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his pants, hidden under the jacket. Arianna sucked in air and flitted glances around them. She didn’t think anyone had seen the gun.
    “I’m not the fuck-up around here,” Jak said coolly.
    “Keep telling yourself that, beta.” Mace’s sneer was back, but he turned his hard gaze on Arianna. “Call me from the house when you get back. I want to know whether Jak needs an ass-kicking or not.”
    Arianna nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. Jak glared at Mace’s back all the way down the hall until he disappeared around the corner. Arianna didn’t dare move for several more seconds. Finally, Jak turned to her, a grin wide on his face.
    “You. Are. Amazing,” he said, drawing out the words as he stepped close. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper. “How did you manage to arrange this?”
    With Mace gone and Jak smiling, Arianna could finally breathe again. “I had almost nothing to do with it. What are you doing on campus?”
    “Doesn’t matter.” Jak’s grin just grew. “The question is, what are we going to do with an hour on campus alone?”
    “Jak.” She felt the heat rush to her face. “I have class.”
    He scoffed. “As much fun as it was to sit next to you in class, I have something a little different in mind.” Then he grinned wickedly, and with one last look down the hall where Mace had just left, Jak grabbed her hand and towed her in the opposite direction.
    They quickly left Kane Hall and dashed a short ways to a majestic building with Gothic architecture. Its tall stone columns loomed over them, and the arched entranceways were topped with terra cotta figures that looked very scholarly.
    “The Suzallo Library was one of my favorite places to hang out,” Jak said breathlessly as he towed her up the stone steps and inside the building. Stone staircases swept off to the side, and a reading room that looked like the inside of a medieval church filled most of the building, but Jak hurried past those to a help desk in the center.
    Jak rained a sexy smile down on the short, rail-thin girl manning the desk. “Hi! My name’s Jak. I was hoping you might help me with something.” She had to be one of the students, and Arianna could tell she was dazzled by Jak’s trim suit, tailored to fit perfectly over his well-muscled shifter body, not to mention that gorgeous smile he was favoring her with. Arianna felt a small pang of jealousy, but more than that, she felt sorry for the girl. Whatever Jak wanted, she was sure the girl would happily give it up… but she’d never get what she hoped for in return.
    “I, um, sure… what can I help you with?” The girl’s eyes grew wider as Jak placed a hand on her desk and leaned forward. Shifter pheromones worked best up close—and Arianna knew human females were even more susceptible to them than wolves. The girl had no chance.
    “You see, I used to love going down in the stacks,” Jak said in a sexy half-growl. “All those old books, you know, the smell they have? It was like being absorbed into all the stories, all the great characters…”
    The girl was nodding. Arianna rolled her eyes.
    “But I hear they closed them down,” he said. “Restricted access only now.”
    “Yeah, it’s really sad,” the girl said, leaning forward, entranced. “Only the staff are allowed down there these days.”
    “That’s a terrible shame.” Jak bit his lip.
    Arianna swore the girl was about to drool on her papers.
    The librarian dropped her voice. “Sometimes I go down there and just pull a book at random and read.”
    “I know, right?” Jak said. “I mean, everything’s a treasure. You never know what you can find.” He sighed. “I mean, I get it, you want to keep out the people who don’t understand. The ones who don’t get it. But the people like us, who really appreciate what’s down there…”
    The girl was eating this up. Then she glanced at Arianna. She tried to put on her brightest smile but kept quiet, letting Jak work his