The Gazelle Who Caught a Lion (2 page)

picked on his tuna almost absently. Seeing his friend’s bad mood,

Clark abandoned his own lunch and said, “Hey, want to blow this

joint? Let’s go take a walk before the others come back.”

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Layton nodded. Silently, they dumped the remnants of their lunch

in the trash and headed out of the cafeteria. Various shape-shifters waved at Clark as they passed. “Hey, Clark, want to go play some ball later?” his roommate, Tate, shouted.

“Sure,” Clark replied. “See you tonight, okay, man?”

He’d probably forget, and as always, Tate would let it go. They

weren’t friends or anything like that, but Tate respected Clark’s

superior strength, so he made the effort anyway. Like Clark, Tate was a lion, and Clark supposed that to a certain extent, Tate respected him.

However, after joining the university, Clark had soon come to

realize that, even with the danger humans posed for all of them,

shape-shifters still begrudged each other. Many carnivores like Tate couldn’t understand Clark’s family relationships. They left Clark and his group alone, but Clark still heard the whispers and the snickering.

As they left the crowd behind, they headed out into the huge

garden right next to the cafeteria. There weren’t many people around at this hour—most were either in town or at lunch—so Clark and

Layton easily found a spot to sit down. “Why do you even talk to that jerk?” Layton asked.

“I don’t have a choice,” Clark replied. “He’s my roommate.”

“I suppose.” Layton sighed. “My roommate doesn’t even look at

me.”

As a shark-seahorse hybrid, Layton had it even harder than Clark.

Clark wrapped his arm around Layton’s shoulder and pulled him

close. “Whatever. It’s not like we give a damn.”

“True.” Clark could practically hear his friend grinning. “They

wish they had something like my folks do.”

Clark nodded. Skylar and Byron Cunningham were an unlikely

match, but they loved each other deeply. Clark counted himself lucky that his own parents were just as in love.

The thought made him wonder what they were doing. He’d never

realized he would miss them so much, but sometimes, Clark wanted

to just feel his dad’s arms around him. He sighed deeply, knowing that
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13

he couldn’t return to those days, when his fathers could make things better with just a word. No, he could not go back. The secret that Clark kept from them guaranteed it.

Suddenly, Layton broke out of the impromptu embrace. “Hey, you

know what we should do? We should throw a party or something.”

Clark arched a brow. “You hate parties.” They both did.

“Yes, but…” Layton looked away. “Corbin likes them.”

A fist clenched around Clark’s heart. He grabbed Layton’s chin

and forced their eyes to meet. “Hey. Seriously, Layton, you have to do something about that. You can’t pine over him forever.”

Layton pushed him away. “And what do you know? How could

you possibly understand?”

Clark caught Layton’s fists, stopping the seahorse from punching

him. At that, Layton just seemed to grow even angrier. He tripped

Clark, and because of Clark’s hold on his wrists, they ended up falling together in the grass.

While he fell, Clark sensed a familiar presence approach. He did

his best to get up, but Layton was stronger than he looked. Just as he struggled out of his friend’s hold, Angel and Reed appeared in his

view, followed closely by Morgan.

Angel froze and gave Clark a shocked look. The antelope seemed

speechless, something Clark immediately hated.

Reed, however, didn’t have that problem. “Oh, did we interrupt

something?” He snickered. “Sorry.”

Clark finally managed to slip from Layton’s grip and shot to his

feet. “No, no. Layton and I just had a small disagreement.”

“Knowing my brother, the disagreement wasn’t quite that small,”

Morgan drawled. “Isn’t that right, Lay?”

“Shut up,” Layton said in a disgruntled tone. “Traitor.”

Angel still hadn’t spoken, and that concerned Clark. He

remembered the last time when the antelope had given him the silent

treatment. It was many years ago, when their father had been injured while trying to protect Angel.

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“Angel? Little brother, are you all right?” he asked.

Angel blinked, as if snapping out of a trance. “Fine. Fine, Clark. I was just surprised. I didn’t know you two were…involved.” He

laughed awkwardly. “I guess I’m just not used to you keeping secrets from me.”

Clark swallowed around the sudden knot in his throat. He was

keeping a secret all right, just not the one Angel thought.

He crossed the space between them and hugged his brother.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Layton is just a friend.”

He didn’t even know why the words came out so defensive since,

technically speaking, neither Layton nor he was involved with anyone.

Either way, the explanation worked, and Angel began to relax. “Okay.

Okay.” He spoke softly, as if just for Clark’s ears. “Sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

Angel smelled so good, so fucking incredible, that Clark wanted

to strip him right there and claim him. He broke the embrace before

he did something he regretted. Thankfully, Morgan seemed focused on

his own brother and had ignored the exchange.

Reed sat on a bench, seemingly thoughtful. The swan was

apparently unconcerned with the little unfolding drama, but then

again, Reed was always like that. Even if he’d been adopted—like

Clark and Angel—Reed seemed to have inherited his adoptive father’s

personality. Clark had always liked Shiloh Denning-Holden. The swan

appeared to be flighty, but was the type of person who could be relied on when in need. Shiloh’s mate, Liam, was also a great man, and since the two of them were the best friends of Clark’s parents, Reed was

practically another brother for Clark—and damn it, the only one Clark had brotherly feelings for.

“Come on,” Morgan said. “We should get out of here. Classes are

starting again in, like, fifteen minutes.”

Because of the slight age difference between them, they

sometimes didn’t share classes. For Angel and Clark, it was rarer, but it happened a lot between them and the rest of their group.

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15

“Hey, when are Melanie, Derek, and Jace coming back?” Reed

inquired.

“No clue,” Clark replied. His three werewolf cousins had taken a

few days off to visit their grandfather. To Clark’s knowledge, they

were supposed to bring their uncle Isaac to the university as well.

