Chapter 29
Alistair
Heartsflame Academy’s academic council meets once every fortnight to review students’ progress and reevaluate enrollment on a rolling basis.
Any student who does not perform adequately—either in the Mating Games themselves or on any number of exams—is expelled.
It’s such a regular occurrence that, despite how often individuals play with each other in the bedroom, they’re often seen studying together and collaborating, too.
That’s part of the academy’s infamy—not only do the vast majority of students find a mate by the end of their third year, but they also build connections with packs and communities across the realm, further strengthening alliances and forging future betrothals between theoretical first sons and daughters.
My brother Viserys was one such betrothal—despite it never coming to fruition.
As I roam the castle halls, I often wonder about him.
Did he eat the same meals in the mornings and tell the same stories of Dire wolf legacies that I do, or our father did before us?
Was my brother a charming young man who took any willing wolf into his bed, or did he stay humble and chaste for his intended?
When he graduated, was our father proud of him for proving the Dire wolves’ legitimacy in our seat of power, or did our father consider him as much of a disappointment as I am?
Did any of it matter to Viserys at all?
“You’re doing that thing again, baby.” Veronica’s voice scratches like straw against my skin.
“Is it the she-wolf?” Her hand settles on my knee but doesn’t linger for long, its path up my thigh already blazed a thousand times, with a thousand more left to go.
“You know I can handle her. I’m not afraid of some wild bitch. ”
“You should be,” I mumble, closing my eyes to block out Veronica’s harsh yellow hair.
It’s nothing like Sienna’s silken shade of midnight.
Though Sienna’s burst of flame magic and unusual wolfish form haven’t become public news yet, Sienna is still a strong fighter.
Professor Aesir’s combat review this morning proved as much.
Veronica is a fool not to recognize a threat when she sees one.
Yet another mark against her as a potential mate.
I rub my tired eyes and down the rest of my drink.
No matter which pack Veronica hails from—and it’s a big one—she wouldn’t stand a chance against Sienna.
“She’s seen more combat than you, and she hasn’t ever had to abide by pack rules,” I conclude, my mouth twitching into a deeper scowl.
“Her fighting style is . . . unorthodox.”
My thoughts drift like petals in the breeze.
What would it be like not to have my father’s alpha influence woven like threads beneath my skin?
Freeing? Or disconcerting, like a night sky missing its North Star?
Revyn and Sienna seem to have gotten through life just fine without an alpha’s command whispering in their ears. I know that I could, too.
Veronica’s hand continues caressing my inner thigh. At least she isn’t pawing at my dick, but it won’t be long before she throws herself at me again. I swallow the bitter taste of alcohol lingering in the back of my throat. Veronica wouldn’t last a day without an alpha to influence her decisions.
Unlike my true mate.
Sienna has lived beyond a pack’s influence for at least a decade. It’s hard not to be a little impressed.
“The wild girl is ruthless,” Neel agrees readily, nodding alongside me. “You weren’t there at the Games, Ver. I’m telling you, if you challenge Sienna to a fight, you’re going down.”
Veronica scoffs, her nails biting into my pant leg. “I scored fifty-two points that night. How many did she get? Seven?”
“Enough to fail.” I lean back on the couch and stretch my legs.
You needed thirty points to pass, and technically, Sienna and Revyn racked up almost forty in the short time it took for them to tear through a few eager shifters looking to prove themselves by taking down the only two wild wolves they’ve ever encountered.
How unlucky for them that it happened to be Revyn and Sienna who waltzed up to the academy gates and not some other lesser shifters.
Loath as I am to admit it, Veronica has a point. Revyn definitely failed the Games with Callum knocking him out so many times, but Sienna? She was never knocked unconscious, so her points are holding at thirty-eight. By all rights, she shouldn’t be enrolled in Aesir’s remedial classes, but . . .
My father—and the rest of the academy’s council of elders—are going to put Sienna through all nine hells until they figure out what she is.
Standing from my seat, I push past Veronica’s grabby claws and clap Neel on the shoulder. “I need a smoke.”
“Don’t we all,” my best friend sighs, patting his pockets until he produces a roll. He pinches it between his fingers as he holds it out to me. “Gonna be stingy, or can I join you?”
I roll my neck and exhale slowly. “Right. Get out, Veronica.”
