"I call this one a Wolf Bite." Hamish set the tall glasses down in front of Randall and Bela, smiling as they both took a sip, and then another immediately.
"Haim, this is amazing." Bela said as Randall nodded in agreement. Her lips quirked up in delight, causing a rush of warmth to radiate throughout Hamish's chest.
He seated himself across from her, trying to ignore the sudden fluttering in his stomach.
Belatrice Gray - Bela, to her friends - had transferred to Belgrave's Linguistics department from a college on the West Coast at the start of the year. After Randall was assigned as her tour guide during orientation they'd become fast friends and now the RA spent almost as much time with her as he did with Hamish, Lilith and Jack.
Though Hamish was usually reluctant to let the others bring friends back to the Den, when Randall finally introduced them to Bela he'd instantly made an exception for her. Not only was she sweet, funny and smarter than anyone else he'd met at Belgrave, she was also fair with the students under her guidance as a TA, and a loyal and caring friend to Randall - qualities that Hamish admired greatly.
As Bela became a semi-regular fixture at their nights out, nights in and revision sessions, Hamish had found himself making an effort to be around whenever Bela was present.
They'd spent many afternoons this semester studying in the Den's comfy living room and as finals drew closer, Randall regularly recruited Bela for last minute cramming sessions. This afternoon it was Advanced Anatomy, with a side of Diagnostic Reasoning.
The dark haired man sighed and flopped down next to Bela on the shabby-but-comfortable sofa. She shifted as he jostled the cushions, almost knocking her book out of her hands.
From his armchair Hamish could see Bela reach over and run her hand up and down Randall's arm in a soothing gesture. "You'll get there." She said, still focused on her work. "You know this stuff already, you're just tired."
Randall scoffed. "That's easy for you to say. I can't believe you dropped out of Pre Med - your grasp of the human body is truly astounding."
"Yeah, my mother can't either," Bela joked.
"Another thing you and the Ham-ster have in common."
Hamish winced at the nickname, but let it go. Randall was tired, after all.
Bela frowned, "A good grasp of the human body?"
Randall, who had taken this moment to have a sip of his drink, choked on his mouthful.
Hamish reached over to pat his friend on the back. "Disappointing our parents." he bowed his head slightly, "I was Pre Law."
"Really? " Bela said, raising an eyebrow. "When I imagine you in a courtroom, I put you in handcuffs."
"Is that something you imagine regularly?" Hamish flashed her a smile. She laughed.
"Jesus," Randall muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Hamish's enhanced hearing to pick up. "If I don't choke to death on my drink, the sexual tension in this room is going to smother me."
He leapt up from his chair, narrowly avoiding the pillow that sailed past his head. "Anyone want a snack? I need popcorn."
As he headed to the kitchen Hamish turned his attention to Bela. She was chewing on the end of a pen, lost in the pages of her textbook. His breath hitched as the afternoon light filtering in through the windows caught the edges of her hair, lighting a halo around her.
"Bels?"
"Mmhm?"
"Randall mentioned you're swamped with work at the moment?"
"Oh?" Bela made a face. "Yeah, Professor Liebernacht dumped all of his marking on me again - big surprise. I have to grade ninety Syntactic Theory papers by the end of the week."
"How about we mark papers together tonight?" Hamish tried to keep his voice light and even to disguise the hammering in his chest. "I have practise tests to get through, it's going to take hours. Maybe we could get a take-out, keep each other company?"
"Oh." She looked up from her book. "Yeah, that would be great actually. As long as you make me one of your signature cocktails too?"
A smile lit up his face. "I can make you as many cocktails as you like, I think we probably both need a drink this far into finals season."
"Great idea Ham-and-cheese!" Randall said, returning with a large bowl clutched to his chest. "Hey Lil," He yelled up the stairs, "Big night out tonight with Hamish and Bela, let's blow off some steam."
"What? No, that's not what I-" Hamish began in protest.
"I'm in." Lilith appeared in the hallway. "But I get to choose the bar this time, the last one Bela chose was lame."
"Hey," Bela objected.
"Cool, I'll tell Jack and Alyssa." Randall sat down, setting the popcorn on the coffee table in front of him, and pulled out his phone. "Meet here at 8pm?"
