Rebels and Runaways: Eden Academy Book One

by Grace McGinty

  Flint just shook his head. “Look at her face. Our girl is a sucker for a hopeless cause, which is why she's saddled with all my bullshit now.”

  I could scent the guilt, and I frowned. What bullshit?

  I didn’t get a chance to ask, because she, Carmen—no, Mouse—was reaching across the table to me.

  The contact of her fingers on my hand sent tingles buzzing up my arm. The thrill of holding your fated mate. It was more than I’d felt in years. Even fighting didn’t make me feel alive anymore. She gripped my fingers. “We’ll figure it out. But if you fuck me over, I’ll cut you open in your sleep and garrote you with your own entrails.” She smiled as she said it, and I mentally apologized to the Moon Goddess.

  Maybe she did have a plan after all.

  How sweet. The Monster and the Mouse. A love affair coated in blood and pain. Hew sounded bitter as hell, which made me feel a little satisfied.

  “I am fine living in the woods outside your Academy.”

  Bobby nodded. “The Alpha knows you’re there, and he’s given the order to leave you be. But that may change if he knows you want to mate with his kid. That lot are protective,” Bobby warned, and Mouse’s face flushed.

  I’d heard of them. I was prepared.

  Sammie leaned back in the booth. “So now what? It’s all well and good that he’s your fated mate, but what does that mean for us?” He looked me dead in the eye. “Both Flint and I are bisexual. We fuck each other as well as Carmen.”

  “Me too,” Bobby stated firmly, unashamed of the fact. “I mean, I haven’t had sex with them, but if the opportunity ever arose, I wouldn’t object,” he said quietly, and everyone’s eyes were on me, like they were waiting for something. It took me an embarrassingly long time to work out that they thought I’d disapprove.

  “Not my thing. But I’m the last person to tell you something isn’t socially acceptable,” I grunted out. “I ate the heart of my sister’s killer and became the supernatural world’s most shunned being. I am in no position to judge.”

  Well, now you’ve fucked us all, Wati seethed. Ease into the murderer story, dipshit.

  Flint stared at me, before he began to laugh. “Well, when you put it like that, fucking hot guys seems totally fine. Which it is.”

  Soon they were all laughing with him, and my face felt tense. I reached up and touched my cheek, and realized I was… smiling.

  Mouse squeezed my hand like she could tell I was about to freak out. “We’ll get to know each other. You have to understand, it’s different for me and Bobby being fated mates. I’ve known him my entire life. So I, uh we, can’t seal the bond for a long while. I don’t even want to seal it with Bobby yet.”

  That made me raise my eyebrows. I looked at the little Alpha, and he looked at her with such intensity, I had no doubt he’d wait for her as long as she wanted. But given their chemistry, I didn’t think it would be long before Mouse caved.

  I was willing to wait too. I wouldn’t rush her. I had an eternity.

  “He should stay in Dark River. Being a Wendigo is going to mean jackshit to a town filled with vampires. He wouldn’t even stand a chance against their most unskilled fighter. Then you guys can visit on weekends and, I don’t know, we can all get to know each other.” It seemed like it almost pained Bobby to suggest that, but I appreciated it. I kept waiting for them to protest, for her to turn around and say no, I’d never defile myself by spending time with this filth-crusted creature.

  But she’d seen my Wendigo. Knew the story, even if it was the very basics.

  She was chewing her bottom lip between her teeth, and I wanted to suck it into my mouth and chew it for her. Though not chew it off like Hew would suggest.

  Sammie raised a finger. “Two problems with that. No, three. One, her parents are going to freak. That’s the simplest to solve, but probably has some long-lasting consequences. Two, there's the whole Rook thing keeping you trapped inside the Academy.”

  “Rook?” I asked, and Mouse shook her head.

  “What’s three, Sammie?”

  “Monster eats meat. And if I’m right, mortal flesh.”

  My stomach sank to my toes. I was fucked again. He was right, of course. The curse of the Wendigo meant I was always starving. Even now, as I ate this butchered steak, the hollow howl of hunger echoed around my stomach.

