Chapter 6
It was Thursday, and I found myself standing at the door of my Omega Studies classroom. The week had slipped by without a whisper of the Lincoln pack.
Decebal was monitoring everything he had access to; the Lincoln pack finances, known houses, vehicles—even the Dean’s emails to see if they’d given a reason for leaving, but came up empty on clues. We didn’t have tabs on everything, though. They’d apparently never found the trail of money that had been funnelled into the experimentations. Whatever they’d used for that, it seemed they were using again.
I was making a huge effort to figure out my phone, as it allowed me to contact Decebal for access to research without going through Dusk every time. At first, I thought it was broken, until Ransom explained that apparently it needed to be charged nightly to keep it going, which seemed wildly inconvenient.
On Monday, we had returned to classes. It made me feel better, taking that step, as if it was another thing they hadn’t managed to steal from me. Every night after, I had dived headfirst into the studies Decebal sent us, trying to unearth anything I could about this bond they had.
Roxy came over in the evenings to help us tidy up, and the apartment was almost back to normal. Aside from her initial question about the Lincoln pack break-in, she didn’t push further, as if she knew there were things we couldn’t explain. She had no idea how much I appreciated her for that.
The window had been replaced, as well as furniture. My nest was the last on the list for cleanup. I’d insisted the rest of the house was more important since the nest was already everything I needed it to be.
Until now, I’d been with my whole pack wherever I went. Dusk, Umbra, and Ransom stayed by my side. But Umbra had walked me here, and I was ready to face my class with Roxy.
With a deep breath, I opened the door to my first Omega Studies class since… Well, everything. I stifled my nerves as I stepped into the familiar classroom. I was instantly met by the sweet and floral scents of the omegas within.
The whispers that followed me were more intense than they had been before. It was like a replay of the moment I’d entered the ball. How long had I spent dreaming of walking into this classroom without being followed by judgement or laughter?
There wasn’t laughter anymore. Instead, the omegas looking my way were just shocked. But I knew now that I had come to this academy searching for all the wrong things. So I forced my head high, settling at a desk at the back with Roxy. She claimed our usual desk, just before the back.
I ignored everyone else, instead carefully organising my pencil case and pens just perfectly and telling myself I would be fine. The few times I dared peek up, I saw the stares, but this time a few of them gave me anxious smiles before darting their gaze away.
I shifted closer to Roxy, trying to avoid tapping my fingers on the desk and drawing more attention.
“Most people think the Lincoln pack narrative is a bunch of shit now that it’s come out you’re their scent match.”
That’s what Roxy had told me. Maybe that was true. Was this what pity felt like? They’d seen the Lincoln pack reject me and the dark bond on my neck that I wasn’t hiding. Even my scent was out today, and I was trying not to be self-conscious about that.
Oliver and Jasmine arrived, the two I most dreaded seeing. When Jasmine stepped in, she drew up, gaze finding me instantly. She stopped at the front of the room, then looked away, a nasty sneer on her face as she walked by. They took a seat behind me, but when my eyes met Oliver’s as he passed, he dropped his gaze, and his scent of ocean breeze had a murky, uncomfortable edge to it.
I hadn’t realised how heavy everyone’s stares would be. The weight of everyone knowing all these things about me. Some true, some not. And most—they were what I wanted them to think.
My mates had humiliated me in front of everyone and convinced the world I was the stalker. Now, that had come out as a lie, and everyone thought I was a gold pack chasing her mates and fleeing a pack of monsters who were toying with me.
A battle it looked like I’d lost.
They thought my story was over. That I had been reduced to nothing.
“Are you okay?” Roxy whispered. I nodded.
This was good. It was just hard, too.
I don’t know if it was what they thought of me that hurt, or what they thought of my pack.
Dusk, Umbra, and Ransom had saved me, and even if this was the only way to do the same in return, I hated that they were villainized.
This was it, though. This was the battle, and I was going to manage it.
At least, I thought I was.
I settled my nerves by replaying the moment I’d pounced on Jasmine at the ball. The feeling of my teeth at her neck.
I glanced over at a small giggle from Roxy, and by the way she was side eyeing me, she knew exactly what I was thinking. I found myself fighting my own smile.
Okay.
I could do this.
And I could also ignore the occasional snide comments from Jasmine behind me about gold packs and foolish omegas who get themselves into stupid situations.
It was the worst when we were left to work on a textbook exercise for twenty minutes. “At least it’s finally obvious why they were so ‘obsessed’ with her,” Jasmine said, and I could practically hear the air quotes in the word. “They knew they were going to have a little pack slave the whole?—”
“Jasmine,” Roxy spun in her chair. “Shut your foul mouth. Everyone knows you’re bitter because the North Prince pack dropped you after Shatter made a fool out of you at the ball.”
I bit my lip, eyes wide as I hunched in my chair.
Ohmygod.
“You just said that to Jasmine’s face?” I hissed under my breath.
“You can’t judge me. You almost bit Jasmine’s face,” she hissed back.
Okay. But that had been because of instincts far more than bravery. Actually, I’d basically blacked out.
I looked back down at the exercises we were given on pack communication and diplomacy and tried to focus.
“…Lincoln pack received my application. I’ve been told they’re considering me.”
I froze at the next words from behind me.
Considering?
They hadn’t even been seen all week.
“You… applied to join the Lincoln pack?” Oliver actually sounded stunned.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Jasmine asked behind me. “Because some gold pack freak wants to ruin their reputation?”
I heard a chair scrape, and by the sounds of it, she was picking up her paper to take to the front. Only, when she stepped by me, she let it slip from her fingers. Her paper dropped onto my desk, and with it, a few more loose sheets of paper.
“Oops. Sorry.” Jasmine swept the large piece of paper back up, but I was frozen. I blinked down at the small, black and white printed pictures staring back at me.
Ice seeped down my spine.
They were stills from the video I’d never seen. An angle I’d never imagined of what was quickly competing for the worst moment of my life.
A video that the school had all seen.
I was back in Eric’s room. They were taunting me. I was on my knees and Eric was before me. Flynn was at my back. I’d never realised how much bigger than me he was. How easy it had so clearly been for him to hold me still for Eric.
I don’t know how many seconds passed. Maybe not even one. It wouldn’t have mattered.
The photos were gone as Roxy tore them away yet they were burned into my mind.
A low growl sounded from my side and a chair scraped.
“You bitch, Jasmine—” I didn’t hear the end of Roxy’s words. The world spun as I staggered to my feet.
“…Those are her fucking mates…” That was Oliver’s voice. “They rejected her, you don’t…” Someone was dragging Jasmine away from my seat.
I could hear her mocking laugh but the world spun as I got to my feet. My boots took desperate steps against the hardwood, and then I was outside, hand clutching my throat as I tried to take deep breaths.
“Shatter!”
Roxy’s scent of orange and fir tree was there, and she was pulling me into her arms.
“I’m so sorry, babe.” I held onto her, trying to calm my breathing, but it was hard. “You’re safe, Shatter,” she whispered, hand at my back. “I promise, you’re safe.”