Chapter 6 MY MYSTERIOUS HERO
ISABELLA
I dodged as best I could, but I’ll be completely honest, I could already picture my face getting wrecked.
I was injured, way weaker than she was, and we were way too close.
My leg wasn’t responding, and her almost five-ten height towered over my barely five-five.
I threw my arms up to shield myself, trying to shove her back and slip out of the trap.
The screech of her claws digging into the wall rang out right by my ear.
Her other hand shot straight for my throat, cutting off my air.
“Let… go…” I choked out, digging my nails into her arm.
Her face dipped closer to mine, canines bared, danger gleaming in those wolfish eyes.
“He’s mine. Get that through that cheap little whore head of yours.” she spat in my face, pure hatred.
The pressure on my neck kept climbing as she lifted me higher against the wall.
She was strong as hell, and I was so damn exhausted.
“The prince belongs to me, and if I’m not tearing your pathetic face apart right now, it’s because you’re not worth the effort. But enjoy your little moment of fame, stupid Omega…” she hissed in my ear, and it felt like I couldn’t get any air through my throat.
Little black dots danced in front of my eyes.
“Because when everyone forgets about you, I’ll still be there, and I’m going to make you pay for every second. I’ll turn your life into fucking hell. Get ready…”
Her eyes were so close to mine I could almost see the dangerous flash of her wolf behind them.
Her Alpha aura crashed down on me, merciless, demanding submission.
I tried to lift my leg for one last desperate kick, but my muscles wouldn’t obey.
I was right on the edge of passing out.
My feet dangled in the air, her claws biting into my neck.
My hands clung to her wrists, fighting, and my wolf did whatever she could to keep from submitting.
“Go… fuck… yourself…” I managed to grind out between my teeth.
Thera refused to be tamed by that Alpha bitch.
I knew it was stupid to provoke her more, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“I don’t think you’re getting the point here…”
Her wicked smile was all kinds of bad news.
She raised her free hand, claws still smeared with plaster from the wall, and lifted them over me.
“You forced me, disgusting bitch…”
She’d made her move, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the pain that was about to rip my skin open.
But something happened that made her stop, and the pressure on my neck vanished all at once.
“What’s going on here?” a rough, authoritative voice boomed down the hallway.
I dropped to my knees when she let go.
Coughing, head down, hands at my throat, I could only wheeze and gasp.
“Nothing, Professor… we just had a little disagreement,” I heard her answer, suddenly all innocent.
“At this Academy, disputes are settled in the arena or during training, not by attacking other students in the hallways,” he warned her sharply.
She didn’t even bother to apologize. Arrogant, probably from some rich, powerful family.
“Go to the main hall. They’ll assign your dorm from there.”
I heard Miska’s footsteps fading away and knew this was only the beginning of the nightmare.
My plan to stay invisible had gone straight to hell thanks to that arrogant prince and his whims.
A shadow fell over my head.
“Are you all right?” that same voice asked, suddenly sounding a lot calmer to me.
I lifted my eyes, dizzy and nauseous. I tried to speak and push myself up, but my body had already decided, “This is as far as we go.”
Sometimes I forgot I was just an Omega.
“I’m… f-fine…” I tried, looking up as the lights dimmed, staring at a male face that struck me as mature and trustworthy.
Dark eyes studied me with real concern.
Not many people in my life had ever worried about me.
Who was he?
The world spun hard, and the last thing I felt was a pair of warm hands catching me.
«Where am I?
That was the first question that crossed my mind.
All around me stretched a desolate landscape.
“I think we’re dreaming.”
I turned, stunned, when I heard Thera’s voice.
A beautiful golden Omega stood there beside me, ears perked, alert and curious.
“A dream?” I frowned. It felt way too strange.
Around us stretched a plain of withered grass.
The sky was heavy with black storm clouds about to break.
“Thera… why are we both here together?”
“There! I saw the light again!” she shouted suddenly and took off running toward the distant trees.
“Thera!” I roared, sprinting after her.
The dead, blackened grass slapped against my knees.
Thunder rolled overhead in an unsettling rhythm, and the wind rushed through the twisted branches of the trees that loomed closer as we ran.
“Thera, wait!” I called again, but my wolf was obsessed with chasing something.
Then I saw it… through the swirling fog in the darkness.
A bright golden light, flickering and restless.
When it noticed us, it started to pull away, and no matter how hard we chased it… we couldn’t catch it.»
I jolted upright, sitting on a mattress.
Still breathless, my body buzzing with the echo of that run, I was a little disoriented.
I stared at the white curtains forming a little cubicle around the narrow bed with its white sheets.
“They brought you to an infirmary,” Thera said, and my heartbeat finally started to calm.
“Do you know who the man was who brought us here?” I asked, remembering that male presence.
“No… I blacked out too, I’m sorry,” she replied with a sigh. I decided to ask later.
Then I remembered that strange “dream.”
“What was that dream? Do you remember it?” I asked, leaning back against the pillows and checking my ankle.
“Yeah, I remember. And I don’t think it was a dream, exactly. That was your Seraphina power waking up.”
Her words stunned me.
I felt the burn along my back where the magical restriction my father had put on me still lingered.
Branded cruelly under my skin when I was barely ten years old.
A Seraphina’s power manifests before our wolf side does. That part of us doesn’t kick in until we turn eighteen.
But no one ever trained me to use it or control my gift.
They just mutilated it, twisting my energy so it flowed toward my twin sister.
My father told me they’d loosened the seal a bit so I could pretend.
I had no idea how he expected me to keep Savannah’s place when I couldn’t even be fully useful to the prince.
“The Alpha only cares that you buy her time. He doesn’t give a shit what it costs you,” Thera said bitterly.
I dropped my head without answering.
I was exhausted from waiting for affection that was never going to come.
I’d respected and loved my father more than anything in my life, and all he’d ever given me was abuse, scaring me so much that love turned into fear.
“I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.”
I started to get up. Honestly, I did feel pretty good.
My ankle was mostly back to normal, just a bit of a sore throat left.
The medicine here was top tier.
But before I could set my feet on the floor and slip into my sneakers, I heard whispers in the hallway and saw a couple of sneaky shadows slip past, stopping at the bed next to mine.
“Shh… hurry up, Erika. The nurse is going to be back any minute…”
“Today this bitch is going to learn you don’t mess with us…”
