“Do you know why you weren’t admitted into the academy?” he asks.
My pride bristles. “Because the pack Alphas hate me.” I’m under no illusion about thegenerosityof the pack leaders on today’s judging panel. Alistair Dire made it through after killing that wolf shifter on the mountain, and Revyn—well, I don’t know why he was accepted. The bastard doesn’t even want to enroll at Heartsflame. He’s only here because of me.
“They misunderstand what you are,” the headmaster clarifies, tilting his head and peering at me from the corner of his eye. “Or they believe that you are too dangerous to be near their children and heirs.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “But the only danger within the academy comes from the competitive nature of mating, and if no one wishes to mate with you...” A small smile curves on his rosy lips. “Then what harm could there be in a lone wolf frolicking through our halls?”
The harm comes from Revyn marking his territory, or worse—claiming it. The scars on my neck prickle as I cross my arms and pull them tight against my chest. “I already have two offers for mating. That’s grounds for admittance. Besides, Revyn was accepted, and he’s more dangerous than I am.”
Quick to turn to violence when the outcome favors him—and even quicker to laugh at the bloodshed. Ifthatmakes a viable mating candidate, then we’re all doomed, especially the poor bastard who actually mates with him. In another life, that would have been me. Without a pack, I’m the perfect choice for his mate.
I force myself to breathe through the heartache. “If anyone should have been denied, it’s him.”
“Yes, well...” A sound like cracking rock catches in the dragon’s throat. “His loyalty to you is admirable. There are many who will try to sway him to mate.” The edges of his eyes crinkle in a smile, making him appear his age. How old is he? A thousand years? Two? How long do dragons live?
I scan his face for mating marks but find none. All shifters receive a mark upon completing their mating bonds, and a dragon shouldn’t be an exception, no matter how powerful they are.
“I do not have a mate,” he says slowly, his smile fading. “But that is not by choice. You have a choice here, Sienna. I am giving you one where the others would not.”
My heart races. “I’m not mating with Revyn.”
“I believe you already have.” The headmaster’s eyes crinkle in amusement.
Heat rises beneath my skin, but I don’t tear my gaze away. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed of my history with Revyn, but I hadn’t expected it to become a topic of conversation, let alone the butt of a joke. “I’m notbondingwith him,” I clarify.“We can’t give each other what we want. Someone will have to compromise, and . . .”
We’re both too stubborn for that.
The headmaster lifts a brow. “So if circumstances were different or you had another option, you would take a mate?”
I swallow a protest sitting on the tip of my tongue. I need to play the academy’s game, or I’ll never have the opportunity to join a pack of my choosing. “If our circumstances were different, I would mate with Revyn, yes. But he won’t change his mind about living in the wilds, and I won’t change mine. We can’t make each other happy, so there’s no point in trying.” I narrow my gaze at the headmaster. “Giving hope to the idea that Revyn and I could work things out is cruel, old man.”
I deserve more than Revyn is willing to give me.
The mantra sticks, like it always does, somewhere between my heart and my throat, making it impossible to swallow.
The headmaster hums thoughtfully in my silence. “You could always bond with another. There are dozens of unmated students at the academy, some of whom you may enjoy more than your current mate. The Navarro line is certainly interested, and then there are the Dire wolves?—”
Oh,hells no.
“The day I take a Dire wolf as my mate is the day I die,” I snarl, unable to stop the outburst. Out of all the packs, theirs is the one I least want to join. Rather than stomp their Alpha’s name in the dirt in front of the man responsible for my fate, however, I force myself to smile. “The Navarro vampire is certainly . . . persistent.”
“One of his bloodline’s better qualities,” Loreander murmurs vaguely. “Regardless, you have a very important choice to make, Sienna Ashburn.”
My breath catches at hearing my family name said aloud. Any pack decimated as ruthlessly as mine becomes a taboosubject within the shifter community. By all accounts, I shouldn’t be alive, let alone acknowledged for my origins. Shifter custom dictates that a pack who can’t protect its own deserves its ruin, and any shifter who doesn’t perish alongside their kin is disloyal to their Alpha and branded a traitor.
No matter the outcome of my pack’s massacre, I’m a disgrace for existing both within and without them.
Sometimes, I wish I had died that night. Then no one would ever call mewildfor daring to exist in the space I’ve been given.No one would try to slit my throat in my sleep or use my blood on their hands as leverage to rise the ranks of pack leadership. I wouldn’t be targeted or tracked, beaten or abused.
I’d be free from all the bullshit the alphas spew about the wild wolf they created—my bloodline deemed too weak to be accepted into another pack, but my soul too tainted after years in the wilds for me to be allowed to live.
Explain that fucking irony.
Extending his hand, the headmaster takes mine and squeezes. “You may call me Headmaster, Professor, or Loreander. I’ll have your advisor show you to your bedchambers prior to tonight’s festivities.”
Hope curls inside my chest like a fist, as painful as it is immobile. “You’re letting me stay?”
“I’menrollingyou.” Loreander’s smile glints like sharpened steel. “Welcome to Heartsflame, Sienna. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
My advisor turns out to be another shifter, although I’m not sure which kind. He watches me down the bridge of his nose as I step past him into my new room. We’ve barely said two words to eachother since the headmaster introduced us, but I’ve caught him grinding his teeth more than once. I think his name is Henson.
