I sit up, ignoring the pain in my head, and look around. I’m outside the gates of the Academy. How the fuck did I get out here? I look down at my body, looking for other wounds, but there’s nothing. I’m not hurt, but I don’t know how the fuck I got out here. I’ll have to walk back to the Academy.
The sun is down and the moon is high, so I’ve been out a long ass time.
“Oh, fucking balls!” I snap, when I look down to see my shoes are gone. “Fucking assholes!” I scream.
This is going to hurt like a motherfucker by the time I make it back to the stupid-ass Academy.
Nervous and suspicious, I lift my skirt and sigh withrelief to see that my underwear are still on and appear to be perfectly intact.
Guess I better start fucking walking.
By the time I make it to my dorm, my bare feet are bleeding. It took fucking hours to get to the Human dorms, and they are in the worst building, way at the back of the Academy grounds. My feet are not happy. They look seriously rough, blood coating the floor with every step I take. Dirt, rocks, sticks. Who knows what else fucked me up?
“Ow, ow, ow…” I grumble as I rush inside the dorm, slamming the door in my haste and then flinching at the loud sound.
My best friend is already here since it’s probably like two in the morning, and she hops off the top bunk as soon as she sees me, startled. She rubs at her sleepy eyes and stares at me.
“Do you need help?” she asks, looking at me with concern.
“Please.” I wince, giving her an apologetic look. “Can you grab me some clean clothes and a bandage? I'm going to take a shower and wash my fucked up feet. I woke up in the fucking forest!” I don’t know how the fuck I-
“Jessica,” Genny nods, giving me a sad look. “I heard her bragging. I went looking for you and begged them to let me off campus to go find you, but then…” she trails off, pointing to the swelling on her cheek, and I gasp.
“Who the fuck hit you?!” I demand, and she shakes her head.
“It doesn’t matter; let's just get you cleaned up.”
Thirty minutes later, I’m laying on the bottom bunk,staring up at my friend, who is hanging her head over the edge, so she can make sure I’m okay.
“Do you want to talk about the things they said about you? Or are we just going to pretend everything is fine?” she asks, and I sigh loudly.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” I tell her for the third time. She can’t go more than ten minutes without asking what happened. I know she’s just worried about me, but I feel like today was the longest fucking day in history, and all I want to do is shut my eyes and pretend I’m not stuck in this hellhole.
“I’m not going to stop asking. So if you want me to leave you alone, just answer,” she demands, giving me a stubborn look I know all too well.
“Fine! Both Coal and Dean, you know, from Shadow Moon Pack, claimed me as their fucking Avowed! Now, I have to alternate between serving both of them every damn day. Apparently, the Headmaster was too chicken to just pick a side,” I groan, and rub my hands down my face. My feet are aching and driving me crazy. The blanket I brought from home is at least comforting, and I tug it up my body, breathing in my mother's familiar scent.
“I didn’t know two Wolves could claim an Avowed like that…”
“They normally can’t. It’s because of their ranks. Neither of them was willing to back down, so as a compromise the Headmaster allowed them both to claim me,” I sigh, throwing an arm over my eyes, desperate to block out the world.
“Wow. That sounds…awful,” Genny says with pity, rolling over on her bunk and looking up at the ceiling.
“No shit,” I groan with a sigh. Genny has never been the target of any hatred from the Wolves, mostly because ofwho her mother is, but also because she takes her place as a Human in a pack seriously. She must be torturing herself about getting hit in her attempt to find me. She knows where she belongs and accepts it, unlike me. Even when I try to comply, a part of me rebels which makes life so much harder.
“Should we talk about what he said he was going to do to you?” she asks quietly, and I shake my head.
“No, because if he tries, I’ll bite his fucking dick off,” I vow, and she chuckles.
“Alright, Dee. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
We fell asleep after that, and my feet throb like a bitch the whole night.
Delilah
I wake to the sound of my alarm and jolt upright. Some sounds trigger my fight or flight. A blaring alarm is one of them. My mom says she found that alarm, but I suspect she might have stolen it. I silently thank her, because I sleep like the dead most nights.
