*Aria*
I was restless, my leg bouncing under my desk as I tried to stay focused on the history lesson in front of us. The professor droned on and on about the history of the royal packs. I eyed Rebecca looking very proud in the front row and rolled my eyes. It was the third day of not seeing Atlas anywhere on campus and I was on edge. This was the second time this had happened and he had returned before, but after everything we talked about it made me angry that he would disappear now. The class was dismissed and I walked to the lunch hall with Judy in a daze, it was hard to focus on anything but Atlas being gone. The blonde girl was talking about something, another friend of hers it seemed, and I just hummed and nodded along.
I was trying to distract myself from the feeling but I couldn’t avoid it; I was sad. All this week I had attempted to keep away from the way I felt by hanging out with Judy, studying whenever I had a free moment, practicing sparring - but it was
A slap rang out in the bar, which quickly fell silent. Everyone turned to look at Judy and Arthur, the hushed whisper of gossip filling the space. I looked around and then made eye contact with the girl Arthur had brought, who quickly looked down with an intense blush on her face. “Shut up, you weasel.” Judy spat out at Arthur and the lanky man seethed, narrowing his eyes at her as they stood face to face. “I am a Jackson, and you will accept my rejection.” The hushed gossiping around the bar got louder and people had formed a circle around the event. Some people had taken out their phones to snap pictures or take videos. Arthur started to look a little worried and his date looked completely mortified at this point. She stepped back and then ran out of the circle. The voices of people got louder, the lanky man groaned out and then slapped his hand on a table. The bar got quiet again. “I’ll accept your rejection…” Arthur started and then got a sinister smile o
*Aria* I woke up the next morning with my head throbbing. Groaning, I tumbled out of bed and made my way slowly to the coffeemaker, wondering why on earth I'd had so much to drink the previous evening. While the coffee brewed I shuffled around the kitchen, finding and dry-swallowing two aspirin. I left the bottle out, realizing that Judy would probably need some when she woke up. After a few minutes, I poured the fragrant brew into a cup, added sugar, and took a deep drink. Once I was better able to function, I cast a glance at the clock next to the table. It read ten o'clock. I realized with no small amount of horror that both Judy and I had slept through battle class, which ran from nine o'clock to ten o'clock. "What time is it?" Judy asked as she made her way into the kitchen, pausing before the coffee pot to pour herself a mugful. I made a face and pointed to the clock, knowing what her reaction would be.
*Atlas* Seeing Aria's grief-stricken expression broke my heart. I knew what she must be thinking. That I was involved with another woman. And not only that but someone who looked just like her. I felt terrible for putting her through it. I felt even more terrible about the accusations that were no doubt made against her. I could only pray to the Moon Goddess that Aria would understand and forgive me once she knew the truth. "Altas, just the man we wanted to see," Principal Higgins said with a tired sigh, gesturing for me to enter the room. Despite his comment, he didn't look excited to lay eyes on me. I guess I could understand his point of view. As far as he was concerned, I was the cause of this whole mess. And he wasn't entirely wrong about that. "Happy to be of service," I replied in a casual tone that belied my true feelings. I sat down in the wooden chair next to Aria. My love looked so terrified and sad, and I
*Aria* Altas smiled at the question and gestured for me to come closer to him. Of course, I complied, and my wolf purred in satisfaction at the proximity. "It's everything that Rebecca's been doing to you for the past year," he whispered, "And I mean everything. Video of your fight when she used her powers to prevent you from moving. The chat where she and Scott planned to kill you and cover their tracks. Not to mention documentation of how Rebecca can control others using her mind. It's all in there. And truthfully, Rebecca is extremely lucky she's only being kicked out of school. If Rebecca were anybody else, she would go to prison for attempted murder!" "But how?" I asked, stunned and grateful for the help. "I mean, some of these things happened before I even really knew you! I don't understand." "From the moment we met, I knew you were special," he replied with a shrug. "And it was obvious that Rebecca was bad n
The slick sounds of sex filled the air as I walked down the hallway. Grunts and moans were mingling with each other. The front door to my boyfriend Scott’s house had been opened. I had only come to say goodbye before going to the academy but now I was regretting it. I opened the door to his room and what I saw was horrible. Knowing about it was completely different than seeing it with my own eyes. What I was witnessing made me sick—the man and the woman’s body intertwined together, the man on top of the woman was still thrusting, looked like he enjoyed it a lot, the woman screamed when she found out I was standing at the door. “Did I interrupt you?!” I asked with a cold tone, I tried my best to suppress the anger in my heart and the impulse to tear the man and woman on the bed apart. The man looked at me with fear and panic in his eyes. His eyes locked on mine, wide and frantic. There was Scott, my boyfriend, lying in bed with some other woman.“Aria,”
His gaze held me prisoner. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it. It was so intense, and the feeling he evoked only accompanied it. It seemed like in the moment it took me to convince myself to blink he was directly in front of me, his tall and muscular body towering over me. The pull I felt toward this man was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. But as fast as the feeling came, it vanished. I gasped at the quick retraction. The whole thing seemed like a dream. This had to be in my head, I thought. He leaned in, and his scent immediately hit me. I took in a deep breath, instantly recognizing it to be a blend of cashmere and rain. Every part of me wanted to reach out and pull him closer, but instead, I shoved my hands into my coat pockets. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before,” he began, his voice deep and gravely and his blue eyes locked on me, one moment I thought I would drown in the blue, then he smiled like a pretty d
After he left, I couldn’t stop thinking about the man—and the more I thought about him, the more I realized just how weird the entire situation was. My mind wouldn’t stop drifting to why he was at the Academy in the first place. His age really stood out as we walked the halls together—he looked nothing like the people I passed as I walked to my actual dorm.Soon enough, my thoughts were overtaken by the beauty of the Academy. The buildings were stunning, with their gothic-style architecture and surrounding forestry to compliment. The south was much warmer than the north, which meant that the gardens were now in full bloom. I smelled the flowers as I walked by, inhaling deeply. I couldn’t wait to get back out there one day. I paused on the sidewalk and looked around. The area I was in didn’t look familiar; in fact, it was a lot different than I remembered from the tour. It took a minute to realize I was lost. A blonde girl was walking toward me, so I stopped he
“You know you didn’t want another fight,” I demanded of Rebecca.“What? You are scared now?”She cackled in response, and I knew she wasn’t backing down, which was a problem. The last time we got in a fight she hit me hard, I hit back harder. It had broken her nose and her daddy had just bought her a new face, so she was pissed. The fight was worse because we had both been in human form, for me because I couldn’t shift, and for her, probably because I didn’t shift, either. She was stronger in wolf form, but the stronger we could fight in human form, the more powerful we could be as a wolf. That was why we did a lot of sparring as humans–so that our wolves would grow stronger and we could become powerful warriors.At least, she could be more powerful as a wolf. For me, human fighting was all I was going to get.She had another advantage over me last time, even though I broke her nose. Her healing journey had been a fast and easy one, thanks to her