CHAPTER 8

(Yvonne’s POV)

It's been a few uneventful weeks at the Academy.

No one else has found out about my tigress, and no one is suspicious about it either. I've had a series of weird dreams. Most of them are about the other tigers, but I don't know anyone else that has a tiger.

I decided it's probably best to ignore them, I mean they are just dreams. That book is still laying on my bedside table. I haven't had a chance to finish it yet, but I will when I have the time. Reading it isn't going to change the world ya know. Anyways, I've become a top student in my combat class which was to be expected. My birthday is in a few days and Lily, along with a few other girls I've become friends with, are throwing me a party. I told them that I didn't need one but they insisted. They look like they're having fun doing it so I let it go.

Right now I'm sitting in a The History of Werewolves lecture. Boooring!!. Ms. Kingston doesn't know when half of her class is asleep. Heck, she doesn't even turn around to give the lecture.

She scribbles words on the board as she talks, I guess for notes purposes, but I don't write it down.

Just as I'm about to doze off a piece of paper hits the back of my head.

“Hey, I haven't talked to you since we were on the train. Sorry about Trish. You know how wolves can be.”

I turn in my chair to see Aiden smiling widely.

I turned the paper over to write a response.

“She's actually my friend now, so all is well”.

I throw it back at him and wait, until he gives me a nod and a smile, to turn back around. Not a minute later, the piece of paper smacks me again.

I pick it up and uncrumple it. “We aren't dating anymore.”

I turn and nod to him then throw the paper back at him, knowing where this is going. He laughs then hunches over the paper to write. When he's done he throws it back and I catch it.

“I was wondering if you would want to hang out.

Just so we can get to know each other better. It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be”.

I roll my eyes at his words then scribble something down.

“ Sure. You can come to my birthday party, I have no idea if you've been invited, but consider this an invitation. Be at the girls dorm for our class this Saturday at six.”

I throw the paper back at him and as soon as he finishes reading it he smiles and leans back in his chair.

I turn back to the front just before Ms. Kingston turns around. "Who is throwing things in my room?" No one moves. I hold back a laugh and think to myself, Everyone.

She scowls at the class and lands on Aiden. "Were you throwing that ball of paper?" She asks, an angry tone in her voice.

I turn to Aiden and he is completely calm. "No miss, I would never do such a thing.

This lecture on the first werewolves is actually pretty cool, I mean, who else knew that we were wolves before we were men and women? Isn't it cool that the moon goddess has that kind of power?"

Ms. Kingston smiles. "Well I'm glad someone finds my class interesting. I'm sure you all could learn a thing or two from Aiden."

I roll my eyes. Yeah, how to read the board behind you, because that basically says the same exact thing. Aiden turns to me and winks and I feel a smirk cross my face.

Ms. Kingston turns back to the board and continues her lecture. I laugh a little as Aiden mimics her writing and talking, but with the stiffness of a robot. After he finishes he winks at me again and I laugh under my breath before turning back around.

**************

( Charlotte’s POV )

"How are you?"

Well, I haven't been captured or dead yet.

"I'm fine," I replied smoothly.

"Good. What are your plans for the day?"

Well, that's my father. His words are genuine but his tone of voice is as plain as shortbread cookies. I hate shortbread cookies.

"Oh you know, necessary things before school starts, going to the school office and then roaming around campus," I casually say.

"Okay. Is Axel coming with you?"

No. I don't need a babysitter, Dad. But I don't tell him that, "Yes. He'll be joining me today." I smoothly lie. I'm sure he contacted Axel before me.

"Okay. Always keep in mind that your mother and I love the both of you. Keep safe. We're proud of you," he doesn't wait for my answer and hangs up the phone.

I place my phone inside my tote bag and haul my sports bag over my shoulder. I don't know where I'm going. I haven't figured out the whole area since I stayed inside my dorm yesterday.

I walk outside my dorm and instantly notice the many voices around the area. School's about to start and more and more students arrive at the academy.

This is going to be chaos.

Having wolves of the same rank together can be destructive, especially to upcoming alphas. They will fight for their dominance, and they don't care if they end up killing each other because power is everything.

I ignore the masses of people as I walk to the stairs.

Once reaching the bottom floor, I swipe my key card at the entrance and exit the building.

Where to go? My eyes scan my surroundings and I notice that most of the fields are occupied. Nope.

Not happening.

"Quiet spot?" I ask myself. Quiet spot it is.

And then, I move. I find myself identifying an appropriate area for my workout session. I do a few breathing exercises and proceed to my core-strengthening workout.

Not minding the time, after two hours of working out-including the walk I did around the campus, I decided to take a rest at my dorm before heading to our school.

"Where the hell have you been?"

I yelp in surprise, "Really, Axel? Really?" I say slightly irritated. "You couldn't wait 'til I entered my room?"

"Charll," he gives me a pointed look, "do I always have to remind you that you need to keep tabs on wherever you're going?" He shoots back with a tingling irritation.

Oh, brother.

