“Why not? We’re good together.” He palms my waist, careful to avoid the bandages wrapped around my middle. The attention to detail is touching; he was watching me fight in the arena earlier.
“You know why not.”
Humming, he brushes his lips across the shell of my ear. “Forgive me, Sienna.”
A shiver rolls down my spine as delicious heat pools between my thighs. “You haven’t apologized.”
“Is that all it will take?” Cupping my jaw, he turns my head and meets my eyes. His warm breath ghosts across my cheeks. “One apology, and all is forgiven?”
I wish it were that easy. Taking Revyn back should be as simple as breathing. Wearegood together. We always have been.
“Stop,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “Please.”
He presses our foreheads together. “I’m here for you, Sienna.”
Gods, why does he have to make this difficult?
Steeling my heart, I break away from him and take three large steps back. “That’s not good enough.” Neither is an apology, but he already knew that, just like how I know that even if he gives one, he won’t mean it.
I won’t accept lies anymore.
Checking his lace-up job on my corset, I double-tie the knot before sliding my dagger into my boot. I’m glad to have it back after that vampire stole it from me. I frown at my reflection in the full-length mirror across the room.
When will I seehimagain?
Revyn’s reflection in the mirror easily distracts me from fleeting thoughts of another man.
“Not expecting to shift tonight?” He slides up behind me but keeps his hands to himself. “It’ll be a bitch to break out of that.”
“I’m not participating in any events tonight, especially not a group shift.” Lifting an eyebrow, I let my gaze wander his reflection. Boots that match mine, but loose trousers and an even looser cotton shirt. His blood runs naturally hotter than mine, so he won’t freeze no matter the chilling temperatures, but those clothes will give him enough breathing room to pull them off before a shift or tear through them in the process.
Wandering the wilds half-naked has always been his preference.
“Are you?” I ask, though I already know the answer. Of course he’s going to participate. He’ll take any excuse to prance around in wolf form and drive me wild.
I flick my gaze to his face. The raw hunger in his eyes makes me dizzy, and I quickly look away again. Clearing my throat, I step away from the mirror. “I didn’t think you were into shifter games.”
Revyn’s eyes track me around the room as I ruffle my hair in an attempt to dry it faster. “I’m trying new things,” he murmurs. “Isn’t that what you wanted? Something new?”
There’s an edge to his voice that stills my heart. He heard me say that I’d consider mating with someone else if it meant my admittance to the academy—of coursehe did.
I purse my lips as I run a brush through my hair for the third time, quickly detangling the knots before throwing it into a high ponytail with the feathered tie from the entrance trials. “Do you really want to talk about this right now?”
“Do you really want to keep avoiding tough conversations?”
With a huff, I toss the brush at Revyn’s head and miss when he moves. “Yes, I do!” Without waiting for him, I turn on my heel and exit the room, following the trail of first-year students through the candlelit corridor and into the frigid night air. We descend curved stone steps leading from the rampart onto a spacious lawn and follow a dirt path to an even largermeadow hidden behind the nearest tree line. A raging bonfire, larger than the headmaster’s violet flames, reaches into the dark sky and brushes against the stars. Heat radiates from its center, illuminating the open field and forcing a handful of people to shed their outer layers. Everyone here is a shifter. If it weren’t for our wild eyes, Revyn and I would blend in seamlessly.
Revyn quickly catches up to me at the edge of the field and sticks close enough that our arms brush. Not everyone is as familiar with each other, but the divide between packs is clear. The larger groups come from more prolific clans, a few of the males exuding enough power that their bloodlines are practically written on their foreheads.
Exactly how many Alphas’ sons are in our year?
“I didn’t realize so many heirs were having trouble finding their mates.” I count at least a half dozen, maybe more if a few of the men lingering nearest the fire are younger siblings or cousins who are next-in-line for the title. The women outnumber the men two-to-one, and I spot multiple females clinging to either side of the same man.
“Can’t you mate outside your year?” I ask aloud, more to myself than to anyone else. If there are fewer second and third years, the ratio will still be off, but at least there will be less competition among the first-year students.
“What do you care?” A woman asks, sneering at me. “No one’s going to mate with a wild bitch.”
“I bet she fucks the trees,” someone else shouts, his grin as wicked as his words. “Don’t you, wildwhore?”
