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)
And worried.
I caught the glare Badr tossed my way and winked back. “Have fun in the omega track,” I called.
“Argh!” Nia bellowed, finding her war cry like the warrior goddess she was.
“Stop!” Liza commanded. “Stop, stop. STOP!”
Racing across the mat, she yanked the still dazed Liza by the collar and punched her once, twice, three—
“Draw!” Allard rushed in, pulled Nia off, and tossed her aside. “Time,” he panted. “Class is over, so that’s time. Neither opponent won, neither lost. Draw,” he insisted again.
Nia stumbled over to me, taking out the earplugs I handed her before the match. “Draw? But I won, didn’t I?”
“You won, Nia. There’s absolutely no question.” I clapped her on the shoulder, giving her my first true smile in a long time. “I’m pretty sure you made omega history today. Well done.”
Nia beamed so wide, I counted all of her teeth. Behind her, three alphas carried Liza off the mat, with Allard berating her the whole way. The words “embarrassment,” “disgrace,” and “fucking fish” came through loud and clear.
“That felt amazing, Daze. Is this how people who win fights feel all the time?” She admired her bloody knuckles. “I always knew my wolf was strong, but not that strong. Liza might as well have been a mannequin for how much of a threat she was to me.” A shriek burst from her lips, setting off a little happy dance. “None of my friends are going to believe this! I beat an alpha!”
“Spread it around, girl. Tell everyone. Brag,” I cried, making her laugh. “Enjoy the looks on all of these alphas’ faces for as long as you can, because I tell you what”—I winked—“they’re not looking down on you anymore.”
“Thank you, Daze.” Nia jumped and hugged me, breaking rule number one. “I never would’ve done that without you. Paxton was right. Everyone is wrong. Deep down, you’re really nice—”
Something glinted out of the corner of my eye. Soaring faster than I could follow, it came straight for us.
“Ahh!” Pain exploded in my right hand, searing straight up my arm and bursting out my throat. “Ahhh!”
My scream snapped all eyes to us, and then they were screaming too.
“Nia!” Orion burst out, rushing to us.
Nia slumped in my arms, her weight bringing us both down. We collapsed on the mat in a tangle of limbs, agony bleeding my soul dry. Orion pulled her off me... and I saw.
Five daggers buried in her back, as deep and viciously sharp as the sixth dagger that missed her and buried in my hand.
“Holy fuck!” Kitty screeched. “Who did that? Where did those come from?!”
“Quick, get help!” Orion bolted up, holding Nia tight in his arms. “Get her to the infirmary.”
I could only sit there dazed and bleeding as everyone screamed, looked for the attacker, rushed around, and raced to get Nia help.
“You,” a heavy, menacing voice hissed. “You did this.”
I snapped up, shocked to find Badr and Nyx standing over me. The expressions on their faces sent shivers up my spine.
“What? Me?” I whipped around as if they could be talking to anyone else but me. “What are you talking about! I didn’t do this! I can’t have done it! I—”
“Nyx,” Badr sliced in. “Take her.”
“Take me? What—?” Pain bloomed in the back of my head.
Falling forward, darkness took me before I hit the ground.
Chapter Eight
Head lolling, my swimming eyes went up, down, and around the space—trying and failing to take it in.
“Ugg,” I groaned, vision clearing on my ripped and dirty pants.
It looked like I’d been dragged and taken... where?
Raising my head, I beheld the small room, and everyone in it.
“What is this?” I rasped.
“This, Volana”—Badr glared down at me from on top of the dais—“is your trial.”
“Excuse me?”
I looked around at the alphas, epsilons, betas, and omegas assembled. I sat in the middle of the mess hall, but the tables had been cleared away. On my left nearly the entire alpha, omega, and beta class sat in silent rows, watching me. On my right, Ava, Elizabella, Melisent, Tulisa, and six other girls from Ava’s crew sat in a single line of chairs—all of them watching me expressionlessly. And sitting on the dais, were Edric, Orion, Nyx, Badr, and Paxton.
“Paxton?” I cried. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on,” Badr replied, stepping in front of Paxton. “You’ve held this school hostage, preying on us for long enough. It ends today.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said.” He raised his chin. “Daciana Volana, this is your trial.”
“And this is the moment you lost your mind.” I stood up, easy to do since they didn’t bother restraining a moon wolf. “Bye, folks. Hope you enjoyed the show—short as it was.”
I turned to leave.
“If you walk out that door, these go up in flames.”
Rolling my eyes, I glanced back. “What are you talking about? What goes up in...?” I trailed off, words dying on my lips.