“Seraphina,” a male voice I would have recognized anywhere spoke from just over my shoulder with a sharp snap. “You have no business with that.” Bash walked around the bitch pack and grabbed the file from Seraphina’s hands with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes. “How did you even get this?”
Seraphina pouted for a moment then lifted her lips and smiled up at Bash. “It wasn’t that hard, when you know the right people.” She shrugged and tilted her chin toward me where I stood, frozen to the spot in mortification. “Besides, she’s a liar. She’s been acting as if she belongs here and she clearly doesn’t.” Another sneer marred her perfect face for an instant before she wiped it clear when she saw Bash was still watching her with a look of disgust.
“It’s none of your business, Seraphina. Or yours,” he said in a clipped tone, looking past me to where the bitch squad were busy examining their nails and stepping out of my way. His gaze was hard and locked, I realized a moment later, not on the silly girls but past them and me. I twisted my head to look and saw Daniella watching the scene unfold with smugness glinting in her emerald eyes.
My nails dug into my palms, drawing blood. My instincts had been right. This wasn’t Seraphina’s doing, this was all Daniella’s. It was classic entitled bitch behavior, the only question was why someone like Daniella would be so threatened that she’d go through all this to humiliate me.
The answer came as Bash stalked up to me holding the file, stopping so close that I could instantly smell the anger and protectiveness on his skin, seeping from his pores. He wanted to protect me, to keep me safe… like a mate.
I forgot about everyone else and lifted my head to stare up at him as he glared at his sister. His height made me feel petite, something I’d never experienced in my life, even with the jocks at my high school. They’d been taller than me, but they’d never made me feel like a woman. I frowned.
I’d spent my entire life sure of one thing, my strength. I was fast, smart, and hardworking when others leaned a little too heavily on their laurels, in my opinion.
Would giving into this attraction to Bash strip me of the strength I’d fought so long to maintain?
Bash’s attention shifted away from his sister to me, and with it came the heat of the midday sun. I felt it run like fire through my veins and fought the urge to just say “fuck it” and give in. I wrapped my arms around my chest and squeezed, then tore my gaze from his. The loss was immediate but necessary.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, not wanting to look up into his gorgeous eyes in case I got caught in their pull again. “But I can handle my own battles.”
I felt his body stiffen and pull away. “Right,” Bash said with obvious confusion. “Then I’ll just see you later. Bye.” His footsteps echoed in my head as he walked away.
I clenched my jaw and gripped the file tighter, then forced myself to be selfish and think about my future rather than the fact that I seemed to have hurt the feelings of the guy I was dangerously attracted to. My top concern right now, I reasoned, was figuring out how the hell I was going to get my file back to where it belonged without jeopardizing my future at AWA. I shrugged my backpack higher, lifted my chin, and skirted around the bitch pack, giving Daniella a wide berth in case she felt like causing more trouble.
I felt my patience running incredibly thin and wondered if I should just tell the Headmistress everything and get Daniella expelled. The moment I thought it, I dismissed the plan. First of all, I wasn’t a snitch and second of all, girls like Daniella never got the consequences they deserved.
“Stay away from him,” Daniella’s words barely met my ears, they were so low, but the second I heard them, I spun around, tired to death of the pretentious twat.
“Is that a threat?” I demanded, drawing the attention of the bitch pack and every other group of students within earshot.
Daniella turned gracefully, as if she were attending a royal function. The look on her face was social gold, all politeness and wit, but in her eyes, I saw a fierceness that appeared to be bone deep.
She stepped forward, almost gliding across the wooden floor, and, as she sailed past me, her head held high, she whispered, “Absolutely.”
Chapter 4
I pulled my t-shirt over my head and rotated my neck, enjoying the crack of my spine under the radiant glow of the full moon. We would run tonight and I couldn’t think of anything in the world I wanted or needed more in this moment.
I’d had a week from Hell.
I’d had several run-ins with the bitch squad since Daniella had orchestrated the theft of my confidential file, none of which had gone well. It seems Seraphina and the others had looked through my file before pretending to read it for the first time and knew all kinds of secrets about me. They’d also read my senior paper, which they’d been reciting back to me at every opportunity, even typing up portions to post around school, especially the vulnerable parts. I’d tried avoiding them but it seemed like they were everywhere, except in my creative writing class.
I’d gone to today’s class filled with hope, knowing that at the very least I had my favorite professor on my side and wouldn’t see a bitchy face for the next hour.
I’d been wrong, on both counts.
The bitchy face I’d been presented with had been my favorite professor’s. Xavier had shuffled around the room with heavy steps and a heavy face, handing out essays as if he were passing out funeral brochures. Still, I’d reached for mine eagerly, sure I’d find a kind word to lift my spirits. What I’d gotten was a 78% written in jarring red ink with critical notes scribbled in the margins.
Try to avoid generalities. They’re sloppy.
This needs to be rewritten.
I expect more from you.
My heart had sunk to my toes as I’d flipped through the pages and seen more of the same criticisms. He hated my work. I’d bit back an unexpected wave of emotion that had threatened to embarrass the hell out of me.
I’d sat through the class, taking notes, listening with half a heart as Xavier expounded the benefits of train-of-thought exercises. He’d concluded class with an assignment to choose a single idea and follow it to the bitter end and had set the due date for Tuesday. I’d slipped from class without ever looking up and had rushed off, just glad to have avoided another confrontation with the bitches.
The moon’s light felt like a soothing balm on my bare skin. I folded my clothes, one piece at a time, and placed them in the small locker I’d been assigned for this very purpose. Every student in the school had one, which is why they stretched along the entire length of the gymnasium, the furthest building out from center campus. I undid the clasp of my necklace and tucked it inside a zippered pocket for safe keeping then turned towards the forest.
Hundreds of naked bodies stood, chatting casually or gazing up at the bright moon, all with smiles stretching their mouths. The full moon was a celebration of life for my kind, a chance to reconnect with the elemental and the primal. My skin began to tingle under the power of its light, pushing all my stress aside. I stepped forward, toward the tree line, and called to my wolf.