Shit, another Alpha. I mean, there were a few of them here. Maybe five or so, but every single time a new one was introduced, there were fights. Bobby and Christopher were fine, I guess because they were introduced when they were so young, before they had all these fucking pheromones rolling around.
Christopher looked over his shoulder at us. “Stay behind me.”
I snorted and he threw me his Alpha look. I rolled my eyes, but didn’t move.
The golden kid stepped toward us, and I could feel his Alpha juju from here. Fuck, he was powerful. More so than Christopher? I couldn’t tell unless they fought, but they were pretty well matched. It would be a rough fight.
“You have an Omega?” The blond guy growled, and this time my hackles raised.
I pushed Enit behind me a bit more. “What’s it to you?” I shouted, and the girl was stepping up to him.
“Bohdie, enough. You’re gonna start a fight on the first day.”
Too right he was, especially if he didn’t stop looking at my Enit like that. Because Christopher was going to punch his teeth in. Eesh, I didn’t want to get expelled on the first day, but I still did what I always did. Ran in first and stressed Christopher right out. I slipped out of my blazer and handed it to my sister.
“Watch Enit,” I whispered to Christopher, and then jogged around him.
“Fucking hell, Carmen. Get your ass back here.”
I gave him the finger and slid to a stop in front of the new kids. I smiled pleasantly at the group. This close, I could tell the guy was some kind of feline. Jaguar maybe? Possibly lion? Definitely big cat. “Bohdie, is it? I’d prefer if you kept your Alpha eyes off my sister.”
The guy grinned down at me. He was pretty, if you were into that Alpha bullshit. I had enough of that in my life, thank you very much. “Or what?”
Oh, I was so glad he asked.
I pulled back my fist and punched him straight in the face. I heard the satisfying crack of his nose. Honestly, I think I was addicted to that sound. His head snapped back, and the shock on his face was just as satisfying.
“You fucking bitch,” he spluttered, launching for me, and I fell into my fighter’s stance. Oh yeah. Let's do this shit.
I swung again, but before it could connect, a hand grabbed my wrist and an arm wrapped around my waist from the back, spinning me away.
I tried wiggling out of the hold, kicking my legs forward to try and get some momentum but the guy’s arms were like vices. “Enough, Bohdie,” a voice growled, and I looked up at the chin of Sammie.
I stopped struggling so hard. I could appreciate being pressed against a hot guy for a few more seconds.
Then Christopher was there, in Sammie’s face. “Get your fucking hands off her.”
Sammie released me immediately, and I stepped away, looking over my shoulder and winking at him. That was until I heard the low rumble in the air. Oh shit. Lion shifter for sure.
I spun back around, and saw Enit there, right in front of Bohdie, the motherfucking lion. Fuck. “Enit, stop!”
But she just rested her hand on his chest, and the rumble dropped to a low purr. Still, I was by her side in a single step, wrenching her hand away, and when the lion shifter’s golden eyes snapped to mine, I bared my teeth.
“Fuck off,” I growled back. “Enit, stop touching the pussy.”
Enit rolled her eyes, but stepped back to my side. But she smiled up at the huge ass Alpha. “Nice to meet you, Bohdie. I’m Enit.”
Bohdie dipped his head low, a sign of respect. “Omega.”
I huffed. At least he had chosen the right manners. In shifter society, feelings about Omegas fell one of two ways. They were revered or reviled. There was never any in-between. There’d been an incident in junior high with another wolf Alpha that had ended badly. Which was why Christopher and I were always extra protective when it came to other shifters.
Enit reached out to touch his arm again, and I whacked her fingers. Bohdie looked up and growled. “Yeah, yeah, pussy. I get it. You big bad Alpha. I’m lowly beta. Fuck off.”
I grabbed her arm, spinning on my heel to drag her away and slamming straight into a chest. Ah fuck. That scent I knew too well. Busted.
I pasted on a wide, smug smile, giving my best impression of innocence. “Hi, Bobby. When did you get here?”
“Mouse, what the hell is going on here?”
