We listened to Van Halen the entire drive. Like an entire album. It was at least an hour before the van slowed to a crawl. No one said much to me the entire time except to ask if I needed to pee or have water. I felt like a prisoner but not; it was weird. My hands weren’t tied, I was just told to keep this bag loosely over my head the whole drive, which was triggering some serious PTSD. I didn’t like being in small spaces.
The alpha obviously didn’t trust me, which made me wonder how hard Sawyer had to beg him to let me back into Werewolf City. Why would Sawyer do that? I’d met him all of two minutes. Granted, it was an intense meeting, but I didn’t think I’d impressed him with my angry outburst and shabby clothes.
“So, like, can we really not date any girls this year until Sawyer picks his mate?” one of the males asked, turning down the music. My whole body tensed as I leaned into the conversation, curious what the answer would be.
Another dude chuckled. “Nah, he’ll pick his top twenty pretty quickly and then you just stay away from them.”
What the fuck? Twenty girls to date all year?
What was this, Werewolf Bachelor?
“Sophia Green is so fucking hot. I’ve wanted her since first grade. He better not pick her,” a third male said.
There was a smacking sound and then a groan. “Women are not objects, you fools,” the redheaded female chided them. “The girl Sawyer ends up with will have to choose him just as much as he chooses her.”
Collective laughter rocked through the car. “And what female at school wouldn’t pick pretty boy Sawyer?”
“I wouldn’t,” the female said.
Silence.
“You’re his cousin. Gross,” a male voice commented.
“So? I wouldn’t pick him. Now stop talking about the mating year, it’s making me nauseous. I have to live with it for the next year,” she snapped back.
Cousin? She was Sawyer’s cousin?
We rode in silence a few more minutes until the van stopped.
“We’re here. I’m taking the cover off of her head,” the female said.
“Copy that,” a male answered.
Finally!
When the sack was ripped off my head, I was blinded with bright light. I winced as my eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight assaulting my brain.
“Hey, Brandon,” someone outside of the car said.
I swiveled my head in that direction to see a guard standing in front of a giant iron gate. He wore black army fatigues with a gun at his hip. “That her?” He peered inside of the car at me.
What the…?
He looked me up and down, causing redness to creep up my neck. “Now I see why Sawyer went to all that trouble.”
“She can hear you, asshole!” Redhead snapped.
The guard rapped a palm on the hood of the van twice and we rolled forward into the open gates.
Holy shifter babies.
My jaw unhinged as we passed a low stone wall with the name Sterling Hill University on it. It wasn’t the letters that had me transfixed, it was the freaking building and manicured lawns. The campus was sprawled out onto a wide green lawn, with several buildings made of glass and stainless steel. Everything was so modern. Students walked on the sidewalks, but a few wolves lay on the lawns, sunbathing in their animal form.
I gasped and Redhead looked at me, following my gaze.
She frowned, then looked at the cuffs on my wrists. “When’s the last time you shifted?”
It was an innocent question, one I’m sure she didn’t think would carry so much pain.
“Never.” My voice cracked. “I was born outside Werewolf City,” I told her.
“Jesus,” the driver dude said.
“Language,” the guy in the passenger seat growled.
The driver flipped him off and the dude in the passenger seat grabbed the finger and bent it backward until the driver conceded. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, baby Jesus.”
“That’s better,” passenger guy said, and when I looked at the redheaded chick again, she was smiling.
I was grateful for the distraction.
“I’m Sage,” she told me, holding out a hand.
Sage. That was an interesting name.
“My mom’s a hippie.” She winked and I took her hand.
I shook it. “Demi.”
She gestured over her shoulder to the driver, “That’s Brandon, total player and asshole. Stay away from him.”
“Hey!” he yelled.
She motioned to the guy in the passenger seat. “And that’s Quan. Sweet teddy bear, you can trust him with your life.”
“Love you, Sage.”
“Love you too, boo,” she called back.
There was a guy sitting next to Sage who was silently staring out the window. “That’s Walsh, he’s basically a mute.”
