Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Romeo Ballet Academy, Sanctum
I sit on the cold floor of the dance studio, before class begins.
My stomach is tied in knots.
It’s Monday morning in the last week before the R trash like you should do all the work .”
Mary bursts into laughter. “That sounded just like Rem. Shit, did you have to say that? Now I’ll have to scour my brain with bleach to get rid of that image. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to orgasm when I’m flicking the bean ever again.”
Ariana’s head snaps up at our laughter.
She’s like a pretty, dark haired porcelain doll.
She’s taller than me and thinner. She’s all harsh angles from her narrow face to her angular body.
But she’s astounding when she dances.
She looks intimidating, however, when she marches across the studio to stand with her hands on her hips in front of Mary and me.
I sober.
“Can we help you?” I ask, politely.
I don’t feel polite.
This asshole stole from me this morning. But I can’t prove it. I never can.
“What are you witches cackling about?” Ariana’s voice is aristocratic and educated.
“Why? Do you want to join us and make a coven?” Mary offers.
I battle not to laugh again.
Ariana sniffs. “Why would I join anything with a Cinders ?” She spits Cinders like it’s a cuss word. I flinch. Even after all these years, this is still a pain point for me. And she knows it. “You’re a traitor to our pack, Mary, for being friends with her.”
“There are a lot of traitors in the pack then.” Mary pushes herself to her feet. “Juliet is friends with…well, everyone but you and your clique. Plus, she’s Omega cuddle pile mates with one of the company’s owners, Laurent. What friends in high places do you actually have?”
Caught unawares, Ariana shifts from foot to foot. She opens and shuts her mouth a couple of times.
Mary’s eyes twinkle. “In this academy, you’re no better than the rest of us. You simply like to pretend that you are because it makes you feel less lost, insecure, and afraid. But you’re not safe in your elite family anymore. You’re only a—”
“I will be,” Ariana snarls. “I’m going to win on Friday and become the principal. Then you’ll have to respect and obey me.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
It’ll be hell in this academy if Ariana — my main rival — gains this position of authority.
She’ll make us all pay.
Some people should never be in positions of power. They’ll abuse it.
Carefully, I ease myself out of the splits and stand up next to Mary.
Ariana jabs her finger at my chest. “You shouldn’t be allowed to take part in the contest. It doesn’t matter how many times Rem explains to your loyal dog, Swan, why he shouldn’t dance with you, Swan won’t drop you as a partner. But let me make this abundantly clear, hun. Rem and I are the true heirs to the position of principal. Generations of Betas in our family have been sent here. We were born for this. And you won’t take it away from us.”
I stare at Ariana.
She’s panting. Her cheeks are flushed.
I understand her passion. Her rage.
If she only put all that hate into positive energy in her dancing, then she probably would win.
Instead, she’s wasting it on me.
After all, it’s the system and tradition’s fault that she had no choice but to be here.
Not me.
I pause for a moment, forcing myself to unclench my hands and slow my breathing. “Okay.”
Ariana blinks. “What?”
“Is there anything else?”
Ariana looks confused. “Well…no…but…”
See, psychological warfare.
Mindfuck the bullies back. It works every time.
Ariana crosses her arms, unsure what to do, before huffing and flouncing back to the barre.
I watch her go, amused.
I jump, however, when the door slams open and I hear the loud rapping of a cane on the floor.
Rap — rap — rap .
Katerina.
The Dance Master.
My pulse speeds up.
My mouth is suddenly dry.
Without looking round, Mary and I rush to stand at the barre as well, holding onto it and adjusting our feet into the correct position.
I glance out of the corner of my eye at Katerina.
She’s a powerfully built Alpha in her fifties with ice white hair like her son’s, which is cut into a severe bob. Her pale blue eyes are constantly assessing, as if she’s judging everything about you and finding it wanting.
She’s dressed in an ivory blouse, which is tucked into a long black skirt that swishes across the floor as she glides toward us. She’s gripping a thick cane.
I can’t help the way that my stomach lurches at the sight of the cane.
Katerina uses it to beat out the rhythm.
But she also uses it to beat us, when we make mistakes.
“Good morning,” Katerina snaps, briskly.
“Good morning, Miss Katerina,” we chorus in response.
“Begin.” Katerina raps her cane on the floor.
In unison, we start to run through our exercises at the barre. Every student is in sync, reflected back in the mirrors.
I concentrate on my balance and coordination, trying to ensure that I’m in time with everyone else.
I’m hyperfocused on the tapping of Katerina’s cane and her footfalls, as she walks up the line.
“Relax your ankles,” Katerina barks at someone behind me. “You still haven’t improved.” She tuts, moving on. I hear her poke someone hard with the cane, pointing out their bad form. “You’re a waste of feet. Unacceptable. You’re making me homesick for a home that I hated.”
Katerina pulls off an acerbic black humor that weirdly has half the class worshipfully believing that she truly is their fairy godmother.
When she’s not being a hardass in class, she rewards the best dancers. She can be all hugs and smiles like we’re her family.
But it’s a trick. I figured that out early on.
Who tells people that talking to them like this is only to improve them?
The hairs rise on the back of my neck, as Katerina draws closer.
Anxiety floods through me.
I don’t stop rising my leg up and down, along with the other dancers, following the routine.
When Katerina stops at Mary who is behind me, I hold my breath. “How are you pulling off looking like Bambi after he’s got into my son’s secret stash of vodka?”