  I waited for her to recoil, to pull her hand from mine in disgust. She didn’t. She just frowned pensively. “Well, you’re right. That could be a problem. I mean, I assume that’s why you did the underground fight rings. A meal and some cash. But no offense, I’m not travelling my ass around North America fighting, no matter how much I enjoy it.” She looked at me once more, her crystal blue eyes haunting. I was snared by those eyes, caught tight and unwilling to drag my gaze away. “Is there anything else that satisfies the hunger?”

  Shame washed through me, but her eyes were completely non-judgemental. “The flesh of something I’ve just killed will help for a bit, even if it’s not human. But the only thing that truly satisfies the hunger is a human heart, still beating.”

  She winced a little, though she quickly smoothed it away. You should tell her the mate bond would ease the hunger, Wati said, but I ignored her. I wasn’t going to guilt trip Carmen into rushing the mate bond.

  I found myself wanting her to be happy, and that wasn’t a sensation that I was used to anymore. Being Wendigo meant being inherently selfish, but some things were stronger than curses and spirits, and fated mates was one of them.

  Flint stabbed the eggs he was eating with ferocity. “Well, you can start with Rook’s, but I’m pretty sure his heart is black and rotten.”

  I gave him a smile that was probably terrifying, all teeth and no mirth. “They are my favorite kind.”

  Bobby clapped his hands. “Well, that settles it, right? We’re going to have to introduce him to your parents. I feel like he and Lucius might get along well. Nothing like bonding over rending things to cement good feelings with your in-laws.”

  For the first time, Mouse looked panicked. Her face looked a little pale and her eyes bugged out of her head. “Now?”

  I was already shaking my head, not wanting her to be uncomfortable.

  Jesus, are you going to be this much of a pussy-whipped bitch your entire mateship? I wonder if I can get a transfer? Hew bitched.

  Please, for the sweet love of the Moon Goddess, do it, you fucking waste of celestial matter, Wati snapped back.

  “I am fine where I am for now. Think it over.” Change your mind if being tied to a bloodthirsty monster was too much.

  She gave me an unreadable look, and went back to finishing her pancakes. They were all silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts, and I tried not to shift nervously.

  After a moment, Bobby looked up at me. The kid would be a good Alpha; I could feel his power against my skin. “I have to ask something. I saw your first fight here. Against a bobcat shifter. You were…” He seemed at a loss for words, so I nodded.

  I was brutal. I was pain, and punishment, and death.

  “Why? I get your need for human flesh, but that one fight was, I don’t know. It was wrong.”

  I paused, wondering how I could phrase this so I seemed less of a monster.

  “When I came to this ring, Rat had been excited by the idea. As part of our agreement, he would give me the names of my opponents the week before the fight. I won’t fight anyone else, even if that person pulls out.”

  Flint frowned. “So?”

  I’d briefly forgotten how young they were. I was crazy. I felt like a fucking pervert or something, chasing around after an eighteen-year-old. I should have left. “So, I use the week beforehand to research a person. I don’t have much else to do,” I joked, but it fell kind of flat. “To work out if they deserve to die or not. The bobcat shifter? Domestic abuse. Put his wife in hospital fifteen times, once for smashing her cheekbone, and broke every one of his son’s fingers. Broke his daughter's arm. It was very bad. I got retribution
for them, then I fed the Wendigo.”

  I looked up into the face of the woman who held my very immortal soul in her hands and said, “I don’t regret one moment of his suffering.”

  She searched my face and I held my breath. Then she squeezed my hand and something inside me relaxed. “Neither do I.”

  We finished the rest of our meals and Bobby insisted on paying. That made me feel like shit, but with no fights, that meant no money. I actually brought nothing to the Pack except the burden of what I was.

  And my claws.

  When we stopped at the front of their car, Mouse stepped closer to me. “I had a nice time. You’re good company.”

  Then she hugged me. I stood frozen as she wrapped her arms around my waist, unsure what to do. My soul sang with the feel of my mate so close, and I desperately wanted to hug her back. How long had it been since someone had actually hugged me? I curled one arm around her, petting her back gently, trying to touch her as little as possible so I didn’t scare her off.