“Fuck you,” he growled, causing her to grin.
“But if I had to pick one guy to have my back in a fight, it would be him.”
“Hey!” the driver, Brandon, yelled again.
“Sorry, babe, you’re worthless. Nothing but eye candy.” Sage shrugged, then looked at me, winking as Brandon started to pout.
“I can’t help that I’m so beautiful,” Brandon declared.
Everyone chuckled, including me.
I liked her, I liked all of them, even though this was the weirdest fucking day of my life.
We pulled into a parking spot, in between a Range Rover and a BMW, and I started to second guess my decision to come here. My jean shorts were torn, with heavily frayed edges, and my Converse shoes that I’d snagged at a second-hand store had duct tape on the bottom to keep the sole from coming off. Not to mention my t-shirt was vintage and looked like I’d pulled it out of a trashcan. I’d had it custom screen printed with Coffee before talkie across the front.
I clearly didn’t belong here.
Brandon killed the engine and opened the sliding van door, rolling out his neck. “I’ll take her to admissions, then she’s no longer our problem.”
Ouch. I take it back, I didn’t like all of them.
“You’re a dick, you know that? I’ll take her.” Sage jumped out of the van and he was forced to back up or she’d plow right into him.
He just rolled his eyes and waved her off. “Whatever.”
The other boys jumped out of the van as well and looked at me. “I hope you like it here. It was nice to meet you,” Quan said, taking off his belt which held two guns. I noticed a large gold cross hung from his neck.
“Thanks…” I cleared my throat, “for the kidnapping.”
Sage grinned, and even Walsh’s lips twitched like he wanted to smile.
“She’s funny. I like her,” Sage told Quan, then she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the van. I followed her, suddenly conscious of the wrist cuffs that no one else had. People stared as we passed, but when they did Sage flipped them off, so they quickly turned their heads.
“Big news on campus. The alpha’s son goes to meet with the principal of the magical rejects for charity work and is so taken with a banished wolf that he begs his father to free her and let her back into the city so she can be considered as a potential mate for his mating year. Quite romantic, if you like that shit.”
“No. No. It’s not like that,” I told her, my cheeks reddening. “He just used the mate choosing thing as a way to get me out. He even said so in his letter.”
My cheeks pinked again just thinking about it as we passed another group of people who stared. I tucked my chin into my chest and looked at the ground, wanting to disappear. I didn’t like attention, I liked life better through the lens of my camera.
Sage’s hand rose and jerked my chin up as she stopped walking and leaned into my ear. “Honey, you’re a wolf. Looking down when stared at is just going to get your ass kicked.”
I gulped.
This was so different from Delphi Academy.
I nodded.
“Submissives don’t go to Sterling Hill, and I can smell your dominance, so just let it out, okay?”
Let it out? The one thing I’d shoved deep down inside of me my entire life?
“Got it,” I said, my voice stronger. “Anything else?”
This chick seemed knowledgeable, and since my parents never spoke much of Werewolf City or their time at Sterling Hill because of the pain it brought them, I knew shit-all about this place, or how to survive here. I’d never shifted, never lived in a pack. I grew up with a bunch of stuck-up magical assholes as a solitary wolf girl. Everyone at that school was a grade-A asshole except for Raven. Without her I might not have survived it.
Sage nodded, hissing like a cat at a passing girl, who scurried away, leaving Sage grinning. When she was done, she leaned back in to face me. “Every female at this school wants to marry my cousin Sawyer and be the alpha’s wife, and every single one now knows that he brought you here to join the dating pool. Watch your back.”
Then she turned and walked off, leaving me speechless and with a lump in my throat.
Join the dating pool? Holy shit, I really was in Werewolf Bachelor.
“Come on!” she snapped, and I ran after her, throwing some glares of my own as I passed. Every female here was dressed like a Barbie. Full-on high heels, dresses, slacks and silk shirts. Hair was curled and set in place and make-up was on-point. Not an eyebrow hair out of place. Meanwhile, I looked like I’d rolled out of bed and threw on whatever was closest and smelled generally clean, which wasn’t far from the truth.