Bela looked from Randall to Hamish, who was glaring daggers at his friend. She shrugged.
"Great!" Randall's phone buzzed. "They're in. Thanks, Haim. We could all do with a break tonight - your papers can wait until tomorrow, can't they?"
Hamish bit back his disappointment. "I guess they'll have to."
- - - - -"Dude, you have to stop."
Randall placed a hand firmly over Hamish's, stilling the older man's fingers. He'd been drumming his nails on their table for the past ten minutes and even with the music in the club drowning out the sound, it was extremely irritating.
"What's up with you tonight?"
"Nothing." Hamish lied, freeing his hand from Randall's grasp.
Randall's suspicion grew as he followed Hamish's gaze to the bar where Jack, Bela and Alyssa were ordering a round of shots.
"Fine." Hamish groaned, when he noticed Randall surveying Bela. "It's just weird. I asked Bela on a date and now we're all hanging out together."
Randall's eyes almost popped out of his head. "What?! You finally asked her out? When the hell did that happen?"
"This afternoon. I asked her to hang out tonight."
"But did you really?" Lillith smirked over the top of her glass. "I'm not sure she realised you were actually asking her out."
"When did this happen?" Randall frowned "And how come you know about it when I don't Lil?"
"Duh. I'm a werewolf." She shrugged. "I can hear everything in that house."
"You were there, Randall." said Hamish, glancing over at Bela who, thankfully was still out of earshot.
"Oh." Randall's eyes widened. "That was a date? Hamish, I totally blocked you!"
"He blocked himself." Lillith shook her head. "In what world is asking someone to mark papers with you a date?"
"I know." Hamish rubbed his neck. "I thought it might be a good jumping off point? Actually spending some time alone together."
A smile worked its way across Randall's face. "Well if it's alone time you want, you only had to ask!"
"Randall, don't" Hamish hissed.
"Don't what?" Jack asked, placing a tray of shots down in front of his friends. Bela slipped into the booth next to Hamish, brushing his thigh with hers as she slid across to make space for Alyssa and Jack.
Randall grabbed a shot and threw it back. "Jack, Alyssa - Lillith was just telling me how much she wanted to dance." He said, barely pausing to take breath.
"No I - Ow." Lillith bared her teeth at Randall. She jerked her leg out of his reach, massaging the sore spot on her left shin. "Yeah," she agreed, "I totally want to dance. On the dance floor. With people. Hamish you stay here and look after our shit."
She grabbed Jack's arm and yanked him from the booth before he could pick up his drink. Randall followed her, gesturing for Alyssa to join them.
Bela and Hamish sat in stilted silence for a moment before Hamish cleared his throat. "You can go and dance if you want to, I don't mind looking after everything."
"Actually, I'm good here." Bela said.
Hamish's cheeks glowed as he returned her easy smile.
Bela was enjoying spending time with Randall and his friends but she couldn't deny that she'd rather be grading papers with Hamish tonight. At first Randall has requested that they hang out at the Den as it was quieter than the dorms and closer to the campus than her apartment, but recently it had been at Bela's insistence that they'd studied there. Bela hadn't been sure if Randall realised it was because she wanted an excuse to spend time with Hamish, but his not so subtle attempt at leaving them alone to go 'dancing', had pretty much just confirmed that he knew about her crush.
Bela cringed. Hopefully Hamish didn't realise that their friend was playing matchmaker, that would just be too embarrassing.
"Bels?" Hamish was staring at her in confusion. Bela realised he'd been talking to her this whole time.
"Sorry," she stuttered, "what were you saying?"
As he leaned forward in his chair the club's strobe lights cast his face in shadow, picking out the contours of his high cheekbones and strong jaw. Bela's gaze followed the line up from his neck, to his full lips and then up to his eyes, which were trained on her.
"I was asking if you wanted to hang out tomorrow instead. I know I said grading papers but we could do something else if you want? There's a new sci-fi film on at the student lounge or we could go out to eat." He tipped his head towards the dance floor. "Lillith informed me that grading papers isn't really a date activity."
Bela felt a well of happiness bubble up. So Hamish was actually asking her out? She hadn't been sure before.
