I zone out as I walk, so when I hear a deep male grunt, followed by a growl, I freeze. I look around, but what I see steals the air from my lungs.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, after a long moment of staring. They were so enraptured by each other that they didn’t even hear me approach.
Two heads snap in my direction, and the only reason I’m not murdered on the spot is that they’re on their knees… Coal is on the bottom, hands in the grass, his back to Quil, his jeans pulled down, and Quil is… Oh my god, Quil is fucking Coal. I don’t waste another second; I take off for my house, and run for my life.
I choke on my own spit when Quil walks in, and I have to drag my mind away from that mental picture. He is temptation and danger personified with plump lips and a crooked smirk. I can’t help but stare. Black messy hair, vibrant hazel eyes that sparkle with malice. He lures you in with his smile, then uses his deadly claws to slit your throat. He’s loyal only to Coal, which means he’s just as big of a bully with me as his best friend is. Oh, what a joy it is to be me.
Quil is quiet, calculating, and likes to have others do his dirty work. It’s hard to say if he’s just as mean as Coal, or if he just tries too hard to impress the wrong men. Judging by the way he’s currently looking at me, like I’m his next meal, I’d say he’s just as bad.
After I caught them fucking, they disappeared for weeks. I assumed they’d eventually come looking for me, and no doubt murder me. Instead, they were just gone. At least for a few weeks, I had a bit of peace, so long as I avoided the other Wolves. When they did eventuallystumble across me while I was cleaning out one of the barns, they acted relatively normal. Back to their regular bullshit. If they wanted to act like nothing happened that night, then so did I.
Being small, and trying to make myself as invisible as possible, has been the only thing that really helps me avoid the wrath of any Wolves, especially these two. So I keep my head down and try not to make eye contact when Coal hollers at me from across the room, and Quil stalks forward like a fucking starving predator.
It’s really hard to do that when all I can think about is the night of my eighteenth birthday. I need to get my shit together, or my scent is going to give me away.
“I think I’ll ask for an Avowed servant this year, now that she’s of age…” Coal announces as he drops his things onto my desk, taking the seat next to me. Quil chuckles and sits beside his best friend, leaving my left side free. Thank fuck. There are few things in this world I hate as much as feeling trapped between them.
That would make one fucked up Delilah sandwich.
Instead of shoving a book up his ass like I want to, or making him choke on a knife, I simply gather my things and get up to move to the front. I’m careful not to turn my back on him or show him my neck as I stand. One is a sign of a challenge, the other submission. Both come with consequences I don’t want to deal with.
Have you ever been told not to run from a wild animal because it triggers them? Same concept, except instead of trying to kill me, they might spank me again.
Something inside me craves the pain as well as the fight that comes with challenging him. I don’t want to submit to anyone. I want to show Coal that his harsh words mean nothing to me, that he means nothing to me;but if I do, I might not be able to handle what happens next.
Violence and pain have an effect on me that I’m not ready to face in a class full of Wolves who can scent desire a mile away. I’d never been spanked like that before, and it is something I do not want to repeat. Thankfully, it was the only time. What kind of lunatic enjoys being punished by her bullies? Who gets turned on by that?
My mind flashes back to that moment once again, and I blush bright red. I liked the way they made me feel, I liked being bent over Quil’s knee. I liked catching them doing something forbidden with each other. If Michael knew, he’d probably kill them both if he could.
Before I can take three steps, Coal stops me with his cold and calculated words.
“No, you’ll sit here where you belong.” His tone is as icy as his heart, and I bite my lip, holding in my anger. “I have an assignment I need you to do for me,” he says, an odd sort of twisted joy in his voice that makes me dizzy.
It’s the first day, we don’t have any assignments yet…
I turn back to him, attempting to keep my eyes downcast, but something in me stares him dead in the eyes instead… I’m tempting fate. Or maybe I’m daring it… Whispering my warning to the universe.
Kill me, Coal. End this all, here and now.
One of the most frustrating things about him is the fact that he's insanely attractive. I don’t know when I realized that, but when I look at him, I don’t see the cruel Wolf I know him to be, but a handsome face that lures me in. He’s tall with broad shoulders, defined muscles, sandy brown hair, sun-kissed tan skin, piercing blue eyes, and smells like cinnamon. Looking at him is like looking at a Greek God in one of the books in Alpha Michael’s library.
How someone who looks like him can be such an asshole is beyond me. His beauty doesn’t hide his ice-cold heart, though. I see him for the jerk he truly is, even if all the female Wolves fawn over him constantly. Most of the Human females do too, honestly. They, for reasons far beyond my comprehension, all want to be claimed as his Avowed, even though they have seen the shitty way he treats me. Talking badly about me, making me do humiliating tasks, like making me pick up spilled trash with my hands. Teasing and threatening me for everyone to hear.
When I think about it, I haven’t ever seen him treat other Humans with the same amount of malice as I receive. Sure, his words are spoken with cruelty, but I’ve never seen him raise a hand to strike a Human before, unless directed to by his father, and that really only happened once. With me. Would Coal and his best friend have been different if Michael wasn’t pure evil?
I shake away that wandering thought. There’s nothing redeemable about either of them. The sweet boys I once played with are long gone. Now they’re cruel men.
I know better than to argue with him, no matter how badly I want to tell him to go fuck himself, so I break eye contact before the blatant challenge can be called out and just sit beside him and pull out my notebook. I get started on his “assignment”,which is just writing a personal introduction for his Conflict Resolution class. Agitation burns in my veins, even as I comply.
A loud, angry growl from the front of the class jerks my attention away from Coal. My eyes snap up and catch the gaze of a man I have never met before, yet he seems so familiar.
His eyes glow bright amber, intensified by his unusual and misplaced anger, his Wolf just under his skin,wanting to break free. If he doesn't get his shit together soon, he’s going to shift in the middle of class. It’s not unusual to see Wolves get angry, but it’s the first day here, and he’s not even talking to anyone. So what’s he so mad about?
I frown at the odd behavior. I don’t know what his problem is, but Coal notices too and tenses beside me. Quil quirks his brow, but no one moves, just watches this other Wolf.
You can always tell who the Humans are. We’re smaller. Weaker. Then there’s the fact that Wolves tend to have a temper as well as a superiority complex. They radiate arrogance.
I shake my head at the odd male who had momentarily distracted me from Satan, who’s sitting beside me like the king of Hell and radiating all things evil that he is. The other Wolf's glowing amber eyes are locked on me, but he huffs loudly and storms out of the room. Fucking Wolves…
