by Jayme Morse
Chapter Two
The gate at Werewolf Academy was freaking huge. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. Even the gate to the White House couldn’t compare to it.
Something about the gate made a shiver creep down my spine. I got the feeling that the gate wasn’t designed only to keep things out, but also to keep them in.
Beyond the gate was a large, stone building that reminded me of a castle. In the distance, I could see a few other smaller buildings.
The whole thing was huge, which made me wonder one thing: How many werewolves were in this world?
At that moment, four bodies dropped to the ground alongside where I was standing.
Theo jumped up to his feet and moved to stand next to me. “You already changed back into your human form.” He sounded surprised.
I nodded. “I woke up this way.”
“Wow.” His blue eyes met mine. “Werewolves hardly ever shift back to their human form that fast after making their first shift.”
“So, what are you saying?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“That you’re apparently as powerful as you’re supposed to be,” he murmured.
Something about the way he stared at me made me want to kiss him again. But I didn’t because, well, kissing him the first time had gotten me to a whole new werewolf world. Plus, Aiden, Rhys, and Colton were here, too, and truthfully?
I was drawn to all of them, even though it was Theo who drew me the most. I sort of didn’t want to ruin my chances with the others if I gave all of my attention to Theo.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that his face was in a stony expression. Was it because he had heard my thoughts?
“Are you guys enrolling as students? Or are you students already?” I asked.
“Not a chance,” Aiden replied with a chuckle. “We graduated years ago.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “Then why are you bringing me here?”
“Headmaster Black requested your presence,” Rhys explained. “But don’t worry, Raven. We won’t leave your side.”
“We’re teachers now,” Colton added.
“Teachers?” I just stared at him wide-eyed. They didn’t look much older than me. What could I have really learned from them?
“Trust me, we have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to pass along to students. We’re hundreds of years old,” Theo informed me.
“Hundreds of years old? But you look like you’re maybe nineteen or twenty,” I insisted.
“That’s because werewolves are mostly immortal,” Theo replied.
“Mostly?”
“We can be killed, but we don’t die of natural causes.” He moved closer to the door of the gate and stood in front of it. I watched as he bowed.
A moment later, the gate slid open, allowing us to enter.
I just raised an eyebrow at him. “How did that even work?”
“Magic,” Theo replied.
“Werewolves can do magic?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“This magic isn’t my doing, but yes, we can actually. That brings us to something else you should know.” Theo glanced over at me. “Forget everything you have ever heard about werewolves, because only parts of what humans believe are true.”
Not that I had ever gotten into werewolves and vampires like my friends had. Honestly, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and Teen Wolf had just never been my thing. I’d never been able to get on board with things that weren’t real.
Except now werewolves were real, and I was one of them.
“Are you ready to meet the Headmaster?” Theo asked as we all began to walk towards the school.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied with a shrug.
***
“We’re delighted to have you as a student, Raven,” Headmaster Black said as he sat across from me in his office. He was a tall man with short, dark hair and a muscular build—similar to Theo, Rhys, Aiden, and Colton. “I’m very sorry to hear about what happened to your parents.”
“Thank you.” I glanced at the floor uncomfortably. It had only been two weeks since they had died, so their deaths were still so fresh and raw for me. I knew there was a good chance that talking about them would send me into a fit of tears—and that was before I learned that they had actually been murdered. That made their deaths so much worse.
“I’ve spoken with the Darken pack in depth about this, and we all feel that this is the safest place for you,” Headmaster Black went on. “Fortunately, this timing is impeccable. Classes begin first thing tomorrow, but tonight we have our Sorting Ceremony.”
“Sorting Ceremony?” I just eyed him curiously. I was starting to feel like I was at Hogwarts.
“There are four Houses,” he explained. “The Lupines, the Descendants, the Marked, and the Crescents.”
I blinked. I had been expecting something closer to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, if we were being honest. I wasn’t even sure which House I hoped to be in or what any of the names could have meant.
“Once you have been broken off into your House, you will be assigned a roommate and receive your course schedule.”
“Do we have to wear uniforms?” I found myself asking. Since it was a boarding school, it would have made sense if we did. I had always liked the idea of just throwing on a uniform instead of having to take time to carefully hand pick an outfit each and every day.
“No. We encourage individuality and comfort here, so you’re free to wear anything you’d like, within reason. Use your best judgement, of course, when it comes to skirt or dress lengths and things of that nature. If it was okay at your old school, it’s probably okay here, too.”
“Okay.”
“There’s one more thing.” Headmaster Black leaned in closer to me. “I’m not sure that you quite understand the opportunity that you’ve been given, but you should probably know that Werewolf Academy is the leading boarding school for wolf shifters. Only about three-hundred students are chosen to attend each year.”
“Three-hundred?” I just gaped at him. “I had no idea there were that many werewolves in the world.
