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
The woods were scary, but she had to be brave. It was long past her bedtime, so it was dark. She had been fast asleep in the back of the car when she woke up to the loud bang. Then she saw them. The monsters.The monsters standing over her father’s body.She did what her father had taught her to do in this situation. She quietly slipped out of the car and started running.“Hey! Someone’s seen us!”It didn’t take long for the loud footsteps to follow her through the trees. The darkness and shadows cast by the full moon looked like predators ready to pounce on her, but she couldn’t close her eyes to make them go away. She had to survive. She tried to stay quiet as her dad had taught her. Step lightly. Change direction. Try not to leave too many tracks. But their long strides were fast and quickly catching up to her little ones. The forest was eerily quiet. All she could hear was her thundering heartbeat, harsh breaths, and the monsters behind her. It was like everything in the forest a
Ava tried to suppress the dread filling her as she sat in the back of the taxi, but she knew she was failing miserably. The taxi driver was some sort of supernatural, so he could probably sense everything. She knew that not because she had suddenly developed any enhanced senses overnight but because they were the only ones allowed to ferry the new students from the airport. Phoenix Academy was in some super-secret location that humans were not allowed to enter. She almost snorted at that. If that was true, they should never have insisted on her attendance. She should have been allowed to go to a regular college like any other nineteen-year-old human who’d survive the torture of high school. But no, she had to attend this place with all sorts of supernatural species who could kill her without a second thought if it wasn’t for the fact that it was forbidden.There were several branches of this academy all over the world to accommodate all of them, and she still didn’t know which one sh
Zeke Michelson buttoned up his shirt and tried to tune out Claire’s voice in the background. He didn’t give a shit about whatever she was complaining about. They had only been here a few hours, so only the Moon Goddess knew how she had found so much to complain about in the first place.He put his tie on and straightened it before he ran a hand through his still-damp hair.“Are you even listening to me, Zeke?” Claire whined.“No,” he answered as he turned to pick his blazer up. He held her gaze, daring her to complain about that. But Claire lowered her eyes and kept her mouth shut. Her blonde hair fell over her face as she sat naked on her bed. For a moment, he considered rejoining her because the woman knew how to use her body to please him. But she was already too clingy; he didn’t want to give her any more ideas.He left her room without a word, ignoring the shocked looks he got from the female residents of this dorm. But none of them would dare to report him. He was the future Al
When it was her turn, Ava finally lifted her head and looked towards the indicated room. She took a deep breath before grabbing the handle of her case and wheeling it behind her.A woman was seated behind a large desk when she let herself in. She didn’t even look up when Ava closed the door and left the bags just inside. The woman was typing something on her computer, and Ava took the opportunity to study her.Because she looked a little older than most supernaturals, Ava couldn’t tell what she was or if she was supernatural at all. She didn’t have the pale skin the vampires did, so she ruled that out. She dressed elegantly, and her greying hair was in a professional bun on top of her head. The name badge on the desk said, ‘Mrs. Benton, Student Welfare Coordinator.’Ava stood nervously in front of the desk, unsure if she was to just sit or be polite and wait for an invitation. With nothing in her hands now, she could only wring them together while waiting for Mrs. Benton’s attention.