I ran after Sage and followed her around a corner to a giant glass dome building marked Admissions.
She stopped at the door and faced me. “I’m a junior. I live in Lexington Hall. Suite Eleven. Try to get on my floor and I’ll take you under my wing.”
My heart pinched at her generosity and I nodded. “Thanks, girl.” I looked down at her chin out of habit and she inclined her head, smoothing her bright red hair over one shoulder and tipping my chin up to meet her eyes.
“Remember, give ‘em hell. You’re one of us now.”
With that, she turned and walked away, leaving me to stand in front of the double glass doors.
You’re one of us now. She had no way of knowing how much that meant to me.
Okay … here goes nothing.
Reaching out, I pulled the doors open and stepped inside.
Whoa.
The dome ceiling was tinted, but it still let shafts of light in, and behind it was all forest, so everywhere you looked were trees. A short, stocky woman sat behind a computer, tapping on a keyboard. When I stepped up to the counter, she looked up, and then down at my wrists, her hands freezing midair.
“Demi Calloway?”
Shit. How did she know who I was?
I nodded, about to dip my head down in embarrassment, when I remembered Sage’s advice and tipped my chin up.
“Yeah,” I told her, voice firm. She stood, walking around her desk to greet me, and the click-clack of her heels echoed throughout the hall. When she finally stood before me, she looked me up and down and a frown tugged at her lips.
“Oh dear,” she muttered, and pulled out a tablet, tapping at the screen with a stylus.
I yanked my cut off t-shirt down to cover my bellybutton, but it was no use, it sprung back up and just exposed more.
With an eyeroll, the woman walked down a hallway. “Follow me, they are waiting.”
They.
She said they.
Who was they?
My heart hammered against my ribcage as I passed a long hallway, all glass but tinted so I couldn’t see inside.
Who cleaned this place? They must keep a hundred glass cleaners on staff. Maybe I should buy stock in Windex.
I was so lost in my thoughts about how they kept fingerprints off the windows, I didn’t realize the lady had stopped, and I crashed into her back.
A growl ripped from her throat before she disguised it as a cough.
Whoa, shit.
“I’m sorry. I’m … nervous.” I gave her the truth and the anger fled from her eyes. She suddenly looked at me with compassion.
“I can imagine.” She gave me a weak smile and then opened the door, indicating I step inside.
I did, and expected her to come with me. I mean, I didn’t know this chick long, but when she closed the door and walked off back down the hall, I panicked.
Be strong.
With trepidation, I looked up at the two figures in the room.
Holy shifter.
The man standing before me was the largest male I’d ever seen. He looked like a human gorilla in size, a hulking mass of muscle so large it didn’t look natural. He appeared to be in his early forties and wore a gray linen suit. Clutched in his hands was a tablet like the woman had. I did a quick and discreet whiff and recognized the wolf smell as it hit my nostrils. Gamey and earthy, it was hard to explain.
Standing beside him was…
A witch.
I’d lived with them enough to know when I was in the presence of one. It wasn’t just the herbal smell they all seemed to carry, it was the lithe frame, the way they stood above you with their noses upturned as if they were better than you.
If either of them thought my clothing was atrocious, they didn’t show it. Instead, the huge man just stepped forward. “Miss Calloway, I’m Eugene, head of Werewolf City Security.”
Yep. I would totally give this guy the head of security job too, would hire him on the spot. He looked like he could squeeze my head between two fingers.
“Hey.” I waved stupidly. His eyes flashed to my cuff and the slightest frown pulled at his lips.
“Madam Harcourt here is going to remove your cuffs and then I’ll get you situated.”
Remove my cuffs. He said … remove.
I so badly wanted to allow the tears that were trying to spring forth to roll down my cheeks, but I sucked those little weak droplets back.
No way was I crying in front of this giant dude and the witch. I’d wait until I was alone in my room and cry under my covers like a respectable woman, dammit.
I’d worn these cuffs since as long as I could remember. They kept a very natural part of me from being free. To remove them … it was all I’d ever wanted.
