Chapter 12 Avery
AVERY
The hike back across campus to my dorm room was welcome despite the frigid bite of the air.
I needed to breathe in something other than Elijah’s heady mint and citrus.
That was probably how a terrifying snake monster lured his prey—by smelling so good.
I had about an hour before I was meeting Ian and our friends for lunch, so I was going to spend it decompressing in my room and finishing our reading assignment from this morning.
I dug my hands into the pocket of my hoodie and braced myself against the wind as I walked.
Maybe Ian would be willing to spar with me later this afternoon before I had to meet Aiden Blackwell for tutoring?
Might be a good idea to expend all the pent-up energy I was accumulating before being in close quarters with that jaguar.
I hadn’t made it halfway across the lawn before my way was blocked.
“If it isn’t the bitch who thinks she’s better than us.”
Four large males stood in the grass, spread out in front of me, arms crossed over beefy chests, menacing smiles on their faces. A quad, likely all Prime shifters, looking like they were here to pick a fight with little old me.
The one who’d spoken stood about six inches in front of the others, designating him the leader of this merry band of predators.
He had shaggy brown hair and a day’s worth of stubble, and he’d managed to squeeze his enormous shoulders into a denim jacket with a fur-lined collar.
His smirk was lazy as he sized me up like he was both checking me out and probing for weaknesses.
“I’m sorry,” I said, keeping my tone light even as my beast had woken all the way up, wound tight and ready to strike, “but I have no idea who the hell you are. I couldn’t have an opinion as to whether I am or am not better than you, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
“Don’t play dumb,” the lead asshole barked. “We’re the Ashton Quad, and our families practically own Starburg.”
Starburg was one of the picturesque little cities in the Hills. Definitely high on powerful shifters and low on human residents.
“Congratulations,” I said. “If I acknowledge how special your quad is, will you go away? I want to get a head start on my homework.”
The guy looming off Lead Asshole’s right shoulder rumbled a sound of disgust. He was enormous—barrel-chested, bearded, and probably six-foot-five, at least. “She’s a mouthy bitch, Rip,” he said to the leader.
“Females don’t talk to us like that,” the male standing to Rip’s left added, sneering at me.
He had brown skin and black hair buzzed close to his scalp.
He was as big as Rip but leaner, and he gave off distinctly feline energy as a golden sheen flashed across his dark eyes.
“Females get on their knees and say please for us.”
“She wishes,” the last guy said with a derisive snort. He looked just like Rip, minus an inch of height and about twenty pounds of muscle. Little brother, probably. “I wouldn’t let an abomination within ten feet of my cock.”
“And yet here I stand, within five feet of the lot of you because you’ve decided to harass me on my walk back to my room,” I said blandly. “You’re a special quad. I’m an abomination. We’re all on the same page. Are we finished?” I moved to step around them.
“No,” Rip snarled, thrusting an arm out in front of me. “You think you can just show up here, shake your ass at the trainers, and waltz right into the Guardians? My quad put in two years of training and work only to get fucking cut at the end of last year. It’s bullshit, and I won’t allow it.”
Ah, now their hostility made more sense. Word had gotten out, and my name on that leaderboard was hurting their fragile egos. An affliction of many shifter males.
“Feel free to express your displeasure to Ward Gale,” I told him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”
“I challenge the new girl,” the Rip look-alike announced, his voice booming across the field.
Nearby students stopped in their tracks.
Great.
I took a step back and squared my shoulders. “To what end? There’s no pack hierarchy between us to fight over, and membership in the Guardian training program isn’t decided by challenge.”
Rip rolled his eyes. “You really are a dumb bitch. Since you’re new here, I’ll explain.
You seem to think you belong among the school’s top males, so we’ll treat you like one.
We challenge each other to establish dominance and pecking order on this campus.
Get your ass kicked enough, and it will be clear to the entire student body that you’re weak and shouldn’t be anywhere near the Guardians.
And once we all see that you really are an abomination, we’ll also know you aren’t fit to lick the cum from any Prime male’s dick. ”
My beast rumbled dangerously within me. Yes, they’re gross and terrible, but now is not the time. Keep it together.
Little Rip stepped forward. “We go until one of us can’t go anymore—knockout or submission.
Unfortunately, the college forbids challenges to the death, but severe maiming is always on the table.
