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There were so many things against me pursuing these men, but I found myself unable to resist them. My wolves were both crazy about all three of them. I’d read about them in the books that had been snuck into my room by my keepers, those whose allegiance lay with my parents. But I couldn’t shake the words of the leadership, always telling me that I was a fluke—that Night was a curse—that a shifter like me didn’t have mates.
Add to that the fact that they were all graduating the academy this year. While they said that they would make a way to see me, a part of me believed those were pretty promises. Fun to entertain but never kept.
The professor went on and on about how we should make sure to keep a good balance between being shifters while also keeping up good appearances among the humans. If we chose to live in a place where humans abounded, then we had to follow their rules, both spoken and unspoken.
While there was the Urban Rehabilitation Academy for us rebels and rejects while we were young, once we were older, there were more severe consequences to be determined by the Shifter Council. The thought alone made a shiver rip through me. The Shifter Council, what I knew of them, were understanding but only to a point.
“They think that just because we made a mistake or two while we were young, we are destined to be vermin for the rest of our lives. This way, by giving us the lecture every year, they can at least go to sleep at night knowingthey tried.” Adan’s mockery of the professor’s tone made June and I giggle a bit. His impersonation was spot-on.
It also earned us a stern glare from the headmistress sitting at the side of the professor, pacing left and right while he made his judgments and ran his thumbs underneath his suspenders.
Pompous ass.
“Bending the rules to my will is fun though,” Blaze said close to my ear. “Making them submit.”
A thrill passed through me at his words. I dared to glance over my shoulder to see his gorgeous face. He had the audacity to wink at me, making my core pulse with want.
The Three Kings were brimming with audacity.
“What kind of thoughts are running around in that head of yours, Karelis? We were only talking about the rules, after all,” Adan said, his voice low and sultry.
June slapped her hand over her mouth while I tried not to fall down the bleachers. My spine seemed to have lost all its structure.
“You three are menaces,” I said a little too loudly, causing a hush over the entire room, including the pompous ass right in the middle of his sermon disguised as a lecture.
“Something to say, Ms. Sol?” he asked. Everyone turned around and stared at me, some giggling, some already whispering about me.
“No. Just agreeing with everything,” I stammered.
“Good. Let’s continue with silence.” The man continued on, extolling his rules and structure, and the students faced forward again. The guys went quiet, but one of them toyed with the ends of my hair. Which one, I didn’t know. My mind blurred out the lecture after some time and I, instead, focused on the students around me. Despite our differences, we were all brothers and sisters of the same supernatural race. They weren’t unlike any other people of our age. After all, the only way to get ahead in life was to make mistakes, tumble with trouble, run far, far the fuck away from those who threatened to rip away at my soul.
The difference was, the others didn’t get caught. They hid their secrets better. Under lies and gaslighting or hiding behind their own shadows.
At least those around me were owning their downfalls, their so-called shortcomings.
By the end of the lecture, I was at death’s door. Boredom was soul draining, and the professor’s attempt at fearmongering was utterly the most bland and dull lesson I’d endured yet—or probably ever would—until next year.
“Karelis, here.” Adan put something in my hands. “Put that in your bag. Quickly, while your back is turned.”
I pulled my bag around to the front and slipped the phone into it, zipping it shut afterward. They had pulled it off.
“It’s a loan,” I reaffirmed, jutting my chin out for effect.
“Of course,” Adan said. “There will be plenty of time for gifts.”
Chapter Eleven
Adan
“It’s not enough just to take her to the roof or anywhere else on campus.” Our mate deserved more on our first date together.
“She does, but security has really stepped up, and I am not sure we can even find a way out of here anymore.” Casimir’s frustration came through in his tone, a frustration I shared.
“What do you think she’d enjoy doing? Dinner? A movie? Hiking?” I opened my laptop and brought up a blank document.
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s make a list.” It was just the two of us in the suite at the moment. “Then when Blaze gets back, maybe he’ll have some ideas to add.” Blaze was off somewhere getting yelled at as usual.
