Chapter 6
six
My fist slams into the bag as my feet work like lightning. Despite the hangover from last night’s party, my rage keeps my rhythm steady. One. Two. One. Two. Three. Jab. Cross. Hook.
Lan’s loose hand wraps fly behind him as he storms toward me in the corner of our training gym. Face red. Jaw tight as a virgin’s twat. Shiny blue shorts flaring like a flag around his thick thighs.
“You told Hailey Twinston I had a girlfriend?”
We’ve rarely gotten into a physical altercation outside of the ring over the years. He’s won them all, big brute. But today…I’m ready for a rematch.
Stilling my breath, I step back from the bag and tighten the Velcro on my sparring gloves. Not looking at him, I ask the floor, “Did I?”
He scoffs, spit landing on the toe of my boxing shoe. “She said you did. And now none of the girls will talk to me, Aiden.”
I inhale deeply through my nose and shrug, then face him. “Weird. Thought you’d be grateful. Monogamy’s making a comeback.”
We stare down one another. He’s got a few inches on me, but I hold his gaze.
A muscle in his neck twitches. “What is your problem?”
“From the way you and Ashlyn looked last night…” I smirk. “I assumed it was a done deal. Was it not?”
Blond eyebrows stitch together with confusion...then realization hits his face.
Softer and slower, I lower my voice to a deathly bite. “Don’t put your hands on something that belongs to me, Landon Turner.” My narrowed gaze slices into his face until his throat tightens as he swallows. “Not unless you’re ready to carry the consequences.”
To push me back, he crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Didn’t think she mattered. I had no idea you were even into that. You were too busy letting Hailey hump your leg like a dog—I thought she was your main bitch. How the hell was I supposed to know you gave a fuck?”
Turning away from him, I spit venom into the trash can, then swipe my mouth with the back of a glove. When I get a look at him in the mirror, he balks at me.
“I don’t.” I tap the ends of my fists together, the pounding clapping through the tense air. “But she’s mine to hate. Mine to drag through hell. Mine to humiliate and discard when I’m finished.”
Aiming toward the ring, I bump his shoulder and sneer, “Don’t touch what I’m planning to destroy.”
“You two, quit yapping and get up here. You’re first,” my boxing instructor, Jake, snaps at us.
It’s already been a rough Saturday morning after the Hallow’s Eve party—private Krav Maga drills, and now this. Just more ways to keep the fury locked in neat compartments inside my skull. Lan only started martial arts because he has to do everything I do. Even gets my leftover pussy…
But not that one.
His shoulders are still up to his ears when he dips under the rope, while I shuffle in place, ready to release everything I’ve got. Stretching my neck from side to side, I keep my eyes focused on his form until Jake says Go…
Then, I unleash.
Lan takes a few to the body, then I switch to uppercuts to the face until he’s stumbling back, Jake grabbing him and stepping between us.
“What are you doing?” Lan hurls his mouthguard into his glove and snarls at me.
I dance around him, ready to strike again. “Fists up, bitch. Let’s go.”
“No. You’re on something today.”
Jake holds up his hand. “Aiden. Take a step back. Whatever’s going on, relax, bro.”
I nod and wander over to my corner. Lan gets himself straightened out, then we meet again in the center ring. Jake retreats, and I don’t hesitate.
With a warm-up step, I lead in with a swift roundhouse kick to Lan’s inner thigh, and he goes down to the mat, weeping like the time he dropped his once-a-year ice cream on the boardwalk after we’d waited an eternity in line for it.
Jake’s yelling that it’s not a legal move. I know, but I’m already tearing off my gloves and heading to the locker rooms.
Lan screams, “This will ruin my hockey game for a week, asshole!”
“Asshole-In-Charge,” I yell back, swiping a hand across my pec where the ink reflects the title.
After a cold shower (no ice) and a quick change, I shake my hair dry and grab my phone. One email notification hangs on the lock screen… An important meeting with President Harvey in the afternoon.
As head of the oldest fraternity on campus, I’m not a stranger to the man or his office, but I have concerns about what this could entail.
