Of all the things that could have happened to fuck up his final year and his life, his wolf snarling that the human was theirs was the last thing he had expected. What the fuck?Zeke paced back and forth in his bedroom, his shoulders tense, fists clenched, and eyes glowing on and off as he tried to tame his beast.True mates were practically unheard of. There hadn’t been any reported in his father’s time or his grandfather’s. And when those rare meetings had happened, it was never to a fucking human! How the hell would that work? They broke so easily! He would be the Alpha of the biggest, strongest pack in all of America. His arranged mate came from the second biggest pack and had been carefully vetted. The Luna of his pack had to be strong enough to hold everything together. Not a human. Not something so fragile.Fuck!He could have punched something, but he knew Shadow would grab his chance to take control the moment he let his emotions take over. The beast was fighting to go and
Ava woke up with a start for the second time in a few short hours. The contents of the welcome pack were strewn all over her bed, and a piece of pie was stuck to the front of her T-shirt. She felt something on her face that felt like it was probably another piece of the pie. Last night’s events flooded her mind, and she shot off the bed. Daylight was streaming into the room through the gauzy curtains, which meant only one thing.She was freaking late! And her schedule said she had a mandatory assembly before orientation.She’d fallen asleep while trying to learn the millions of rules this place had. She hadn’t even made the bed or taken her alarm clock out of her suitcase. And because of that unhinged Alpha, she had dreamt of being carried out of this place in a body bag. It had made a change from her usual nightmares, but it was still unsettling.Still, she had to wait until after assembly and orientation before she could see the dean anyway. That Alpha couldn’t have meant she shoul
Ava looked away from the angry Alpha as Jared stopped at the seats on the opposite side of the aisle. Her heart beat so loudly that she knew everyone here could hear it. The Alpha’s words floated through her head again. They would smell her fear. They would tear her apart. Jared inclined his head, and one of the people quickly stood to move away. She had been ready to let go of Jared and find an empty seat for herself, but Jared still held onto her hand. It took her a moment to realise he was making the other guy give up his seat, too. She would have felt mortified when the guy stood and walked to the back of the hall, but she was ready to sit down. Her whole body had started trembling so much again that she didn’t think her legs would hold her. “After you,” Jared smiled.She sat quickly and looked down. It was so quiet in the room she would have heard a pin drop, and Jared was grinning like an idiot as he sat next to her. Maybe all the Alphas here were crazy. “If you are quite re
Her scent was every-fucking-where. It was up his nostrils and clinging to his clothes and skin. “Calm down, Zeke.”Calm down? Calm down?! How the fuck was he supposed to calm down when a human was calling to him like she was a siren? He had sensed her presence and smelled her long before she appeared on that bastard’s arm. She had been touching him! And she had let him touch her! The moment Jared had put his hand on her knee, he had been seconds from ripping that arm off. Ripping it off and then stuffing it so deep up that stupid dick’s ass before ripping his head off.Shadow snarled again, doing everything he could to escape his control. He continued pacing up and down the path behind the kitchens, clenching and unclenching his fists. Last night, she’d had that ridiculous cap covering most of her face and her boyish clothes covering her body, but now he could see her so clearly. When she had walked in, he’d felt like he’d been sucker-punched. She was so small, barely reached his c
Jared had led her through hallways that were a mix of old and modern architecture. He was walking so fast that she had to half-jog to keep up while also remembering not to make eye contact with anyone in case they turned out to be psycho wolves. It would have been funny if she still wasn’t trying to calm herself. This Academy had all the species, but it seemed it was still the wolves she would have to watch out for. Jared took her up a wide staircase to the second floor, where she saw doors labelled for the directors and associates of the different faculties. Then, finally, he stopped at a door that said ‘Dean Alexander Russell’.“I’m going to have to leave you here,” Jared said when she finally caught up. “I don’t think Alpha Russell wants to see my face right now.”He didn’t seem as happy as he had been when they had made that stupid entrance. If it weren’t for the fact that she would probably be leaving, she would have asked what the deal was with the evaluations that had made him
The First Year block seemed miles away. By the time Ava went through the wide doors, she was sweating and sure her eyes were red from holding back her tears. She hadn’t bumped into anyone, so she realised everyone else really followed the tardiness rule. She hoped they would follow the other rules—no fighting, respect for others, etc. The front of the building had several offices, which she assumed were the administration, but she couldn’t see anyone to direct her. She eventually found a map on the papers stuck on the notice board near the door and made her way to the room she was supposed to have gone to straight after the assembly. The welcome pack hadn’t included the academy prospectus, which she had thought was odd, but it said they would enrol in their classes during orientation. She hoped the spots weren’t limited. If she was going to get stuck here for a while longer, she at least wanted to make a start on the Business degree she would have done at a human college. She planne
