Zeke made everyone sleep in the basement. He'd never thought he’d have to use it to hide from the Council, but he was glad that his paranoia about Shadow had made him reinforce that room. He didn’t know if it was strong enough to keep them out if they were determined to get Ava, but they hadn’t tried.While his mate and his pack slept, he stayed up, trying to come up with a plan. Ava needed to become stronger to take care of herself if things went wrong for him. That meant he had to mark her as soon as possible and train with her as well.Mating with a human would weaken him, but it would give Ava the strength to survive.Only if the mark didn’t kill her.Which meant he had to go back to the library today and hope he hadn’t pissed the librarian off too much.He left the house while the others were still sleeping and let Shadow take over. Usually, he could track anyone, but even with Shadow in control, he felt like he was running around in circles. He couldn’t sense where the Council
Training with Ezekiel was something else. He refused to take no for an answer, and after this demonstration, she was glad. She thought he would go easy on her for some reason, maybe because he couldn’t hide how much he wanted her in his bed.But he was relentless. He was worse than her father. When she had tapped out for the last time, and Ezekiel released her from a hold, she was both impressed and pissed off.She sat breathlessly on the mat in a smaller training room in the training centre. Her whole body ached, but not in the way it had been aching after ‘training’ with the coach. She felt like she was finally doing something productive again, but hated that she hadn’t won against Ezekiel even once.Ezekiel walked back to her with two bottles of water and handed her one before he sat in front of her, leaning against his knees. She gratefully gulped down her water before looking at the Alpha. He hadn’t even broken into a sweat; she was the only one panting like crazy.Ezekiel studie
In his free period, Zeke casually strolled into the busy library. Trying to have this conversation where they could be overheard was stupid, but he needed to know. He couldn’t resist Ava anymore, especially when she was under his roof.Her scent was everywhere. And even if she denied it, she couldn’t hide that she wanted him, too. He only had to touch her, and she’d be his.He had to fix this situation so he could concentrate on everything else.When he walked into the atrium, Miss Donovan was at her desk dealing with some students. Her sharp gaze was already on him, as she had probably sensed him coming. Fucking in the library was not allowed. This wasn’t an academy rule, it was Miss Donovan’s, so he was on her shit list. Would she still help him out? He imagined she’d had many reasons to enforce that rule with all the soundproofed study rooms around the library. Things around the academy sometimes got hairy, especially when a female was in heat. But Miss Donovan told all of them to
Training with the coach was different. It was her first one since the coach had graded and separated them, and she had been left with all the students that the coach thought were hopeless. He didn’t try to hide that he thought they would all fail. He said it to their faces several times before he left them to fight each other without a clue what was happening while he went to another class. Most of them didn’t even know the correct formations for basic moves. Ezekiel was still there, quietly circling the room but since everyone here was scared of him, it didn’t help the situation.It felt almost criminal to keep winning. Her body was still sore from the morning, but she wasn’t exerting herself as much during any of her matches.If the mock evaluations were as tough as Ezekiel said they would be, then none of them stood a chance. She hated agreeing with the coach, but he was right about this. She wished the academy would do something about this, but it was apparent they didn’t give a
“You’re not hungry?”Zeke had watched his little human push her food around her plate for a while. That wasn’t like her. She always ate, no matter what was going on.“Not particularly,” Ava answered, looking up at him as she put her cutlery down.She had chosen the seat furthest away from him again, and he and Shadow didn’t like that. But he couldn’t scare her away; he had to do this right.‘We don’t have much time,’ Shadow reminded him.Shadow was all for grabbing her and pinning her down. He had never been known for his patience, and that was more obvious now. But Ava was human; she would never understand Shadow’s nature.“Want a beer?” he asked.“No, thanks.”“Do you even drink?” Derek asked as he ate.Of the two of them, his Beta seemed to be trying to get to know Ava. Myles was eating silently, which wasn’t like him at all.“Only when there aren’t people trying to kill me,” Ava snorted as she pushed her still-full plate away.He watched her look at the Omegas hovering around the
Blood. Screams. Crunching sounds. Claire lying dead in the forest. Blood. Screams. Crunching sounds. Claws ripping through so many bodies. Blood. Screams. Crunching sounds. The vampire, witch and werewolf circling her, ready to rip her apart.She sat up with a jolt and saw the darkness in the room. She was sure she had left the light on again, but... Her heart pounded out of her chest as the darkness seeped through the windows, inching closer to her. The sticky, burning feeling covered her whole body, licking her skin like she was still in the forest. She was paralysed on the bed, unable to jump off and run to safety. She felt the tingles start rippling through her body as the pain increased, almost like the day Claire had been beating her up in town. She wanted to scream, but her throat wasn’t working. Her breath was stuck in her lungs.The darkness inched closer and closer, ready to swallow her up. She couldn’t go back into it. She wouldn’t be able to escape a second time.Light f
