by Meg Xuemei X
She didn’t bow to me. She didn’t ask me if I’d like to attend. She treated me as if I were merely the four powerful males’ woman. She thought—I bet even Pyrder and Noah also thought—I would just follow them like a leashed dog.
Fine. They could have their way, and I would attend to my own business.
“All right, the party is over,” I said. “And I was under the false impression there’d be cakes. That’s fine. Amber, pick up your books. We’re striking out on our own. You’re going to show me the library. I’ll need to carry a lot of books around from now on, since Noah promised not to let Helmer expel me.”
Then everyone talked at once.
“Helmer tried to expel you?” Pyrder said. “How dare he!”
“He tried to whip Cass,” Hector offered.
Pyrder clenched his fists. “I’ll kill him!”
“Helmer will be taken care of,” Noah said. “He won’t show his face again in the Academy.”
“That’s good,” I said. “The dude practices human sacrifice. One of you should investigate him and stop his dark practice. Amber, let’s go. Time is short.”
“Cass.” Ambrosia blinked rapidly. “You can’t run off. Your presence is required. That’s why His Highness and his bonded brothers invited—”
I wiggled a finger at her. “Woo-ha, don’t tell me what I can or can’t do. I’ll just tell you to fuck off. And if you don’t, I’ll make you understand what fuck off means.”
Ambrosia half-dropped her jaw, looking partly embarrassed and partly mad.
“You handled it poorly, Ambrosia,” Pyrder said. “My mate is an alpha in her bones. Take care with her next time.”
Noah watched us with interest. “There won’t be a meeting without you, Cass.”
“Liar,” I said with a smile. “You big boys don’t need me, so I’m going to do my girlie thing with my new friend.”
“C’mon, Cass baby,” Pyrder said. “Let’s go home.”
“Not yet,” I said, and grabbed Amber’s arm to push her along because she’d just frozen. “I’ll come home when I come home.”
“Cass—”
I didn’t want anyone to follow me. And with that in mind, suddenly I pulled Amber into a whirlwind in the sky. When I looked down, there was no one in sight.
Fuck, I’d just teleported and taken an unwilling passenger with me.
Amber screamed, and I screamed with her.
“Where are we, Cass?” she shouted.
“The fuck I know,” I yelled back. “But don’t panic.” And I screamed. “Help! Help!”
“We need to get down!” Amber shouted into the wind.
“Where’s down?” I shouted. “Fine, fine. Close your eyes.” I squeezed my eyes shut first and repeated, “Down. Down.”
Splash! When I screamed and opened my eyes, I was in the middle of the pool. Water splattered my face and soaked my hair. Amber dropped the next second beside me and made a bigger splash. Her books followed her into the water.
“Where are we?” I asked, wading in the water.
“We’re in the gym pool for elite students,” Amber said bitterly.
But there was no one around, except us.
I burst into laughter. “We’re the elites.”
“This is not a laughing matter, Cass,” Amber hissed. “You’re indeed a maniac. Oh, bloody sky, my books.” She waded toward a thick book half sunk in the water.
Just when I was about to dive in to rescue her books, Amber jerked backwards, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, and fell under the water.
I shot toward her, lightning fast, and pulled her out.
“Hold on,” I called. “Hold on.”
Her eyes turned glassy white, and an ancient Earth tongue poured out of her paling lips. This time, I paid attention to the old language and perceived its meaning.
“Stay away from water!” She repeated her prediction.
“Too late now,” I said. “We’re in the water, but I can get you out of here. Not a problem, bro.”
I wrapped an arm under her armpit and dragged her toward the bank. It was effortless on my part since I was very strong.
“Stay away from water,” she cried again.
“Chill, girl,” I said, and pushed her onto the bank before climbing onto dry land as well. “See, we’re out of the water.”
But I wanted to jump back into the pool for the elites. Why didn’t we take advantage and swim laps since we were already here? But I was hesitant to freak out my new friend, who might just end our budding friendship.
