20. Sadie #2
I flipped open the first page. The first question read, What happens to alphas who hurt omegas or betas?
The moon goddess was truly with me. Thank fuck for Aran.
I grinned and scribbled down, “They get disemboweled by the don, then set on fire.”
Two hours into the test, I began to lose steam and had to stifle another yawn with my fist.
The words were blurry on the page, and I barely read the question before writing, “Disembowel them.”
If I’d learned one thing last night, it was that the punishment was almost always organ extraction.
Three hours later, Z shouted, “Time! Put down your pens. Close your booklets.”
My heart beat erratically as I turned the test over, and a number appeared at the top.
Glowing green on the top of my page, it read, “131. Passing.”
The scores and our names appeared on a blackboard at the front of the room. Everyone had passed.
Jax had the highest score, and I had the lowest one.
Clarissa snickered and whispered something derogatory, but I was too busy grinning from ear to ear.
I’d fucking passed. Who gave a flying fuck about the score? I was on top of the world.
Now I didn’t have to enslave anyone with my blood powers and fight to the death against the don.
What a glorious day.
Aran was a fucking angel from the rumored god realm. A true queen.
Jax blushed as Z clapped him on the shoulder, and I wondered proudly what the man didn’t excel at.
“You can have the rest of the day off. Official fighting starts tomorrow. Be here at dawn, and don’t be late.” Z turned to look at me pointedly.
I smiled like a loon.
He frowned.
What a wonderful time to be alive.
Slumped in my seat, slightly high from the drugs still in my system, sleep deprivation, and the sheer bliss of passing a hard test, I didn’t even realize everyone had left the room.
On shaking legs, I stumbled to the door, chuckling as I imagined how excited Aran was going to be.
Clarissa blocked my exit, and her stunning face was contorted into something ugly.
“Are you a badger?” I asked.
“What?” she asked with confusion.
“Is your alpha form a giant badger? I don’t know why, but I can see it.”
Clarissa snarled, “You don’t deserve to be a part of the pack.”
“Wow. I went left with this convo. You went right.”
The elation slowly drained out of my bones until my legs were unsteady and my headache began to throb again.
When was the last time I’d eaten?
She snapped her perfectly manicured red nails in my face. “Are you paying attention? I said you don’t deserve the pack.”
I didn’t ask what pack she was referring to.
It was obvious.
Clarissa flipped her silky black ponytail. “Xerxes is not just any regular omega. He comes from one of the oldest beast families in Serpentine City. Everyone knows he was owned by the notorious Black Wolves.”
She paused and stepped into my personal space.
“They’re independent alphas. They’re as rich and crazy as they are wanted for crimes against beasts. Xerxes is only alive because he ran before they could complete the bonding, because he was too young for it to take.”
Her alpha scent wafted off her in waves of lemony tang.
I’d never liked lemons.
My stomach hurt for Xerxes, but I said nothing. It wasn’t like she actually wanted to have a conversation.
Clarissa’s voice pitched until she growled.
“The Black Wolves are hunting Xerxes as we speak. He’s going to need to be surrounded by the strongest alphas in Serpentine if he’s going to survive.
His alphas are strong, but the weak link in the chain is you.
If the pack needs anyone, it’s other alphas that are strong enough to protect him.
Not some scrawny runt who passes out while fighting. ”
Any lingering joy from not failing the test drained from me.
The sleepless night caught up to me.
I took a shaky step back from Clarissa as if I could distance myself from the horrible meaning behind her words.
She wasn’t wrong.
If Xerxes really was being hunted, he needed to be protected. My heart hurt for everything he’d been through.
Clarissa took another menacing step forward.
I went to step back again, and I bristled at my cowardice.
She didn’t know who the fuck I was.
Jinx came to the forefront of my mind, and I channeled the twelve-year-old.
“I’m not weak. You know nothing about the pack or Xerxes. I’m the one who’s lived and fought beside them. You’re just a lonely, jealous female alpha who’s acting like an animal because you’ve met a male omega way out of your fucking league.”
Her dark eyes flashed with warning, and I could have stopped the backhand that I saw coming from a mile away.
But I was fucking tired, and a part of me welcomed the pain.
I’d let her be the bad guy all she wanted. I’d let her think she had the upper hand. It would be all the sweeter when one day, I’d show her who I really was.
Her backhand struck my cheek, and the force of the blow slammed me into the wall.
She was no delicate flower.
But it wasn’t her hand that stung; it was her next words.
Clarissa’s blood red lips curled up at the corners. “Xerxes invited me to his first heat. Said it should be soon, and he needed a female alpha present. You’re not special, so stop pining over them like you’re fated mates. Everyone can see they’re over you.”
What was left of my heart incinerated into ashes.
My knees gave out, and I struggled to stop myself from collapsing as the world rocked around me.
Clarissa was silent as she walked away.
She didn’t need to say anything.
She’d already destroyed me.