"She's wrong," Bela shook her head. "Anything can be a date if you're with the right person." As a smile flooded Hamish's face her lips turned up to mirror his.
"You know you haven't said yes, yet."
Bela paused, as if considering his proposal. "Actually, I'm hungry now. Do you want to get some-"
"Yes," Hamish interrupted before she finished. He beamed at her. "Let's go, I'll tell the others we're leaving."
"Great," said Bela, "I'm just going to grab my coat. I'll meet you outside."
As they made their way across the club neither of them noticed the figure watching them from the other side of the room.
- - - - -If you ignored the distant bass leaking from the building's windows it could almost be considered peaceful out here, Bela thought. She inhaled the fresh, cool air, enjoying how it chased away the faint buzz in her temples, and leaned against a wall, scrolling through her phone as she waited for Hamish.
"Hey," a voice broke through the night. "You're Bela, right?"
Bela turned to find a young man next to her. He was wearing a Belgrave t-shirt under a fitted plaid shirt, and his dirty blonde hair was cropped in a trendy cut. Despite looking like every other rich, entitled frat boy on Bela's course, as he grinned up at her his face was pleasant.
"Uh, yeah," Bela frowned in confusion. He looked vaguely familiar. "Do I know you?"
"Tanner Jeffries - I'm new to the Linguistics department." He held out a hand, shaking hers firmly when she placed her palm in his.
He chuckled lightly, making his cheeks dimple. "I know what you're thinking - why oh, why would anyone join Linguistics? Well, I'm a glutton for punishment. I just couldn't resist meeting the notorious Professor Liebernacht."
"He's the worst," Bela confirmed, with a small laugh "I'll be surprised if we have any students left after this year."
"Yeah, you should see his reviews on Rate My Prof."
"I know," Bela couldn't help but return his smile. "Half of those are from his TAs."
Tanner chuckled again. He reached up to rub the side of his neck and shot her an apologetic look. "Hey, I know this is a bit weird but my car's not starting. I was going to ask for a flashlight in the club so I can check out the engine but… could I borrow the light on your phone. It'll just take a minute."
"Uh-" Bela hesitated. She threw a brief glance over her shoulder at the club's entrance. "Yep, sure. No problem."
The parking lot beside the club was eerily vacant, considering how many people were packed into the heaving room. As they walked towards the only car there, a blue four wheel drive in the corner of the lot, Tanner dropped behind her, digging around his pockets for his keys.
Bela turned to the car, "Ok, where's the latch-"
As Tanner's hand clamped over her face she let out a startled shriek.
Bela's thoughts filled with panic. She acted on instinct, struggling against his hold as Tanner's other arm twisted around her waist, almost lifting her off the floor. Her fingers scrambled to find purchase, finally catching around his shirt, which she pulled sharply, trying to throw him off balance.
He grunted with effort, blocking her mouth to stifle her screams. "You don't need to make this - urgh - any harder. Dormitum Dimittatur."
Bela slumped in his arms.
- - - - -As Hamish predicted, Randall was incredibly happy that he was taking Bela out to eat. He'd thrown his arms around Hamish's neck and tipsily mumbled about how his best friends were falling in love for almost ten minutes, until Lillith had taken pity on the older man and peeled Randall off him, promising they'd all meet back at the Den in a few hours.
Hamish hurried out of the club, keen to find Bela and start their date, but she was nowhere to be found.
He frowned. It wasn't like Bela to just up and leave without telling them. Even if she'd changed her mind about going out with him she would have just said - wouldn't she?
After pacing in front of the club for a few moments he managed to pick up the faint scent of her perfume on the cold night breeze - sometimes being a werewolf was really useful. He followed the trail around the side of the building, frowning again when he reached the parking lot.
This doesn't make sense, he thought, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. They'd walked to the club and none of them were in a state to drive anywhere tonight. Maybe the alcohol was throwing off his game. He pulled out his phone and dialed Bela's number, silently thanking Tundra as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of vibration.
As Hamish followed it to the edge of the lot, his breathing quickened and the unease grew into dread.
"Oh no," he whispered, kneeling beside the glowing object.
It was Bela's phone, lying face up in the gravel.