Chapter 8
Delilah
I get a break from the scary Alphas for a little while as my next couple of classes are strictly for Humans. The only Wolves in those classes are there for demonstration purposes only. Modeling things like how to tie their ties, how to take their measurements, and how best to serve them their food.
So dumb, but whatever. They didn’t seem to like it any more than the Humans did. As if this was new information, even to those of us who weren’t Avowed before coming here.
Just before I can head to lunch, I’m called to the administrative office.
My mind starts racing. One of those bastards claimed me. I just fucking know it. I don’t know who I want it to be though. If it’s not Coal, I’m dead. If it is, I’m still pretty much fucked. Literally and figuratively.
When I walk into the office, my heart drops.
Both Coal and Dean are standing before me, facing each other like they’re just a second from ripping the other's throat out. Coal is clearly furious while Dean looks calm but still seriously scary. They’re evenly matched in height, but Dean is thicker, larger.
Coal is lean with cut muscle and sharp lines.
If they fight, they’ll do serious damage to each other.
“Ahh. Delilah. Join me in my office.” Headmaster Evans instructs, standing by his office door. I have to pass between the two Wolves to get to it.
I sigh and try to move past them quickly, but as soon as I step between them, Coal stops me.
“You. Are. Mine.” His growl is low and threatening but also makes butterflies explode in my stomach.
The hold he has on my arm is painful. Chances are I’ll be sporting another bruise soon.
I hate that my heart races and desire gets the better of me.
You are mine… Fuck, why do those words affect me so much?
Dean growls, but Coal doesn’t release me; he just stares into my eyes, a wild look on his face that makes me shiver. I have to yank my arm out of his grasp to get free, wincing. I finally make it to the office and take a seat across from the older man.
“Well, I’ll get straight to the point. Two applications for you to become an Avowed servant came in at roughly the same time.
I’ve decided that the best way to prevent these men from fighting is to have you serve both of them.
” He places two bags in front of me, and I instantly know what they are.
The necklaces that mark the pack I belong to.
Packs. “You share a lunch period with them both, as well as combat, but otherwise your classes don’t overlap.
You will alternate days, and then weekends, with each, and if either of them chooses another Avowed, you will become the other’s full time.
Any questions?” He’s so nonchalant, as if this is no big deal.
“Both?” I stare at his chest, not wanting to anger the old fucker, but also because he’s a bit creepy, and I can’t look at his face anyway.
“That’s what I said.” He looks at me with disgust, like I’m fucking stupid, and I suppress that intrusive thought, urging me to smash the glass paperweight on his desk against his skull.
Dickwad. This is unheard of. Wolves can have more than one Avowed, but Humans can only serve one Wolf. Obviously, I’m a bit dumbstruck.
“Do I have to?” I ask, hoping I could serve just one of them. Dean.
He throws his head back, laughing. The bastard.
“Serving not one, but two of the most prominent Wolves in this academy is a privilege that someone like you should be grateful for. Begging for, in fact. Now, wait outside my office while I explain to the men what my final decision is. And take those,” he motions to my new neck prisons.
And just like that, I'm dismissed. Thrown to the Wolves, waiting for their kill.
Ten minutes later, after some intense shouting coming from the office, I’m walking to the dining hall behind Coal. Dean only eats in his dorm room, and today is my day with Coal since he threw the bigger fit about sharing me. Yay, me.
I walk in behind my least favorite sadist and immediately see my best friend sitting at a table with the other Humans.
Genny waves at me, but notices I’m walking closely behind a very grumpy Coal and drops her hand.
Her face morphs into one of shocked horror as her eyes land on my double collar.
She knows what Coal has put me through, and I can see the fear in her eyes.
I reach up, itching the offending material at the reminder of them.
Red for Coal, blue for Dean. Guess it’s my unlucky day.
I nod in agreement, but quickly move on. I share my dorm room with her, I’ll be able to fill her in later. She’s going to be really fucking shocked when she learns what the double collar really means. Every Human in this room is probably thanking all the goddesses and gods, that they aren’t me.
Dear deities. You all fucking suck. I hope you choke on every piece of food you eat for the rest of time.
I’m so busy cursing imaginary beings that I don’t notice Coal isn’t walking anymore, so I walk right into his back.
He ignores it, but I get a face full of his cinnamon scent and shake off the way it makes my chest flutter with nerves.
“You claim her finally?” someone asks in front of Coal, but Coal shoves him aside, continuing to his seat. “Woah, what the fuck, is that a Shadow Moon choker?!” The same guy shouts, and the whole room turns to look at us. My blood freezes in my veins. Fuck. Not good.
“So, what? You’re sharing her?” Jessica, a Wolf I recognize from Primal Moon, scoffs.
“That’s disgusting. What a whore.” I blink at the insult, staring at my feet and hating all the attention on me right now.
How is me being forced into this bullshit a good reason to call me a whore? Is she that stupid?