Clark had stayed behind because he was reluctant to leave Angel alone for so long.

Their family relationships were quite odd from anyone outside

their immediate circle of friends. Clark’s werewolf father, Brody, had mated lamb shifter Carson Williams, and the two of them

subsequently adopted Clark and Angel. Brody’s brother, Soren, mated

Carson’s squirrel friend, Daniel, and later, through an arrangement, had Melanie, Derek, and Jace with Liam’s sister, Carlie.

Unfortunately, Carlie Denning had been killed, but Daniel had raised the three young werewolves as his own pups.

During a family reunion, Carson’s mother and Brody and Soren’s

father had met. The rest was history. They had become mates and the

result was the first half-lamb, half-wolf in history—Isaac. It also led Brody and Soren to have a brother younger than their children.

Unfortunately, unlike Layton and Morgan, who didn’t show any ill

effects due to their half-breed nature, Isaac had always been quite

sickly. For that reason, while all of them already had several years here at the university, Isaac had not been able to attend until now.

Clark hoped Isaac would be able to adapt, given the still-volatile

situation in the Academy.

“Was Isaac finally admitted in the university?” Morgan asked.

Clark nodded. “I’m worried about him.”

Angel released a sigh. “I hope his roommate doesn’t give him any

trouble.”

Alarm bells started ringing in Clark’s head. The way Angel said

those words made Clark believe the young antelope spoke of personal

experience. It wouldn’t be surprising if Angel’s roommate did bully

him, though. Clark had met the guy, a sable who thought he was

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God’s gift to his kind. However, Clark always figured that Angel

would tell him if something happened, if he was teased in any way.

“Angel, did you have problems?” he asked.

Angel’s eyes widened, and he fidgeted uncomfortably. He didn’t

reply, something that already told Clark what he needed to know.

Angel had never been able to lie to him, not to his face. Lies of

omission occasionally slipped in, but they were innocent, like when

Angel wanted to prepare a surprise party or buy him a gift.

Not willing to push Angel into saying anything more, Clark looked

at Reed and arched a brow. “Tell me, Reed. I know you know.” If

there was anyone Angel told things other than Clark, it was Reed.

The swan shifter sighed. “You two are putting me in a bad

position.” He paused, as if ruminating over what to do.

“I just need the details,” Clark said, coaxing the information out of Reed. “I already know he’s hiding something.”

By now, Morgan and Layton had ceased all pretense of

conversation and were now paying complete attention to the exchange

between Clark, Reed, and Angel.

“I’ll tell you if you promise not to do anything rash,” Angel

mumbled.

That didn’t sound very encouraging. “I can’t make that promise,”

he replied. He was very protective of Angel, and his brother knew

that.

Looking around at his friends, he realized he wanted to have this

conversation in private. “Come on. Let’s go to the dorm where we can talk alone.”

“But…the classes,” Angel protested.

Clark growled in irritation. “We can skip. Cover for us, will you,

guys?”

“Sure thing, Clark,” Layton replied. Apparently, his anger with

Clark had been forgotten. “See you later, all right?”

Their three friends took off in the direction of the right wing of the Academy. Clark took his brother’s hand and began to pull him in the

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direction of dorm C. On normal circumstances, Clark wouldn’t have

brought Angel here. The building reserved for carnivores was

typically off-limits for herbivores, and even if no one would dare to hurt Angel, the antelope still felt uncomfortable around so many

predators.

Now, however, most everyone was heading out to class, and those

who chose to skip like Clark were unlikely to stay in the dorm. Clark knew for a fact Tate would be out, since the other lion was failing Human History 1 and risked being expelled if he missed even one

course. Clark and Angel didn’t have that problem, although there was one disadvantage in having friends of the family on the school board.

If they fucked up even a little, their parents would be the first to know.

A few students were in the dorm. A couple of cheetahs gave them

curious looks, but Clark glared at them, and they quickly averted their gazes. No one bothered them, and soon, they reached Clark’s room.

Thankfully, he’d been right about Tate being out. He pulled Angel

inside and shut the door behind them. “Okay, now talk. What’s going

on with you and your roommate?”

Angel crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him—insofar

as Angel could glare at least. “Why would I tell you anything?”

Clark rubbed his eyes. When Angel wanted to be stubborn, he

almost seemed a damn mule, not an antelope. “Please, Angel. I’m just worried about you, little brother. I’m supposed to protect you,

remember?”

“You’re supposed to be doing lots of things,” Angel whispered in

a barely audible voice, “but you seem to have forgotten about that.”

Clark frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Angel’s glare turned shockingly angry. “I’m talking about you

ditching me to stay behind and play tonsil hockey with Layton. I’m

talking about you going around my back and making up pretexts so

you wouldn’t have to stick around your annoying little brother. Or

what, is it that you’ve finally figured out you’re a predator and I’m prey? Is that it?”

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Clark had never seen Angel quite so angry. Angel wasn’t the type

of person to shout or enact violence on anyone. His name suited him

perfectly—he was an angel, a divine creature who couldn’t hurt a fly.

And because Clark knew his brother so well, he could see the hurt

hiding behind the fury.

“When we were kids, you never did that. You’d stay by my side all

the time,” Angel continued to rant, seemingly struggling with tears.

“We’re not kids anymore,” Clark murmured.

Those times were long passed. Back then, Angel was only his

bouncy and enthusiastic antelope brother and Clark his self-appointed guardian. But they’d grown up, and while guys his age discovered

how interesting breasts were, Clark had started to notice Angel’s full lips, the swell of his ass, and the way his eyes glowed when he was happy. There were just so many things about Angel that made him

special for Clark. Whenever they were close, his beast roared at him to claim their mate, but Clark couldn’t do it.