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)
My lower belly tightened like a pinched-off water hose. Okay, so, not all of me was turned off by him.
“Wonder how much you’ll enjoy that marathon when I’m blowing the windows off, ripping the sheets off the bed, and dumping you both off the mattress.”
“You are a real serious mood killer, do you know that?”
I could feel Edric’s smirk. “That’s the idea, baby.”
Heaving a sigh, I pushed both of their nonsense aside for the moment. “Good luck, Nyx. I truly hope you and Patrick are able to move forward. More for his sake, but also for yours. There’s no such thing as a good person who never says sorry.”
Nyx looked toward the two-mile-long path that led to the road, but he didn’t move. “Any chance of a kiss to send me off?”
“Absolutely none.”
He laughed. “That’s alright. I’ll still give you my parting gift.”
I had no idea what he was talking about until he reached into his pocket and handed me a folded-up slip of paper.
“What’s this?”
“Daze.” Humor draining away, he lingered before pulling away—his fingers dancing across my knuckles. “It’s the shadow.”
Face freezing, I unfolded the sheet—gazing down at a hand-drawn face.
My first thought—silly as it was—was that Nyx was a surprisingly good artist. He captured the swoop of the man’s curved upper lip. His defined cheekbones. The kink to his curls, and the dull blankness in his eyes. Looking at that face, I felt the terror of a small child whose life was about to be changed forever. And when I glanced up...
Nyx was gone.
“...THESE CHANGES...”
I gripped Nyx’s parting gift tight, mind spinning.
The dull roar of the early morning mess hall washed over me. A million conversations going at once, but none of them penetrating.
All I could think about was what I had been thinking about for eight hours straight. Thanks to Nyx, I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night before. And by that, I meant I needed to truly thank him. After almost two years of hating and fearing this man, I now knew he was a man and what he looked like. The biggest question mark hanging over me, and Nyx put a period on it with one drawing.
But how do I find him?
One look confirmed I’d never met this person before. When you lived a life as isolated as mine, it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t know many people, but still, I’d always known the members of the alpha council and all the important people among the clans. To be near Luame’s chosen is a blessing, and all the rich, powerful, and famous wolves of Wolf Nation were eager to be blessed, even if it meant treating me like an object.
All that said, I knew the alpha council, their families, their friends, and I’ve known them my whole life, so who was this person? How had they gotten so close to the council, they convinced them to sell their literal souls and become devils incarnate? How have they managed to twist and weave Wolf Nation’s future around their finger, and the only person who knew the truth of their evil was a scared little boy who went into the forest one day to play with his twin.
“—worried? Daze? Daze, are you listening to me?” Nia tapped my shoulder, snapping me back to reality. “I asked you if you were worried about all of these changes?” Nia clutched the pamphlet Ash handed out after the assembly the day before.
Yes, the woman was all ready with a laminated, color-printed pamphlet detailing all the new changes coming to Corvin Academy. No one would ever call her unprepared.
I glanced around. The cafeteria staff took to Ash’s changes with enthusiasm. The breakfast buffet was set up and set out by the time I walked in that morning, and going by my heightened hearing, the staff were all in the kitchen—cleaning up before their early break and moaning about their sudden pay cuts.
“The better question is are you cool with them?” I asked her. “What do the omegas think of her plans?”
“Honestly...” Her eyes darted around like this was privileged information. “We love them.”
My brows popped. “Wow, really?”
“Yeah, really. Almost everything she changed were changes we wanted anyway,” she whispered. “No one wanted to admit it, but a lot of us were struggling in the alpha classes. It’s like everyone was talking Greek, but we were the rude foreigners who didn’t bother to learn the language, so they weren’t going to translate for us.
“And the honor board,” she gushed. “Do you think I could get on it? When is she giving out the applications?”
“Tonight,” I blurted, making up my mind on the spot. “At the open forum.”
“Perfect.” Nia sat back, looking pleased with all the world. “I just can’t believe all of this is happening. When you said the council was sending a new vice and we couldn’t trust them, I figured she’d blow in and undermine everything we’ve been trying to do. Instead, Vice Ash is actually improving academy life for us. The council is taking us seriously, Daze”—she threw her arms around me, hugging my shocked self tight—“and it’s all because of you.