Ava was seething by the time she was shown her locker in the training centre. She had pricked her fingers so many times during a quick taster lesson in needlework that she was ready to punch someone. How in the world did they think they could do this to her? This was about her future! She was going to run the family business, not sew and clean! She was not an Omega, but the fact that they treated them like this, giving them no choice about their futures, was outrageous! She had a lot of respect for Omegas, but how they even took all of this shit was beyond her. Being submissive didn’t mean being a doormat.If that was what it meant in this place, she would never survive. There was no submissive bone in her body. She would never survive four years doing this. She could have put her head down for a week or two until they saw their mistake, but if they kept her here for four years? No chance! Needlework? Seriously?She slammed her locker, startling the girl next to her.“Sorry,” she mu
Zeke hung his blazer up in his locker and then slammed it shut with more force than necessary. Derek and Myles didn’t say anything. They had been watching him since the assembly and it was pissing him off. How was he supposed to think like this? How was he supposed to prepare?“Maybe you shouldn’t do this today. Take your aggression out somewhere else instead of on the poor First Years,” Derek said finally.He gave Derek a look as he walked over to the fridge to get a bottle of water to cool himself down, and his friend had the good sense to look down. A challenge was the last thing he needed right now. His body was so wired up that he felt like he would explode. He hadn’t been able to concentrate in any lesson because this situation was not like anything he had ever dealt with. Derek was probably right.But he needed to let out some steam, and letting Shadow go for a run was out of the question. His only option was to punch something, and the training centre was the only place wher
“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;
Zeke led Ava into the Assembly Hall. He didn’t make an entrance like Jared had done on the first day of school, but the students who had already arrived turned around to watch them walk in anyway.Ava kept her eyes down and only looked up to look around for a seat. When she started to walk to a group of Omegas, he pulled her back and led her to his section. She didn’t protest, but once they sat down, she looked at him as if to ask what he was doing. Maybe Ava finally realised that Jared had purposely sat her in the Alpha section on her first day. But she wasn’t scared as she had been that first day. All he could sense from her was anxiousness.Jared walked in last with a few of his pack mates and didn’t even meet his gaze as he found a seat behind him. He’d yet to speak to that asshole, but he had expected that by now, there would be whispers around the campus of his activities in the training room. There had been nothing.An Alpha being with a human was unheard of. It was one thing
Ava tried to stay awake because she was curious about what Zeke had to say. Would he try to justify his rotten attitude? And if he did, would she mindlessly follow everything he said?And she was constantly thinking of when she would be able to see Mr Patrick again. With Zeke moving her detentions and being around her all the time, she couldn’t get away to find him. How could he help her get out of this? How was she supposed to prepare for the Council?Could anyone prepare for the Council?But her tiredness caught up with her, and she drifted off to sleep.When she woke, dawn was breaking, and she was nestled against a warm, hard body. She felt the tingles start in her body and shot out of bed immediately.That was not happening again!Zeke’s eyes were open, and he popped himself up onto his elbow to look at her. He had an amused smile on his stupidly handsome face.“Your bed is too small for me. You really need to move into my room,” he said.Sleep made his voice huskier, and parts o
Zeke stood just inside the glass doors and watched Ava sitting by the pool with her knees drawn. She had showered and then prepared her own food, which she had eaten in her room as she had done the other night.She was still pissed off with him. Her calling him Master and pretending to be submissive was a dead giveaway. How long was she going to keep this up? ‘She’s completely messed you up.’ He turned to watch Derek approach and then looked back at his little human. Though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders when he told Derek and Myles who she was, it was still irritating him that they were here to witness all this. A little human had felled the mighty Ezekiel.‘What are you two even fighting about?’ Derek asked in the mind link as he came to stand next to him.‘I don’t know,’ he answered honestly.He was frustrated. After waking up in Ava’s bed the other morning and embarrassing himself after he’d dry-humped her like a human teenager, he’d expected she would at least let h
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