Uh oh. Definitely busted. “Would you believe I’m making friends?”
Bobby’s eyes travelled to the bleeding lion Alpha, the scared-looking thirteen-year-olds, and Christopher and Sammie who were looking as if they were going to throw down. Actually, when I looked closer, maybe it was Christopher and the girl who were about to come to blows.
His eyes travelled back to me. “No. I wouldn’t. Christopher,” he said, not yelling, but the Alpha in his voice vibrated like a wave. Both the lion Alpha and Christopher shuddered, but Christopher turned his back on Sammie and the girl.
She glared at his back. “I’ll be seeing you, Chris,” she muttered.
“Not if I see you first. And it’s Christopher.” With that, he walked toward us, herding us into the Academy building. I let him, because he looked really close to wolfing out on the first day. I looked over my shoulder one more time, noticing Bobby and Sammie standing close together, talking softly, but their eyes on me.
I turned back around, grinning to myself, and maybe putting an extra little sway into my hips. Enit shook her head, handing me back my blazer. “You’re really something, Carmen,” she whispered.
“Amazing? Fearless?”
She grinned. “I was thinking psycho.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “You know what, I’ll take it.”
The first class of the day had been shifter politics, and given who my parents were, that had been as boring as batshit. Honestly, my family tree was like the who’s who of supernatural politics. I was good.
But I’d been dying for lunch, to get back outside into the sun. We grabbed our food from the cafeteria, Christopher holding the tray that contained all our lunches. Enit chatted softly about her class in herbology with Professor Ramer, and I tuned her out a little. The shifter girls watched Christopher hungrily, and I resisted the urge to gag. It had always been like that. Shifters responded to Alphas like cats all over catnip. I swear to god, I’d been fending off girls for him since elementary school.
No Cindy-Lou, he doesn’t want to be your boyfriend.
What they seemed to forget was that while Christopher might be an Alpha, he absolutely hated everyone except a handful of people. He loved even less than that. He indicated our spot, which was empty despite the fact that the whole Academy seemed to be outside today.
I laid down on the bench seat, and waited. I didn’t have to wait long as a shadow blocked out my sun. I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know who it was. “Sup, Bobby? You’re in my sun.”
“Up, Mouse. We need to go for a walk.”
I opened one eye. “It’s done, Bobby. Let it go.”
“Now, Carmen, or so help me, I’ll…”
Uh-oh. He’d used my real name.
I opened both eyes and grinned up at his flustered face. “You’ll what? Spank me? No offense, Bobby, but you aren’t my father.” I quirked my eyebrow. “But I’ll call you Daddy if you want me to.”
Christopher choked on whatever he was eating and Enit gasped. Bobby let out a frustrated sound, bending down and dragging me into his arms, dumping me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Then he marched me out of the courtyard like I was an errant child. I lifted my head to ask Christopher for help, but instead spotted Sammie talking to one of the teachers in an archway. He raised both eyebrows, and even from here, I could see his smug grin. I gave him the finger, and flopped my head down.
Ugh. Me and my mouth.
4
Bobby
She was the most infuriating, frustrating, violent, beautiful girl I’d ever met. I didn’t know how those things could eve
n add up to someone who made me hard, but it did. She cursed me, wiggling around, and I resisted the urge to take a bite out of her ass. All I’d have to do was turn my head. Hell, maybe I’d spank her like she taunted me about.
Finally, when we were in the woods, I dumped her to her feet before I gave into my baser instincts.
“What the hell was that this morning?”
She stretched, straightening out her blazer that did nothing but hug her curves. “I was diverting an Alpha fight. You can thank me now.”
I blinked. That was a purely Carmen thing to say. “You broke someone’s nose to stop a fight? You’re going to have to explain that to me.”
She stepped closer. She reached out, putting her hands on my lapels. “Well, you see, it's like dogs and cats. Well, it is essentially dogs and cats. Christopher and that new Alpha? They’re pretty evenly matched. If it came down to a fight, one of them was leaving in an ambulance. So what did I do? I threw my inoffensive beta ass at them in tribute. You’re welcome.”