We usually fight as beasts, but since whatever weak-ass fucking animal you’re harboring probably won’t help you much, human form is allowed a weapon. If you can find one.” He winked at me.
Looked like I wouldn’t be traversing campus without my blades from now on, even in the daylight.
“Get on with it, Ranger,” Rip griped.
Ranger rolled his eyes. “How about I go easy on you, new girl? I’ll stay in human form, and who knows? I might be feeling charitable. You’re hot enough, so maybe I will grant you the honor of sucking my cock in exchange for not breaking your arm in three places.”
“I really pity any poor girl you four may have your eyes on for bonding,” I replied.
I set my backpack down and windmilled my arms. While I had no doubt I could turn around and sprint away faster than they could catch me, it would make me look even weaker than if I let Ranger the perv beat the shit out of me until I bled all over the grass.
“Egos so fragile, you have to pick a fight with an unarmed female. Coercing sexual favors from an abomination with threats of violence. Real winners, all of you. The town of Starburg must be so proud of its exalted sons.”
My words had the intended effect. Ranger’s nostrils flared like a bull’s, and he charged straight at me. The small crowd that had gathered around us gasped like they hadn’t thought he would actually go full force at a female.
I ducked his first attempt to knock me out cold with a wild swing of his fist at my head.
“No wonder you got cut from the Guardians,” I said as I danced away. “Your aim is shit.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He lunged again, throwing his whole body into a tackle.
I dropped to a crouch and caught his bulk, using his momentum to flip him hard over my shoulder. He landed hard on his back, shouting obscenities.
I whirled and pounced on him before he could get his feet back under him. One hard stomp to the groin and one solid punch to the temple, and he was out.
The silence around me was deafening. I stood up, shaking my hand out. That fucker’s head was rock-hard, and I’d split the skin on my knuckles. The whole thing had taken less than sixty seconds, which I could only hope was a decisive enough victory that I could be on my way.
“Yes, I’m stronger than I look,” I told Rip, who’d lost that asshole smirk and just looked stunned and quite pissed. “So, with that settled, are we finished?”
“Barrett!” he barked. “Get her.”
The huge bearded guy shoved to the front. His muscles swelled, and then a giant brown bear burst from his body, leaving his clothes in shreds on the lawn.
“Fuck,” I swore through clenched teeth as gasps and screams erupted around me. My beast clawed at her cage, but I couldn’t let her out. Not unless I was desperate and near death.
But with a giant brown bear charging at me, she might just get her wish.
The bear reared up on his hind legs when he reached me, and he swiped sharp claws at my head.
I dove away, but he still managed to rake them across my shoulder before I hit the ground.
Unlike the magically simulated injuries I experienced yesterday, this one opened my skin.
I could feel the blood seeping from my stinging flesh and into my sweatshirt as I rolled to my feet.
The bear roared, rearing up again to smash me. I darted away, just missing what would’ve been more deep scores in my back. Barrett was enormous, bigger than Wyatt’s bear, but in what was probably my only sliver of good luck, he was a hell of a lot slower.
“Avery!”
Ian’s terrified voice cut through the noise of the crowd. He elbowed his way to the front, Brody the lynx at his side. Ian lunged like he was going to jump into the fight with me, but Brody grabbed his jacket and held him back.
“It’s a challenge, you can’t intervene!” he shouted in Ian’s ear. “But this will help.” He unsheathed a sword from his back and tossed it to me.
I caught it by the hilt and immediately slashed at the bear’s face. He roared and lumbered backward a few feet.
“Brody, what the fuck is this?” I yelled, swinging the sword a few times.
It was a thin double-edged blade, light and easy to wield, with a guard made of several intricate twisted braids of steel.
Pretty, but you’d have a hell of a time slicing the head off any wraith more powerful than a swarmer with this thing, so I had no idea why he had it.
“It’s a rapier!” he shouted back. “Beggars can’t be choosers when there’s a giant bear trying to rip your head off, Baxter!”
“Damn it,” I groaned.
The bear roared again, rattling my bones. He stood up on two legs once more and attacked, this time with his big fucking teeth. Bears liked to clamp down on your neck and shake you like a rag doll, and there would be no keeping my beast inside if I let this bear get his teeth around my throat.