I went to push past him but Maximus threw an arm out to stop me. I let out a low huff and motioned for him to move. He didn’t budge.
“Move!”
“You’ll be hunted as soon as your scent gets across campus,” he said.
“As if you give a fuck,” I hissed.
“I don’t,” Max quipped back.
“So, move,” At that point I shoved his chest. As soon as my hands hit him, a wave of electricity washed over me. It was the same kind that happened when he first ran me over. He stumbled back in shock rather than my force. His hands were clutching his chest. He stared at me in utter disbelief.
“What the fuck?” I hissed. My hand felt like it’d been burned.
“Impossible,” was the first word that was uttered out of Maximus’s mouth. Then he surged forward again and held me in both hands by the biceps.
His eyes searched mind endlessly. The electricity returned. This time, it was a dull hum in my arms rather than the pinching heat that my hands were still recovering from. I found myself getting lost in the color of his eyes.
They’d shifted from their normal honey gold to a lighter gold. They were still barreling through me when I heard a gasp. I looked over Maximus’s shoulder to see Loren. I immediately wrenched myself from Maximus’s grasp. He stepped back and nearly ran over Loren in the process.
Her face was shiny with sweat like mine. She wore a similar set to me, but in bright pink. Her white-blonde hair was tied up in a tight bun. Clearly, we’d had the same idea about training this morning. But I was the idiot who pissed Maximus off in doing so.
“Max!” Loren said brightly. “I didn’t expect to see you this early.”
Maximus grunted. “I had to bring Miss Smith something,” he said. He pulled out a notebook from seemingly nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed it the whole time he was attacking me for being loud. He extended it to me. I took it gingerly, as if the electricity that came from when we touched might transfer through the paper. I turned it over in my hands. “Student Handbook” was written across the front of it.
I raised it towards him in thanks, eyes avoiding his. I looked at Loren. Her eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. She turned back to Maximus and schooled her face neutral.
“I’ll see you in Combat?” she said.
Max nodded. He turned his back to me and started walking back to his room. But I was unsatisfied by that. I stepped out into the hall next to Loren.
“Hey!” I shouted in his direction. He whipped around and looked at me. His eyes were wide in fear but his mouth was set in a thin line. I decided to drop the electricity thing. Clearly, if it was enough to scare Maximus, I didn’t wanna know. Instead, I opened my mouth and said something stupid.
“Aren’t you supposed to be my mentor or something?”
Maximus choked out a laugh. He crossed his arms. “Do I look like I want to be your mentor?”
“Well, no,” I said. I mimicked his stance. “But seeing as I’m the victim of this year’s hunt, I was hoping you could mentor me through it.”
“I have no interest in Kairos’s hunt,” Maximus spat. “I stay out of his business, and he stays out of mine. End of story.”
“But, yesterday – ” I protested.
“Yesterday, I got caught up in the fun,” Maximus cut me off with malice. “I have no intention on continuing in the stupid games. Nor will I intervene.”
“So don’t,” I snapped and turned on my heel. I marched back into my room with Loren in tow. She gently closed the door behind us. She shook her head.
“There’s something about you that he just hates,” Loren said. “I can’t figure out what it is.”
I snorted. “Thanks Loren,” I slumped to the floor and started to open the handbook. “I wonder if this has anything interesting in it.”
Loren joined me and shook her head. “Probably not,” she said. “It’s just the basics. Vampires enslaved us. Tried to kill us. Blah, blah, blah. Training to fight if they come back. The end.” She tilted her head. “Though your schedule is usually in the back. Flip to it and I’ll tell you what I know about first year classes.”
I flipped the book to the last page and was met with a schedule much like I had in high school. But this one had insane classes. Instead of “Art” it was “Beginner Battle Tactics” and instead of “Science” it was “Selective Weaponry with Knives.” I did see “Lupine World History” on there which was a class I was sure to excel at. “These are insane classes,” I said to Loren. “Does everyone who’s a wolf take these?” She shook her head. She’d somehow procured a granola bar and was munching on it. “Non-Alphas usually tend to attend vocational schools. Some non-Alphas go right to the military without schooling,” she swallowed. “But all Alphas attend schools like here.”
“Great,” I mumbled. I guess I wasn’t getting out of “Scenting and Tracking.” That wasn’t even something I thought I could do. Loren pointed down at my schedule. “‘Lupine Transformative Shifting’ is your first class this morning,” she said. “It’s how we learn to control our shifting. Then you have a break and then two classes in the afternoon. ‘Advanced Lupine Physics’ and ‘Advanced Lupine Biology.’”
“What are those?” I asked. “Like human biology and physics but centered around wolves and other members of the lupine genus,” Loren replied.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Loren checked her watch and swore under her breath. “It’s eight thirty,” she said. “Shifting starts at nine. You’re gonna be late.”
I scrambled to my feet and ran to the bathroom. I skipped the shower, begrudgingly, and braided my hair so it was tight to my skull. Loren walked me across campus to the forest, where shifting was supposed to take place, then waved and walked to her own class. I darted through the forest until I came upon a clearing. There were ten or fifteen student standing around with their backpacks on the floor. In front, there was an elder woman with grey hair and beedy purple eyes. They bore into my soul as I skidded to stop in the circle.
“Miss Smith,” the elder woman said. “Thank you for joining us.”
Heat flared in my face. “Sorry,”
Someone snorted next to me. I felt a shoulder brush against mine than push to the middle of the circle to stand next to the woman. It was no surprise to me that it was Kairos. When he finally came to stand next to the woman in front of class, he was glaring a hole into my skull. I swallowed thickly. This was not going to be good.
“Welcome to your first shifting class,” The woman said. “I am Professor Adera Valencia. I will be your teacher.” She gestured to Kairos. “I’m sure you all know Mr. Moonraiser. He’s a third year student who has mastered the art of shifting. He will be the teaching assistant for this class.”
Oh, god. Kairos was going to be instructing me. He was trying to kill me and he was my fucking teacher. I squirmed where I stood and Kairos caught my eye. He grinned, so salacious and sadistic, and I thought about running once again. “Now,” Professor Valencia clapped her hands together. “if you may, please shift.”
My heart dropped to my toes.
One by one, all of the other students close to me shook and shivered and traded their human bodies for wolf ones. To some students, shifting looked effortless. Others I saw furrowing their brows or shaking their limbs as they did. Several wolves emerged and immediately growled. The whole time, I stood there in shock. One by one, I was finally the last human left.
“Miss Smith,” Valencia said sternly. “I asked you to please shift as this is the point of our class.”
“I – I can’t,” I’d never sounded so small.
Valencia raised an eyebrow. “You cannot?” I shook my head. Valencia looked disappointed. Kairos looked like he’d been given the prize goose.
“She’s wolfless, Professor,” he spat. “I don’t even know why they added her to this class. She should be in something more her speed. Perhaps she’d enjoy crocheting?”
A few wolves by me snickered. Valencia gave Kairos a look.
“Mr. Moonraiser, that’s enough,” she said. She turned back to me. “That is no matter, Miss Smith. We will have you passively learn until your inner wolf decides to join us.”
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