by Leia Stone
I glanced at Packard. He’d probably never been outside Delphi Corner. Not like I had, or the vampires or witches. Since we could easily appear human, we were allowed to get human jobs and live and shop among them.
“Time’s up.” His voice was sharp and I knew he wouldn’t wait a second longer.
Leave Delphi? Leave my parents? Go back to Werewolf City… All because I’d met the alpha’s son for five seconds and he was picking his mate this year?
It was … crazy. Insane.
A dream come true?
I looked again at the cuffs on my wrists. To be able to shift, to finally let my wolf out … I couldn’t conceive of it. She shook my skin like it was a cage and in that moment my decision was made for me.
“I accept.” I stood, my voice husky from my wolf’s rise to the surface. The guard nodded and indicated I follow him. I looked down at Raven and her wide-eyed expression. Tears pooled in her gaze.
“I’ll call you tonight,” I whispered as I leaned down and gave her a final hug.
“This is crazy but I love you,” she whispered, and my throat tightened.
“Holy fucking shit I love you back,” I half sobbed.
Standing, I brushed my eyes clear of any emotion, and followed the beefy wolves to the double doors.
I was finally leaving this hellhole. I thought that they would let me go in peace, but then I felt a wet thud to the back of my head and I knew that just wasn’t true. It didn’t hurt so much as it startled me. Something wet ran down my neck, and with a plop an orange slice fell to the ground.
“Later, Wolf Girl!” It was Bianca. I knew that shrill nasally voice anywhere. Fucking Bianca. That dark fey had the heart of a devil.
Fur rippled down my arms and then the cuffs lit up, electrocuting me, bringing me to my knees in pain. Laughs filled the cafeteria and I just wanted to die. It was their favorite thing to do, laugh while I was shocked to shit. All of the wolves who’d come to escort me looked at me with pity, I was so freaking embarrassed. When you’re bullied for so many years, a few things can happen:
1. You can become really shy and introverted, sink into yourself and want to disappear.
2. You become a bully yourself, angry and mad at the world.
3. You get numb to it after a while, so dead inside emotionally it doesn’t really bother you anymore. It’s like you expect it.
I was somewhere between two and three. Angry but numb to it all. Over the course of my education here I’d been called a dog, told I smelled like shit, been given flea shampoo, and for prom someone hung a rhinestone collar and leash on my locker. I just didn’t care anymore.
“Let’s just go,” I told the wolf guards as I stood, shaking off the incident, because they were looking at me like they were waiting for me to wolf out and rip Bianca’s head off. I wanted to, I did, but I wanted to leave this place forever more.
One of the wolf guards who’d come with them, the tall female with red hair, reached out to a passing witch and grabbed the apple off her tray. Then she reeled her arm back and chucked it. I followed the red apple, surprised at the sudden throw, and grinned as it knocked into the side of Bianca’s head.
Every student in the place stood then and the lead guard shot the redheaded wolf a glare. “Let’s go before they curse us.”
“Worth it.” The redhead winked at me.
Emotion clogged my throat. My entire life I’d been alone, a freak, a wolf without a pack, no one but Raven to count on, and now…
My happy emotions were short-lived. A black bag was thrown over my head, plunging me into darkness.
“Sorry, kiddo, the alpha gave strict instructions not to trust you with the location of the school just yet.”
A firm arm gripped me under my armpit and I was marched forward blindly.
By the time we got outside and I heard a van door roll open, I found myself wondering what the fuck had just happened.
Mondays.
We listened to Van Halen the entire drive. Like an entire album. It was at least an hour before the van slowed to a crawl. No one said much to me the entire time except to ask if I needed to pee or have water. I felt like a prisoner but not; it was weird. My hands weren’t tied, I was just told to keep this bag loosely over my head the whole drive, which was triggering some serious PTSD. I didn’t like being in small spaces.
The alpha obviously didn’t trust me, which made me wonder how hard Sawyer had to beg him to let me back into Werewolf City. Why would Sawyer do that? I’d met him all of two minutes. Granted, it was an intense meeting, but I didn’t think I’d impressed him with my angry outburst and shabby clothes.
“So, like, can we really not date any girls this year until Sawyer picks his mate?” one of the males asked, turning down the music. My whole body tensed as I leaned into the conversation, curious what the answer would be.
Another dude chuckled. “Nah, he’ll pick his top twenty pretty quickly and then you just stay away from them.”
What the fuck? Twenty girls to date all year?
What was this, Werewolf Bachelor?
“Sophia Green is so fucking hot. I’ve wanted her since first grade. He better not pick her,” a third male said.
There was a smacking sound and then a groan. “Women are not objects, you fools,” the redheaded female chided them. “The girl Sawyer ends up with will have to choose him just as much as he chooses her.”
Collective laughter rocked through the car. “And what female at school wouldn’t pick pretty boy Sawyer?”
“I wouldn’t,” the female said.
Silence.
“You’re his cousin. Gross,” a male voice commented.
“So? I wouldn’t pick him. Now stop talking about the mating year, it’s making me nauseous. I have to live with it for the next year,” she snapped back.
