Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Six

Axel

Kerry sat on an outdoor patio bench, a homemade lunch in front of him, sweat traveling down his neck. By the grim look on his face, Axel figured they hadn't tracked the lycan yet.

Delaney sat down on the opposite side of the bench with her tray and waved awkwardly at Kerry. "That looks good," she said, eyeing his pork sandwich.

"Axel's mother made it for the hunters," he said, tossing Axel a sack. "For you and Claire. You two left before your mother could give you yours."

Axel dug his sandwich out and handed one to Claire, who ditched the cafeteria food and unwrapped hers. "Any luck today with sniffing out the lycan?"

Kerry finished his sandwich and wadded the paper into a ball. "No. The scent is everywhere. There is no pinpointing it. Whoever it is spends a lot of time on campus or has purposefully spread his scent everywhere.

Axel took a bite of his food while glancing at Claire's distant look. He didn't want her to feel unprotected. "Where does the scent not touch?" Axel asked.

"The dorm rooms. None of them."

"So it's not a student?" Axel suggested.

"Perhaps," Kerry said, twirling a leaf that had fallen onto the table.

Claire cleared her throat. "Could a lycan disguise their scent?"

Axel lifted a brow at her. "Not normally, but if a lycan is trying to get away with this, I would assume they would do something. I'm not sure how—"

"Through a witch," Kerry said, flicking the leaf from his hand. "A witch could mask a lycan’s scent."

Claire chuckled behind her sandwich. "A witch? Like you assume my Aunt Demetria is?"

Axel leaned on his elbow. "Witches are real, Claire. Why is that hard to believe? Your boyfriend—your mate—shifts into a wolf."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. It's just funny to hear you talk about it as if it's completely normal."

Kerry smiled. "Because it is for us, and it will be for you, too, eventually."

They finished their lunch, and Axel's wolf began to pace with the thought of leaving Claire with Kerry. Not that he wouldn't protect her, but that Axel hadn't left her side in days. He'd surely worry and miss her being close.

Kerry must have noticed his reluctance and stood up. "I'll give y'all a second. I need to return your dad's phone call."

Axel turned to look at Claire, who wore a sassy smile. "Are you going to miss me, Axel Davers because you have that look on your face?"

Axel smirked and leaned across the table, swiping barbeque sauce from the corner of her mouth before planting a kiss there. "I'm going to worry about you the entire time."

"Thought so," she said with a smile before standing up. "I'll be fine. You go release some pressure on the field, practice so you can win us a football game. This campus needs some good news."

Axel stared down into her pretty hazel eyes. "You stay with Kerry, please. Just be careful.

She smiled. "Of course, Axel. I wouldn't wander off. You know me better than that. I've seen the lycan, and I know I have zero chances of defending myself."

"Maybe we should work on that? We could show you some self-defense moves this weekend at the pack house."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

He pressed a kiss onto the center of her forehead and turned to Kerry, who was scrolling on his phone. "I'll meet you both at the coffee shop after practice."

Kerry nodded. "I've got her, Axel. Go do your stuff."

Axel gave Claire one last glance before jogging toward practice.

Most of the players were gearing up when Axel walked into the fieldhouse. He rounded the corner when Coach Bear shouted for him. "Davers. Come here a second."

Axel walked through his door, and Coach gestured for him to shut it. "What's up, Coach?" he asked, sitting across from him.

Coach interlaced his fingers across his stomach. "I'm assuming you've heard about Cash. I'm reaching out to each player alone before I speak to you altogether. Were you at the party last Friday?"

"I was."

"Did you see Cash while you were there?"

Axel shook his head. "No. I hadn't seen him since the fieldhouse. I didn't even know he was there."

He pursed his lips, leaned forward, and swiped his palm down his face. "That's what I was afraid of. No one but Tibbs saw him." Coach glanced up at him. "Tibbs did tell me that he went looking for a girl."

Axel's fingers tightened against his thigh.

Of course, he did, his wolf growled.

"What girl?" Axel asked, playing oblivious.

"Her name is Claire Summers. Tibbs said you're dating her. You're sure you didn't run into him?"

Axel moved uncomfortably in his chair. "I am dating her, and I've heard of Cash's advances toward her, but neither of us saw him that night. Claire and I spoke about it. She was with me the entire night."

Coach nodded. "I believe you. I just wanted to double-check before I move forward. I didn't think that you would do anything to hurt Cash because I know he can be an ass sometimes to freshman, but I had to make sure."

"I understand, Coach."

"Alright, head on over to the locker room. Get ready. We're starting soon."

Axel jogged to the locker room, where a majority of the players all stood around while getting dressed. Jaxton spread his arms out wide when Axel stopped at his locker. "Damn, bro. I thought you dropped out of school. I haven't seen you in days."

"Sorry, man, I went home for the weekend. I had some family stuff going on. I just got back this morning. I'm probably going to be at home more than my room for a few weeks."

"That means I can have sex on your bed."

Axel chuckled and grabbed his practice jersey, switching them around quickly and kicking off his shoes. "I dare you," he said, sitting down to put on his cleats.

Jaxton sat down beside him, facing the opposite direction. "What do you think about Cash going missing?"

"It's insane," he mumbled.

Jaxton glanced around, making sure no one was listening, and whispered, "So, did you see him this weekend? Tibbs said he was going to look for Claire and then disappeared. I know you don't like him—"

"Jaxton, I've already talked to Coach about this. Neither Claire or I saw him at the party."

"I told Tibbs that," he said. "I just wanted you to know in case one of them said something on the field."

"Thanks for the heads up," Axel said.

Axel avoided most of his teammates before practice, keeping a low profile because he didn't want to deal with any drama before they started. But drama seemed to seek him out apparently.

Axel grabbed his practice pads and jogged toward the field, feeling a hard slam from his side, knocking him to his knees. Axel bounced up, almost too quickly, and faced the culprit.

Tibbs stared at him, head titled upward, an obvious pissed-off look on his face. "You got something to say?" Axel asked, noticing some of the other players watching from afar.

"Yeah, I know Cash came looking for your girl, and now, he's missing."

"Yeah? So I've heard. What does that have to do with me? I've already told Coach we never saw Cash that night, and I don't appreciate you making assumptions about Claire or me. If you were smart, you'd keep your mouth shut," he said.

Tibbs chuckled humorlessly. "I'm not scared of you, Davers, and I think you're hiding something. I'm going to figure it out."

Great, his wolf said. Now we have a caveman to worry about.

"Right, because all the other kids around campus that are hurt and killed are my fault?"

"None of them are missing, are they, Davers?"

Axel ground his teeth in annoyance. "Well, good luck with your case, Detective Tibbs. Until then," he said, taking a step closer, feeling his eyes turn dark and watching the fear travel over Tibbs' face. "Stay out of my way and stay away from Claire."

Axel brushed against him, moving toward an empty spot to stretch before practice.

He felt his anger rising to the surface; everything about Tibbs accusing him of hurting Cash rubbed him the wrong way. He understood they thought he might have seen him, but to say he hurt him?

That was another level of crazy.

Axel stretched his neck, moving it from side to side, noticing something in the corner of the bleachers. He could see better than an average human, and that probably made the situation worse.

The little girl from Claire's job, the one that mean mugged him her entire shift, sat in the corner staring at him. Axel straightened his neck and stared back until she realized he could see her, and she left the bleachers, disappearing behind the chain-length fence.

Well, aren't you just making friends today, Axel, his wolf said.

"Go to hell," Axel mumbled.