The witch strode forward. “Does the room have soundproofing? This might hurt.”
I immediately backed up four paces until my back hit the wall.
Hurt. No one said anything about hurting.
The man just nodded, walking over to a wall panel, and suddenly a menu popped up on the glass. He tapped a few buttons and then nodded at the witch.
She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “You want them off or not? I have another appointment in fifteen minutes.”
Geeze, was this like a notary? She just penciled me in her little timeslot? My tongue felt like sandpaper and I swallowed hard, nodding. I did want them off, so badly.
She waved me forward and I stepped slowly toward her.
“You were born outside Werewolf City?” she asked, looking down at a paper on the glass desk beside her.
I nodded.
“When were you first cuffed?” she asked.
I swallowed hard. “My first birthday was my first set. Then a second set at age five, and this set I got when I was twelve.” I held them up.
They never hurt to take off before, when the witches changed me out for a bigger set, so I was wondering why they would now.
“They never hurt to remove before…”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s because they weren’t removing the magic in them, just changing out the metal to grow with your form. I’ll be stripping the spell that’s been attached to your body for the last…” She paused, looking at the sheet of paper, “Twenty years. This will most definitely hurt.”
Fuck. My wolf rose to the surface then, and I knew my eyes had gone yellow. Silverish white pelts of fur rippled down my arms and the witch stepped back a pace, looking at the gorilla man, Eugene.
“She … shouldn’t be able to do that…” she said with a frown.
The pelts of fur hit the cuffs at my wrists and electricity shot up my arms, causing me to cry out.
They both looked uncomfortably at each other, unsure what to do.
Eugene tapped something on his tablet. “She’s been reported to the principal’s office…” He paused and then looked at me. Was that pride in his gaze? “Three hundred and ninety times for showing signs of near shifting.”
I tried to keep the grin off my face. My parents never near shifted. Other than some occasional yellow eyes, their wolves were kept pretty much in control by the cuffs, unlike mine.
The witch scoffed. “Well, whomever did her original spell was an idiot. Who was it?”
He looked at his tablet again. “Belladonna Mongrave. Your high priestess.”
Her cheeks pinked and she waved him off. “No matter. It’s coming off anyway.”
A black satchel sat on the edge of the table and she reached inside, pulling out a copper knife.
I flinched, my wolf rising to the surface again with my fear, but I shoved her down.
If I did this, went through with the pain, I could be free. I could finally, for the first time in my life … shift.
Eugene placed his tablet on the table and came up behind me. “I’m just going to hold you in place so that you don’t move and get a main artery cut,” he told me.
What?
“Main artery cut” were three words I never wanted to hear again.
I nodded, tears filling my eyes as the fear became too much.
When his strong hands gripped my forearms and offered the cuffs up to the witch with my wrists facing the ceiling, it took every ounce of control I had to not bite him and fight him off.
I felt the anxiety and panic fill my body as this situation brought me into a dark memory, a memory I didn’t even think about anymore, something so horrific I’d locked it away, only glimpsing it when I was put into situations where I felt cornered, trapped.
Eugene’s hands, pinning down my arms, took me back to that awful night six years ago. My breath became shaky as I fought the flashback assaulting my mind. The black silk bedsheets, the four vampire males, the blood…
I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts as a whimper ripped from my throat.
I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay, I chanted inside my head, knowing that Eugene didn’t intend to hurt me, that he was actually trying to help me.
I was finally going to be free. To be a wolf, to shift whenever I wanted … I couldn’t even comprehend such a thing.
My mother and father were cuffed too, so before today, I’d never actually seen a werewolf in wolf form until seeing the students lying on the grass. I could do this.
Just thinking of my parents sent sadness sinking into my stomach like a stone. What time was it? Were they home from work? Wondering where I was? Was Raven telling them right now? I tried to focus on them and ignore the panic attack that had me in its grip. Whatever pain was about to befall me was going to be worth it to be free.