  She stepped away and gave me a soft smile that I knew I didn’t deserve. “We’ll see you next weekend? I’ll talk with the Town Council of Dark River about giving you a place.” She hesitated. “But, I wouldn’t mind coming to talk to you at the fence?”

  My throat suddenly seemed too small so I nodded.

  She stepped back and one of the guys opened the car door for her. She slid in, and I got an eyeful of her long, pale legs. My dick twitched in my pants, and I wished I could talk to it the way I talked to the evil spirits that inhabited my body. She turned, looking over her shoulder at me with a grin, the little minx shaking her ass as she climbed the rest of the way in, and I couldn’t control my smile or my hard dick.

  I didn't think I wanted to.

  35

  Carmen

  Every night for the past week, Flint had woken up with nightmares. Instead of soothing him back to sleep, which didn’t work most of the time anyway, we’d get up and walk to the back of the school. I’d sit on one side of the fence, leaning back against Flint’s chest so he could keep me warm, and Monster would sit on the other.

  He wasn’t a big talker, but that was okay. We started off talking about the fights, the other competitors. How much we hated Rat. But I slowly got to know him. Little pieces of who he was, what he liked, as well as his history. I wanted to spar with him, though unlike Flint, he’d find it difficult.

  Flint, for his part, filled in the quiet, awkward spots, and generally just watched my back in the dark. But he was getting steadily more restless, more guilt-ridden, as the days went on and no one would tell us what was happening with Rook. I knew my parents had passed it onto the Convocation, who would either do something about it or they wouldn’t. Alistair had said Azar had stormed what they’d thought was Rook’s base of operations, complete with the Kindergarten, but they’d found it frustratingly empty. So either Rook had packed up shop or they hadn’t found the right location.

  The not knowing was the worst, but it was especially bad for Flint. He could no longer tell if his night terrors were Milo dream walking or his own brain supplying him with one terrifying scenario after another.

  His body was tense even now, and I ran my hand up and down his thigh. “What I want to know is would you have eaten my heart that night if Carmen hadn’t stepped in?”

  Monster snorted. “You’re a kid. You haven’t been alive for long enough to accrue enough badness to warrant me taking your heart. Your boss is another story,” he growled. We’d told Monster the bare minimum about the situation with Flint and Rook, because despite the fact I really liked the guy, I’d only known him a week. I wasn’t gambling with Flint’s life like that quite just yet.

  “He is a shit human being. One day I’ll end him,” I muttered, and Monster nodded.

  “I will eat his heart or maybe stomp on it. Some flesh is too rotten even for me.”

  I kind of wanted to kiss him. Was it weird to want to kiss him after he talked about stomping someone's heart? Pretty sure it had to be a little weird. I knew he was centuries old, but I was easily distracted by his youthful face. He looked only marginally older than Bobby.

  The sun was beginning to lighten the sky, which meant I had three more hours before I had to drag my ass out of bed to go to class.

  I stood, and Flint climbed to his feet behind me. “I’m going to talk to my parents tonight, and then hopefully we can move you into Dark River this weekend.”

  Monster gave a sharp nod. “I’m okay if they don’t want me in their town. I’m used to it.” He paused, his eyes still drinking in my face. “Besides, I enjoy this.”

  I couldn’t help my smile as I stepped toward the fence, poking my finger through the gaps in the chain link, very carefully not touching the wire. They electrified it at night with enough zap to down an elephant. He reached out and stroked it with one of his own, and I wanted to melt.

  He had a crease between his eyebrows, an almost permanent fixture on his face I decided, like he was always perplexed, or listening to something far away. “I’ll see you this weekend, either way.”

  With that, I pulled my hand back through my side of the fence, and watched Monster melt into the trees. Logically, I knew he was probably still out there in the darkness, but it made me feel better that we weren’t leaving him behind.

  I climbed onto Flint’s back and he piggybacked me toward our rooms. And they were our rooms now. Flint always slept in my room, and most of the time we hung out in his. I wound my arms around his neck and kissed his throat, and he hummed happily.