Her cheeks flush a ruddy color, blotching her otherwise perfect complexion. “But I thought we were spending the night together.”
We have not—and will never—be spending any nights together, but telling Veronica that will only incite her ire, and I’d rather not be on the receiving end of her cattiness.
“Not tonight.” Taking her hand, I pull her off the couch and lead her to my bedroom door, promptly swinging it open and ushering her through.
She laces our fingers together and lingers like unwanted company, her smile as sharp as her eyes. “Where’s my kiss goodnight?”
My father’s been putting ideas in her head about us; of that, I’m certain.
“Not here.” I wrench my hand free. “Try next door.”
She stops the door from closing with her foot then reaches to run her hand down my chest. “When you’re feeling more .
. . generous,” she breathes, fluttering her lashes and pushing her tits out, “you know where to find me.” Blowing me a kiss, she turns on her heel and sashays away, throwing flirtatious smiles at every male shifter who happens to be in the hall.
In fact, I’d put gold on them being here just for her—a few of them turn on their heels and follow like whipped dogs.
How fucking repulsive.
Neel covers up a laugh. “She sure does rile you up. Maybe that’s why your father chose her—to annoy the fuck out of you.”
“He hasn’t chosen anyone for my mate yet,” I grumble, knowing all too well that when he does, my father will undoubtedly choose a shifter like Veronica so that he can have at least one of us under his thumb. She likes to act tough, but Veronica Hale always bows to authority.
That’s likely why she’s so eager to sleep with me—her own alpha probably gave her that exact order before she came to Heartsflame.
I wonder how he phrased it; sleep with the Dire heir leaves too much open for interpretation, but fuck the Dire heir’s brains out wouldn’t work, either.
The truth lies somewhere in the boring middle, something like mate with the strongest shifter of your class, which Veronica has interpreted as annoying the fuck out of me until I shove my cock inside her pussy out of spite.
That would shut the bitch up.
“But he will.” Neel’s eyes stay glued to her ass until she slips into another room—hopefully her own. “And I bet it’ll be her. She’s already claiming you like a bitch in heat. Which, by the way, is right around the corner.”
I rub my tired eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
Heat season is difficult enough when you grow up as the most desirable bachelor in the pack, but here? At an academy that’s main purpose is finding a mate?
I’m fucking screwed—which, ironically, is the fucking point.
We leave the dorms and ascend the stairs to the Heartspire, where the headmaster is rumored to spend his days tending to the realm’s only surviving Dragonfire.
Whether or not it’s his flame or another’s has yet to be revealed, but after centuries guarding the thing, I doubt he’s about to divulge its secrets.
“I heard that a witch tried to steal the Heartsflame once.” Neel stares at the crackling violet fire pit as we pass to one of the dozen balconies on this floor. “She turned to ash the instant she touched it.”
Lighting our smoke, I take a hit before passing it to Cornelius. “Then she got off easy. Anyone that greedy for power is bound to wind up cursed.”
“Like our good friend Veronica?”
I shake my head. “She’s just following orders.”
Neel leans back on the railing, his umber skin the only patch of warmth against the fading sun. Days are too short in the winter; I’m ready for spring to breathe life back into the earth. “Do you really think her alpha would order her to mate with you?”
“I doubt the order was that specific.” I glance at the conference room door as voices muffle behind it.
The academy’s latest council meeting should be ending soon.
“She probably needs to mate with someone strong enough not to agitate her alpha’s order, which is why Veronica singled me out.
But in theory, anyone with a powerful enough bloodline would meet her alpha’s requirements and get her to relax. ”
On second thought, maybe Veronica needed the smoke break more than me.
“I’m glad Alpha Dire never asks anything of me,” Neel sighs, rolling his neck and looking every bit of the pompous asshole that I know him to be. He pinches the roll between his lips and lets the smoke curl in the air. “I’d be hard-pressed to ignore an order even if it kills me.”
Nothing is ever that simple when it comes to alpha orders, and Neel knows it.
Still, I let the thought linger. When I was young, I had to obey every whim my father had, but these days, they’re more of a nuisance than anything with true bite.
My mother on the other hand—gods bless her—is hard-wired to obey no matter what my father demands.
Maybe that’s why Sienna is so against taking a mate.