defeat the purpose."

"Yes, but he wouldn't have to kill you. He'd just have to wait until you left Aiyana's side."

"But even if something happened to Aiyana, I would never agree to be Sophia's mate."

His mom stepped on the gas before another large group of people could start across. "She isn't bad looking and I'm sure with a mother like Penelope she can be pretty persuasive."

Nate lay his head back against the headrest. "That doesn't explain why Jeremy was killed."

"Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He imagined Jeremy's laugh and what he must have felt in those last few moments. How long had it taken him to die? Cliff had lost consciousness pretty quickly. "Do you think Jeremy's mate, wherever she is, knows that something happened to him?"

"I don't know. I had a nightmare just before I turned eighteen. I dreamed I was in a car accident but I didn't recognize the dashboard of the car before my head slammed into it. I did the full tour of the United States and part of Europe but I knew somehow that I wouldn't find my bond-mate. I was very lucky your father didn't find his either."

"Cliff still feels something for Aiyana even though she doesn't feel anything for him," he blurted.

"Cliff is the wolf who rejected her?"

"Yeah."

"And you two haven't got into a fight yet?"

"Almost. Aiyana stopped us."

"And you listened to her? Your generation is much different from mine. Your father never listens to me when it comes to a good fight."

"Cliff didn't have a choice. Aiyana used coercion on him."

"She did, did she?" The tone of him mother's voice was odd, like she was about to laugh, but she had her face turned away so he couldn't see her expression. "Your mate is certainly full of surprises."

"You don't think she'll start feeling something for him again do you?"

"Has she shown any interest in him?"

"No."

"It is possible to reconnect a bond, but only as long as the person hasn't accepted someone else as their mate. Once Aiyana accepts you, it will be fine."

He wished he could be as confident that was going to happen as his mother sounded.

"There. There's Doc's truck!" Nate pointed as she pulled into the parking lot.

His mother parked in a nearby space. Nate slipped out before she had the engine off. He could see Aiyana still in the passenger seat of Doc's truck.

"How is he?" He asked after Aiyana unlocked and opened the door for him. Cliff was leaning against her, not moving. Even though his skin had a kind of natural tan, he looked pale.

"Still breathing. Doc should be back shortly with something to help, then he's going to take him to the farm."

"Are you going with him?"

"Yes."

"Want me to drop by your dorm and get some things - books? clothes?"

She looked up at him with shining eyes. "What about Sophia?"

"What about her?"

"What if she's the one who's truly your mate like Cliff was mine. I can't...I won't do that to someone else."

He took her hand, desperate for some connection to her. "She's not. I've known her most of my life and I was around her after I turned eighteen but before I felt the bond to you. There's nothing there. It's always been you."

"But were you around her after she turned eighteen but before you felt me?"

He had been, hadn't he? He was a two-and-a-half years older than Aiyana and Sophia was a year behind him in school. Surely he'd seen Sophia at some time between her eighteenth birthday and Aiyana's. "I don't think it matters, does it? Wouldn't I have felt it even before she was eighteen?"

"I don't know. Cliff would."

She turned to him like he would answer, but Cliff didn't move.

"Yes," she turned back to Nate. "I would appreciate if you grab that grocery bag near the bed, toss in my toothbrush and paste, and all the books and things on the bed, and my purse. My other Epipen is in there. I've only had to use one on myself once in my life, but I always carry it with me. With my luck, if I don't have it, it will be the one time I need it." She took the key off the lanyard around her neck and handed it to him.

She looked so sad. He wanted to hug her but he was afraid he'd upset her more.. "Okay. We'll meet you there."

"Where are we going now?" his mother asked as met her in front of Doc's truck and spun her back toward their SUV.

"I'll explain on the way."