“Oh, yes. There are many, many more than three-hundred werewolves in the world,” he replied with a chuckle. “And this is the best place for any of them to be. Our alumni not only graduate with the tools they need to succeed, but they also emerge as some of the most powerful werewolves in the world. You might also be interested to know that both of your parents attended the Academy.”
My eyebrows shot up questioningly. “They did?”
“Indeed.” He smiled at me. “I’m sure you will be able to find pieces of them here, if you look hard enough.”
“Wow. Thank you,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure how I truly felt about this whole Werewolf Academy thing, but knowing that my parents had gone here definitely sparked my interest.
“Of course. And I understand that you’ve been through a lot, Raven. You are also one of the only students at Werewolf Academy who didn’t grow up knowing you were a wolf, so I realize that there will be a big adjustment for you. If there’s anything you need—anything at all—please do not hesitate to ask.”
“Thanks.” Headmaster Black seemed nice enough. I was pretty sure I liked him. I hoped my teachers would be just as nice.
“Dinner is always served in our Dining Hall,” the Headmaster went on. “That is where the Sorting Ceremony will be held tonight, promptly at seven. Please be on time.”
“Okay.” Then I realized something. “I don’t even know what time it is now.” It should have been really late, considering it had been around eight p.m. when Theo and I had kissed.
“Of course you don’t. How silly of me. Time isn’t the same in the human world as it is in the wolf world.” Headmaster Black glanced at the clock on his desk. “It’s currently four p.m. This gives you some time to explore the campus. Let the Darken pack know I want them to give you the grand tour.” He paused for a moment. “I think that about covers everything. You’re free to go.”
“Okay. Tha
nk you.” I rose to my feet and headed out of his office and back into the hallway where the Darken pack was waiting for me.
“You guys are supposed to give me a tour of campus,” I informed them.
“I’m pretty sure we can handle that,” Rhys agreed with a nod.
“We just can’t be late to the Sorting Ceremony,” I said. “Are you guys going to be attending that?”
“We’ll be there,” Theo said.
I felt the slightest bit of relief knowing they would be there, too.
I asked, “So, where should we explore first?”
Where was there to explore? I wasn’t sure what the options were. I wasn’t sure what Werewolf Academy had to offer, but I wanted to see every inch of it.
“I have a few ideas. I think we’ll start slow and then show you the more interesting areas of the school last,” Theo said.
My eyes trailed down the packs’ strong-looking, muscular backs as they led me outside.
I really wanted to see where the guys lived.
“Or we could start with the most interesting first.” Aiden glanced over at me. “Want to come see my bedroom?”
“There’s nothing interesting about your bedroom,” Rhys said, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, not yet. But I know just the girl who could make it more interesting,” Aiden said with a wink at me.
I wasn’t going to lie. I would have been down with that.
Before I even had a chance to respond to him, Theo was pinning him up against a wall of the building and growling in his face.
Chapter Three
“What are you doing?!” I yelled at Theo. Other students who were walking on campus near us were staring in our direction, but I didn’t care.
Theo continued to growl, and I noticed fangs—yes, actual canine fangs—even though he was in his human form.
“Stop that!” I grabbed his shoulder, trying to pull him away from Aiden, but it was a pointless gesture. Theo was so much stronger than me; he didn’t even flinch while I was using my whole body weight to try to get him to move.
He kept growling at Aiden for a few moments longer before turning away from him, composing himself.
“What the hell was that about?” I asked once he was finished.
“Theo has a really bad temper,” Rhys offered, his dark blue eyes sliding over to meet mine. “Most Alphas do.”
“But Aiden didn’t even do anything to him,” I insisted.
“It’s because you’re Theo’s—” Rhys started to explain, but Theo cut him off.
“Not yet, Rhys.”
I just glanced from Theo to Rhys and then back at Theo again.
“You’re going to have to get used to this when you hang around us,” Colton told me. “Or when you hang around any pack of wolves, for that matter. There’s a lot of dumb arguments among male pack members—sibling rivalry type shit.”
I sighed. That was all going to get old really fast, but I supposed that I was going to have to get used to it because one thing was for sure.
Nothing was going to stop me from wanting to hang out with these hotties.
“Anyway, can we actually do this whole campus tour thing?” I asked. “The Sorting Ceremony is in just a few hours.”
“Yeah. Let’s do this,” Colton said, looking relieved to change the subject.
Theo moved to stand next to me. “See those four buildings?” He pointed across the grassy courtyard to four stone buildings that lay adjacent to one another. “Each of the four Houses is housed in one of those buildings. Your dorm will be in your House’s building, and most of your classes will be held there.”
“What are each of the Houses? I mean, is there any meaning behind each of their names?” I asked.