Zeke didn’t know how it happened. One second he was in pure ecstasy for the second time that morning, and the next, he had the asshole Jared by his neck on the floor, about to use all his strength to try to snuff his useless life out. Jared’s scent in the same room as Ava’s messed him up. Shadow took control, and his claws extended as they gripped Jared’s neck. He could smell the blood, and that made Shadow’s bloodlust unmanageable. There was nothing he could do to stop what was coming.He wanted Jared in pieces. He wanted to snap his neck and rip his carcass to shreds. But Ava was screaming, distracting him from satisfying his needs. Her fear clogged his nostrils, so much of it that it was enough to make him move his focus from the wolf he had pinned down to his terrified human. But Ava wasn’t running away from him as she made all that noise; she was running towards him.And then she slid in between his body and Jared’s, trying to use her meagre weight to push him off and prise hi
Ava went to her lessons that day and the day after with all her anger fuelling her. She was grateful that the other students left her alone since that display by Zeke and his pack in the cafeteria the other day, but even that was pissing her off.So she had begged them to stop making her life hell and they didn’t listen, but one word out of Ezekiel’s mouth and suddenly even the teachers weren’t saying anything to her? In training, the coach hadn’t insulted her a single time, even though she could see in his beady little eyes that he was itching to do so. Then Ezekiel informed her that her detentions had been moved to allow her to train a little longer for the mocks. The dean had supposedly agreed. Bullshit. Utter bullshit. When the coach blew his whistle to signal the end of the session, he told them to try not to die during the mocks and left the room. She shook her head as she headed to grab some water. “Ava.”She turned to watch Zeke approach. It was funny how she had become les
There was a dead silence the moment Ava walked into the Arena. She couldn’t stop her cheeks from heating up as she kept her head down and walked quickly towards her section. It didn’t help matters that Zeke was right behind her with his Alpha and Beta. They had separated at the door the other times, but now they seemed to follow her to the bleachers.Were they making a statement of sorts? Did it not worry them that they looked like they were breaking the rules by giving an Omega preferential treatment? That their Alpha looked like he was cavorting with a human? She would get so much hate from the other Omegas for this.And, most importantly, someone would tell the Council about this. If they had their spies here, as Mr Patrick said, then she had failed miserably to stay off their radar. What exactly were they looking for? Evidence that they had killed Claire and her friends? Was the end game to take their lives like they had taken the other wolves’ lives? Mr Patrick had been too crypt
He was coming for her. He would finish what he started. Ava didn’t know how she knew this, but it was like her whole body was waiting for Zeke, and that terrified her. She had no idea what had just happened in the arena. The moment she saw Emily walking to the ring, she felt like a different person. She felt so strong as she finally did what she had wanted to do since her former friend turned on her. And then she turned around and saw Zeke’s glowing eyes. She was instantly lost.Her first instinct had been to run, and just like that, the hunter had become the hunted. But she’d only exited the arena when she realised it was pointless. Then everything became a blur after that. She had been so crippled with need that she would have let him do anything. She would have so readily become his plaything.He was an Alpha, for goddess’ sake! The future Alpha of the largest pack in the country. Claire had been right about one thing—he couldn’t be with her. If life with her pack had taught her
“That was a very immature thing to do. You’re not children! I will not tolerate such undignified behaviour in my academy.”Zeke only half-listened to what the dean was saying. All he could smell was Ava; all he could feel was Ava. He needed to go for a run to clear his mind before he ruined everything. Ava wasn’t ready for this. She would run a mile from him if he told her, and her running from him when they were in danger was the last thing he needed.Last night, she’d almost died from whatever foolish thing she did, but his anger evaporated during her match as if it hadn’t existed. How could he have forgotten that there was someone among them who wanted her dead? How could he have easily forgotten about Claire and the Council? It was like he’d been mindless, stripped down to his primal nature to focus on one thing only.‘...two days in Isolation, and believe me, I will find out who did it...’The Fourth-Year fire assembly point was quite a distance from the First-Year one, but he co
