Page 60 of Do You Even Hex, Bro?
I sigh, unshouldering the strap and holding out the bag. “Fine. Knock yourselves out.”
This triggers an instant whispered argument consisting mostly of shoulder checks and growled threats between the four of them. Finally, Killian emerges victorious, slinging my bag over his shoulder with a smug grin flashed over his shoulder at his packmates.
“Pack alpha privilege,” he explains when he catches my raised eyebrow.
"Is everything a competition with you guys?" I ask as we move down Villeneuve's winding driveway.
"Yes," all four respond in unison, then look at each other with varying degrees of surprise.
"That's actually the first time we've all agreed on anything," Rowan mutters to me.
"Not true," Sean protests. "We all agreed Regina's hot."
My face heats instantly. “Uh, what?”
"Ignore him," Killian says, shooting Sean a death glare that could peel paint off a wall. "He has a tendency to come on strong."
Coming from Killian, that was saying a lot. If Killian were coffee, he'd come with a skull-and-crossbones warning label and would be banned in half the world.
But there's something almost refreshing about the wolves’ brazen honesty after years of manipulation and bullshit.
The walk to the Victorian mansion is mercifully short. In daylight, the house looks less gothic horror and more faded grandeur. It looks thoroughly lived in, for one thing, and could use a few new windows. Obviously, it’s still from old money.
"Welcome to Lupe Tau House," Killian announces as we climb the porch steps. "Officially campus housing, unofficially pack territory since my great-grandfather donated it to the university in the ‘20s with the stipulation that it always house the current Underwood alpha."
"So your family's been here for generations?" I ask, genuinely curious. And because I need to know as much as possible about these wolves.
"The Underwoods were founding members of Stormvale University,” he says, nodding.
"That's why his head's so big," Sean stage-whispers. "All that history packed into one overcrowded skull."
"Jealousy is an ugly color on you, Bennett,” Killian shoots back.
"Everything's a good color on me," Sean says with one of his usual shit-eating grins.
"Is he always like this?" I ask Rowan, who still seems like the most normal wolf of the pack. He definitely isn’t the same boneheaded jock level.
"No," Rowan says gravely. "Sometimes he's worse."
Inside, the house is... exactly what you'd expect from a fraternity occupied by four alpha male wolf shifters. And now, I have thechance to fully study it. The bones of the place are admittedly stunning. There are high ceilings, intricate woodwork, stained glass accents that have somehow survived the obvious brawls that have taken place here. Some of the furniture is busted up, which has my hair standing on end, but at the same time, I don’t see obvious claw and tooth marks, either.
And the massive flat-screen TV dominating one wall is intact despite being old enough to gather dust along the top edge, so there’s that. If they really go nuts when they wolf out, the screen would be fucked up. It’s cheaper to get a new TV than it is to replace it. Some of the mismatched pillows clustered around a sunken conversation pit in the center of the room show signs of wolfish wear, but they’reintact,at least.
Despite obvious recent attempts at cleaning—I spot hastily hidden piles of laundry stuffed behind couches and catch the faint citrus tang scent of multiple cleaning products that probably shouldn't be mixed like potions—it's chaotic in the way only collegiate male living spaces can be.
Somehow, the normalcy is comforting.
"Grand tour?" Micah suggests with a bright smile.
I hesitate. “…Sure.”
They lead me through the first floor with the enthusiasm of real estate agents trying to unload a difficult property. There's a surprisingly impressive kitchen for a frat house, a library lined with bookshelves full of occult books, and a well-equipped home gym in a huge glass room that must have been a conservatory before the wolves got to it.
"Are you guys the only ones who live here?" I ask as we climb the grand staircase to the second floor. "I thought fraternities usually had more members."
"Some years, there are more wolves on campus," Micah explains. "But this year, it's just us four. The pack, I mean."
"Most shifters get assigned to standard dorms," Rowan adds. "Only officially recognized packs get designated pack housing."