“Stay out of the water. Danger. Light. Water with the sound. Oh, gods,” she said it on the third time on a sigh before she rolled her eyes back to normal.
Amber blinked water out of her frenetic eyes. “I hate to prophesy in dangerous places. I could have drowned.”
“Nay, you got me, and I got you to safety.”
“What did I say?”
“You said to stay away from shower,” I said. “That’s not going to happen.”
I hadn’t bathed when I was in my cage. I was done with being dirty and smelly, given that I now had four mates and would do everything in my power to keep them. So hygiene was a must.
“I love baths,” I emphasized, and I especially loved it when my mates bathed me.
And that scene made me blush just a little.
15
I lay down on Amber’s small bunk bed, my hands under my head, my feet crossed at the ankles, after I changed to Amber’s dry clothes.
She was nearly my height, but she was slender, and I was curvy. I could barely button the shirt around my chest. Now it looked like the buttons would break at any time and my breasts would burst out. My ass was also screaming in the tight pants.
Amber sat on a bed across from me, staring at me.
There were twenty or so beds in this bunk room. All the blankets were folded in the same fashion, wrinkleless, with angles and all that shit. It was amazing that this place was so tidy and spotless.
If I lived here, I’d have to learn to fold the blanket first, supposing my mates would let me, supposing the Academy wouldn’t kick me out with the next incident. After my trying day, I could almost see it coming.
“I can’t believe I teleported.” I chuckled. “I did it right under their noses. I just hope they didn’t panic and look for me all over the campus or tell me I’m ruthless when they finally find me.”
Amber didn’t look as thrilled and amused as I was. She looked worried. She always did. “I bet the whole Academy is looking for you now.”
“We’re here, aren’t we? What’s to look for?”
Amber sighed. “You don’t think like a normal person.”
That got me. My face darkened. I just didn’t know how a normal person really acted and reacted, and I wasn’t good at mimicking people.
Except for Jezebel, I hadn’t interacted with anyone while I was locked in that cage. Jezebel hadn’t spent much time with me, either. Sometimes I hadn’t seen her for weeks when she’d been in a cranky mood and forgotten to feed me. Besides, Jezebel wasn’t exactly the kind of role model I could learn from.
My first real interaction had been with Reysalor after two of my mates had set me free from the cage. They’d accepted me right away, all four of them. None of them had judged me for social incompetence or the many other ways I was lacking. Instead, they went out of their way to make sure I didn’t change and had no need to. As Pyrder had said, they had no desire to have me conform. They liked the way I was. They didn’t want me to be like everyone else, and they didn’t want anyone else. They wanted me.
“I’m sorry, Cass. I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Amber said. “You aren’t supposed to be normal. I’m just trying to figure you out. You’re a superhero, the savior of humanity. You just need to step into the role.”
“Fuck off, Amber. Don’t pull that superhero shit on me. I’m no superhero, and I don’t want the fucking burden. I can barely take care of myself. I irritate most people, and I co
nstantly bug Boone for more cakes.”
“You don’t know how important you are,” she said. “I’m here to serve you. If it’s required, I’ll give my life for you without a blink.”
“Wow, wow, cut the crap,” I said. “I don’t want you or anyone to give their lives for me. I won’t be responsible for that heavy shit. I might not have conscience and humanity like you guys, but I don’t want my hands red, either. So just fuck off.”
“It won’t be up to you when the time comes,” she said softly. “It would be an honor for me to guide, serve, and die for you.”
This chick was stubborn and weird and crazy, and she thought I wasn’t normal? I shook my head. What kind of world had I come to?
“I don’t want you to do any of that dying, guiding, or serving bullshit,” I said. “All I want is for you to be my friend.”
“I already am,” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “I felt I knew you even before I met you.”
