Chapter 1 #2
Walking in the too-big sneakers, I follow the stream of students that leads me straight to my building.
Turns out, it was right there the whole time.
Mumbling an apology to the professor, I slip into the lecture hall and ignore the whispers from my classmates.
I drop into the empty seat next to my best friend, Kelsey, and lean down to rub my ankle on the sly.
Curious eyes drill into my back from all sides.
“You said you wanted to keep a low profile,” Kelsey whispers, surprised. “Showing up late on your first day is a pretty terrible way to stay invisible.”
I don’t feel like explaining that I nearly got smeared across the asphalt twice in the last half hour.
Or that the news headline “Rescued Cinderella” has, ironically, just come true.
Except instead of a glass slipper, I lost a sandal and the fairy-tale prince turned out to be a ruthless bastard in a black SUV.
“My brother dropped me in the middle of nowhere. Caleb doesn’t know Stonehaven well.”
“You should’ve come with me.” She wrinkles her nose. “Or with Zack. At least he would’ve gotten you there.”
No one in my inner circle likes Zack. That’s exactly why my family doesn’t know about him.
Otherwise, Caleb or my father would have broken his legs.
My mom saw him once, and surprisingly, she supported me, but that’s our secret.
It was the only time she’s ever taken my side.
Maybe remission from her leukemia has changed her for the better.
“Do you know anything about the Princess Initiation?” I ask, mostly to change the subject.
“Oh, you’ve already heard!” Kelsey perks up. “The Kingdom Club is throwing a private ball. The club members are bringing their girlfriends. They say it’ll be huge.”
“Are you going?”
She sighs heavily. “Entry is by these only.” She nods toward a couple of girls in front of us, their necks adorned with colorful-patterned chokers.
The freshmen in the parking lot had plain gray ones, but these must signify something more.
“If someone from the Kingdom gives me one of those and claims me as their pair, I’ll go. ”
I try to focus on the professor at the whiteboard, but my thoughts are racing.
Without a collar … Desire was clearly talking about the choker.
But Zack is also in the Kingdom. Why didn’t he tell me anything?
Why didn’t he put one of those damn bands on me so I wouldn’t be stuck as a girl whose life “isn’t worth a cent”?
I’m about to text him, but I stop myself—he probably won’t answer during class.
“Zack will definitely give you one,” Kelsey pouts. “I wish someone would give me one too.”
“The Kingdom is just a bunch of thugs.” I parrot Zack’s words. “And the few normal guys who join it only do it for the connections to those arrogant, rich brats.”
“Isn’t that a little two-faced from the ‘normal guys’?” Kelsey snorts, and I sigh heavily. I don’t want to admit it, but she’s right.
“Oh, are you talking about the Initiation?” A girl in front of us turns around. A blue-and-green patterned choker sits snug around her neck. “From what I heard, the ball was supposed to happen earlier, but it got delayed because of the head of the Kingdom.”
“Because of Sterling?” My eyes go wide, and my hands go cold.
“Yeah. He hasn’t been on campus for three months.”
Three months? My heart skips a beat. I was gone for exactly three months too. I spent them in the clinic trying to deal with my PTSD, and he was probably off on some exotic beach.
“So where are your chokers? Why aren’t you wearing them?” the girl asks.
Kelsey flushes deep red. “We haven’t been given ours yet.”
“O-oh …” The girl gives us a condescending once-over, purses her lips, and turns back around.
“What a bitch,” Kelsey mutters.
I sit there, feeling utterly naked. Somewhere just above my ear, a phantom click echoes—the chilling snap of a padlock. I can’t help but think: why is Zack putting me in such a humiliating position? Why didn’t he give me that damn choker so I wouldn’t be looked at like easy, unclaimed prey?
I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. No, Aurora, that’s cruel. Zack just lost a close relative. I shouldn’t demand anything from him. Besides, all these status bands and Kingdom games are a playground for rich kids with god complexes.
We walk out of the lecture hall into the spacious arched atrium crowded with a noisy stream of students. I check my phone even though I know Zack wouldn’t have texted.
“Aurora!”
I turn around, and Kelsey rolls her eyes as Zack approaches with his classmate Brad, and Zack doesn’t even try to kiss me. She complained about it once: “Is he seriously your boyfriend?”
Kelsey has never had anyone, and she imagines that relationships are always blazing hot.
Maybe with someone dangerous like Desire they are.
But Zack is going through a hard period.
He lost someone close. And I’ve learned that, in reality, he’s not the same person he seemed to be at the start.
That fateful night, he was probably running on wild adrenaline …
“Rory—” he starts.