The witch brought the copper dagger to the cuff and sliced downward, causing it to open and fall to the floor. I flinched, bracing myself for the pain, but nothing happened. She did the same to the other cuff, and it cut like it was made of butter … but caused me no pain. A sigh of relief went through me. Then she placed her hand over my chest, palm splayed out until her nails were digging into my skin.
Hard.
“Entora dilumin wolven forchesto,” she began to chant.
Witch speak.
I knew enough of it to pick up the words wolf death.
Before I could dwell too much on the wording, searing pain ripped through my chest. I bucked in Eugene’s arms but he pinned my back to his chest and it was like I was being held in cement.
Panic and pain swirled within me, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.
The witch took the copper blade and held it to my hair. Using one hand, she cut a chunk off and then placed the hair under her palm, which was still on my chest. I was in too much pain to care that she’d just given me a hack-job haircut. What was once a sharp jabbing pain in my chest now reached down my spine and into my toes.
“Stop!” I wailed, fearing I was about to pass out. Sweat prickled on my skin and my wolf rose to the surface, my teeth lengthening in my mouth.
Whoa.
“Wolven risenoto becara,” she whispered, and that’s when I died.
I mean, it felt like I’d died. It felt like a fucking semi-truck ran me over on the road and then I’d been put into a blender. I must have fainted, because when I came to, I was slack in Eugene’s arms. He was holding me up by the armpits and the witch was across the room washing her hands with hand sanitizer like touching me was gross.
“You okay?” Eugene huffed in my ear, his voice laced with compassion.
I nodded against his chest and he deposited me into a chair. My whole body dropped into the seat like a sack of flour and I just sat there panting, trying to catch my breath. My skin felt like I’d been left out in the sun too long, and I had a feeling I was going to be sore tomorrow.
“Payment,” the witch muttered, holding out her phone to the giant man.
Eugene tapped something on his tablet, casting worried glances my way, and her phone beeped. She looked down at it and smiled. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
He glared at her as she left the room, the door softly closing behind her.
I stared at the cuffs, sliced in half and lying on the floor. Then I looked at my wrists. They were white, like butt white where the cuffs had been, and golden tan everywhere else. At the edges were scars from the constant rubbing over the years, the constant shocks.
I was free…
Eugene seemed to notice my distress and cleared his throat, picking the cuffs up off the floor and walking over to the trash can.
“No! I want to keep them,” I blurted. I didn’t know why but throwing them in the trash felt like throwing a part of me away.
He nodded, setting them on the glass desk in front of me.
There was a light tap on the door and he seemed to be expecting it. Standing, he tapped something on the glass menu board and spoke. “Come in.”
The front desk lady was back with her tablet. She took one look at the cut-off cuffs on the table and raised an eyebrow. Then she took a seat across from me and tapped on her tablet with record speed. “Okay Miss Calloway—”
“Call me Demi, please. My mom is Mrs. Calloway.”
She nodded. “You have been entered into the system here. I’m just arranging your school schedule. What do you want to be your major?”
My major? That was absolutely the last thing on my mind. At Delphi, I was a business major because that’s all they would allow me. Everything else was too witchy or too far suited for one of the other magical races. Wolves never got banished, so they didn’t have wolf curriculum I guess. Whatever that would be.
“What … do you have?” I hedged.
She handed me the tablet and I started to scroll.
Lycan surgeon.
Physical therapy.
Cosmetology.
When my eyes landed on photography, I nearly squealed. I had a pretty loyal following on Instagram because of my photos. I loved taking pictures. When I was behind the camera, something inside of me came alive. I could see the world in a different way.
“Photography please.” I handed it back.
She frowned and shared a look with Eugene before looking back at me. “If you are to be a potential suitor to Sawyer Hudson, then you can only minor in photography and would need a more respectable major.”
I snort-laughed, but quickly covered it when I realized she was serious.
Okay … gotta keep up with the lie that this was the reason I was here. Sawyer was a cool dude who took pity on me. I wouldn’t want him to get into trouble.
“Do you have a business major?”
Relief crossed her face. “Yes. Good choice.”
She tapped away at her tablet and then looked to Eugene. “Do you think we have enough guards at Emory Hall if I place her there?”