It dawned on me that she’d been as lonely as I was when I was in the cage. Now I had four mates and our loyal warriors of mixed fae, vampires, and hybrids. But Amber had no one. Judging from the way Mellissa and her gang had bullied her, Amber was an outcast in the Academy.
She was no longer a pariah. She had me. I remembered how she’d thrown herself in front of me to take the whipping for me. I would never let anyone lay a finger on her again.
“You got any family, little one?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t call me little one. I might be older than you.”
Well, no one liked to be called little.
“I’m twenty-three in human years,” I said proudly. “And next year I’ll be twenty six. I grow up very fast.”
She widened her eyes. “Then you’ll reach eighty very soon.”
“I won’t die if no one kills me.” I smirked. “I’m more immortal than an immortal.”
“But you don’t know what you are exactly,” she said. “Your heritage is also hidden from my visions.”
“It’s hidden from everyone. So, tell me about yourself.”
“I was brought up in an orphanage,” she said in a small voice.
“I grew up in a cage,” I said.
“I saw that,” she said. “I couldn’t get to you. If I could, I would have. I didn’t get other visions, only a glimpse. And then I was told to wait here for you.”
Someone gave the same sort of visions and assignments to my mates as well. Someone desperately needed me to kill the Olympian gods. And someone was homing in on me to sharpen me as a weapon.
Whoever it was, I didn’t trust her/him, even though she/he got me out of the cage.
Then another thought hit me. Could that someone also be responsible for making Jezebel believe it was best for the world to keep me in the cage in the first place? My mother had religiously believed that it was her life’s purpose to lock me up and save the world from me.
My head started throbbing and spinning from all the heavy thoughts and useless guessing.
“Don’t look into the visions, dreams, or whatever prophecies,” I said. “They’re mostly misguided and dangerous as a double-edged blade.”
“I can’t abandon my purpose,” she insisted.
She took her seer’s role very seriously, then.
“Whatever. Don’t say I didn’t tell you when one of the fortune cookies grows teeth and bites you in the ass. Anyway, you got any cake here? Aren’t you going to offer me a drink since I’m your honored guest? That’s what a normal person would do, right?”
“Yeah, you’re a good honored guest. You tossed me into the sky, dumped me into the water, ruined my books, and dragged me here. You even wear my clothes, which will be broken by your bosom by night. And guess I’ll have to wash your wet clothes after you’re gone.”
I grinned. She did have some fire and a sense of humor when pushed hard. “I thought you thrived on serving me.”
“I can make you tea, Cass, though it isn’t of good quality.” She sighed. “I seldom have a cake. The gods destroyed a lot of production. Food resources are getting scarce. I’m grateful I still have two meals a day.”
A jolt of guilt shot through my chest, which surprised me. I wasn’t one to let guilt and shame ride me. I didn’t even think I had a moral compass.
“Uh, sorry,” I said. “I’m not really thirsty. I took a swallow of the pool water by accident anyway.”
“I’ll make you tea, Cass,” she said. “That’s the least I can do. You’re the first student who ever defended me against Mellissa and her minions since I came to the Academy six months ago, waiting for you.”
Anger sizzled in me. “You put up with those bullies for six months?”
She smiled. “I don’t care about them. I don’t care how people treat me. I came here for you, and you came. That’s all that matters. You’re what matters. And you want to be my friend.”
“And no one else helped you?” I asked, my eyes burning darkly.
“We’re living in a tough time.”
Fucking Academy! It wasn’t what I thought it was.
I spat. “I don’t care it’s a tough time. Humanity isn’t all that rosy. I’m not even sure if it’s worth saving, supposing I really can take on the gods.”
“There’re some good folks,” she said, her brown eyes turning warm. “I’ve met good people who helped me along the way. Let’s save the world for them.”
She rose to make the tea. I grabbed her sleeve.
“Hey, it’s okay. I prefer you just talk to me.”
I was careful not to touch her skin, in case she’d roll her eyes back and utter more outrageous riddles. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was kind of scared of the oracle shit. It’d messed up Jezebel big time.
