Chapter 1
Jack
The box in my arms wasn’t heavy and yet I felt like I was being dragged into the floor by the weight of it. Each step up to my new single dorm room felt harder than the last.
This was the last of my things I had from my dorm room with Tate. I didn’t have much to begin with, but the few months I had been here at the academy, I had accumulated quite a few things. Most of them from Xinyi.
I was sure there were things in Kyren’s room, but I couldn’t bring myself to go there and get them. Fear of running into the vampire who had looked at me with such venom and hatred caused a thick ball in my throat that I couldn’t quite swallow down.
Eight days. It had been eight days, four hours, fifteen minutes, and twenty-four seconds since I’d seen Kyren. The vampire seemingly hid away in his room, skipping the class we had together, and not once showing up for meals.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt his absence.
I wanted nothing more than to write him off. To say fuck him and his prejudice against my family. After all, I was the one who was wronged in this scenario. It was his sire that had kidnapped me as a child. It was only natural my parents would kill him in retaliation.
Somehow, that meant that I was as bad, if not worse, than my parents.
Parents who had done nothing but try to make the supernatural community better. The human death rate was as low as it’s been in a century. The supernatural deaths were even lower, with the Hunter Guild now only targeting those who broke the rules.
Shouldn’t that count for something?
Apparently not.
I shoved the heavy wood door of my new room open, letting it hit the wall behind it. Letting out a deep sigh, I took in my new room.
Gone was the single bed, the cheap desk and dresser squeezed into a small space, with Tate’s identical furniture on the other side of the room. In its place, I had a queen size bed with an elaborate, dark mahogany frame. An ornate crimson and gold rug spread across the stone floor, and matching drapes covered each window.
I had a full-size dresser, including vanity, on one side of the room. Far more space than I needed for the handful of clothes I’d brought with me to the academy. A study area had been set up on the other side of the room along with a lush, oversized chair, and a bookshelf filled with my favorites sat next to it, waiting for me to cozy up with a good book.
No doubt my fathers had a hand in the decoration of my new room. Only they would know exactly what would make me feel at home. Unfortunately, the room felt more like a prison cell.
I’d been shipped off to the Siberia of the academy. My new dorm room was set up in the main academy building far away from the Vampire Crypt and all the other students. My parents’ worry for my safety would normally had been annoying, and I’d have fought against being treated any differently than any other student, and yet... the urge to crawl into my mother’s arms and hide was strong.
With another deep sigh, I sat the box in my hands on the nearby dresser, opening it up to evaluate what was inside. My hand froze on the first item inside.
A black shirt.
Nothing inconspicuous about it. I had plenty of black shirts. I preferred them to most colorful ones because they allowed me toblend into the shadows when I was hunting. Except when I drew it out, it was obviously too large for me.
I brought the material to my nose, inhaling the lingering scent of smoke and cloves. Kyren.
Shirt to my nose, I sat on the edge of my new bed. I couldn’t even appreciate the softness of the mattress compared to the single I’d had with Tate. It hadn’t been the most comfortable room I’d ever been in, but it had been mine and theirs.
I laid back on the bed, just breathing what I had left of Kyren. My eyes burned at the thought. A week ago, I had the love of not one but two men. Two incredible men that consumed me from the inside out.
I’d never felt so wanted or safe than pressed between the two of them. I’d never felt such exquisite ecstasy either.
Even now, my body ached for their touch, their kisses, their voices. I’d become addicted to them, and it only made losing them that much worse.
Never before had I felt this depth of betrayal. Not since the day after that one night Julian and I had together before he became my commanding officer.
Of course I could blame myself. I was the one who wanted to hide my identity from everyone when I first came. I had only been seeing as far as the mission and not the consequences of getting involved with Tate and Kyren without exposing my true self.
If only I’d—
“Hey you!”
I jerked up on my bed, shoving the shirt under one of my pillows. I smiled softly at the tiny woman standing in my doorway. Wearing what she called fashion in a pleated purple and black skirt, an oversized sweater ripped strategically to hang off one shoulder, her dark hair was streaked pink, purple, and teal, and tied up into two messy buns on either side of her head.
