Page 13 of Heartless

Which didn’t put me in the best of moods when my dad finally let me out of his car. Not only did I have to somehow make Jay’s happily ever after work, but I had to convince Marnie to mate with one of my pack brothers. And according to my dad, the common ground between these two objectives was Vail Marrow.

Fuck my life.

Messy situations might have made my skin crawl, but disappointing my dad made me break into hives. Pathetic, but he’d programed me well, and I gritted my teeth and headed for the dining hall.

Carter sprang out at me before I got a foot in the door. My usually sunny lieutenant all but growled at me. “We need to talk about Marnie, Alphason! I can’t let you brush me off again.”

I blew out a harsh breath and nodded. “Yeah. Sure. It’s just with the Denners and everything…”

Carter lost his grin. “Reed. The shit she’s been through, she deserves the recognition. Come on, how many other alpha females are there in the pack? And to go from a dud to an alpha is insane! Her wolf must have been tearing her up inside all these years… Can you even imagine how hard that’s been for her? I’m just saying, she needs this initiation. And if you won’t do it, I’ll go to the Clan Alpha.”

I ground my teeth loudly enough to block out the sick thud in my veins. “No. I’ll do it.”

Carter nodded, but he was still frowning. “Maybe you should talk to her about it tomorrow. You look kind of on edge.” He scrubbed at his forehead, like he had a thought he wasn’t sure he wanted to share. “Everyone’s talking about Callum and Vail. I know you two were close…”

“It’s all good,” I told him harshly. “Where is she?”

“Not here. You know she hates this place.” When I just stared at him blankly – because where the hell else was she going to eat every day? – he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “My guess is she’s probably with Vail, hiding out in the Dud Dorm breakroom.”

“What? Why?”

He shook his head at me. “Jeez, brother. Where have you been?” When I didn’t answer, he just muttered, “Maybe cos it’s the last place an alphason would look.”

***

It would have been good to prove Carter wrong, but I got lost trying to find the Dud Dorm, let alone their breakroom. And when I found it, I felt the knot of stress in my gut hit my ribs like a packball. Because it sucked. The first room I peeked inside was a dorm room. Metal bunks lined the walls like something you’d find in the county jail, and the room was so cold I could see my breath on the air. The overhead lighting was blinking on and off, as if burned out from trying to cut through the gloom. I tried to picture either girl lying in one of the small, uncomfortable bunks and for the first time, it wasn’t a pleasant image.

Vail had told me some of this when we were sowing the seeds of our alliance, but I hadn’t really been taking it in. Maybe I’d been too distracted by the make-out sessions, or watching her walk around my room in pigtails and my jersey. Or maybe my dad was right, and I was just an oversized jerk who never looked further than the end of my snout.

The breakroom wasn’t much more than a nook with a couple of booths, a small refrigerator, and a breakfast bar with stools. Everything was cheap and faded, and if there was anything in the cupboards, I couldn’t smell it. Not that either girl looked interested in food as they hovered over the booth table. It took me a moment to realize they were looking at a cell phone, and then a male voice rolled out of the speaker. Young. Mountain twang. And full of pissed off intent. “Friday night, Vail,” he growled. “You meet me on the road, or I’m putting Driftwood’s truck through that fancy fence. And not gonna lie. Turning a few of those fuckers into hood ornaments will be a bonus.”

Chapter Eight – Vail

Marnie’s head snapped up, her eyes glowing silver as she stared at the breakroom door. Darkness was in the middle of laying down the law, but I quickly ended the call and slid the phone across the table to her. But Marnie had already sprung out of the booth and raced to the door. She stared out into the hallway, her shoulders tight as she sniffed the air. When she turned back, her smooth brow was furrowed with confusion. “This is so crazy,” she muttered.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. Just a false alarm.” She slid back into the booth with a rueful shake of her head. “Sorry. My senses are all over the place.”

“Is this since you shifted?”

“Yeah. Supposedly new alphas – especially ones who come out late - are hyper-alert. Which was great, at first. Being able to track fresh coffee from three floors away? Bonus. And eavesdropping on teachers talking about pop quizzes? Well, if it wasn’t cheating, my grades would be through the roof.” She bit her lip and glanced at the door. “But mostly I’m just jumping at shadows.”

We settled back into the booth, sipping from our sodas. Neither of us had felt like eating, which was probably just as well, since the Dud Dorm cupboards were their usual slim pickings. But now I shivered, and wondered if we should have braved the dining hall, after all. Marnie might have been a new shifter, but she was also the most sensible girl in the school, and if she was creeped out, then I was too. “Maybe it just takes time to settle down,” I said. “Do you think the initiation ceremony will help?”

She rolled her eyes. “When has any ritual invented by an entitled bunch of boys been a good thing?”

I thought about the omega sniff test and pulled a face. “Urgh. Carter didn’t tell you what to expect?”

“Not allowed. I’m guessing either long robes and bloody chalices, or something to do with packball.”

“And getting naked,” I added, biting hard on a smirk. “Entitled boys love to get naked.”

She groaned. “Why couldn’t my wolf have chosen a balmy night in July, instead of in the middle of Cold Moon month?”

I gave her a weak smile, because talk of the December moon reminded me of Cyril Long and his warning. Only three weeks until I was eighteen, which was a big deal in the shifter world. Not as big as coming out as an alpha female, but still an important occasion. Only according to Reed’s dad, my Marrow blood meant it was less of a celebration than a noose tightening around my neck. Swallowing away a flash of panic, I reached across the table and grabbed Marnie’s hand. “I’m sorry I’m leaving on your big day, but you heard Darkness. If I don’t meet him on Friday, he’s going to try to bust me out. And you know how that will go.” I’d tried to explain there were guards and rules and heavy security surrounding the school, but that sort of thing had never meant much to my foster brother. And if I’d told him the truth, and explained the lengths the Clan Alpha was willing to go to keep me under his thumb, he would have turned up tonight with all guns blazing. “But I’ll be at your party. I won’t go until just before midnight.”

“Same time as the ritual.” She squeezed my hand and hitched her shoulders a little. “Probably a good time to go, since the alphas will all be too busy hazing me to notice.”

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