Amber wheeled to me. “I’ve wanted to ask you, Cass. I hope I won’t offend you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Nothing can offend me. I have the thickest skin ever.”
“You don’t read, do you, Cass?”
My face flamed so hot I wanted to dig a hole to hide inside. That was one of my fatal flaws I’d hoped no one could ever find out.
“Shush!” I snapped at her. “Why would you say something like that?!”
“We’re the only ones here,” she said. “No one is listening in. They’re all at the training field.”
Now I remembered that the magic class had been my next stop. But after the Helmer drama, I had spaced out. And then I’d been distracted by Noah. It wasn’t like I was smitten with him, but he was something. And then Amber and I got wet and ended up here.
Maybe subconsciously I’d worried about crashing into another Helmer, so I hadn’t been keen on pursuing the next class. However, I still wanted to hang around the Academy for a while and see how things went.
I hoped my absence wouldn’t be seen as another offense.
I rubbed my temples. I needed to come up with a good excuse if the magic instructor ever confronted me. Then my gazed darted back to Amber—I had another crisis here. The seer had just discovered my fatal weakness because I got too close to her.
I eyed her sternly.
“It’s fine you can’t read, Cass.” She moved to my bedside and squatted beside me, so her eyes met mine with sincerity. “You have me now, and I got your six. You have street smarts. You know how to survive. I have book smarts and future visions. We’ll combine. And I’ll teach you to read and write.”
My heart pounded. I just got the sweetest deal ever.
But I narrowed my eyes, trying to add menace to my hard stare. “And you won’t tell a soul, not even my four mates?”
Her eyes widened in shock. “You have four mates, seriously?”
“I thought you knew.” I snickered. “Aren’t you the seer?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see everything. I know that some powerful males are tied to you to protect you, and I saw a vampire lord and a panther free you from the cage. But I didn’t see your four mates together with you in bed doing it.”
“Hey, chick,” I said, rais
ing a finger before her eyes. “You’d better not go there, vision or not, if you don’t want your little ass getting kicked.”
Amber’s mouth remained an O. “Four mates?” She repeated.
“I can handle them, you know,” I said.
A huge male appeared at the doorway, his presence instantly sucking the air out of the bunk room. His honey-brown gaze found me, and his sensual lips that also suggested menace curled up at the corners.
My eyes brightened, and my pulse raced.
Amber, who squatted beside the bed, fell on her ass. Her eyes went round. The poor girl stared at Alaric as if she’d never seen a male before, her small hand pressing her chest.
“I know.” I laughed. “Alaric has that kind of effect. But don’t drool. He’s mine.”
Alaric, dressed in a shirt with a stylish scarf around his corded neck and leather covering his muscled torso, strode toward me. Then he was by me in an instant. The dude was that fast.
“Sweetheart,” he said huskily, swooping me up into his arms in one fluid move.
Alaric was the best tracker of me, and when I became a little difficult, my other mates usually sent him to deal with me. Pyrder and Reys had a hard time saying no to me, and Lorcan lost his temper now and then. But Alaric would make me bend.
Thinking of bending, I looked at the beds nearby.
If Amber weren’t here, I’d let Alaric bend me over the frame of the bed or a desk, and fuck me from behind right there.
Alaric must have been imagining the same scene, lust burning darkly in his honey-brown eyes.
I ran my hands over his cut chest, feeling his hard muscles.
Amber cleared her throat, more embarrassed than me. When did she get her ass up so quickly?
At that moment, neither Alaric nor I paid heed to anyone else. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday when he had gone scouting with Celeb. He was sending a section of his army to the fae realm in case the full-front war with the gods and their horde broke out near the Academy.
So Alaric and I were like two magnets that missed each other’s presence.
“How did you find me so soon?” I squirmed in excitement, the heel of my palm pressing against his dimple, one of my favorites.