Chapter 16
Revyn
Every muscle in my body tightens as Sienna walks into class with her bare neck on display—without my bite mark.
There isn’t even a scar; the old one faded once the new one healed.
Fuck. If we were actively tangled in the sheets together, it wouldn’t matter because my scent would be all over her.
As it stands, I haven’t touched her in over twenty-four hours, and going from having her complete surrender to having nothing at all is killing me.
Flashbacks of the day she left me in the wilds flicker behind my eyes, turning my mood even darker as students file into the lecture hall. I take my usual seat two rows behind Sienna and don’t say a word to her out loud, but I say a lot to her inside my head.
I’m sorry for hurting you.
I know that I lied.
You were happier before you knew the truth.
I’d do it again and again and again . . . because your happiness matters to me.
I can picture her response. You didn’t think I’d ever find out?
No, I knew you would, but I thought we could talk through our situation and come to a compromise that kept you by my side. My gaze narrows as Callum brushes thighs with Sienna.
You’re right, baby. That’s not entirely true. I knew you would find out, but I wanted to protect you from that truth as long as possible because you were so damn determined to join a pack—any pack—that I couldn’t break your heart.
Yes, we spent years traveling the wilds seeking out every shifter pack we could find.
Yes, they all rejected us before we ever came close to their communities, sending a messenger—a messenger—rather than the alpha rejecting us personally.
I crack my neck and glance at Alistair Dire.
He’s more relaxed this morning than he was yesterday, stretching his legs out in front of him like he owns the room.
For all I know, his alphahole of a father might sponsor the school.
Swallowing the growl that threatens to rise, I glare as some blonde bitch splays her hand on Dire’s chest and slips her fingers inside the front of his shirt, touching his bare skin in a deliberate display of affection.
That man has the bond I’d give anything for, and he’s wasting it.
My blood boils, and I clench my fists to keep my claws from showing. They prick my palms, making me bleed, and I focus on the pain to keep my head on straight.
I only came here to win Sienna back, not play stupid fucking games.
But she’s stubborn. As soon as she found out that only the best shifters graduate from Heartsflame, she was determined to join the ranks of the elite .
. . to prove herself. Gods, I hate that fucking chip on her shoulder. None of those packs deserve her. None.
I’ve been with her since the day we met—and I’d have been there sooner if I’d known she existed.
Like the rest of the shifter community, I thought no one survived the Roane Valley Pack massacre, so imagine my surprise when not only had a young girl survived, but she was living in the wilds alone .
. . in the same place she’d always been.
She never left Roane Valley, not even after her pack had been slaughtered and her community burned to the ground. I only found out about her when I scented her the moment I hopped down the final stretch of the mountain pass and hit the ground.
Her scent was everywhere in that valley.
And another wolf was tracking her.
So I tracked him.
I glance over at Alistair again, unable to deny the resemblance between him and the wolf that hunted Sienna.
They have the same autumn blonde hair and freckles dusting their high cheekbones.
An arrogance that comes from being raised on the belief that you’re more important than everyone else.
A charm that lures even the most innocent of shifters to your side.
But I didn’t let the eldest Dire son take Sienna from me, and I won’t let the youngest take her from me, either. His only saving grace is that students can’t kill each other, because it’s only a matter of time before his baser instincts take over and he slips.
Look at me if you need any proof of that.
Alistair catches me staring and lifts a brow. I ignore him and turn my attention to the more pressing threat.
Callum Navarro.
His little illusions are a pain in my ass.
As the days pass and classes blur together, he gets more creative with the versions of Sienna that he leaves me.
Sometimes, it’s of her whispering my name in a darkened alcove—clearly a trap, but one I’m too desperate to avoid.
The illusion smells like her—tastes like her when I lean in and kiss its lips and tangle my fingers in her hair.
It dissipates with a mangled laugh after that one blessed, haunting kiss, and I’m standing alone with an ache in my chest that grows larger with each passing day.
Sienna won’t talk to me, and it fucking hurts.
After her little escape attempt, so much time apart was difficult, but hearing her laugh echo through the halls and knowing that it’s not because of me is a pain I can’t heal from.
I’ve spent years adjusting to a life with someone else in it, and I don’t want to go back to a cold, lonely existence wandering the rotting wasteland in search of whatever it was I thought was worth living for before Sienna.
I want a mate.
I want my mate.
When Callum’s latest illusion beckons me into an empty row of the academy’s three-story library, I find Sienna and him tangled in each other’s arms, her head thrown back as he pins her to the shelf and assaults her mouth with his tongue.