When she was this close, smelling the way she did, it made it hard for me to remember that she was part of my Pack. I was going to be her Alpha one day. It was hard to remember her as that damaged little kid who’d followed me around like I hung the moon.
It was hard for me to remember when she turned from an annoying kid that I had to look after, to something else.
Probably when she hit Josh that time. I’d only been fifteen, but I felt responsible for them even back then. But when she punched Josh for touching her without her permission, I’d seen red. I’d beaten the shit out of Josh, and let's just say, he probably asked for written consent from women now. But from that point on, she went from a kid to something more precious that needed to be protected. To something I couldn’t lose.
She was still rubbing the material of my lapels between her fingers, and I put my hands over hers, stilling the movement. Her hands pressed flat against my chest, and that was even more distracting.
“You can’t do that, Carmen. You can’t jump in with your fists, especially with an Alpha.”
She frowned, stepping away and taking her hands with her. I wanted to howl at the loss of the touch, but I pushed that feeling down. Way, way, way down.
“Why? Because I’m a beta? Because I’m a woman?” The fire in her eyes was captivating.
“Because it is my job to protect you!”
She snorted. “Why? I’m barely your Pack. You don’t have an obligation to me. You don’t need to keep stepping in.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her why. I wanted to scream it out.
Because you’re my mate!
I swallowed hard. I didn’t say it. “How long has it been since your last fight?”
Her face shuttered, but she couldn’t hide that fire from me. “Three weeks. There's another one this weekend.”
My heart thumped in my chest. I hated those damn fights. Hated that she hopped into a bloodstained ring with men bigger than her, stronger than her, and let them beat her up. But I also knew she needed it. Needed to inflict the pain. Whatever was broken in her when she was a kid needed the violence to feel centered.
We all knew the story. Lucius had given Enit to their mother, Raine, as a courting gift, after buying the wolf pup at the black market. Because he was a crazy bastard.
But Raine, their mother? She was the best person in the world. She’d made him go back and get the rest of her litter. But the shit that Carmen and Christopher had seen in that time between Enit being taken and Lucius murdering everyone to save them had damaged them both. She’d been mute for years afterwards.
So I did what any good secret mate would do. I hovered. I protected. I pissed her the hell off by always being around.
“I’ll take you.”
She huffed. “I don’t need a chaperone, Bobby. I’m there because I can take care of myself. If I wanted someone to loom beside me like an overprotective menace, I’d take Christopher or one of my dads.” She actually shuddered at the thought. I didn’t blame her. The only ones that knew she fought, according to her, were Lucius and X.
I folded my arms over my chest. “I said I’ll take you.”
She rolled her eyes, straightening her shirt again. “Fine, Bobby. Whatever. You can take me to my fight if you’re going to be such a bitch about it.”
I bit my bottom lip, because the urge to pick her up in my arms, slam her against the tree, and kiss the brat out of her was almost overwhelming. She must have seen something in my expression, because she tilted her head and took a single step forward until she was back in my space.
She looked up at me, her eyes hooded. “You know what? Maybe I should invite Sammie. He’s hot and I’m pretty sure he’d let me work off my post-workout endorphins on his body, you know.”
Jealousy that was all-consuming washed over my body. “I’m pretty sure he’s gay. He was checking me out yesterday on my run.”
She let out a low, seductive chuckle. “Nah, he’s definitely not gay. But if he thinks you're hot too? Even better.” She wet her lower lip, her eyes glazing over with whatever she was thinking about, and the scent of her arousal—her arousal over someone else—made something inside me snap.
I grabbed her hips roughly, lifting her into my arms and slamming my lips onto hers. She tasted like heaven. Like spice, the kind that burns so good that you just can’t stop. But there was sweetness in her too. The way her soft curves wrapped around my hard edges was glorious.
I spun her until I had her pressed against a tree and she kissed me back with just as much ferocity. Her long legs were wrapped around my waist, pinning me to her body so I couldn’t escape, even if I wanted to. Which I didn’t.
