Ava was angry that Ezekiel and his friends practically walked her to her block, but once she was alone, she realised they probably knew something she didn’t. She still had no idea where Ezekiel had been most of the previous week, and now she didn’t have the guts to ask what he had done to Claire. Was the she-wolf waiting somewhere in the background to take her revenge? Corner her in the bathroom again? Was she going to send her minions? Or was Claire not here at all?The other students had surprisingly left her alone, but it hadn’t stopped the whispers. What she wouldn’t do for supernatural hearing right now. Not that she would do anything about it, but she would probably find out what the hell was going on.“When that demon wolf tires of you, let me know. I could use a bed warmer—”She looked up to see Douche Dexter in front of her, but someone nudged him, and he stopped talking. And then, surprisingly, he walked past her without another word and without shoving her. She knew why.
Ava was hungry, so she rushed to the dining hall for lunch, hoping Ezekiel wasn’t there. She didn’t want another repeat of what had happened in the morning. Though people had mostly left her alone, she seemed to have been branded as Ezekiel’s property. Her heart fluttered stupidly at the thought, but she pushed it aside. She wasn’t property. She belonged to no one.Besides, Claire mentioned that Ezekiel’s pack wouldn’t allow him to be with a human, so if anything did happen with him, she would be nothing but his plaything. Not that she was trying to be his Luna or his plaything. Thinking about that brought her thoughts back to Claire again, and with that, all her guilt came flooding back. What had she done? Ezekiel would never have had to do that if she hadn’t been so weak. And now the most fearsome people in their community were coming to ask her about that. How would they do it? Could they sense it if she lied? Did they use magic to read minds? Were they like Mr Patrick?Would th
Zeke watched Ava walk into the dining hall before heading towards the Administration block.‘He told her to run away from us,’ Shadow pointed out.“Hmm,” he answered with a frown.‘He must die.’He rolled his eyes. Jared would die soon enough. Right now, he had the Council members to deal with. He couldn’t blatantly break the rules just before going to the meeting. But surprisingly, Shadow had been very laid back about that interaction with the bastard. They had followed Ava from when she had left her block and heard the whole conversation, but Shadow hadn’t tried to kill him on the spot.It was probably true. Jared had been messed up pretty badly after last year’s evaluations and the death of his friend. Jared hadn’t spent nearly as long in Isolation, but it had still fucked him up. Things didn’t always work out for him, as if his wolf senses sometimes failed him. Sometimes he was sure that was the reason he was doing so many fucked up things this semester. But he didn’t give a shit
Councillor Iulia smiled when he said that. It was a condescending smile that he and Shadow didn’t appreciate, but they both remained calm and watched her. The last thing he wanted to do was to piss off people who could end him in seconds.Iulia closed a file in front of her and pushed it away.“I am curious about you,” she drawled.“How so, ma’am?”“Your academic career has been spotless up until now. You rose the ranks in your very first semester and have proven time and time again that you are in control of your other self,” she said as she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs.Her eyes didn’t leave his face like she was searching for any reaction.This was where he and Shadow excelled. He had been fooling people his whole life because letting anyone else know the depths of Shadow’s depravity was a death sentence. So he kept his mask on. Kept his calm.“The only student trainer we have had in decades, and you also maintain the highest grades,” she continued.“Yes. I take my re
Ava sucked in a breath when she saw Ezekiel walking out of the dean’s office. Why was he here? Had they got him already? Did they know what he’d had to do for her?Ezekiel’s gaze landed on hers, changing from amber to red and then back again. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before. Was he scared? Wolves were taught to fear the Council from when they were pups; they were their Boogeyman. The all-seeing, all-knowing. She knew then that they knew everything, even her escape attempt through the forest.Ezekiel looked at the dean, who was watching him intently, and then back at her. “You may go now, Mr Michelson. They’re waiting to escort you out,” the dean said.A muscle in his jaw ticked. Now, she wasn’t sure if it was fear she saw on his face earlier. She didn’t have wolf senses, but the second he walked out of the office, she had been so sure she felt that fear. Maybe she was just projecting her own fear onto him. “Mr Michelson,” Dean Russell said firmly.Ezekiel ig
Ava was numb as the Council guards led her out of the building. The Council’s decision had fried her mind, which was probably a good thing because the foursome in her head disappeared, and she’d been wide open to their magic as she had left the room.Even the dean’s cold look had failed to bring a reaction from her.She just couldn’t think. Zeke was sitting by the fountain when she let herself out, and she saw him release a breath as if he had been worried. She looked back as the doors were closed behind her, and she felt like her fate had been sealed. They had seen her in person; they knew she was human! She hadn’t thought it would be that hard for the councillors to admit their mistake. Should she go back and beg?“Ava.”She looked back at the Alpha waiting for her to join him and then back at the door. Why was it so hard for these people to just do the right thing? Would they rather she died there instead of sending her home?She was going to die.“Ava.”She was going to die!He