Rage blinds me, and I tear the illusion off of Sienna, only for Callum’s image to smile wickedly as it dissipates.
Sienna’s illusion lingers, her kiss-swollen lips mocking me.
Her hand lifts, touching my forearm with false warmth.
I know it’s fake. A trick of the mind or the light or however that bastard’s magic works.
But it works, tugging on my heart as she gently turns my face toward hers.
“Revyn.” She sighs so softly that it feels like a caress, and my anger plummets into the frozen depths of my heart.
“Sienna,” I croak, wishing that it were really her. “Come back to me, baby. I can’t survive without you.”
Her smile is kind, but it isn’t quite right, curving in the wrong place and without that same luster I love. “Let me go,” she whispers. “Please.”
It’s that final word that snaps me out of the daze. “You never say please.”
The illusion tries to cover, her eyes widening as she slips her fingers around the nape of my neck, but I’ve seen and heard enough. Growling, I grab her chin and crush her bones, flinching as they crack but satisfied once the illusion fades into a cold, dissatisfying mist.
A slow clap fills the air. “My, my. You’re growing more desperate by the day. Is it the full moon on the horizon that’s making you sweat? Or is it knowing that she lets me escort her to bed every evening that has you looking a little . . .” Callum’s gaze rakes down my body. “Frazzled.”
“Escort is a nice way of saying friend-zoned.” I cross my arms over my chest and scowl at the bastard. “Stop with the fucking illusions, fanger. When that moon comes, you’ll wish you listened.”
He tilts his head, not the least bit intimidated. “I’ve killed many shifters, wild wolf, and you won’t be anything special. Another name added to the list, and nothing more.”
We both ignore mentioning the no killing rule. There’s always a way around magic, whether that means breaking through it or finding a loophole.
It seems we have the same idea.
“This season’s Mating Games fall on the full moon,” Callum continues, his smile frozen in place on his snow white skin. “I’m curious to see how things play out.” He knocks his knuckles against the book spines beside his head. “But I’m sure everything will turn in my favor.”
Gods, this man is annoying.
Our professors have not shut up about the upcoming Mating Games. Apparently, it’s a big deal that they’re taking place on a full moon this season—the shifters are antsy, and the vampires are sharpening their fangs and flexing their powers, like it’s some kind of heated rivalry I know nothing about.
“Yeah, well, until then, stay out of my head.” I give a sarcastic half-wave as I walk the other direction, determined to put distance between us and find Sienna.
If she isn’t with him, then she’s gotta be with Gemma.
Those two have become inseparable, studying more often than not.
My head’s gonna explode from watching them stare at another dusty book.
Sienna’s voice floats through the air, the tinkle of her laugh setting every nerve in my body alight. I automatically walk toward the sound and catch a glimpse of her over the second-story railing. She and Gemma are chatting over what looks like the research paper I’m pretty sure is due next week.
Shit. I haven’t done anything for our classes, and Hardwicke has already threatened that noncompliance results in expulsion. Despite being an academy known for mating over academics, they don’t actually play when it comes to results.
I’m screwed if I don’t start taking my studies seriously, which is something I never thought I’d say. Being the oldest shifter on campus has its drawbacks—I’m experienced in life but not with this . . . Gods, I don’t even know what to call it. Social hierarchy?
Yet Callum and the other vampires seem to navigate Heartsflame perfectly despite being hundreds of years older than me.
Of course they fucking do.
A giggle catches my attention—not from the ground floor where Sienna and Gemma reside, but from behind me.
I glance over my shoulder to find one of the bubbly girls from class—an avian shifter, I think, based on her scent—twirling a strand of her hair around her finger as her friend whispers in her ear.
They’re both openly eye-fucking me.
I hold in my sigh and turn on my charm. If Sienna won’t speak to me or help me study, I need to find another way to stay afloat at this school.
“Ladies,” I greet, regretfully turning away from my mate to approach two very single, very young shifters I have zero interest in getting to know. “How about we—” I pretend to give them a once-over and hope they don’t notice how my skin crawls. “—take this somewhere private?”
If I’m going to stick around long enough to convince Sienna to change her mind and take me back, I need to make sacrifices . . . and play the academy’s game until I can run away with my mate.
And kick Callum’s ass for fucking with me.
A smile pulls at my lips that the girls mistake as theirs. They hook their arms in mine and giggle as they eagerly lead me to a study room—on the first floor.
My gaze locks with Sienna’s from across the room, and the flash of golden fury in her eyes makes me grin.
Game on, baby.