When I hear the crack of the cane followed by Mary’s hiss of pain, I glance over my shoulder.
Katerina has hit Mary’s calf to make her adjust her leg into a better position.
The Alphahole.
When Katerina sweeps past me, I stiffen.
Katerina merely smiles, however, with a nod. “Perfect, as I’d expect.” Then she glances dismissively at Ariana. “Are you satisfied with that?”
Ariana looks devastated. “I’m sorry, Miss Katerina.”
Katerina prowls to stand in front of us. “When do I ever ask you to apologize? Apologies are worthless to me. Just meet my expectations. I’m not here to be a glorified babysitter, replacement mother, or to hand out participation medals. I won’t pat you on your heads, telling you that you’re all winners . You’re not. This is a competition. Life is . You will show me hundred percent dedication.”
“Yes, Miss Katerina,” we chorus.
Katerina’s lips pinch. “You think that you’ve had it hard in this academy. You haven’t. I fled from a ballet company, where I was trained to be the choreographer. The dancers there were worked a thousand times harder than you, they were disciplined and… You have no idea how much harsher it was for them.”
I stare at her in shock. She’s never spoken about her past like this before.
She looks haunted.
She jabs the cane at me, viciously. “Who told you to stop?”
Shit.
Hurriedly, I try to catch up with the routine again.
“You need to understand that this isn’t a game.” Katerina’s knuckles whiten around the cane. “If you want to become the principal on Friday, then you fight for it.”
Wait, is she talking to me?
She doesn’t do encouraging speeches but this sounds close it.
Dimitri has always been bitter about the opportunities that his mom has granted me, despite me being an Omega.
She’s not been prejudiced against me.
She’s treated me just as harshly as everyone else, which in her world, is a compliment.
Am I her favorite? Is she hoping that I’ll win?
Yet it doesn’t change the cruel way that she rules this academy.
I wish that I understood why she’s not harder on me, when I’m one of the few who don’t fawn over her.
Is it because I’m an Omega? Or because she truly does respect me as a dancer?
“I’m fighting for it,” Ariana boldly asserts, trying to gain Katerina’s attention. “I’ve heard that Mr. Romeo is back in America. There’s no doubt that he’ll want to hand me the rose, selecting me as part of the Ballet Bonding Night tradition.”
Katerina’s icy eyes flash. “So you have less brains in your head than dancing ability in your legs.”
Ariana’s lip trembles like she’s about to cry. “I don’t understand.”
Katerina marches to the table, snatching one of the manuals out of the piles that lie on top of it.
She waves it furiously at us. “Haven’t you memorized your Romeo Ballet Company Handbook for Betas ?”
When she throws her cane clattering to the floor, I jump.
Behind me, Mary whimpers.
I try to put out soothing pheromones, but they’re sucked out by the air purification system.
Plus, there’s only so much an Omega can do to soothe a Beta. It’s Alphas who are truly calmed, enraged, or dragged into rut by our pheromones.
It’s why Alphas and Omegas have such an incredible symbiosis…why we should be together.
Also, why Omegas have an incredible power, which Alphas underestimate.
Katerina rips open the manual. “Here, page eighty-two. Let me read it to you, in case you’ve forgotten the dangers of such a bonding: Each Alpha CEO of the Romeo pack, however, may once in a generation invoke Ballet Bonding Night. They will claim the principals as their own. Remember, if you want a rose, you must respect the thorns. Any Beta who attempts to refuse the bond will be stripped of their status as a dancer and sent into exile .”
“Worth it,” Ariana mutters. “Anyway, who would reject the offer of a bond with the company’s owner?”
My eyes widen.
No one talks back to the Dance Master.
Ariana must really want her ass kicked.
To my shock, Katerina only drops the manual to the floor with a bang. “Someone who doesn’t want to blaze like a butterfly once across the stage, only to in their moment of greatest beauty and triumph, know that they’ll never dance again.”
I draw in a shaky breath.
Ambrose wouldn’t let me dance? Ever again?
Ariana pales.
The atmosphere in the studio is tense and fearful.
“Is it still worth it?” Katerina quirks her brow. “To become the principal after so many the years of hard work, dedication, and pain? Then lose that position within the same night?”
Ariana opens her mouth and then closes it, finally speechless.
Except, it is worth it for me.
If I can find a safe pack for Swan and me, which means no more beatings for either of us, then I’d give up anything.
It’ll be agony, but I’ll do it.
Because the alternative is that Swan will be bonded to Dimitri.
Plus, once I’m free of the academy, I can search for Mom and free her too.
If I have to sacrifice part of my soul by not dancing, then I will.
Katerina looks down at her hands. “My bonded Chief Alpha invoked Ballet Bonding Night. Well, it was my home country’s version of it. The Beta was…mesmerizing. I’ve never seen anyone dance like him, before or since. His performance was spectacular, and he wept when my Chief Alpha gave him that rose because he knew what it meant. He lived for his dancing. I remember thinking, I’ve just watched this man die .”
Shit, is she about to cry?
My muscles cramp. I grip harder onto the barre.
Katerina’s voice is unusually quiet and intense. “I ran a year later because I couldn’t watch his suffering any longer. I took Dimitri with me because he was only a toddler, even if I hated him because he reminded me so much of his Alpha dad. Look around you at the roses on the walls and embroidered onto your costumes. Roses have thorns. They’ll make you bleed. Pack and love are both illusions. Dancing hurts. It’s hard. But it won’t break you. On the other hand, being bonded with a pack will.”