  “What do you say we go sneak into Sammie’s bed for the rest of the night?” he whispered, and I grinned. That sounded like the best fucking plan ever. He ran back towards the family housing and I laughed softly, my arms and legs tightly wrapped around his body. When we reached Sammie’s house, we stepped up to the kitchen window.

  But the whole house wasn’t asleep like you’d think. The big Alpha lion stood near the front door, shirtless. The glow of the living room lamp cast a shadow, and I could tell he was talking to a girl by his body language. So much for his Omega obsession. Fucking asshole.

  But when the girl leaned in, a familiar waterfall of white blond hair fell away from her face as she tilted her head up for a kiss, and I was rooted to the spot in shock.

  “Is that your sister sneaking out of a booty call?” Flint hissed, and I was too shocked to even nod. I ducked down as the front door shut, hiding in the shadows as my sister dodged back across the lawn between the house and the dorm building. I stood back up, watching the lion Alpha climb the stairs.

  I narrowed my eyes, and tilted my head at Flint. We crept through the side window with the faulty catch, both of us light on our feet in the way only fighters can be. I heard the soft sound of a shower running, and I threw Flint an evil look.

  If Enit wanted a booty call, who was I to stop her? But I figured me and loverboy needed to have a little conversation. Lifting my finger to my lips, I kneeled down and grabbed his knives from his boots.

  Flint gave me a warning look, but I shrugged him off. The shower was an over the bath one, a curtain pulled across, hiding me from the Alpha in the shower. I could smell the vanilla scent of his shampoo, and I knew I had moments before he scented me over the body products. I mentally judged his size, took a deep breath, and Flint ripped back the curtain. I jumped into the shower, one knife pressed to his throat, and the other to his dick.

  “What the fuck!” he roared, and I grinned.

  “Move, asshole, and I’ll chop off the dick you’re using to defile my goddamn sister,” I growled, my wolf close to the surface. If I was honest with myself, it was probably the wolf who had inspired this whole thing.

  “Carmen?” Bohdie squeaked. “You are fucking crazy. Put down the knife before you slit my throat.” His words were coated with Alpha, and I almost did it involuntarily.

  I pressed it a little tighter against his throat. “Bitch, I’ve been Alphaed my entire life. Now listen. You fucking break my
sister’s heart, and I won’t give you warning. I will slit your fucking throat in your sleep, and console her at your damn funeral. She is not your fuck buddy. She isn’t your two a.m. booty call. If you aren’t serious, I suggest you run the fucking other way now, or I will be the least of your problems.”

  The light flashed on in Bohdie’s bedroom, and suddenly Sammie was there with a gun. He dropped it when he realized it was me and Flint in the bathroom. Cara was behind him, daggers held loosely in her fingers.

  She barked out a laugh. “Told you that your dick was going to get you into trouble, Bo. Though I wouldn’t sneeze, or Mouse is gonna rid you of the problem.”

  Bohdie growled low. “This isn’t fucking funny, Cara.” I looked over at the mirror, and I was indeed close to his dick. Well, not too close but the dude was hung, so I had a little bit of room for error.

  I moved my knives and patted him on the shoulder. “Impressive. Good for Enit. I’m glad we could have this little chat.”

  Flint lifted me out of the tub, kissing me hard. “I’m so hard right now, I’d probably let you cut me to get off.”

  Bohdie let out a snort of disgust. “You are both fucking nuts. How Enit came out of the same womb as you is life’s greatest mystery.” He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist.

  I just grinned. “I get that a lot.” I sashayed back out to Sammie. He was in tight boxers that did nothing to hide his semi-hard cock either. I looked over my shoulder at Bohdie. “She got all the sweetness and light for the both of us. All that was left is anger and pain. We’ll do anything to protect her from that fate. Best you remember.” I looked at Cara. “Sorry for the early morning dramatics. Alphas, am I right?” I rolled my eyes and she grinned.

  “I think I might love you, Carmen Baxter.”

  I winked, and leaned up to kiss Sammie. “Wanna get me out of these wet clothes?”

  Cara groaned. “And there goes my lady boner. Keep it down, don’t wake up the kids. I’m putting in my damn headphones.” With that, she stormed away.