Maybe it’ll be a warning not to cheat on Wicked Wednesday coming up in a week and a half.
If so, I’ll placate him with the usual yes, sirs, and wink-winks.
But I’m not letting those Deltas fuck us over like they do every year.
The crisp first of November air is what I need after dealing with Lan.
My moist skin erupts into goosebumps despite my heavy coat.
NU’s campus glows in the orange autumn light outside the gym, with banners for every Greek House snapping in the cold wind against their posts.
Six of them. Six gods. One for each fraternity and sorority.
“Ready?” Tade asks as I exit, his jet-black hair still wet. He’s on the Northview Nighthawks’ swim team.
“Yeah—” But before I can take a step, we’re accosted by a group of Omegas and a couple of Sigmas.
“Hiya, cutie!” Elowyn sings with a seductive smile, tossing her long, brunette hair back, revealing her plump tits arrested in a tight blue sweater.
“Didn’t think you’d be on campus on a weekend, Mr. President.” Blaire, dark and dangerous, flutters her lashes at me.
In the sea of girls that surround us, I recognize a few from past Red Nights or hookups. Others? I have no recollection. Doesn’t matter. I scoop Blaire and Elowyn under my arms and make my way toward the student center for lunch. “Hello, ladies. What’s good?”
“Mr. President!” Some Theta initiates surround us before we can make it inside the building. “We’re going to win Wicked Wednesday! In ultimo!” they call out, and I answer them with our House motto.
“Tenebris unitas! Get the fuck to where you’re supposed to be,” I instruct them with a grin.
Tade smirks at me. We can’t go anywhere without drawing a crowd. Maybe I should’ve gone back to the manor and had the chef prepare me something. But it’s the weekend…which means it’s a cheat day and there’s good pizza on campus.
Tade glances over his shoulder once. “No Lan?”
“Lan needs extra humility practice today.” I clench my jaw. “Bonakanos would approve.”
He snorts. “Theta’s holy god of chaos.”
I shrug. “Belief’s optional. Fear of the consequences for disobedience isn’t.”
Elowyn slaps my chest. “You shouldn’t joke about that!” Ever the faithful ONE sister.
Blaire’s long, black-painted nails crawl up my chest. “Is Theta ready for Wednesday’s game? We Sigmas have an infallible strategy.”
“Of course you do.” I grin. “But we took Massacre Monday. And we’ll take Wicked Wednesday too.”
Elowyn shakes her head. “You actually like these competitions? A glowing cup at the end doesn’t seem to be enough of a prize. Besides, I get too anxious that we’ll lose and have to pay.”
I think of the pile of bodies slaughtered on Terror Tuesday, the way the campus and city moved on before sunrise. “Sacrifices please the gods,” I say. “And earning the Lunar Chalice grants us enough favor so we don’t have to worry.”
In celebration of our six deities’ strength, their fabled abilities to manipulate the tides of the oceans, we hold a competition on their corresponding moon phases to please them.
The gods demand at least one sacrifice and one birth or symbolic renewal in order to pay respects to the powers of life and death.
Whichever fraternity or sorority earns the most points in the competitions wins the Lunar Chalice at the end of the year. And immunity from punishments for at least four. Even after graduation.
It’s well-known that Northview University has a death and disappearance issue. But most people are so self-involved, it’s easily brushed under the rug. Five girls sliced open on Terror Tuesday? No big deal. Just another evening. Two students on Massacre Monday? Meh, a lighter year.
“I’m only here because Daddy says I’ll be appointed to Harrison Vandermeer,” Elowyn says, all soft and starry-eyed. Probably already imagining Vandermeer’s fashion line in her closet and the millions in her account.
What Elowyn Price doesn’t fully understand is that if she doesn’t participate and obey, her “Daddy” will lose his entire business and reputation.
Also, his life and that of her mother and sisters, too.
Brutally. Assigned to be either assassinated by the freshman members of the fraternities.
Or the enforcers of the rules. Men who work directly for the president of the university.
