Chapter 10

I raised it towards him in thanks, eyes avoiding his. I looked at Loren. Her eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. She turned back to Maximus and schooled her face neutral.

“I’ll see you in Combat?” she said.

Max nodded. He turned his back to me and started walking back to his room. But I was unsatisfied by that. I stepped out into the hall next to Loren.

“Hey!” I shouted in his direction. He whipped around and looked at me. His eyes were wide in fear but his mouth was set in a thin line. I decided to drop the electricity thing. Clearly, if it was enough to scare Maximus, I didn’t wanna know. Instead, I opened my mouth and said something stupid.

“Aren’t you supposed to be my mentor or something?”

Maximus choked out a laugh. He crossed his arms. “Do I look like I want to be your mentor?”

“Well, no,” I said. I mimicked his stance. “But seeing as I’m the victim of this year’s hunt, I was hoping you could mentor me through it.”

“I have no interest in Kairos’s hunt,” Maximus spat. “I stay out of his business, and he stays out of mine. End of story.”

“But, yesterday—” I protested.

“Yesterday, I got caught up in the fun,” Maximus cut me off with malice. “I have no intention on continuing in the stupid games. Nor will I intervene.”

“So don’t,” I snapped and turned on my heel.

I marched back into my room with Loren in tow. She gently closed the door behind us. She shook her head.

“There’s something about you that he just hates,” Loren said. “I can’t figure out what it is.”

I snorted. “Thanks Loren,” I slumped to the floor and started to open the handbook. “I wonder if this has anything interesting in it.”

Loren joined me and shook her head. “Probably not,” she said. “It’s just the basics. Vampires enslaved us. Tried to kill us. Blah, blah, blah. Training to fight if they come back. The end.” She tilted her head. “Though your schedule is usually in the back. Flip to it and I’ll tell you what I know about first year classes.”

I flipped the book to the last page and was met with a schedule much like I had in high school. But this one had insane classes. Instead of “Art” it was “Beginner Battle Tactics” and instead of “Science” it was “Selective Weaponry with Knives.” I did see “Lupine World History” on there which was a class I was sure to excel at.

“These are insane classes,” I said to Loren. “Does everyone who’s a wolf take these?”

She shook her head. She’d somehow procured a granola bar and was munching on it. “Non-Alphas usually tend to attend vocational schools. Some non-Alphas go right to the military without schooling,” she swallowed. “But all Alphas attend schools like here.”

“Great,” I mumbled. I guess I wasn’t getting out of “Scenting and Tracking.” That wasn’t even something I thought I could do.

Loren pointed down at my schedule. “’Lupine Transformative Shifting’ is your first class this morning,” she said. “It’s how we learn to control our shifting. Then you have a break and then two classes in the afternoon. ‘Advanced Lupine Physics’ and ‘Advanced Lupine Biology.’”

“What are those?” I asked.

“Like human biology and physics but centered around wolves and other members of the lupine genus,” Loren replied.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Loren checked her watch and swore under her breath. “It’s eight thirty,” she said. “Shifting starts at nine. You’re gonna be late.”

I scrambled to my feet and ran to the bathroom. I skipped the shower, begrudgingly, and braided my hair so it was tight to my skull. Loren walked me across campus to the forest, where shifting was supposed to take place, then waved and walked to her own class.

I darted through the forest until I came upon a clearing. There were ten or fifteen student standing around with their backpacks on the floor. In front, there was an elder woman with grey hair and beedy purple eyes. They bore into my soul as I skidded to stop in the circle.

“Miss Smith,” the elder woman said. “Thank you for joining us.”

Heat flared in my face. “Sorry,”

Someone snorted next to me. I felt a shoulder brush against mine than push to the middle of the circle to stand next to the woman.

It was no surprise to me that it was Kairos. When he finally came to stand next to the woman in front of class, he was glaring a hole into my skull. I swallowed thickly. This was not going to be good.

“Welcome to your first shifting class,” The woman said. “I am Professor Adera Valencia. I will be your teacher.” She gestured to Kairos. “I’m sure you all know Mr. Moonraiser. He’s a third year student who has mastered the art of shifting. He will be the teaching assistant for this class.”

Oh, god. Kairos was going to be instructing me. He was trying to kill me and he was my fucking teacher. I squirmed where I stood and Kairos caught my eye. He grinned, so salacious and sadistic, and I thought about running once again.

“Now,” Professor Valencia clapped her hands together. “if you may, please shift.”

My heart dropped to my toes.

One by one, all of the other students close to me shook and shivered and traded their human bodies for wolf ones. To some students, shifting looked effortless. Others I saw furrowing their brows or shaking their limbs as they did. Several wolves emerged and immediately growled. The whole time, I stood there in shock. One by one, I was finally the last human left.

“Miss Smith,” Valencia said sternly. “I asked you to please shift as this is the point of our class.”

“I—I can’t,” I’d never sounded so small.

Valencia raised an eyebrow. “You cannot?”

I shook my head. Valencia looked disappointed. Kairos looked like he’d been given the prize goose.

“She’s wolfless, Professor,” he spat. “I don’t even know why they added her to this class. She should be in something more her speed. Perhaps she’d enjoy crocheting?”

A few wolves by me snickered. Valencia gave Kairos a look.

“Mr. Moonraiser, that’s enough,” she said. She turned back to me. “That is no matter, Miss Smith. We will have you passively learn until your inner wolf decides to join us.”

If, that stupid voice in my head said. I thought about strangling her. Instead, I just nodded. Valencia nodded back.

“Right, so,” she said to the class. “Given that Miss Smith is wolfless, she will be our first prey this year.” She turned back to me. “You have ten minutes to hide then allow yourself to be hunted and scented by the rest of the class. Please begin.”

I blinked at her, twice. She then motioned towards me to move and I dropped my backpack and darted into the forest.

I was getting really fucking tired of running by that point. My legs felt like noodles. I was glad I didn’t take the time to shower and fix my hair for this adventure. A few minutes into my journey, I found a massive log. I slipped behind it and tried to wedge myself in between the forest floor and the log, out of sight.

A chorus of howls came from deep within the forest. I knew that my time was up. I stopped moving completely and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard a few wolves jump over my log. Then finally, a low growl. I looked up to see a massive silver wolf snarling at me. I knew instantly by it’s deep gold eyes, it was Kairos.

The wolf lunged at me. I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared for death.