Zeke showered and changed in his dressing room before he made his way to the beginners' training room.He'd almost marked her on a desk in a public library. Without a care, like an idiot.He could have killed her. The whole reason he had taken her to one of the soundproofed study rooms was so he could ask her what happened with the Council members, but she'd been panicking, and one thing had led to another. Instead of asking if she was going to get carted off for whatever part she had played in Claire's disappearance, he'd been thinking with his dick. And now he'd spend hours torturing himself, not just because of his fears of the Council's next move but because he could still feel her all over him even though he had showered. What had his little mate done that Saturday? The dean said Claire and her friends had gone into town, but he had explicitly told Ava to wait for him. Had she actually gone to town, too? He had tried to keep her name out of his head, but the Council had asked
Mr Patrick turned in his seat to watch Ava the moment she opened the detention room door. She looked him square in the eye and thought of sheep jumping over rainbows.Mr Patrick rolled his eyes and turned back to watch the room. So what exactly was he, to be able to read her mind? Seers couldn’t do this, but there were so many different species here at the academy that she didn’t know much about. This was nothing like her pack at home, where everyone knew everyone, even if they didn’t all live close together.“Take your seat, Miss Morgan.”Where had he been that night when the horrible teacher had taken his place? She had been so confused and had needed his help. Maybe he could help her now.“Must I repeat myself? You’re disturbing everyone.”And that was when she saw that, for a change, another student was in the room. He looked at her from his seat right at the back without smiling. He didn’t like her very much, she could tell. Maybe he didn’t like her at all, like all the other st
Ava looked out of the window in her dorm room. The sun was still out, and she couldn't see anything besides the woods. But she could feel Zeke there. Her door opened, making her turn quickly, but it was just Emily returning with her bags. Training had been strange. Claire and her friends hadn't made a single move. Besides the initial snarl when she walked in, the session had gone without incident. Her new coach, Coach Henderson, hadn't targeted her like Coach Baxter, so she had stayed in the background the whole time. She'd sparred with the vampire Max, so even that had been stress-free. But all it had done was make her a little anxious about when Claire would attack. Would it be another ambush?"Shall I pack this away for you?" Emily asked. "No!"What was wrong with this wolf to make her so eager to be someone's maid?"Thank you for collecting my things, but we need to talk now," she said as she finally walked away from the window and sat on her bed. The room was still empty. It
Zeke was still struggling to stop himself from going on a bloody rampage when he sensed he wasn't alone. He looked over at the lake to calm himself. It really wasn't Mr Patrick's fault, he knew that. But still, he wanted to rip his head off."Calm down, Zeke," Mr Patrick said from somewhere behind him. "Don't tell me to calm down. I should never have listened to you. To either of you."Ava's father was the first to come down to the bank and stand beside him as he looked over the water. Ava was going to kill him for this but damned if he was going to send away the only other person there who would lay their life down for her."And what was your plan?" Alpha Morgan asked. "Charge out of here and protect my daughter out there alone? Try to outrun the Council?"Zeke snorted."I think we all saw that she doesn't need protecting," he growled. "But none of that matters if she doesn't talk to her wolf, Ezekiel," Mr Patrick said. Did he want her to talk to her wolf? At this point, he wasn
Ava came out of the Administration building, and the first person she saw was Zeke. She had felt him there even before the guards opened the doors for her to leave. She made her decision the moment she saw the way the guards stood at attention with their hands on their weapons, ready to hurt him. Zeke's eyes were red, and his fists clenched at his sides. He stood like a statue, but she could sense the danger emanating from him as if one wrong move would end everything. She knew he'd been waiting to save her. He would put himself on the line if she were in danger. She'd condemned him to her fate. She lowered her gaze and started walking down the steps. "I'm fine," she told him quietly. "No, Ava. You're not 'fine'," he growled. So she wasn't hiding it as well as she thought. "I will be," she said truthfully. Whatever was going to happen next was her fight. Zeke needed to stay out of it to stay safe. At least he would have a chance that way."What did he want?""I've been removed