"I'm sorry," I apologize, "I promise to update you on my whereabouts from now on." Now that's a lie, and he probably knows that it's a lie.

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair,

"Don't make this complicated, Bee. We're not home anymore."

My eyes perk as I hear the shift in his tone. He's frustrated. Knowing my brother, he's always been patient with me even when I'm being a bitch.

"Are you okay?"

He suddenly stands up straight and puts on a soft smile, "Yeah, it's nothing you should worry about."

Nothing you should worry about.

I've heard those words more than a handful of times. When I was young and clueless, I'd easily dismissed it but things have changed. I'm not naïve and stupid to know that when people tell you it's nothing to worry about, you should definitely be worrying about it.

"No," I pressed on, "there's something going on and I need to know about it."

There's a hanging silence as I wait for Axel's reply. I can tell that he's debating whether he should tell me or not, maybe even conjuring up some excuse for me not to be concerned.

A harsh breath escapes his lips and he looks at me dead in the eyes, "One of the council members dropped by to check up on our pack.”

"What?"

No one really knows who we are so we rarely have any visitors in our pack. Dad makes sure that we're invisible among others to keep me safe, but it doesn't mean that our pack is weak. He just keeps a low profile.

"While I was talking to dad on the phone, someone just barged in his office and said that one of the council members are outside our borders." He sits on my couch and hangs his head down in distress.

A deep rooted feeling spurs inside me.

This is not good. This is a sign. They're going to get me, play with me and eventually kill me after they're done using me as an experiment. No. No.

No. NO!

"Shit," Axel curses. He stands up from the couch and abruptly turns me around to look at him,

"Focus, Charll! Breathe in and out!"

I don't easily notice when I hyperventilate or panic.

My brain deceives me. It turns my attention to the things that make me panic, never letting me know how my frail body dysfunctions in a flash.

I close my eyes as I start to feel how labored my breathing has become.

In and out. In and out. My subconscious tells me.

A few minutes pass by and I start to gain control over my breathing. Sweat trickles down the sides of my face as my breathing shallows.

I finally open my eyes and I see Axel still looking at me with a worried expression, "You all right?" he asked while soothingly rubbing my arm with his hand.

I nod, "Yeah, I just panicked." I straighten my posture, I'm sorry for worrying you. I was suddenly getting anxious."

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have told you anything knowing that there would be a high chance for you to freak out." He stares at me for a bit before continuing, "You should take a shower first before we talk things through. It'll calm you a bit before we go meet with the rest of the pack and fix our class schedule."

I immediately do as he says. Cold showers are what usually calm me down. The freezing water colliding against my bare skin numbs me to the point where I forget my pain.

We wait for the rest of our pack members at the lobby of where we first entered. It's jam packed with people and I'm feeling quite antsy about it.

We have at least five warriors and two healers within the academy's given age range and position, yet not even one of them have made their appearance.

I honestly don't understand how the learning system works in this academy. The council's motives are to enhance our abilities as future leaders but I highly doubt that.

They show no mercy or compassion to any wolf.

When you're a wolf of interest to them, such as myself, they'll just take you and leave.

They strictly stick to their militaristic ideals. It's for their selfish concerns to prove their power.

This is the reason why I've always been apprehensive as to going to this academy. They implemented this mandatory demand that none of the packs were expecting, and the fact that they're prepared makes it all more suspicious.

There's something going on, and I need to know about it first before they find me.

You're an idiot for thinking that, Charll. You don't have the power or the skills, heck you don't even have a wolf!

"Charlotte," a tall, blonde girl approaches me. I immediately recognize her as she is our soon to be head warrior, "Jasmine!"

She wraps her arms around me and pats my back,

"I missed you, shortie."

"Oh yeah! Two girls boobie hugging!" Tony exclaims in excitement.

Jasmine pulls out of our hug and flicks a finger at him, "Keep your damn mouth shut or I'll stitch it for you, pervert."

He backs off from Jasmine with his arms up,

"Noted."

She turns her gaze back to me and smiles, "I haven't seen you in weeks. Why do you always keep yourself locked up in that bolt you call a room?"

"Well," I trail off, not knowing what to say. I don't need to explain myself to her because she already knows why. She's just probably upset because we haven't been interacting as much.

Ever since the council made their decision, Dad and I were always training.

"Never mind. Anyways, before coming here the alpha made sudden arrangements to shift my room next to yours."

I smile. The old oaf can be as cold as a stone sometimes but he definitely loves me.

If Dad were to trust another person to understand me and my condition, that'd be Jasmine. She knew much more than Tony, Harris and the rest of the pack. My Dad likes her because she's got the balls.

"Come on, guys. We've got a whole afternoon ahead of us." Axel commands, "First, you guys should place your belongings in your dormitories before we head out to get our schedules and uniforms at the upper floor," he gestures to the newcomers.

"Next thing I want to say is that classes starts the day after tomorrow so we'll get things done today for everyone to take a decent break tomorrow."

We all nodded at his command.

I can't believe hell will start in two days.