Quil scoffs. “Coal only claimed her long enough to steal her virginity, then he’ll discard her like the trash she is,” he says loudly, and my cheeks heat from the humiliation.
“Should have just raped her and been done with it,” Jessica announces with the same tone she would use to announce the time.
I stop breathing; I’m not exactly cheery that I might be forced to fuck Coal, but the way she said that was horrifying.
As if raping me would be no different from Coal needing to take a shit.
“Probably, but you know I like to play first,” Coal’s words make the hair on the back of my neck rise. I almost hope he fucking tries it. I’ll die fighting him before I let him inside my body now. Bastards. Fucking evil assholes. All of them.
“Get the fuck out of here, trash,” Coal snaps, and the stab of pain his insult causes, makes me wince.
Instead of letting it hurt me, I hold onto it, turning the pain into anger.
He thinks my life is a game. Fine. I’ll fucking win, one way or another.
I rush out of the dining hall, heading for a bathroom when I’m hit on the back of the head, my world going black.
I groan, rolling over, and grip my head in both hands. What the fuck happened? I feel like I took a brick to the head. I look up and realize I’m also outside.
I sit up, ignoring the pain in my head, and look around. I’m outside the gates of the Academy. How the fuck did I get out here? I look down at my body, looking for other wounds, but there’s nothing. I’m not hurt, but I don’t know how the fuck I got out here. I’ll have to walk back to the Academy.
The sun is down and the moon is high, so I’ve been out a long ass time.
“Oh, fucking balls!” I snap, when I look down to see my shoes are gone. “Fucking assholes!” I scream.
This is going to hurt like a motherfucker by the time I make it back to the stupid-ass Academy.
Nervous and suspicious, I lift my skirt and sigh with relief to see that my underwear are still on and appear to be perfectly intact.
Guess I better start fucking walking.
By the time I make it to my dorm, my bare feet are bleeding.
It took fucking hours to get to the Human dorms, and they are in the worst building, way at the back of the Academy grounds.
My feet are not happy. They look seriously rough, blood coating the floor with every step I take.
Dirt, rocks, sticks. Who knows what else fucked me up?
“Ow, ow, ow…” I grumble as I rush inside the dorm, slamming the door in my haste and then flinching at the loud sound.
My best friend is already here since it’s probably like two in the morning, and she hops off the top bunk as soon as she sees me, startled. She rubs at her sleepy eyes and stares at me.
“Do you need help?” she asks, looking at me with concern.
“Please.” I wince, giving her an apologetic look. “Can you grab me some clean clothes and a bandage? I'm going to take a shower and wash my fucked up feet. I woke up in the fucking forest!” I don’t know how the fuck I-
“Jessica,” Genny nods, giving me a sad look. “I heard her bragging. I went looking for you and begged them to let me off campus to go find you, but then…” she trails off, pointing to the swelling on her cheek, and I gasp.
“Who the fuck hit you?!” I demand, and she shakes her head.
“It doesn’t matter; let's just get you cleaned up.”
Thirty minutes later, I’m laying on the bottom bunk, staring up at my friend, who is hanging her head over the edge, so she can make sure I’m okay.
“Do you want to talk about the things they said about you? Or are we just going to pretend everything is fine?” she asks, and I sigh loudly.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” I tell her for the third time.
She can’t go more than ten minutes without asking what happened.
I know she’s just worried about me, but I feel like today was the longest fucking day in history, and all I want to do is shut my eyes and pretend I’m not stuck in this hellhole.
“I’m not going to stop asking. So if you want me to leave you alone, just answer,” she demands, giving me a stubborn look I know all too well.
“Fine! Both Coal and Dean, you know, from Shadow Moon Pack, claimed me as their fucking Avowed! Now, I have to alternate between serving both of them every damn day. Apparently, the Headmaster was too chicken to just pick a side,” I groan, and rub my hands down my face.
My feet are aching and driving me crazy.
The blanket I brought from home is at least comforting, and I tug it up my body, breathing in my mother's familiar scent.
“I didn’t know two Wolves could claim an Avowed like that…”
“They normally can’t. It’s because of their ranks. Neither of them was willing to back down, so as a compromise the Headmaster allowed them both to claim me,” I sigh, throwing an arm over my eyes, desperate to block out the world.
“Wow. That sounds…awful,” Genny says with pity, rolling over on her bunk and looking up at the ceiling.
“No shit,” I groan with a sigh. Genny has never been the target of any hatred from the Wolves, mostly because of who her mother is, but also because she takes her place as a Human in a pack seriously.
She must be torturing herself about getting hit in her attempt to find me.
She knows where she belongs and accepts it, unlike me.
Even when I try to comply, a part of me rebels which makes life so much harder.
“Should we talk about what he said he was going to do to you?” she asks quietly, and I shake my head.
“No, because if he tries, I’ll bite his fucking dick off,” I vow, and she chuckles.
“Alright, Dee. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
We fell asleep after that, and my feet throb like a bitch the whole night.