Page 113 of Plug and Drain

Susie

If Arken was furious after her rejection, he didn’t show it. She didn’t see him at all the next day, nor the day after that.

At first, she’d been tense with anticipation, dreading the moment when he would inform her of the consequences of her refusal. He was too calm to lash out publicly, but she knew better than to believe he would simply accept her stance and let the matter go.

At Volmasque Academy, there were always consequences for those wolves who did not fall in line. Susie’s pack vowed to support her, and they made an effort to ensure there were always at least two wolves with her at any given time.

“It’s a little overkill,” Susie murmured to Harry, trying not to glance at the classroom door during Literature.

What she really meant was that it was pointless. Headmaster Arken could have anybody that he wanted—including her. Not just simply because he was handsome and charismatic, but because both students and teachers regarded him with trepidation. There was no one with sufficient power to oppose him.

The week passed uneventfully, and Susie’s dread transformed into an uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. She had feared Arken would punish her pack for her refusal, or that he would show up at her door and insist she become his pet anyway. It was only now that she realised there was hope amidst that fear.

Hope that he would appear…just to talk.

To clear the air.

To clarify the hot, confounding day they’d found themselves caught up in.

Maybe then, her feelings would make more sense.

Saturday morning came, and still, there was no sign of Arken. Susie tried not to chew her claws as she sat in the library’s window seat, trying to focus on proofreading Harry’s essay on the novel Black and Nothing. He had purposefully refused to acknowledge the main theme and instead analysed what he believed were gaping plot holes.

“If you removed the main character, the play would carry on exactly the same,” Harry gushed, pacing back and forth, chewing his pencil.

Susie nodded absent-mindedly and glanced outside at the sunlit grounds, honing in on the pebbled path leading to the school entrance. Her view of the occasional people coming and going was partially blocked by a row of cypress trees lining the drive. According to Sarah, Arken had been seen returning from the city yesterday morning. Harry had suspected Arken was drunk, but with no physical signs to indicate that fact, there was no way to know for sure.

Susie sighed and stared down at her claws, hard as onyx as they tapped on her unopened book.

A part of her had thought that Arken might make another appearance in Professor Zott’s class yesterday. It was only when he didn’t show that she’d recognised the disappointment unfurling inside her.

The class had been mercifully uneventful, with Zott in an unusually good mood. No one knew why.

He had been content to sit at his desk and hum cheerfully whilst the wolf shifters were made to go through the motions by their handlers: Sitting. Staying. Fetch.

The vampire student Susie had been partnered with that afternoon had appeared bored and let her read a book while she filed her nails. And that had suited Susie just fine.

Zott hadn’t even touched any of the wolves, something he usually reserved for the end of the day before the final bell. The class had almost been atraumatic.

Oscar and his cronies were absent. They’d been placed on house arrest, confined to their rooms with a guard at their door. They weren’t even allowed out to use the bathroom. Apparently, magical chamber pots had been provided.

Rumours about why the omegas were in Arken’s bad books had circulated. They were—for the most part—accurate.

Rumours of Arken’s special interest in her had spread, and it affected the way the other students treated her. Not a single vampire had visited her room that week, and they gave her a wide berth in the hallways. As for the wolves, they were nicer than usual; one beta wolf had offered to give Susie his place in line at the cafeteria, and a final-year student had pulled her chair out for her whilst asking her to ‘put in a good word with Arken with regards to writing a good reference for prospective employers’.

It was…odd.

She didn’t mind it. Her pack was also held in a higher regard, and she was no longer on the bottom of the food chain.

That evening, Susie summoned the courage to visit Headmaster Arken’s office. Sarah had both encouraged her and warned her about all the ways it could go wrong, and Harry had said he thought the whole thing pointless but that she should go anyway.

Steeling herself, Susie found herself standing outside Arken’s office at seven o’clock. It had taken several minutes before she’d given up trying to rehearse what to say and rapped on the door in quick succession.

The door hadn’t opened.

According to Harry, Arken was drinking heavily again. The thought that it might somehow be because of her bothered Susie, making her feel even more agitated than she already was.

Chapter 29