Zeke looked at the offerings set out for the buffet with disappointment. Though all of it was quality food, as was expected at this academy, considering the amount of money most of them had to pay to be here, none of it smelled as amazing as whatever had been prepared earlier.“Have you changed your mind?” Derek asked as he loaded a plate full of food.Sighing, he picked up a plate and put something on it without paying much attention to what it was. He seemed to have lost his appetite without the delicious offering he had been looking forward to. When he picked up a bottle of water as well, he looked over at his usual table and saw Myles already sitting there with a group of girls—Claire’s group of friends. The three girls went everywhere together and always forced their company on them, as if Claire was trying to pair up her friends with his, too. They turned up at every single place they went—like magic. The girls never ate in the cafeteria, so he could only guess that somebody ha
Ava woke up with a start and looked around the dark room. She felt disoriented until she remembered the nightmare that had become her life.There was a lamp on the table next to her bed, so she felt her way in the dark and put it on. When she looked around, she realised she was still alone. It looked like her dorm mates hadn’t arrived yet, which was weird. She was sure they said everyone needed to be on the premises by three in the afternoon, and it was long past that now. There were three other beds in this room, each with a side table on one side and a desk and chair on the other. On her desk was a laptop and what looked like a tablet. Those had to be the electronics she had been told about by Mrs Benton. Then, separating each space were big wardrobes. On the other end was the kitchen area, which didn’t look like much at all. Just a counter with a microwave on it, a small fridge under it, and a small sink to the side. There was a small table and two chairs in front of it. She woul
Zeke shifted in the woods behind Jared’s house and snarled with frustration. What he wanted... What he needed was on that dick’s property. The scent was so strong here that Shadow was going crazy trying to cross the boundary.He usually had a tighter grip on his wolf than this, so it occurred to him for a second that maybe he needed to worry. It had taken years of work to get that unstable beast under control.But that scent... He was with Shadow on this. They had to find it.So he jogged back to his house and entered through the back doors. Myles and Derek were in the lounge with a group of girls who were definitely not wolves. He ignored their questioning looks when he strode past them naked. He didn’t give a shit that his junk was swinging all over the place in front of strangers. Other wolves wouldn’t have cared, but he felt the girls eyeing him as if he were their next meal. Derek found him as he was putting a shirt on.“Are we going somewhere?” he asked. “Just me.”He didn’t wa
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
The moment it sunk in that she won, she was in Zeke’s fancy dressing room, and her three housemates were looking at her as if she had grown another head. She sat stiffly on a sofa, looking at them as that thought kept going round and round in her head. She won.She beat Douche Dexter.And then something else occurred to her. She was going to have to fight again. She was going to have to fight a student at the advanced level.“What the hell have I just done?” she whispered.Zeke, Derek and Myles looked at each other and then back at her. Goddess knew what they were mind-linking each other, but they all probably also realised she had just screwed herself. There was no way she could fight anyone more advanced than Dexter. That was a death sentence!“How did you do that?” Derek asked.“I don’t know,” she answered, rubbing her temples. “I just got angry, he’s always an asshole... What have I done?” As the adrenaline had worn off, she had expected the pain from his blow to return, but the
Ava walked straight into the ring, and everyone in the arena started to quieten down. She told herself to breathe. This match would be her real test after fighting the beginners, so she had to let all her fear drain away as she had been taught to do. She told herself she didn’t need that vampire’s blood; she could fight under her own steam. In the silence of the arena, with all the students and faculty looking on, she concentrated on counting her breaths so she wouldn’t have an anxiety attack. To be more effective, she had to do what she told Robert that morning. She had to pretend no one else was in this room except her opponent, whoever that would be.As she waited, she started her stretches. She was lucky that she was flexible, but sometimes fear made her body freeze up. That couldn’t happen today. She had no idea how much longer she would be in this school, so she could have just lost all her matches earlier and avoided all of this. But she had her pride. She could admit that. A
Ava hadn’t managed to eat anything, and Zeke sat in the dining hall opposite her, not even pretending to eat. He sat so still as he watched her that she wondered what scheme he was hatching in his head. Would it get him sent to Isolation again? Or much worse?Zeke’s gaze only shifted from her when his body tensed, and he looked at the entrance. Moments later, a group of students entered the dining hall. She recognised a few of them as the vampires who had visited Zeke last night.The whole dining hall quietened down as they stopped to look around. Since vampires didn’t eat solid food, she had never seen any in the dining hall before, and those, in particular, she would have remembered. Like last night, she was struck by how powerful their allure was. Not as strong as the dean’s secretary or the Councillor, but such strength was rare in people so young. Wolves and vampires were natural enemies, even if the Council forced everyone to co-exist. She hadn’t imagined they would willingly i
Ava wasn’t surprised when she heard Coach Baxter’s booming voice calling her name. She met his gaze and saw the cruel smile on the man’s lips. He would enjoy every hit she took as if he was delivering it himself. She stood slowly and lowered her gaze. It was one thing to antagonise the coach during training, but there was an entirely different atmosphere in the arena and hundreds of people watching. She couldn’t openly break the rules. She felt hundreds of pairs of eyes on her as she walked into the wrestling ring and stood in one corner. Silence descended in the arena. She was sure the only sound they could hear was her loud heartbeat. Were they all waiting to watch her get her butt kicked? The whole school had to know by now how many times that had happened in training. Would it be the same now?She risked looking up and then had to look down again. The coach hadn’t announced her opponent and seemed to be enjoying making a spectacle out of her. The other levels hadn’t started yet;