Page 3 of The First Year

That name again. Who did they think they were fooling?

The driver didn’t help me with my two duffles of personal belongings. From the way they were stuffed with one of the shirts hung in the teeth of the zipper, I assumed my aunt was shackled with the task of packing me up. I had tried to message her before boarding the bus that dropped me off to get in this car, but she did not reply. People became mean when they were afraid.

I walked up to the gates and pushed my way through. Not very secure but then again, we were in the middle of nowhere, and I suspected there was a spell on the place. Felt like I was moving through a spider web as I walked closer to the front door. The huge rounded arch of the doors was welcoming, but the metal details and rivets gave off some serious castle vibes.

I had no choice but to enter.

If I attempted to go rogue, council guards would hunt me down and kill me.

My aunt most certainly wouldn’t take me back now, not that I wanted to return. Urban Academy would never put the other students, faculty, and staff in danger. I couldn’t even be a fighter anymore—something else I had not enjoyed.

At least I would get some kind of education here. Hopefully.

With my back to the door, I pushed them open and stumbled inside, nearly falling and dropping all my things at once. A couple of students snickered but stopped when I let out a growl. Probably not the way to make friends.

“Ms. Swifthunt?” a woman asked as a door opened. Oh, they must have cameras outside. Of course they did. Kind of foiled the backup rogue plan. “I’m Mrs. Adams.”

“Roxy,” I said and walked over to the woman who squinted at me despite her glasses.

“Roxy. This way. We don’t dawdle in the hallways. There is order here.” The way she said order made me shudder. People threw that word around as a good thing, but to the person being ordered, it never was.

I nearly sprinted to get the door before it shut behind her. Inside was an office with glaring overhead lights that would kill anyone’s creativity and will to live all at once.

“We need you to sign some paperwork. We already have your records from Urban Academy, and we’ve formulated a schedule based on your work there before you were drafted. Here is your new student packet. Inside, there are the rules of conduct. We take those very seriously around here. This isn’t fun time like Urban Academy was.”

Wait. When was fun time at UA? I must’ve missed that. The lack of friends and all.

Damn it.

I nodded when she looked down her nose at me. Not hard to do, since I was just five feet tall if I stood up straight. Which my aunt claimed I rarely did. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” My aunt had whipped those manners into me early. She believed in strict rules too. Thought I’d graduated from that life, but here I was again.

That fucking vampire was on my list.

“Good. There is someone coming down to show you around the grounds and then to your dorm. You will be in a room to yourself, at first, and our strict curfew must be adhered to.” There was a shift in the atmosphere of the office as she said those words. Like a dark cloud moved in and hovered right over my head. I wasn’t good with curfews or authority in general, but I might be able to quell some of that to stay alive. Because if I didn’t stay here, there was a good chance the council would find a way to put me down. They were all about justice, and justice in their eyes was ridding the shifter world of wild cards. I was a wild card to them now for sure.

They were treating this place as a punishment for a crime we didn’t commit. I didn’t, and I was sure no one else chose to be bitten by a vampire. We didn’t volunteer to go into battle. It was forced upon us, both the war and the bite, and now we were being punished, the evidence on our bodies, the council the judge.

“Are you having any new symptoms you would like to discuss with our medical team? If you do, please see them as soon as possible to avoid…treat each new symptom as an emergency.” The woman looked up while handing me a slip of paper. My class schedule.

“Oh, there you are. Please show our new student Summer Ridge and then to her room. Promptly now.”

Chapter Three

Odin

Walking into the office, I expected a young man for some reason and was surprised to see a curvy pixie waiting for me.

“Oh, there you are,” said Mrs. Adams. “Please show our new student Summer Ridge and then to her room. Promptly now.”

When was I ever not prompt?

“Yes, Mrs. Adams.” I flicked my gaze to the beautiful, petite woman standing in front of me. As she turned, I sucked in a breath. My wolf went wild.

I chalked it up to hormones and tried to move on as quickly as possible.

“Hi. I’m Roxy. And you are?”

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