Chapter 7 YOUR HIGHNESS, I SWEAR I’M INNOCENT

ISABELLA

“Look at her sleeping like a damn pig…” two girls muttered as they yanked back the curtain of the cubicle next to mine.

Without making a sound, I eased back down, pretending to be asleep.

I strained to listen.

They were trash-talking the other patient, calling her a brainless savage.

Apparently she’d gotten into a fight with one of their friends during the entrance exam.

“This is going to teach you a lesson…”

I heard something being dragged and the rattling of whatever the hell they were setting up.

“Finish tying the string and let’s go, come on, fuck, if the nurse catches us we’re screwed.”

They left the same way they came.

I closed my eyes and stayed still, watching their shadows pass toward the exit.

I had no idea what they’d done, but it definitely wasn’t anything good. I managed to get my sneakers on. I was still in my filthy tracksuit.

Moving carefully, my body still sluggish, I headed for the door too.

But after a few steps, I stopped and glanced back.

The huge room full of beds was empty. Looked like we were the only two patients.

I felt a little pang of pity for that stranger.

It wasn’t fair to pull some nasty prank on someone who was unconscious.

“What the hell are you doing, girl?” my wolf started huffing. “They should’ve named you Lady Trouble.”

“Keep an eye out and make sure no one comes,” I shot back at Thera, pushing the curtain aside, curious.

On the shelf above the girl’s head, they’d set down a metal pot they’d dragged in from who knows where.

From one of the handles, a string dangled down and was tied around the limp wrist of the redheaded she-wolf sleeping in the bed.

“Holy Moon Mother, they beat her to a pulp,” Thera blurted, and yeah, she was covered in bandages. She did not look like the winner of that fight.

“I think she’s a Beta,” she sniffed, sounding a little confused.

“Whatever she is, we can’t just leave this like that.”

As usual, I ended up sticking my nose in something that wasn’t my problem.

Balancing on the little side table and doing a full circus act, I managed to grab the metal pot in my hands.

“Shit, this thing’s freezing,” I hissed, peeking inside and of course… it was filled to the brim with melting ice cubes.

“If that lands on her face, pot and all…” Thera didn’t finish the sentence, but we both knew they’d be rebuilding her face afterward.

All it would take was her moving her hand when she woke up to trigger the trap.

“This Academy is starting to freak me out. Can’t we just run away now?”

I huffed at her nonsense.

Last thing left to do was untie the thick string around the girl’s wrist.

“Stupid knot. They really went all in on this one…” I wrestled with it for a few seconds and was just about to get it loose when her hand clamped around my arm.

“Sshh” I hissed as my bones actually popped.

She had insane strength.

I lifted my gaze and met wild hazel eyes, her canines trying to come out, even though she clearly looked like she was about to pass out again.

With messy red hair and that fierce expression, she really did look like a little savage.

“I’m helping you, don’t freak out. I’m not going to hurt you… let go of me!” I practically had to yank my arm out of her grip.

She left a nice red imprint of her fingers on my skin, but in the tug-of-war I finally managed to free her from the string.

“See? I’m just trying to get you out of a trap,” I told her, showing her the cord.

She stared at it with cloudy eyes… then collapsed again.

“You seriously suck at this whole heroine thing.”

“And you seriously suck at shutting up. Be useful for once and tell me where I’m supposed to stash this.”

I grabbed the pot, thinking about hiding it under a bed, or maybe finding a bathroom and dumping it there.

My eyes went to a nearby window.

Maybe I could toss it into some back garden or something.

We were on the second floor.

“Someone’s coming down the hallway.”

Thera’s sudden alarm sent me straight into panic mode.

I bolted for the closest option and stuck the ice-filled pot out the window.

Below, there was a wooded garden, but also a stone path.

I was just about to chuck the evidence into the bushes when a few people walked out of the passage beneath the building.

That platinum hair, that crushing aura, that predator stride… he was so unmistakable I’d know him anywhere.

Terrible idea.

I was already backing away when a voice behind me made me jump.

“What are you doing with that water?”

“Ah!”

It happened so fast my fingers loosened, and I dropped what I was holding.

I watched in slow motion as the ice flew through the air and the pot headed straight down to land like a crown on the Lycan prince’s head.

I’m dead… that man is going to rip my head off and use it as a bowling ball.