Chapter 7
Adea
The sun rose, and with it a hammering against my skull, violent echoes of a dream I couldn’t quite catch.
I reached for it—for the spirit that had been running through the dark woods of my sleep—but it slipped through my fingers.
There was no name. Just an aching silence where a wolf should have been.
In the dream, there had been a man. A shadow with a voice that vibrated in my bones.
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel the ghost of his touch.
What was the point of these dreams?
Gabe tossed and turned next to me. “Ugh… who turned out the lights?” His arm lifted as he reached aimlessly for an imaginary lamp. I watched him, his movements clumsy.
“It’s the sun, Gabe, and you’re in my room,” I laughed.
“Remind me why we thought it would be a good idea to get hammered last night?” I asked, rubbing the tiredness from my face until my skin stung.
He grumbled something incoherent under his breath. I just knew he was being sassy.
“I’m a lightweight, Gabe. You shouldn’t have let me keep going,” I grumbled back, though a smile tugged at my lips.
He was oddly silent for a moment, and I nudged him, assuming he’d drifted back to sleep.
I kept nudging him until he was at the very edge of the mattress.
I eyed his round butt and used my foot to deliver a final kick.
“Fuck!” he yelled as he hit the floor.
“Wake up, Gabe!” I stood over him, hands on my hips.
“Okay, okay, but why are you yelling?” he whined, rolling away from me.
“It’s time for Cinder-Ady to get up, and I can’t do anything without my trusty sidekick.”
***
I survived the morning by playing the dutiful maid—keeping my eyes glued to the floor and my hands buried in kitchen work, doing anything to stay out of Shane’s line of sight.
The highlight of my day was hitching a ride with Gabe.
I leaned my head against the cool window, watching the forest blur into a smear of dark green.
“Thanks again, bestie.” I was grateful for the reprieve. It was the only breath of air I was allowed before the walls closed in again.
“Hush. Anything to get a good look at fresh meat,” Gabe teased, pretending once again that his good deeds were selfish and not because he was actually helping me.
He glanced over at me, his eyes reading things I pretended not to notice. He tapped the wheel twice, working something over.
“You know what I think?” he said.
“Never,” I teased.
“I think you look better today than yesterday.” He kept his eyes on the road. “Not all the way. Like sixty percent better. Maybe sixty-two.”
“That’s oddly specific.”
“I’m an oddly specific person.” He reached over and flicked my ear. “Stop doing math about it. A vibrator might help take the edge off. Take it from me.”
“Ow! I’m going to ignore that last part. I’ve got dress shopping with the girls after. I’m off the hook for prep today.”
He rolled his eyes, throwing me a wink. “What will I do without you?” I shoved his shoulder playfully. “Send me a pic of the dresses you try out.”
As we rolled to a stop in front of the school gates, the smile on my face died. Warmth encased my hand as Gabe squeezed it, and my gaze dropped to my lap. A hot burn stung the backs of my eyes as I looked at him.
“Repeat after me. You’re a bad bitch and this school is nothing but another job.” The smile returned, and I laughed as I repeated the words.
“Good, now get going,” he huffed. I popped out of the car and waved as he sped off.
The day was a blur of survival. I kept my nose in my books, but every time a heavy set of footprints echoed behind me, my heart slammed against my ribs. I was a stray in a den of apex predators, and the Mating Festival was only a few days away.
The professors assigned weekend work, oblivious or indifferent to the fact that our lives were about to be upended by a biological ritual—that some of the students in this very room wouldn’t be claimed and bonded before Monday morning even arrived.
Some wouldn’t return. Nikki popped her head into my last class just as I was walking out.
We all wore the same uniform, but she looked effortless in hers.
The hem hit a few inches higher than the rest of ours, a small but clear middle finger to the dress code.
“I’m here to kidnap you,” she sang, her eyes bright as she leaned against the doorframe. “I’m creating art today, and you’re my canvas.”
“As if I could forget,” I said, shifting my bag and following her out.
The walk to the parking lot came with my own personal security detail. With Nikki on one side and Mavy already waiting by the car, the air felt lighter and the shadows were distant. For once, I wasn’t a stray. I was one of them.
The air charged with electricity as we got home. Nikki and Mavy were on a mission, and I was the challenge. I barely dropped my bag on Mavy’s bed before Nikki was ushering me toward the bathroom.
