“As long as you continue getting me through Omega Seminar,” I say.
“That class is going to be so weird now with just the four of us.”
We take our trays to our normal table and find Ellie and Bitsy already sitting in their usual spots.
“So, neither of you told us that Professor Cadigan was the scariest professor at Fairhaven,” Alyssa grumbles. “Sheesh, I thought Professor Reinhardt was scary!”
“I got my first Ceverin Cadigan’s class,” Ellie says with a scowl.
“And you’re still so salty about it,” Bitsy teases. “C’s get degrees. That’s my motto. And anyway, do our degrees fucking matter? Worst-case scenario: my father marries me off to some shitty alphas like Junie’s dad is trying to do. Best-case scenario: Bits & Pieces takes off, we get an amazing record deal, and we become wildly famous musicians. No degree required.”
Not for the first time, I wonder if Bitsy would even still be at Fairhaven if not for Ellie and the band—and bond—they share.
“If I flunk Cadigan’s class, I’m dropping out and starting a bakery,” Alyssa decides, smiling up at Darika when the alpha woman drops down beside her. “Wanna start a bakery with me, alpha?”
“Anything for you, beautiful girl. But I’m getting your ass through that class. If only to rub it in his face. That guydefinitelylikes his alpha students best.”
His thought echoes in my mind.
Wretched witch.
Witch. One of the worst slurs ever leveled against omegas, the accusation that saw hundreds of us burned at the stake for our sinful ways and dark magic.
I have to tell Ian that his mentor, practically a second father to him, the very alpha who inspired him to become a teacher, despises me.
I only hope he’ll believe me.
* * *
“Hello, Miss Rose!”Professor Hayes says with a beaming smile as I step back into his classroom. I’m in his Applications of Magic class on Mondays and Wednesdays and looking forward to being back under his instruction. “Good summer break?”
I grimace. “It was… eventful.”
Professor Hayes brings the class to order with a clap of his hands. The beta professor is as energetic as ever as he launches into the practical applications of magic and how it’s used in various industries, laying out what we’ll cover over the course of the term.
“Magic shapes every aspect of our lives. There are infinite applications: scientific and medical, industrial, commercial, even artistic! Even those with the smallest amount of magic contribute to the beautiful tapestry that is our magical world. There are so many things you can do with your magic, and I hope you find some that inspire you in this class.”
It’s so very different from Professor Cadigan’s threat of failure that hope stirs in me once more. I’m going to ace that stern alpha’s class, even if I have to work my fingers to the bone, even if I have to study late into the night, every night.
And it won’t be for nothing.
I’ll escape the mating my father has planned for me.
I’ll forge my own path, with my pack by my side.
* * *
My Tuesday-Thursdays classes—IntermediateSpellcrafting and Draughts and Potions—are blessedly uneventful, leaving me plenty of time to study for Cadigan’s class.
I crash the old study room Cassian and I used to use for Peer Advising with Simon, Alyssa and Luca, and Simon helps me and Alyssa practice the new concepts we’re trying to master until the three of them have to leave for a scholarship student meeting. Cassian finds me alone with Marcus in the study room and gestures to the chair across from me.
When I nod that he can take it, he does, opening one of his own textbooks to study.
But when he sees me struggling, he immediately snaps it closed. “Sigil alteration? Shit. It’s the hardest magic you’ll ever learn. I would have flunked out for sure if not for Simon’s help, but I’ve got a decent handle on it now. Want some help?”
I look up into his dark eyes and see none of the censure or scorn he had for me last year when we met in this very room. There’s no judgment in his open, warm expression, but rather a glimmer of hope in his dark eyes.
When I accept his help, his smile lights up his face like the sun after a storm, and despite the challenging magic, the two hours we have together seem to fly by.