“Why didn’t you give me the club choker?” The words slip out before I can stop them.
“Are you serious?” Zack frowns. “You want me to put a collar on you like those assholes do to their girlfriends?”
Brad lets out a nasty snicker, and Kelsey shakes her head.
I stare at my boyfriend, confused. “But you’ve already put a collar on me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He steps back, almost growling.
“The fucking chain you choked me with, what else?!” I want to scream.
Rage and bitter hurt rise in my throat. Yes, we agreed never to talk about that night when he saved me, but why does he always flinch away from it?
After all, it’s the one thing that truly binds us together.
I still can’t forget his voice, distorted through that modulator.
Kelsey shifts from foot to foot. My best friend can’t stand Zack, but she’s never pushed me to fight with him.
“Hi, Kelsey,” Brad says, perusing her.
“Yeah, hi,” she says, not even looking at him. Brad does nothing for her, unlike the guys from the Kingdom.
“Are you seriously talking about the fucking Kingdom?” Zack reaches for me.
“You’re in the Kingdom yourself.” I shove his hand away. “Why do you hate your club so much?”
“Look”—he runs a hand through his hair—“I have my reasons for being there. But don’t you dare talk to them!” He glances somewhere over my shoulder. “Especially Sterling. He’s the head bastard there.”
I turn to look where he’s staring. And my thigh cramps.
My gaze locks with Desire’s from across the atrium.
On the surface, Sterling appears relaxed—his powerful body leaning lazily against the wall—but his dark eyes, fixed on Zack and me, are practically throwing daggers.
The entire right side of my body feels like it’s melting under that aim. Goosebumps ripple across my body.
“Aurora, fuck. Are you listening to me?” Zack tugs at me.
“I am” falls flat from my lips.
I try to focus on my boyfriend, but his inattention infuriates me.
I want to grab him by the shirt, scream at him, and shake the cruel, dominant monster out of him—the one he was in that basement, but I swallow the bitter anger.
I have no right to yell at him. After all, Zack Thornton killed his own father for me.
“I’m listening,” I say again, but out of the corner of my eye, a furious Desire pushes off the wall and strides straight toward us. His movements are the grace of a predator preparing to tear apart two frozen deer.
I clench my fists.
“He called me cheap,” I blurt out to Zack, not knowing what I expect from him.
Would he stand up for me? Would that terrifying darkness reawaken in his eyes, or did it die forever after he roughly face-fucked me, chained me to the radiator, and left?
Zack doesn’t react at all, and my heart sinks.
Desire, on the other hand, looks like he’s ready to kill us both right here. His sharp features are twisted with cold fury. The pit of my stomach clenches into a heavy, pulsing knot of primal terror.
Desire ignores Zack, his gaze boring into me.
“The invitation to the hunt is accepted,” he bites out.
“What are you talking about?!” Zack exclaims, stepping back.
Without acknowledging him, Desire turns away. He saw that I understood. He was talking about my neck.
At Stonehaven, a bare neck is an invitation to the hunt.
My heart plummets somewhere into my stomach.
Desire walks past me, leaving a chill in his wake. Goosebumps rise on my skin, and my nipples harden.
Zack stands frozen, brow furrowed. “What the hell is he talking about?”
I stare at him, paralyzed. A stranger just threatened our relationship, and Zack didn’t even realize it.
And he didn’t react when I told him what Desire had said about me.
Is he really the same monster who coldly shot his own father, dragged me out of that basement, fucked my throat, and claimed me as his property?
I don’t feel safe with him the way he promised I would.
For months, I lied to the police and the doctors at the clinic, never once mentioning him, to protect his secret.
But was that blind devotion worth losing my mind?
Maybe if I had just lanced the wound and told the truth back then, I wouldn’t still be eaten alive by nightmares?
My gaze is drawn again to Desire’s broad back.
Students mill around him, but he walks down the corridor at an unhurried pace, hands shoved into his jeans pockets.
He couldn’t care less about bells or lectures.
He moves as if every inch of this place belongs to him. This is his territory. His kingdom.
“Aurora, have you talked to Sterling?” Zack presses, still clueless, and when I don’t respond, he repeats, “Aurora?”
“No, I haven’t. He just almost ran me over with his Jeep. I’m late for class,” I toss back, turning away from him.
Kelsey falls into step beside me, exhaling loudly. “Shit …. Do you know why Desire’s so pissed?”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” I rasp, my throat dry, and look away.
“I genuinely feel sorry for whoever managed to piss him off.” Kelsey shudders, and an icy wave rolls down my spine.