I play along because I have to win. I’d do it even if the cost was sacrificing the entire society.
It has nothing to do with favor or immunity—it’s about control.
Losing means the gods take something from you.
Sometimes a person. My father was Theta president.
My brother was too. Like them, I’ll do what it takes to protect my family.
As we near the modern glass structure for the student center, the cafeteria inside, my stomach growls with hunger for whatever amazing food aromas flow through the glass doors.
“Tade? Did they give you your appointed sister?” Blaire asks with a casual glance at his stoic face.
He slowly nods but doesn’t give anything away. As he speaks directly to me, his voice lowers. “Father is, uh, protesting the board’s decision.”
The NU Board of Trustees loves a bloodline, pairing matches based on merit and influence.
Ones to continue serving the society for life.
They’ll hand me a red envelope soon with my appointed’s name: a girl chosen for breeding, not affection.
A womb wrapped in silk and duty. I’ll smile, say thank you, and keep fucking whoever I want.
Besides, women are typically shared among society members.
It’s not a marriage. It goes deeper.
As a Viscount to my appointed, the rank that will be assigned to me, I’ll be expected to protect her while she services me loyally. There’s no such thing as a broken bond.
Not without a body.
“You don’t want her?” I ask. And he only shrugs, making me think he’s got his eye on someone else.
A pledge dutifully opens the doors for us, and we head to the busy cafeteria as a group.
“I’m terrified to find out who I’ll be appointed to,” Blaire mutters under her breath.
Being bisexual, she’s expressed concerns that she doesn’t want to be “stuck with” a man for life.
And I think she’s had a thing for Sutton more than she cares to admit.
But she chose to enter Sigma sorority and Greek life willingly.
Besides, she could get appointed to a woman. It’s rare, but it has happened.
Me? I really don’t give a fuck who they assign me to. It’s all in the spirit of the greater good for the Seven. Rigidity is necessary for someone like me. It’s how I’ve learned to tame the thoughts inside. Because when I don’t have order, I become chaos.
Why is it the Seventh Society if there are only six gods we serve?
In our senior year history course for fraternity officers, we learned that this is because the seventh combines them all. Waxing and waning crescent, waxing and waning gibbous, first and third quarter. Full moon to represent all.
New moon…hmm… Well, that doesn’t have one. I’m sure there’s a reason. I just haven’t finished all my studies yet.
I grab a tray, filling it with a good steak and asparagus, as Tade follows me closely, picking up some rice with his. Glancing around, I make sure no one is near, then drop my voice. “You still joining the BALSAC with me after graduation, right?”
His eyes narrow as his mouth tightens into a line. Tade doesn’t talk much at all. Probably why we work well together. But he also doesn’t give much away. “Of course.”
He’s got me nervous. Mr. Kim arguing with the board about his appointment? Tade acting like there’s someone else he wants? It could all blow back on Dad and me.
We need me on the Board of Loyalty and Societal Appreciation Control. They decide how disobedience is handled, who gets purged, and who gets spared. And if we can stack it with our own people, we won’t only survive the system.
We’ll run it.
Before checking out at the register, I grab an entire stuffed-crust pizza and a slice of chocolate cake for myself.
Everyone settles in around Tade and me at our usual table, while Lan skulks in late, looking sullen and casting me a leery glance.
By the time he gets food and sits with us, the girls have already edged away from him, and I unwind a slow, victorious smile.
“Aiden? Did you get your appointed?” a Sigma asks.
I’m already bored with the topic. “Nope, not yet.”
The sorority sisters are all caught up on that stupid fairy tale shit when, really, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. Despite what I told Lan, monogamy is not in. Not with me.
Too much of a distraction to worry about all of that.
I’ve looked up what a psychopath is. And I understand that part of my brain is probably fucked. Unable to feel empathy or love like normal people do.
Doesn’t bother me at all. But if they pair me with someone soft, I’ll probably break her heart on a daily basis. Not on purpose… Well, not completely on purpose.
People are manageable when you understand their pressure points. And when they’re not…
I learned early on how to make problems disappear.