Cousin? She was Sawyer’s cousin?
We rode in silence a few more minutes until the van stopped.
“We’re here. I’m taking the cover off of her head,” the female said.
“Copy that,” a male answered.
Finally!
When the sack was ripped off my head, I was blinded with bright light. I winced as my eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight assaulting my brain.
“Hey, Brandon,” someone outside of the car said.
I swiveled my head in that direction to see a guard standing in front of a giant iron gate. He wore black army fatigues with a gun at his hip. “That her?” He peered inside of the car at me.
What the…?
He looked me up and down, causing redness to creep up my neck. “Now I see why Sawyer went to all that trouble.”
“She can hear you, asshole!” Redhead snapped.
The guard rapped a palm on the hood of the van twice and we rolled forward into the open gates.
Holy shifter babies.
My jaw unhinged as we passed a low stone wall with the name Sterling Hill University on it. It wasn’t the letters that had me transfixed, it was the freaking building and manicured lawns. The campus was sprawled out onto a wide green lawn, with several buildings made of glass and stainless steel. Everything was so modern. Students walked on the sidewalks, but a few wolves lay on the lawns, sunbathing in their animal form.
I gasped and Redhead looked at me, following my gaze.
She frowned, then looked at the cuffs on my wrists. “When’s the last time you shifted?”
It was an innocent question, one I’m sure she didn’t think would carry so much pain.
“Never.” My voice cracked. “I was born outside Werewolf City,” I told her.
“Jesus,” the driver dude said.
“Language,” the guy in the passenger seat growled.
The driver flipped him off and the dude in the passenger seat grabbed the finger and bent it backward until the driver conceded. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, baby Jesus.”
“That’s better,” passenger guy said, and when I looked at the redheaded chick again, she was smiling.
I wa
s grateful for the distraction.
“I’m Sage,” she told me, holding out a hand.
Sage. That was an interesting name.
“My mom’s a hippie.” She winked and I took her hand.
I shook it. “Demi.”
She gestured over her shoulder to the driver, “That’s Brandon, total player and asshole. Stay away from him.”
“Hey!” he yelled.
She motioned to the guy in the passenger seat. “And that’s Quan. Sweet teddy bear, you can trust him with your life.”
“Love you, Sage.”
“Love you too, boo,” she called back.
There was a guy sitting next to Sage who was silently staring out the window. “That’s Walsh, he’s basically a mute.”
“Fuck you,” he growled, causing her to grin.
“But if I had to pick one guy to have my back in a fight, it would be him.”
“Hey!” the driver, Brandon, yelled again.
“Sorry, babe, you’re worthless. Nothing but eye candy.” Sage shrugged, then looked at me, winking as Brandon started to pout.
“I can’t help that I’m so beautiful,” Brandon declared.
Everyone chuckled, including me.
I liked her, I liked all of them, even though this was the weirdest fucking day of my life.
We pulled into a parking spot, in between a Range Rover and a BMW, and I started to second guess my decision to come here. My jean shorts were torn, with heavily frayed edges, and my Converse shoes that I’d snagged at a second-hand store had duct tape on the bottom to keep the sole from coming off. Not to mention my t-shirt was vintage and looked like I’d pulled it out of a trashcan. I’d had it custom screen printed with Coffee before talkie across the front.
I clearly didn’t belong here.
Brandon killed the engine and opened the sliding van door, rolling out his neck. “I’ll take her to admissions, then she’s no longer our problem.”
Ouch. I take it back, I didn’t like all of them.
“You’re a dick, you know that? I’ll take her.” Sage jumped out of the van and he was forced to back up or she’d plow right into him.
He just rolled his eyes and waved her off. “Whatever.”
The other boys jumped out of the van as well and looked at me. “I hope you like it here. It was nice to meet you,” Quan said, taking off his belt which held two guns. I noticed a large gold cross hung from his neck.
“Thanks…” I cleared my throat, “for the kidnapping.”
Sage grinned, and even Walsh’s lips twitched like he wanted to smile.
“She’s funny. I like her,” Sage told Quan, then she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the van. I followed her, suddenly conscious of the wrist cuffs that no one else had. People stared as we passed, but when they did Sage flipped them off, so they quickly turned their heads.
“Big news on campus. The alpha’s son goes to meet with the principal of the magical rejects for charity work and is so taken with a banished wolf that he begs his father to free her and let her back into the city so she can be considered as a potential mate for his mating year. Quite romantic, if you like that shit.”
“No. No. It’s not like that,” I told her, my cheeks reddening. “He just used the mate choosing thing as a way to get me out. He even said so in his letter.”
My cheeks pinked again just thinking about it as we passed another group of people who stared. I tucked my chin into my chest and looked at the ground, wanting to disappear. I didn’t like attention, I liked life better through the lens of my camera.
Sage’s hand rose and jerked my chin up as she stopped walking and leaned into my ear. “Honey, you’re a wolf. Looking down when stared at is just going to get your ass kicked.”
I gulped.
This was so different from Delphi Academy.