Ava closed her eyes when she felt Zeke's pain mixing with her own. "Move."The guard behind her nudged her, causing her to stumble, but she righted herself quickly and continued walking down the hallway. "Faster, human," the guard said, and then he grabbed her arm and half pulled, half dragged her the rest of the way.This was no school. The Council could dress the academy up all they wanted, but it took more pride in the training than the academic side. And now, with the Council soldiers manhandling students, there was no way they could hide it.When she entered the dean's offices, Penelope was already looking right at her. She wasn't typing and ignoring her as she usually did. Her allure felt different. It was still strong; it still drew her towards the woman, but it didn't feel threatening. Penelope looked at the guard who came in beside her and then at his tight grip on her arm. And that was when she felt the full force of the vampire's nature."That's unnecessary. Let her go,"
Zeke sat on the bench in the Quad, watching the seven students standing in the middle of it. They weren't talking; they just stood there as if they were waiting for something. Or someone. He tilted his head and focused on each of them. Their wolves were still there, but he could barely sense them. So, did that mean they couldn't shift anymore?The Council had found them when the dean and his guards had failed. Dead or alive? That was what he couldn't figure out. What the hell had been done to them? And was this Ava's doing or the Council? Claire turned her head to look at the building behind them. Then they all turned. Shadow snarled inside him because he knew what they could sense. Ava. Ava was in that building, still in her lessons, and her heart pumping away. Terrified. He had been tracking her all morning, on the verge of shifting at any little thing, waiting to run to her aid the moment she needed him. If she needed him. He pushed thoughts of the forest out of his mind and
Ava felt all the eyes on her as she made her way to her Needlework class. It was back to the same old rubbish again.Only it wasn’t the same now. Over the weekend, she’d gone and got mated, then beat the crap out of an Alpha, and to top it all off, she'd willingly walked into the darkness of the forest. She was not the same person as before. Instead of shoving her, they were moving out of her way. She couldn't be sure whether it was because they had heard what she had done or they had seen her holding hands with Zeke. However, she didn’t think Zeke’s dad would have publicised what she had done to him. But none of that mattered now, anyway.She’d felt something in her chest the moment Claire and her friends had walked in.The first had been the brief joy when she had realised that she hadn’t killed them. She wasn’t a murderer. She didn’t have to hand herself in to the Council.Then came the feeling of dread. The darkness she felt was coming to claim her had been coming from those stu
Zeke pushed down his emotions as much as he could, but Ava could clearly sense some of them. She'd been looking at him since they'd woken up. He hadn't expected Mr Patrick's plan to work at all. He'd thought it would be exactly like the last time when he'd felt her pain and run into the forest raging. But instead...He looked down at the woman sitting next to him and felt like going back home to hide away. Like what Shadow was doing. He hadn't heard anything from the beast since they'd had their heart broken. But it wasn't Ava's fault. He had to keep reminding himself of that. He sensed Ava's fear seconds before he smelled it. The stench of death and decay. The stench of evil darker than anything Shadow had hidden in his soul. His beast unfurled and paid attention. Something wasn't right.This thing was coming closer to the assembly hall. For Ava? For him?And then he caught a scent that he had thought he would never smell again. It was just a hint as if it was fading, but it was
Ava gasped for air and clawed at her throat as she sat up. Something was squeezing her throat, making it hard to breathe. The darkness was inside her. She could feel it. "Shh. It's okay. You're okay." She felt Zeke's warm, hard body against her bare back as his arms circled her. The relief was instant as she greedily inhaled and exhaled deeply. Zeke's large arms tightened around her as he brought his lips down to her mark briefly. The security she always felt in his arms failed to ease her mind. There was danger all around them, danger inside them, and she didn't think she would ever feel safe again. But still, her breathing evened, and her heart rate lowered. Zeke didn't need to say another word, but her body relaxed as if the nightmare hadn’t happened. "My dad?" she asked."Gone. I did what you asked," Zeke said. Her heart squeezed again. She would have wanted a better goodbye. If the pain she’d felt all over her body was anything to go by, her dad would have been traumatised a
It was almost lunchtime when her father returned. She had been on her way downstairs to eat something when Alpha Morgan knocked the broken door out of the way and marched in.She stopped when he noticed her and her heart squeezed in her chest. Her father was in pain. She could sense that as if her wolf senses were helping her, even though she still couldn't feel anything different inside her. "They're all over the boundary," her dad said. "We have to find a hidden place to cross into the forest."He was still saying 'we'. She walked down the rest of the stairs and went into his arms. When his arms tightened around her, she felt him tremble a little, and her heart broke again. This could be the last day she saw her father.But he would have to go. When the car came for him to take him to the airport, he would leave alone. He had the boys and the whole pack to take care of. She'd had the entire morning to come to terms with that. It was the only way. "I will go into the forest, and