“There is. Your House is based on how you became a wolf. The Descendants are the werewolves who descended from powerful bloodlines—like you,” Theo replied, meeting my eyes. “The Lupines are the werewolves who were born into this family, but who may not have necessarily been the most powerful wolves. The commoners, I guess you’d call them. The Marked are wolves who weren’t born into this life—wolves who were bitten. There are far less of them.” He paused. “The Crescents, however, are a bit different from the others. Their House isn’t based on how they became wolves. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that.”
“What is it?” I questioned.
“Have you ever heard the saying ‘the dark side of the moon’?” Theo asked, glancing over at me.
“I guess,” I replied with a shrug.
“Not much of the moon shows when there’s a crescent moon,” he explained. “The Crescents are thought to only have a little bit of good in them, and mostly bad.”
“So, the Crescents are bad wolves?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
Theo nodded. “Yeah. Their classes are more focused on overcoming their bad sides and the dark magic they are capable of,” he explained.
“Wow.” I paused for a moment. “So, werewolves can be good and bad.”
“Most of us are good.” He paused. “The Crescents make up the smallest House because there aren’t as many of them. And not all of the Crescents end up bad later in life. Many of them are able to overcome it.”
“But not all of them,” Colton added. “Some wolves are just bad, and you need to learn how to differentiate the good from the bad.”
“This is all so much to take in,” I admitted quietly. Not only did I have to adapt to the fact that I was now a werewolf, but now I had to learn how to identify the bad ones, too… and figure out how to stay away from them.
“So, if those are the four Houses, then what’s that building?” I asked, motioning to the one we had just come out of—the one where Headmaster Black’s office was.
“That building is home to the library, the Dining Hall, the auditorium, and certain classes,” Aiden explained. “It’s where you would meet with your advisor.”
“I’ll have an advisor?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“It will be the Head of your House,” Rhys replied.
“If you guys aren’t students, then where do you live?” I found myself questioning.
“We live in a house right off campus.” Theo pointed in the direction of a large house located next to the trees lining Werewolf Academy’s courtyard. “None of the professors live on campus. It’s against the rules.”
“So, you guys all live together?” I asked.
“Yup, even when Theo is attacking me, I still have to go home with him,” Aiden replied with a sly grin.
“I’m surprised you haven’t murdered each other yet,” I admitted.
“We may not always get along, but we’re brothers,” Theo replied. “Not in the biological sense, of course. But we have been friends and in a pack with one another for hundreds of years now. We are really like family.”
It dawned on me then that I was about to interfere with this pack—this family. Being attracted to not just one but all of them had the potential to destroy them, especially if I became involved with any of them.
I probably should have just let them go. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin this brotherhood.
“You really think it would be that easy?” Theo asked. “Sorry, Raven, but you’re stuck with us now. We made a promise to your parents to keep you safe, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do, whether you want us to or not.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know, it really drives me nuts that you’re able to hear my thoughts at all, but the fact that you respond to them is even more annoying.”
“Sorry,” he replied with a smirk. “Maybe you should think less.”
“Or maybe you should just butt out.” I was only half-kidding. Sure, it was annoying, but honestly?
A part of me secretly liked being this connected to this gorgeous guy.
“Aw, you like me.” Theo’s blue eyes locked on mine, and his lips turned upwards, into a grin.
“Again, would you please get out of my thoughts?”
“I could t
ry… but you’re the one that keeps putting me in them,” he said with a shrug.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him, but I was smiling as I did it.
Chapter Four
Seven o’clock rolled around before the Darken had even finished giving me the campus tour. I was pretty sure that any time I spent with them would fly by.
I wanted to stay with them even longer, but as the guys walked me to the Dining Hall, they told me they had to sit with the other professors. That left me stuck sitting at the long dining tables with the other students.
It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.
First days at a normal school were hard enough. First days at a werewolf school? Downright nerve-wracking.
I looked out at the sea of students in front of me, scanning the room to find an empty seat. There was one spot open near a bunch of guys, but honestly, the idea of befriending even more werewolf guys sounded almost torturous at the moment. I had been around way too much testosterone over the last few hours. I wanted some girl time.
Finally, I spotted one open seat towards a table near the back of the room where a group of girls were sitting and talking. I walked over to them.
As I approached them, I asked, “Do you mind if I sit here?”
“No, of course not,” a girl with long dark hair and brown eyes replied. “I’m Krista.”
“And I’m Jackie,” the girl next to her, who had chestnut brown hair that fell over her shoulders in loose waves, informed me. “What’s your name?”
“Raven,” I replied as I slid into the seat.
Jackie’s hazel eyes widened. “Are you Raven Gallagher?”
“Yeah, that’s my name.” I paused, realizing that she had somehow heard of me. “Why?”
“Everyone knows about you—and your parents. I’m so sorry to hear about their deaths,” she said sadly.
“Thanks,” I replied awkwardly. It was strange that she somehow knew of them—and of me, when I knew nothing about her.
“This must be so hard for you—to be starting at the Academy just weeks after they died,” Krista said.