Ash Parker is a rare scholar at elite Saint Blaise's Academy (SBA). She's a good kid, just trying to get by in school, despite being a social outcast among her affluent peers. Just before her 18th birthday, a sudden transformation turns her life upside-down. Her werewolf blood is awakened and she gains the ability to shapeshift into a terrible beast. Hunter Guzman is a handsome boy who's popular at the Academy. As the sole heir of a rich and powerful clan, he's got everything going for him: killer looks, athleticism, charisma, and influence. He's also secretly a werewolf, descended from a strong, noble line of Lycidae. The two accidentally encounter each other on a hunt and form a fast bond. Ash thinks that being with Hunter will help her understand and control her newfound abilities. On the other hand, Hunter thinks that he and Ash are the One True Pairing that will save the Lycans from extinction. Is there a middle ground for two wolf kids trying to navigate love and transformation?
Lihat lebih banyakIn the middle of winter, the woods were quiet. The river had frozen over, and all of the small animals were tucked into their nests and burrows, sleeping away in the cold night.
Soft snow was falling on a wooden lodge in a clearing. Two lights shone brightly at the front of the house, illuminating the front door. Inside, the lodge was dark: all the lights had been turned off for the night, save for the one in a bedroom on the second floor.
In the yellow-lit room, a little girl sat hunched over on the edge of a soft bed. The child was trying to run a comb through her thick black hair. Her hands tugged hard at the wooden comb.
As she struggled with the tangles in her hair, a dark shadow loomed over her. A thin white hand reached out, hovering over the innocent little head.
"Aaah!" the little girl gasped.
The pale white hand clutched the little hands that held the wooden comb on the child's head. A long arm wrapped itself around the thin shoulders, holding her in a pale embrace.
"Grrrr," the girl growled, as she tugged at the wooden comb, turning away from the hold that had closed itself around her.
The child started to struggle. She had closed her eyes when the arm went around her shoulders. She opened them again and her eyes turned from a warm brown to a hard gold in color. A feral expression took over her sweet face. She let out a soft growl and her little baby teeth grew into sharp little fangs.
The shadow laughed softly and only held her down harder. The little girl felt the laughter fill the soft space in the yellow-lit room as the arms around her tightened. There was nothing else but the sound of soft laughter in the cold, dark night and the arms wrapped around her, dragging her into darkness.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Ash's eyes shot open at the sound of the alarm. Her breathing was ragged and she backhanded the button on the beeping alarm clock, shutting off the incessant sound. Soft snow was falling outside, she could see it from the window.
She always had the same little girl dream on the night of the first snowfall. For the last ten years, she had had the same yellow-lit dream for one night of the year, and every single time she had woken up at the exact moment just when the arms tightened around her.
"It's snowing, Ashy!"
Ash, looked up at the top bunk, and she could see a pair of socked feet making their way down the ladder. The tall girl stood in front of the window and partially blocked the view from the outside. The faint light from the window seemed to illuminate her short blonde hair. Her roommate, Celia, stretched on her tiptoes in front of the window. She was still looking out at the falling snow when she asked,
"Did you have the dream again?"
"Yes," Ash replied stiffly. She was still lying down in her bed, covered in her blanket.
"Same as last time?"
"Yes. The same as every time."
Celia sat down on the foot of Ash's bed, leaning against the bunk bed ladder. It was early still. The faint morning light slanted away from the bunk bed toward the opposite end of the room, leaving the two girls under a comforting gray canopy of shade. In the shadow of the bottom bunk, the two girls sat companionably in a moment of peaceful silence. Finally, Celia spoke.
"You know, if you could have this dream just one day before the first snowfall of every year, we could make money selling that information to the weather station."
Ash smiled. She shifted her body so that she lay facing the wall, away from Celia. She wasn't quite ready to get up yet. Most of the other students in their dorm building probably weren't even awake then. Celia, however, had other plans for her.
"Come on, get up, we have to get to the showers before they run out of hot water!" Celia said, patting Ash's feet.
Ash slowly got up and felt the familiar pain in her back as she sat up. She groaned and put her hand on the sore muscles at the base of her spine.
"Back pain again?" Celia asked as she spryly rose from the bed. Celia was athletic with a lean body and never seemed to have any pain. Ash couldn't help but feel jealous of her beautiful friend.
Celia had green eyes and chin-length blonde hair that framed her heart-shaped face. Her eyes always seemed to sparkle with mischief.