Zeke stood near the bleachers, unable to process what he was seeing. Ava’s emotions had morphed into something completely different the moment she had seen the Omega. He felt all her anger and disappointment as if those feelings were his own. And he felt her deadly intent.The moment she shouted at the wolf to fight her, even Shadow paid more attention to that tone. Something had washed through his body as they watched Ava expertly pummel the Omega like she was some sort of demon. She looked so incredibly sexy as she committed acts of violence not normally seen in humans. Was it wrong to feel this fire spread through his body at the sight? It felt like his body was no longer his own as he walked to stand outside her ring.Every move she made wasn’t wasted, and it looked so effortless. Ava maintained control so easily that she would put most of the people at the Academy to shame. Her focus was entirely on the Omega. She fought as if she was made for it, as if she was some sort of warri
Ava stayed in the bleachers for all the matches for the beginners to complete. She was just being a coward. Between his matches, Zeke had paced up and down the whole arena, and every time he stopped at the beginners’ section, his eyes burned through her. She’d kept her eyes down even though she was obviously frustrating him. If other people hadn’t heard the rumours about them by now, she was sure his behaviour had made them aware. He was scaring the shit out of everyone. But it was okay. She wasn’t going to be at the arena much longer. She’d won some matches already but would tap out on the next one to avoid winning a spot in the top ten. This day wouldn’t end like the last one.Predictably, the coach called her name first. She ignored Zeke as she went to pick a weapon and chose a very small chain. It could still be deadly in the right hands, but she didn’t want anything that would intimidate her opponent. They’d all been wary of her already during the earlier matches. She hoped t
Zeke stood near the bleachers in his section, his eyes trained on Ava. She looked fearsome with that deadly weapon in her hand and her face devoid of emotion as she waited to cut her opponent down.He would have been very impressed if he hadn’t been so angry with her. Ava looked very confident with weapons in her hands. But as it stood, he wanted to fucking throttle her.Gideon told him that the vampire yielding had not been his doing. The prince claimed to have been just as surprised as everyone else. And, of course, he couldn’t rip that vampire apart because he had taken himself straight to Isolation the moment he had yielded. He would not be able to interrogate him until the end of the day.He still had the vial of Gideon’s blood in his bag, so Ava had not taken that before her last match; she’d had something else. She could have died last night! Who had given it to her? Who did he need to rip apart with his bare hands? She was keeping too many secrets; he and Shadow didn’t like it
Ava slept in her own room and silently made her way downstairs before Zeke woke up. The Omegas were the only ones awake when she went into the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit. She would have breakfast in the dining hall before going to the arena for the second day.The Omegas were just standing around, and the moment she walked in, they tensed and looked down.“What are you doing?” she asked with a frown, keeping her voice to a whisper so she wouldn’t wake anyone up. And why were they lowering their eyes?“Alpha Ezekiel keeps ordering us not to cook, but we have to. We don’t know what we should do,” one of the Omegas said. Samantha, if she remembered correctly. This Omega was usually the one bold enough to answer Ezekiel.“I would do what he says. Prepare your own food and then go to train and get ready for today, or whatever. I won’t say anything,” she said, reaching for a banana. She ate it quickly before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and putting it in her bag. The p
The infirmary. Ava had missed it. As she slowly blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she heard the beeping of the machines and realised she was hooked up to some IVs. The curtains were drawn around her bed, so she knew she wasn’t in a private room this time. She could hear faint moaning from one side of her. It made her wonder what had happened to that poor student for them to be in that much pain because all the students healed quickly, and the Infirmary had their fancy potions to help them.She gingerly lifted herself onto her elbows and looked around, trying to judge the time. The dim lights were on, so it was nighttime, but whether it was still the same day was up for debate. She hoped so. This would be a brilliant time to be unconscious for days so she wouldn’t have to participate in the rest of the evaluation.There was a slight commotion somewhere in the ward, and a female voice saying, “We told you to come back during visiting hours. There are too many patients tonight; you can
“Can we even do that? Can we yield?” Ava asked again as she paced Zeke’s dressing room floor.Her anxiety levels were through the roof, and she didn’t think even Zeke could get her out of this.What the hell was happening today? She'd expected her day to be over by now. She’d expected to be recovering in the infirmary by now or Zeke’s bed, where she usually woke up after something like this. But here she was, about to fight expert fighters—Zeke’s equals who were probably as ruthless as he was.“It’s against the rules. You invalidate all your progress for the term and get a day in Isolation,” Zeke said quietly. She whirled around to face him, horror filling every part of her. Even Jared warned her about Isolation and how it broke someone. Zeke seemed to have come out unscathed, but she knew how much pain he had been in. How could someone like her survive that? And why would anyone do that to themselves on purpose?“Is that vampire crazy? Does he have a history of doing such messed up