“Scrub the school day off, Adea. I need a clean slate—virgin skin.”
I stood over the sink for a long moment, watching the gray water swirl down the drain. I scrubbed until my face felt raw and pale, wishing I could wash my sins clean as well. I was about to be made anew, and I was ready to feel anything but exhausted and scared.
When I stepped back into the bedroom, things were already in motion. In the amount of time it took me to wash my face, Nikki had covered every inch of space on Mavy’s vanity. Music bumped through the floorboards, rattling the vanity mirror.
“Turn it down, Nik,” Mavy laughed, though she looked just as bubbly, lugging a ring light into position.
“Are you going to war? Why do you have enough chemicals to start a fire?” I asked.
“Because I am going to war,” Nikki said, her eyes gleaming with a terrifying sort of focus as she pointed to the chair. “And you’re my lead soldier. Trust the process, Adea. Don’t look in the mirror until I say so.”
I sat in it and Nikki quickly got to work, her brushes sweeping over my skin in a blur. I felt the layers of primer and foundation settling over my skin, a shield built one layer at a time.
“Your eyes are so big, Adea,” Nikki whispered, leaning in close. “I’m giving them wings. I want them to look like they could draw blood.”
I looked over at Mavy for help, but she was busy ripping open a bag of chocolates, shrugging at me with a mouthful. I was on my own. When Nikki finally stepped back and clicked off the ring light, she squealed.
“Check it out.”
This was the moment. I turned to the mirror and froze. The woman staring back at me was a stranger. My eyes were winged and lethal, my cheekbones were carved out of shadows. My lips were plush, stained a bruised pink, the color of a mouth that had just been kissed—or fed on.
Mavy squealed. “Now, let’s go find the armor to match.”
The drive to the high-end district was a trip to another planet entirely. I didn’t belong in a land of glass and chrome, hiding behind Nikki’s makeup as we navigated the crowded aisles of stores I usually only saw from the sidewalk.
Two hours later, the mall had become a gilded cage. Mavy was spinning in a long white dress with a slit that climbed nearly to her hip. She looked pure and untouchable, a saint carved in white silk.
“Try this one next, Adea.” Mavy threw a bundle of silk onto the bench.
I reached for the tag and my jaw hit the floor. “Two thousand—who spends this much on one piece of clothing?”
“I do,” she said, her eyes firm, but kind. “The right dress is never too much. Stop looking at the numbers and start looking at the beautiful unmated woman in the mirror.”
I turned to Nikki, who was already sashaying out of her stall into a black, sheer dress that was so low-cut it was a miracle of physics. How her breasts stayed up at all, I had no idea. It was also almost transparent, a slit running up the back to the base of her spine.
“If your mate sees you in that at the Festival,” I breathed, “he’ll take you right there on the floor.”
Nikki gave me a slow, feline smile. “I can only hope.”
I stepped into my stall, dropped my clothes, and pulled it over my head.
The fabric was cold, sliding down my skin like water—blood-red and impossibly smooth.
The sleeves fell off my shoulders, exposing my neck, while the front dipped low enough to tease the swell of my breasts.
The slit ran up my thigh, flashing skin with every step.
I walked out, and the air in the dressing room changed. Mavy’s jaw dropped. Nikki’s eyes went wide.
“Goddess,” Nikki whispered. “Adea… you look…”
“I think this is the one,” I murmured, my reflection looking back at me with a desperate intensity.
“You’re damn right it is,” Nikki said.
I didn’t recognize my reflection. The woman who scrubbed floors was gone.
In her place was a woman who belonged on a throne or a pyre—nothing in between.
The dress clung to my body, highlighting every curve I’d spent years trying to hide as Nikki circled me the way an artist circles a finished piece, hunting for the one flaw she’d missed.
“When your mate sees you in this, he’s going to kill everyone nearby,” Mavy giggled as I blushed. I snapped a picture and sent it to Gabe.
My phone dinged three times as I changed out of it, but all I could think about was the ticking clock in my head.
Gabe’s texts were a flurry of fire emojis and “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT,” but they felt miles away.
The silk dress was purchased with the Alpha’s money and tucked into a heavy paper bag, but I could still feel the weight of it against my skin—a promise that the woman I used to be wouldn’t survive the Mating Festival.