"You're really taking your time with puberty, huh? Look on the bright side, Ashy, if you're still having growing pains, then at least that means you might get taller. Or grow bigger breasts!" Celia guffawed.
Ash laughed and threw a pillow at her friend. Celia caught it easily and pretended to throw it back. Ash quickly put her hands up to shield her face.
"Hey, did your hair grow again?" Celia asked, picking a long strand of hair off of Ash's pillow.
Ash ran her hands over her head and felt through her thick black hair. "I guess? I don't know."
Celia pressed the long black strand against her own blond hair. The strand ended right around the top of her ribs. "Look at that, I'm practically Rapunzel! We should sell your hair, you're basically a hair factory!"
"You know, for a rich person, you're kind of obsessed with money, Cece."
"Well, yeah. My family is new rich so I'm not used to having money yet. Not like the old rich here at school."
"Yeah, well, I'm not any kind of rich at all, so I have no idea what that feels like," Ash retorted.
Celia smiled, kindly. "Not yet, you're not. But if we can find out the secret of your fast-growing beautiful long dark hair, we can sell it to balding old people and you'll have money forever! Your hair is practically supernatural!"
Ash thought about the word "supernatural" as she bundled her long black hair into a bun at the top of her head. Her dream of the yellow-lit room had a supernatural feeling to it.
Other than being an orphan, her life was normal; the recurring dream had been the only strange thing that ever held any meaning for her.
Ash’s wolf eyes opened to see two girls cowering together on the bed in front of her. She could smell their fear distinctly: an acrid smell that caused her nose to twitch. The smell was emanating from these two girls and these two girls were her friends. She knew this in her heart. They weren’t prey animals.Ash moved to bring comfort to her friends, seeking to calm them. She opened her mouth to speak and a low keening howl escaped her throat. The sound seemed to reverberate around the room. The sound was monstrous and offered no comfort to the human ear.Celia screamed, afraid. Izzy, however, remained perfectly still. Her fear was still palpable but there was an underlying courage that kept her from swaying.Ash could sense an aura coming from Izzy. Something yellow, with lines of sky blue. It was warm and soothing.[Ash, please, Celia is scared. Please stop] A voice echoed in Ash’s head.[Izzy, is that you?] Ash thought.[Yes, it’s me. Please stop this.]Ash locked eyes with Izzy in
The silver-haired man looked like he was in his late forties, perhaps fifty years old at most. He had sun-warmed skin that contrasted with his pale blond, nearly silver hair. He looked like an outdoorsman in his denim jacket and worn gray jeans.“That’s Wendell Carson to you, my boy. Grandfather was an old life,” the silver-haired man replied with a half-smile.Hunter didn’t say a word. He did not know what to say. He only knew that he had said something he wasn’t supposed to say.The man turned toward the girls and smiled.“My name is Wendell Carson. I’m a wildlife expert from The Wolf Sanctuary in Mountain Range. In an old life, I was Hunter’s known grandfather.”Ash’s eyes widened. She had only ever heard of Hunter’s grandfather from Lavinia, Hunter’s mother. The story of him killing and eating Lavinia’s horses shot through her mind. Her heart beat faster and her palms began to sweat.Celia and Izzy merely looked on, confused.“You will call me Mr. Carson and that will be all. No o
In the middle of the first week back, the headmaster called all the students to the Grand Hall for an assembly. This was unusual as Assemblies were usually set for the beginning or end of term, and certainly not done mid-week.The students shuffled in at an early 7:00 am, with much grumbling and fidgeting.The Head Master looked out to his early morning audience and began his speech. He spoke first of preliminary matters, welcoming the students back from their holidays. After the brief niceties, a somber look came upon his face and he continued.“There are a few matters I will be addressing this morning that is of great importance to the Academy.First, I am sure that all of you have heard of the tragic incident that occurred over the holidays in the restricted area behind the school. It is true that a man was found thereon, but I would like to assure everyone that it was not a student of this school. Those of your peers who have yet to arrive from their holidays will be accounted for
Monday Morning: At lunch, the cafeteria was abuzz with chatter. It was the first day after the holidays and rumors were flying.Rumor 1: Apparently, a man had been found dead in the woods behind the school.Apparently, the man had killed himself and the body had been eaten by animals, leaving only his pecked clean bones. Others claimed it was one of the school staff that killed himself.Rumor 2: Celia, the new money girl, had apparently tried to stab the orphan Boots girl at the fancy restaurant in town. Her vulgar rich parents had paid off the orphan to not press charges, and apparently, that was why trailer trash Celia new money wasn’t back yet.Rumor 3: It appears that there was some truth to Rumor 2, as Hunter Guzman had suddenly seemed to take an interest in Orphan Boots.They had been seen jogging together at the quad in the early morning and they seemed to be chatting away. He also
