Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Silence fell. One after the other, the girls set down their drinks and pushed them away.
“No one out there believes we can do this,” I gritted. “To the rest of the world, an epsilon’s only purpose is to sit on a shelf looking pretty until someone decides to take us down and play with us. We will prove them wrong. We will graduate top of our classes with all the knowledge they didn’t think we deserved to be taught. We will drag Wolf Nation into a new era of freedom and equality. And we will bring about the Golden Age of Wolves, claiming our place as the best and strongest dominion on the planet.
“I’m ready to do that with you, ladies, so are you with me, or not?”
“We’re with you,” Ava said—soft, but firm. “You’re right, Daze, and I’m sorry. Wolf Nation doesn’t need any more empty-headed power mongers treating us all like we only exist to watch the council get rich and party. We absolutely do need to be in class learning everything to become better leaders than Sunella or Cygnus ever could be.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely.”
“Studying and mojitos,” Melisent said. “That’s what we’re all about. You will pry neither textbook nor rum from my cold dead hands, because I’m a lady!”
We laughed and it broke the tension.
“So what’s your plan, Daze?” Ayana asked. “How do we let a vice in here if we can’t trust them?”
A smile stretched my lips. “I’ve been workshopping that little problem. Sunella is a wind wolf, meaning she’s extra careful with the spoken word. After all, the wind knows all. So, after she sends her spy in, she won’t want them to deliver their reports over the phone because there’s always a risk it gets back to me.”
“Okay,” Ava drew out. “She or he won’t talk on the phone. They’ll probably text or email. How does that help us?”
“It helps us because texts and emails... can be intercepted.”
It took a beat, but soon, nothing but grins mirrored mine.
Melisent jumped up. “So every negative email they send, we’ll intercept them, change them around, and then send them on to Sunella with both of them having no clue anything went wrong.”
Ava snapped her fingers. “And the messages that come back from Sunella! We’ll change them too. We’ll put in all the expected shock and horror so that the little spy thinks everything is going to plan. They’ll have no idea we’re onto them.”
“But what if Sunella risks it and calls them directly?” Ayana asked. “To find out why every report is rosy? If her spy isn’t delivering, she may come up with a reason to replace them.”
See? This is why I had no interest in being an actual paranoid-loner tyrant. I needed my pack of war-mongering wolf sisters to keep me on my toes, so I was always covering every angle.
“That’s why we won’t make their reports too rosy,” I replied. “We’ll feed Sunella crumbs so that she doesn’t notice we made off with the whole cake.”
Ava laughed, kicking back to finish off her drink. “That’s why they call you the queen.”
“The title does suit me, doesn’t it?”
We busted up. Power looked good on all of us.
AFTER WE FINISHED UP talking about next steps, keeping control of the school, and consolidating our power, I took off for the cafeteria to get some real food in me. My wolf was ravenous.
Or, she should be ravenous.
Any other day if I pushed up against noon without having my breakfast, she’d gnaw and claw her way out of my stomach trying to get food. That morning... nothing.
“What’s up with you?” I murmured, rubbing my chest. “How are you not hungry?”
I barely got a stirring of a rumble from her in response. She was raring to go that morning when Edric took off his pants, but now she was acting like Nia the wolf tranquilizer was hanging around.
I paused, sniffing the air to be sure. Nope, no Nia.
Shaking my head, I continued on to the mess hall.
I changed up the rules after mixing all the students. No more sitting around like princes and princesses, forcing the kitchen staff to run around taking everyone’s order. Instead, there were menu pads waiting at each table and said tables were numbered.
The students wrote down what they wanted, brought it up to the window, and then when their orders were complete, they went up to get them. Not a big deal, but the alphas had been bitching about it nonstop.
I braced myself for another wave of whining when I went through the door.
“Daciana!” Three alphas shot up from their table and were on me in a blink. “Daciana, we need to talk about these changes,” Megan began. “I don’t understand why they can’t just bring us our food when our order is ready. What’s the point of making us go back and forth, back and forth?”