Two other pulses, brief flares of light.
Carter and Kelly and I thought, pack.
There was anger in the sun. It was contained, but it was going to break.
I knew, though I didn’t know how.
Men’s room. Hallway.
I pushed open the door.
Joe, pressed up against the wall. His bag at his feet, torn open. Pencils and papers across the floor.
Three guys around him. One held him against the wall, his forearm pressed against the neck. I recognized them vaguely through the descending red haze. Sophomores. Assholes.
Joe wasn’t scared. At least not completely. I swore I could hear the quick but steady beat of his heart.
But he wasn’t fighting back because he knew he was about to wolf out.
Then he saw me.
His eyes widened.
And the sun exploded.
I took the one that held him against the wall first. Grabbed him by the back of the neck and jerked him away. He said, “What—” and then he couldn’t speak at all because he was on the floor, my knee on his chest, hands around his throat. His eyes went wide as I snarled and bared my teeth in his face.
The other two grabbed me by the shoulders and arms to try and pull me off, but I remember my training and Thomas saying keep calm and maintain control.
I let them pull me up. I used the momentum and brought my knee into the stomach of the guy on my right and elbowed the guy on my left in the face. One bent over, struggling to breathe. The other cried out, a flash of crimson between his fingers. I stepped back, pushing Joe behind me. His hands fisted my shirt and he pressed his forehead to my back.
Carter and Kelly burst into the room, eyes flaring. They surveyed the room. Something settled in me when they looked satisfied with what they found. Not surprised. Satisfied. Like they knew I could handle this.
“So,” Carter said. “Your names.”
“Fuck you,” the guy with the bloody nose said.
“Wrong answer,” I said as Kelly moved toward him.
“Names!” Carter snapped.
Blood nose said, “Henry.”
The guy with hands on his stomach said, “Tyler.”
The guy still on the floor said, “Go to hell.”
Carter picked him up by his throat and held him up. His feet left the floor as he kicked.
Carter was close, but he was still in control. “Your. Name.”
“Dex,” the guy choked out.
“You got them?” Carter asked Kelly.
Kelly nodded as he breathed in. “Henry. Tyler. Dex. I got them.” Their scents.
“If you ever come near my brother again, I’ll kill you,” Carter said. “Every one of you. And if I can’t, Kelly will. And if he can’t, god help you when Ox gets his hands on you.” He threw Dex to the ground. Dex cried out as he landed on his side. Carter and Kelly stepped over him. The other two flinched away from them. They came and stood by my side, blocking Joe in. Kelly put a hand on my arm. Carter’s shoulder pressed against mine.