She was talking about the dorms. Why would I need guards?
“Actually … I was hoping to be at Lexington. Near suite eleven?” I threw as much charm into my voice as possible, remembering what Sage had said about taking me under her wing.
The woman looked at Eugene, and he nodded once.
Then she tapped her tablet a few more times. “I have the suite across the hall recently available. Number ten.”
I didn’t want to know why it was “recently” available, I was just glad I might actually have one friend here.
After a few more minutes, she held up her phone in my face. “Smile.”
What?
Oh geeze, a picture? Right now? I was still sweaty from my panic attack and dying.
I gave her a lame smile and she tapped the screen before setting the phone down. Peering over her shoulder, I looked at the pic she’d snapped.
Oh man, that was pretty bad. Hopefully just for her records or something.
A few moments later there was a knock at the door and a tall but scrawny older man entered holding a black leather backpack. He placed it in front of me and then handed me a credit card type of keycard. “Don’t ever lose this. It’s your key into everything,” he told me and left.
I glanced at the keycard.
Fuck my life.
A two-inch square showed my scared and fake smiling face, with Hot Mess Barbie haircut.
Awesome.
“In the bag will be a tablet with your class schedule, map of the campus, school, Werewolf City bylaws, and anything else you should need.” She tapped the black leather backpack. “There is a food app where you can order meal service to your room, and there are electric scooters and bikes all over campus. Just swipe your keycard and take whatever one you want.”
Okay … I’d officially reached information overload. This was too much, and clearly expensive.
“And … how much will all of this cost me?” I gestured around the room.
She looked offended, sharing a scandalous glance at Eugene. “All expenses associated with the females that are invited to school here during the mating year are paid for by the alpha.”
Holy shit, I was totally on Werewolf Bachelor.
Just breathe.
“Even if he doesn’t pick me?” I hedged, “Like, do I have to pay it all back?” Because obviously he wasn’t going to pick me. I was fucking twenty-one years old, I wasn’t ready for marriage, I didn’t even want to be picked. Mostly. I mean he was hot, I’d give him that. Being picked wouldn’t be the worst thing to ever happen to me. But this whole thing was nuts.
“One second.” She tapped her screen. “There, I’ve signed you up for etiquette classes. A lady never talks about money.” She patted my hand and stood.
Ouch, did I just get burned by some old lady wearing pumps and pantyhose?
When she left the room, I stared at Eugene incredulously.
He only smirked. “She’s one of the elites. Born of money, likes having an important job. She doesn’t understand people like us.”
People like us.
When I didn’t say anything, he leaned forward. “My dad was the Werewolf Elementary School janitor and my mom the lunch lady. The only reason I got this job is because I’m built like a truck and I win every fight I get in.”
I grinned. I liked him immediately. I liked everyone here so far. My parents made it sound like some dark and scary place they’d had to flee.
“Sawyer pays for everything,” he told me. “It’s never a question and you won’t pay a dime back, no matter what happens. It’s all in the bylaws.” He tapped the backpack.
I guess I had some reading to do.
He stood and gestured to the door. “You can go. You missed the first day, but classes start eight a.m. sharp, and Sawyer will be picking his first date tomorrow night at the dinner gala.”
My eyes widened.
Picking a date?
Dinner gala?
Freaking Werewolf Bachelor.
“Umm, gala usually means a dress … right?” I gestured to my clothes.
He pointed to the backpack. “Check the campus map. There’s a mall behind the tennis courts that has everything ladies like to wear. Use your keycard to pay. Sawyer picks up the bill, no questions asked.”
What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening?
At this point I just felt stupid for asking questions, so I nodded and stood. “Thanks for um…” I pointed to the broken cuffs and shoved them in the bag. “Everything.”
He tipped his head, standing as well. “In twenty years of serving the alpha, I’ve never seen him get in a fight with his son. Until today. Sawyer fought for you. Don’t ever forget that.”
Then he walked out and left me shocked.
Sawyer fought for me? Those words stuck with me all the way to Lexington Hall.