Lavinia had a powerful aura about her. She was not a shifter, yet she was clearly the alpha female of the Guzman house.Madame Guzman was of average height, but she stood tall and walked tall. The hems of her flowy pants never creased at the bottoms. She never dragged her feet.Ash wasn’t sure if Lavinia was actually taller than her (she wasn’t) but the woman just seemed to stand over her, literally and figuratively.Lavinia spoke with authority and moved with a dancer’s grace. With her wavy black hair, curling softly about her shoulders, she looked regal: the rightful and noble queen of a castle. To Ash, even her name sounded fancy: Lavinia.And yet, Mrs. Guzman was also warm and motherly.“It’s not too tight, is it?” Lavinia asked.“No, ma’am,” Ash replied.Ash sat on the floor of Mrs. Guzman’s sitting room as the lady of the house braided her long dark hair. Mrs. Guzman herself had offered to do it. It had seemed so natural to sit at this woman’s feet and sink into the gentle grazi
Hunter was even more touchy than usual. He hugged Ash just before they entered the house. When he pulled the chair out for her at breakfast, he gave her a squeeze on her shoulders just before he sat down in his own chair.Lavinia glanced at her husband, speaking with her eyes. “Are you seeing this?”Silverio nodded, subtly.“Ash, come by my study after morning training,” Lavinia said, with a hint of a smile. Ash smiled back. She had an inkling that it was going to be about her suits, but she didn’t want to say anything. She was excited but she didn’t want to jinx it.***Ash stood in Mrs. Guzman’s reading room. There was a pile of leather-bound books on the mahogany writing table, a bowl of crystals, and two sets of cards. Ash looked around, trying to find the package that contained her new suits.The door opened and Mrs. Guzman came in with a large black box.“Don’t you just look excited?” She teased Ash.Ash got dressed in the adjoining powder room and emerged. She wore a set of dar
When I woke up that morning, I felt like the world was finally my oyster. For most of my life, I endured pain. When I was little, I suffered through the pain of rejection. I was already “too old” when I arrived at the Orphanage. Most couples wanted babies or toddlers: too young to know that they were abandoned, easily raised and molded, no need to tell them where they really came from until they were adults themselves. We were taught to appeal to the visitors. We were to stand in a line at the doorway to greet them and smile when they walked past. We were to stand in lines arranged according to height and sing a song about how sad it was to be a child alone in the world. The visitors were allowed to cry, but we were not. We were told to smile and play. We spoke only when spoken to. We were not to speak of our parents. The guests could say whatever they wanted to us. They could promise us new toys, good food, a new home, a new hope of belonging: we were supposed to smile and act shy.
Two weeks into the holidays, Ash could feel herself getting stronger.Every meal she ate at the house was the most fabulous meal she had ever eaten in her life. Everything was fresh and delicious, many of the dishes were ones she had never had before. She used the softest towels on her body and slept in the biggest, softest bed she had ever slept on.The Guzman’s refrigerators were the most wondrous things she had ever set eyes on. Double doors, a built-in ice maker, and each one was always full of food. If she wanted a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with olives and feta cheese at ten in the evening, she could have it. There were bottles of sparkling water, infused water, and even alkaline water.The casual abundance of their home was both comforting and exciting.The training was hard, but her body seemed to recover fast. Her days were filled with training and grand pockets of leisure in between. She had full use of the family library, and in
The next few days revolved around training. There was an hour of running in the morning, an hour of weight training in the afternoon, and another hour of running in the early evening. The household staff had returned and there was a semblance of normal in the Estate. Apparently, none of the staff, with the sole exception of Fernan, knew that the Master of the house and his son were werewolves.“What would happen if anybody else knew?” Ash asked, early one morning.Hunter’s head was buried between her breasts and he looked up at her with a dazed expression in his eyes.“Huh?”Every morning before their daily run, the pair had taken to making out in the bedroom almost immediately after waking. It was very difficult for Hunter to keep away from Ash at night, but he abided by the most important rule and did not share Ash’s bed while she slept. Every morning at the crack of dawn, however, he would barge into the bedroom and
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