Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Maybe that’s why he hasn’t let go.
Nyx held my wrist in a grip that shook. I didn’t need wolf hearing to sense his heartbeat picking up, or my own breath hitch.
I didn’t have control of my own body. If I did, my free fingers wouldn’t have continued their exploration—tracing the outline of the wolf tattoo stamped over his heart.
Nyx drew my fingers away, making my heart drop in protest. Eyes widening, I stopped breathing when he pressed them to his lips and kissed my fingertips.
Lips parting, his glazed eyes pierced mine as he swallowed my finger to the knuckle.
I almost came on the spot.
Something blurred out of the corner of my vision.
Badr seized Nyx’s throat, snapping him and me out of it. A low, dangerous hiss leaked through inhumanly sharp teeth. “Are you going to be a problem, Mud Boy?”
Nyx dropped my wrist. He was calm, even smiling, as he turned to Badr. “Get your fucking hand off me.”
“Good. Right sentence, now say it to the right person.”
Nyx punched Badr dead in the face without blink or pause. Badr snapped back—his jaw elongating and claws tearing from his fingertips. Orion and Edric shoved past me, holding them both back as growls and snaps lit the morning air.
“You’re weaker than Paxton!” Badr roared.
“Back the fuck off, man! When she touches you like that and you come so hard you rocket to the moon, then we’ll see who’s weak!”
I wouldn’t lie, that last comment made me blush. It was a heady feeling knowing what my touch did to them. I’ve always had status and power as the high priestess, but this was a different kind of power entirely. Dare I say, a better one.
I watched my fates go at it—trying their absolute best to tear each other apart.
Such was the risk of having so many alphas in one place. They were going to butt heads and fight. That was inevitable. You could only hope the building would be left standing when they were done.
I took in the scene, then grabbed Nia and walked away. “Ugh, men. Who has time for their petty squabbles?”
“I’m sorry,” Nia said. “I didn’t know your fates were out here. You’re supposed to stay away from them, and I led you right to them.”
I shook my head. “You know this isn’t on you. We’re in the same school and the same classes. Avoiding them is impossible.”
“Why do you still have such an effect on them?” she asked. “You’ve been apart for a year. The bonds should’ve degraded.”
“Where do these doors lead?” I asked pointedly, giving her a look.
She winced. “Oh, right. None of my business. Sorry.”
I let it go, though it was a good question. Every now and then, a wolf will reject their fated mate. The reasons were endless—massive age difference, previous hatreds, or even previous loves. Even though it was very, very, very frowned upon to reject the mate Luame has chosen for you, when someone did, they were forced to go as far from their fate as they could, for as long as they could, to give the bond time to degrade.
Eventually, the tug between mates would lessen to the strength of a string holding on to a tea bag instead of a limb-wrenching tractor pull.
A year away from my fates should’ve been enough time, but as the six of us found out the hard way, it very much wasn’t.
“Five walls, five doors,” Nia began. “Every wing is like this with a courtyard in the middle, and the grand hall connecting all the dorms and administration. That one goes to the dorms. That’s for the mess hall. Over there is the door to the lecture wing. On the other side of that one are the training rooms, fields, and gym. And that goes straight out to the forest. Whenever you need to run, you can—” She winced again. “Sorry, I forgot.”
Nia forgot that I wasn’t allowed to shift into my wolf form and run free under the moonlight. That would mean being out of my room/prison cell.
“Let’s keep going,” I said, gesturing for Nia to lead the way.
I cast a curious look back at my fates. Somehow the opponents got shifted around and Orion and Edric were snarling at each other while Nyx and Badr held them back. Paxton was still glued to his seat, shouting at them to stop.
Laughing, I left them to it—following Nia into the lecture wing. It was only after the door shut that I noticed I was rubbing the finger Nyx deflowered like a wanton virgin. Heat rose in my body just remembering.
Stop it, I said to my human and wolf brain. The ways in which it’s never going to happen can’t be quantified.
Tossing my head, I forced myself to focus on Nia. I had us both get up so ridiculously early for a reason. It gave her plenty of time to tell me where everyone and everything was. Knowing all the resources at my disposal, and all the possible escape routes, was vital if I hoped to live past a day after achieving my ultimate end goal.