Page 27 of Confusing Hearts

“Finally,” Ayanna grumbled as she called the meeting to order. “As you all know we are eleven gorgeous, exotic, sophisticated women who have never had this much freedom. King Lockhardt made certain we attended a school with absolutely no eligible mates. Not one male, black, panther attends the ARC. So, what are we going to do?”

“Interspecies challenge!” Louisa yelled, and all the other girls cheered.

“What’s that?” I whispered to Anita, though it must have been loud enough for others to hear, because Ayanna rolled her eyes at me.

“It means that we are tired of being virgins, Jenna. We may not be able to find suitable mates here, but we can certainly have a little fun in the bedroom.”

I blushed as the other girls all whooped and hollered in excitement.

“We all,” she said, glaring at me, “must agree. What happens at the ARC stays at the ARC. Nothing can ever get back to our families and especially to our King.”

Heads nodded all around and Anita nudged me until I was nodding, too.

“Great, so I’ve come up with a list of eligible hotties and we’re going to draw names. Several are listed multiple times, so we’ll see who can bed them first,” Ayanna continued.

“Hold up, we’re all chasing after the same guys?” I asked.

“Yes. That’s the challenge, Jenna. Keep up,” Tessa said, glaring at me.

I really didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“If you don’t want to participate, fine, but you have to swear not to say a word about it outside this group. Not to anyone.”

I nodded. As the bowl with the names was passed around I took one and glanced at it.

Matt Williams, the paper read.

Anita peeked over my shoulder. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she snatched it from me and gave me hers. I turned to question her, and her eyes pleaded for me to accept. I nodded, wondering if Anita had a thing for Matt or something.

I opened the new piece of paper and my heart dropped.

Chase Westin.

Ayanna had said that there were multiples of each name. I looked around the room wondering how many of my sisters would be throwing themselves at my mate for this challenge. It took everything in my power not to roar in anger.

“Now, we’re going to go around and each of us reads off the name so we know who our competition is.”

Four others claimed Chase before it finally reached me.

“Chase Westin,” I said.

A few snickered. Tessa and Ayanna both had Chase too. So did Louisa and Chloe. I wanted to throw up.

“Um, Chase is a wolf. You know that, right?” I said wanting desperately to dissuade them from this madness.

“Jenna, we know that. It’s called the interspecies challenge,” Tessa said, clearly getting irritated with me. That wasn’t anything new.

“But Matt Williams is on the list and he’s not really a different species,” I protested.

“If you had been here from the beginning you’d already know we made an exception for him. He may be feline, but he’s still forbidden by our King, and he’s hot, so he’s in,” Ayanna said, sharing Tessa’s annoyance with me.

“It’s not like you really stand a chance anyway, Jenna.” Chloe laughed. “I wouldn’t even bother trying if I were you.”

A few of the other girls laughed too, but Anita grabbed my hand and squeezed, giving me strength and encouragement.

“When the boys arrive tonight, it’s game on!” Ayanna squealed excitedly.

I couldn’t believe this was even happening. It was insane.

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