I nodded.
“Submissives don’t go to Sterling Hill, and I can smell your dominance, so just let it out, okay?”
Let it out? The one thing I’d shoved deep down inside of me my entire life?
“Got it,” I said, my voice stronger. “Anything else?”
This chick seemed knowledgeable, and since my parents never spoke much of Werewolf City or their time at Sterling Hill because of the pain it brought them, I knew shit-all about this place, or how to survive here. I’d never shifted, never lived in a pack. I grew up with a bunch of stuck-up magical assholes as a solitary wolf girl. Everyone at that school was a grade-A asshole except for Raven. Without her I might not have survived it.
Sage nodded, hissing like a cat at a passing girl, who scurried away, leaving Sage grinning. When she was done, she leaned back in to face me. “Every female at this school wants to marry my cousin Sawyer and be the alpha’s wife, and every single one now knows that he brought you here to join the dating pool. Watch your back.”
Then she turned and walked off, leaving me speechless and with a lump in my throat.
Join the dating pool? Holy shit, I really was in Werewolf Bachelor.
“Come on!” she snapped, and I ran after her, throwing some glares of my own as I passed. Every female here was dressed like a Barbie. Full-on high heels, dresses, slacks and silk shirts. Hair was curled and set in place and make-up was on-point. Not an eyebrow hair out of place. Meanwhile, I looked like I’d rolled out of bed and threw on whatever was closest and smelled generally clean, which wasn’t far from the truth.
I ran after Sage and followed her around a corner to a giant glass dome building marked Admissions.
She stopped at the door and faced me. “I’m a junior. I live in Lexington Hall. Suite Eleven. Try to get on my floor and I’ll take you under my wing.”
My heart pinched at her generosity and I nodded. “Thanks, girl.” I looked down at her chin out of habit and she inclined her head, smoothing her bright red hair over one shoulder and tipping my chin up to meet her eyes.
“Remember, give ‘em hell. You’re one of us now.”
With that, she turned and walked away, leaving me to stand in front of the double glass doors.
You’re one of us now. She had no way of knowing how much that meant to me.
Okay … here goes nothing.
Reaching out, I pulled the doors open and stepped inside.
Whoa.
The dome ceiling was tinted, but it still let shafts of light in, and behind it was all forest, so everywhere you looked were trees. A short, stocky woman sat behind a computer, tapping on a keyboard. When I stepped up to the counter, she looked up, and then down at my wrists, her hands freezing midair.
“Demi Calloway?”
Shit. How did she know who I was?
I nodded, about to dip my head down in embarrassment, when I remembered Sage’s advice and tipped my chin up.
“Yeah,” I told her, voice firm. She stood, walking around her desk to greet me, and the click-clack of her heels echoed throughout the hall. When she finally stood before me, she looked me up and down and a frown tugged at her lips.
“Oh dear,” she muttered, and pulled out a tablet, tapping at the screen with a stylus.
I yanked my cut off t-shirt down to cover my bellybutton, but it was no use, it sprung back up and just exposed more.
With an eyeroll, the woman walked down a hallway. “Follow me, they are waiting.”
They.
She said they.
Who was they?
My heart hammered against my ribcage as I passed a long hallway, all glass but tinted so I couldn’t see inside.
Who cleaned this place? They must keep a hundred glass cleaners on staff. Maybe I should buy stock in Windex.
I was so lost in my thoughts about how they kept fingerprints off the windows, I didn’t realize the lady had stopped, and I crashed into her back.
A growl ripped from her throat before she disguised it as a cough.
Whoa, shit.
“I’m sorry. I’m … nervous.” I gave her the truth and the anger fled from her eyes. She suddenly looked a
t me with compassion.
“I can imagine.” She gave me a weak smile and then opened the door, indicating I step inside.
I did, and expected her to come with me. I mean, I didn’t know this chick long, but when she closed the door and walked off back down the hall, I panicked.
Be strong.
With trepidation, I looked up at the two figures in the room.
Holy shifter.
The man standing before me was the largest male I’d ever seen. He looked like a human gorilla in size, a hulking mass of muscle so large it didn’t look natural. He appeared to be in his early forties and wore a gray linen suit. Clutched in his hands was a tablet like the woman had. I did a quick and discreet whiff and recognized the wolf smell as it hit my nostrils. Gamey and earthy, it was hard to explain.
Standing beside him was…
A witch.
I’d lived with them enough to know when I was in the presence of one. It wasn’t just the herbal smell they all seemed to carry, it was the lithe frame, the way they stood above you with their noses upturned as if they were better than you.
If either of them thought my clothing was atrocious, they didn’t show it. Instead, the huge man just stepped forward. “Miss Calloway, I’m Eugene, head of Werewolf City Security.”
Yep. I would totally give this guy the head of security job too, would hire him on the spot. He looked like he could squeeze my head between two fingers.
“Hey.” I waved stupidly. His eyes flashed to my cuff and the slightest frown pulled at his lips.
“Madam Harcourt here is going to remove your cuffs and then I’ll get you situated.”