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He claps me on the shoulder again, much more friendly this time. “You have no idea, dude. And this’ll give you a chance to meet some of the upperclassmen aside from the kiss ass counselors. A few of them are sneaking on campus to join us. It’s not just newbies. This is a movement that’s been growing for years, and we’re the class that’s going to see real change made around here.” He grins. “It’s going to be sweet. And everyone who gets on our bad side between now and then is going to be very fuckin’ sorry.”
He glares over my shoulder.
I don’t have to follow his gaze to know he’s staring at Juliet.
My lips curve in a bloodthirsty grin. But I’m not thinking about punishing Variants for refusing my sexual advances. I’m thinking of Beck, bloodied and broken at my feet, whimpering with his tail between his legs, once this is all over and I can show him exactly how I feel about him putting his hands on Juliet. “Brilliant,” I murmur.
“It really is,” he says with an ugly laugh. “You’ll see just how brilliant in a few hours. See you on the trail.”
“See you then.” I lift my drink, draining the last of the now watery punch from the bottom as he walks away. When he’s gone, I turn, hoping to lock eyes with Juliet for just a moment, but she’s gone.
She’s faded into the crowd, leaving me alone with my dread and longing.
Setting my drink on a tray of empty pineapples, I make my way to the buffet line, figuring I might as well have some Hawaiian barbeque churning around with the dread.
At least it’ll give me energy for whatever fresh hell I’ll be running into tonight.
ten
JULIET
I spend the welcome luau,taking the measure of every wolf and big cat I meet during the mixer games, trying to see if they think terrorizing Variants is their birthright from looking in their eyes.
I do a pretty good job—or they do a pretty bad job of hiding their contempt—but the situation doesn’t seem to be as dire as I imagined before I met the rest of the incoming class.
Yes, a good chunk of the wolves are jerks, but I’d say it’s a smaller percentage than what Ford was estimating, and most of the big cats are cool. I even made a new friend in a tiger who also plans on joining the military school.
Her big sister is already a junior in the program and says it’s about so much more than physical fitness, weapons training, or battle strategy. They also take courses in leadership, economics, sociology, and other things that play into shifter conflicts across the globe, all of which would be good things for Zion’s future Alpha to know more about. I want to understand the challenges my people are facing in all aspects of their lives. It seems like the major will actually be a perfect fit.
Now, I just need to get in…
The first step is getting this implant out and accessing my shifted form. I’m not naïve enough to think I’ll gain full control before the trials start. But if I can use my phoenix to help me in any way at all, I’ll be better off than I am now.
Layla, Diana, and I head back to our dorm after the mixer, chatting the entire way about the people we met and our hopes for the next two weeks. The younger girls seem more optimistic, too, and the mood only lightens further as we join the rest of the dorm on the roof to make s’mores under golden lights the counselors have strung overhead. One of them plays DJ, we gorge on the candy bar set up in the corner, and everyone dances until midnight.
By the time the last few stragglers head to bed, heeding Catherine’s warning that orientation classes start bright and early tomorrow morning, it’s nearly one.
I linger, helping clean up the paper cups and plates littered around the edge of the roof, until just Catherine, Alexander, and my roomies remain. Once Catherine locks the roof entrance after the last partygoer, she turns back to me with an easy smile. “Okay, let’s do this and get you all to bed before too late.”
With a bracing breath, I sit down across from her at a small table she’s covered with a clean towel and hold out my arm. She swabs my wrist with alcohol-soaked gauze, does the same to her hands, then pulls on a pair of latex gloves. Then, using a powerful magnet, she draws the implant close to the surface of my skin.
The sight of the small gray circle lurking just a hair’s breadth from a pulsing blue vein makes my stomach flip. But before I can get too anxious, Catherine selects a tiny scalpel from the kit open beside her and the implant is out.
“That’s it?” I ask, as she presses another piece of gauze to the tiny wound.
“That’s it.” She grins. “Easy peasy. Just keep the gauze on there until the bleeding stops. Then I’ll get you a Band-Aid and you can head to bed.” She lifts the implant, trapped in her tweezers, up between us. “I’ll get this cleaned and tucked into the locket I found in my jewelry box. You can wear that to bed, for now, and during classes tomorrow if you’d like. Alexander and I can help you work with your shifted form after dinner in secret if you want. It might be best to keep what you can do from the rest of the school until you’re ready to wow them all at the trials.”
I exhale. “I don’t know about wowing people. I’ll settle for getting through without getting kicked out or going full burn.” I tug at the top of my light summer dress, the one that reminded me a little too much of my outfits in the circus but was the only thing in my trunk suitable for a semi-formal event. “I’m already feeling hotter than I did before.”
“That’s probably normal, though, right?” Layla asks, with a yawn, “Cause shifters run hot?”
“Probably, but I’ll keep an eye on her for a little bit, just in case,” Catherine says, casting a sympathetic look Layla and Diana’s way. Diana is out cold in Layla’s big purse and Layla looks about five seconds from falling asleep on her feet. “Why don’t you two get to bed? I’ll sit with Juliet until she’s feeling steady, then walk her down to your room in a few.”
Layla’s bleary gaze meets mine. “That okay with you?”
“It’s fine.” I smile. “Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for staying with me until it was out, though. I appreciate it.”
“Of course, girl, we’ve got you,” Layla says, starting toward the stairs. “Sleep tight everybody.”