She kissed just how I’d dreamed she would. Fuck, no, she kissed better. She kissed how she lived. With no inhibitions, no second guessing. She kissed like she was fighting and it was heady as hell. My tongue slid into her mouth, tangling with hers, as we fought for control of that kiss.
I buried my hands in her hair, gripping it tight, holding her still so I could devour her. She moaned and ground her body on my dick, and I froze.
I dropped her to her feet, and she wobbled on shaky legs before I caught her. Then I leapt away like she was on fire.
We were both panting and her eyes were too wide, their sparkling blue depths wild like a storm.
I swallowed hard, taking another step back.
“I’ll pick you up at ten on Saturday night.”
Then I turned and ran away like the little bitch she accused me of being.
I jogged all the way to my next class. I took the stairs down to the second subterranean level of the Academy. There was one floor above ground level, and two more below. There were also several underground tunnels that would lead you up to the surface in the woods behind the Academy. Sometimes the Academy’s roots as a refuge for preternaturals really shone through. Though, they hadn’t had an incursion in the decade it had been open, from what I was aware.
Just my luck that my next class was weapons training with the new guy. When I walked in, I noticed Sammie Richards over by the weapons cupboard, his grey tank top fitting snugly to his body, the Eden logo on the front.
All of his arms were covered in tattoos, and nice ones at that. He was damn good-looking, and I had to give it to Carmen, she had great fucking taste. Still, I wanted to put my fist through his face.
I sucked in a deep breath. She was my mate, but she didn’t really know that. Sammie was human. He wouldn’t know that either. Wouldn’t know that she was even into him. How did humans exist with such shitty senses?
He must have felt my eyes because he turned, lifting his chin. “How’s it going, Bobby?”
I strolled over, trying to keep my emotions in check. “It’s… been an interesting day. How are you finding all the equipment?”
Sammie let out a low whistle. “It’s all beautiful stuff. This sword?” He lifted down a long sword and did an elegant pattern with the blade. “She’s just gorgeous.”
&nb
sp; He spoke about the weapon like it was a woman. Hmm, maybe Carmen was wrong about this one. I breathed out my tension.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Sammie lowered the sword. “Sure, but I might not answer it.”
“Are you gay?”
His eyebrows shot up, and his eyes flicked up and down my body again, like he was trying to decide if I was gay and coming onto him.
His eyes met mine again. “Guess it depends why you’re asking? Are we going to have a problem about it?”
I snorted, shaking my head. “Nah, man. Love whoever the hell you want.” As long as it isn’t Carmen.
He chewed his lower lip, and I noticed that there was a slight bump on his nose, like he’d had it broken before. We didn’t get that as shifters. We healed too well. I kinda liked it though.
“Are you asking because you’re interested in me? Because I gotta say, man, I don’t know what the Academy’s rules are on fraternization with students.” He grinned and I rolled my eyes.
“What are you, like, twenty?”
“I’m twenty-one.”
I shook my head. “I’m twenty-two. This is my final year of the Academy. So if anyone would be taking advantage…”
Sammie threw back his head and laughed. “So you are interested?” he murmured in a low voice.
Well, fuck. Was I? This wasn’t what I was coming over here for, not why I wanted to know. The supernatural world had different ideals about relationships in general, from how many people should be in a relationship, to relations between men.
Generally speaking, in the old days, we bonded for strength. Oh sure, there were fated mates, like Carmen was with me—
My brain stuttered at how lucky I was once more. To have met my fated mate. It was a statistical impossibility but there she was, all fire and sass and perfection.
Anyway, you mated for strength. Women who had the strength to bear you offspring. Men who were strong enough to hunt with you in a Pack. Whether you made love to them all, or not, was entirely up to you. As it should be.
So when I met his eyes and said, “Maybe,” it was the total truth. There was something about Sammie Richards that was appealing. I could see why Carmen wanted him.
Rebels and Runaways: Eden Academy Book One Page 3