Page 38 of The Pretty Savage

Jax, who already knew everything there was to know about Vega Konstantinova, if that was even her name.

Whoever put her here was good, but we were better.

My little liar had secrets, and I wanted to uncover every single one of them, but I couldn't. I couldn't waste my time on someone like her, and instead of showing how much her being hurt bothered me, I attacked, like I always did. I lashed out, hurting her with my words before I even attacked her physically. And fuck me, did I hate myself when I saw the pain etched on her face when I said that.

She definitely was an orphan, that much was true if the reports that Jax got were any indication, but everything else… Was she even Russian?

I had to call Arseniy to check out her background more. Maybe I didn't have to do that, because in a nutshell, she wasn't important. Dante wanted her in The Brotherhood, and I could already see that would be a problem because there was no way I would let her in.

Not because she lied about who she was but because she made me feel.

She made me fucking feel for the first time since my brother disappeared, courtesy of my father, and I hated every single second of it.

Vega Konstantinova.

The taste of her name mixed with the smoke I inhaled as I brought the cigarette to my lips reminded me she was as toxic as the fumes I was inhaling.

But I couldn't stop.

I didn't want to stop.

I shuddered at the mere thought of walking out of here and heading straight to her room, claiming her as mine, showing her why she shouldn't be here, why this entire place was designed to destroy people—body, mind, and soul—and why I would never allow her to join The Brotherhood.

But going to her would mean admitting that the barely-there interactions we've had meant more to me than a lifetime of interactions with other people. It would mean admitting that someone who might as well be my enemy meant more than anything else in this entire world.

Granted, I rarely ever cared for other people.

My family taught me that caring for others could only end with your demise, so I kept myself away, locking down the affection, love, happiness, anything that could make me vulnerable. But no one ever told a young Adrian that locking those away would end up with me forgetting what they felt like. Ignoring feelings made me feel powerful, stronger than anyone else because I didn't care for such things, and I had no idea if I wanted to strangle Vega or fuck her for making me feel this way. For awakening all these monstrous feelings in my gut.

Her scent snuck into my mind last night, and no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried to erase it from my memory, it still stuck, overpowering even the strong smell of nicotine. I would usually spend my sleepless nights in the gym, using the time to at least do something useful, but last night I couldn't.

The only thing I could see as I laid in my bed, staring at the darkened ceiling, was the colors of those eyes and the hurt flashing in them as I kept verbally attacking her, hating myself more and more with each new sentence. But I knew from the first moment she was a liability I couldn't afford, so I had to push her away.

I would simply have to avoid her and if Dante really wanted her in The Brotherhood, he would have to deal with her. I didn't want to see her. I didn't want to touch her, because every single touch of her body against mine felt like torture, and I knew she could never be mine even if every single nerve ending screamed that she belonged to me.

I lifted the cigarette to my lips again, taking the last drag of smoke, when my phone rang from my back pocket. There were only a handful of people in this world that had this number, and without delay, I pulled it out at the same time I flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground, my eyes tracking the willowy smoke disappearing into the air.

Jax's name flashed on the screen, and I lifted the device to my ear, answering without words.

"Get to the main building," he said deadly serious, his voice muffled by the sounds of screaming from the background. "Now, Adrian. There's been…" he trailed off. "Something happened." I listened promptly for if he would elaborate on what happened but nothing except the sound of his breathing and people screaming came through. "We might have a problem."

And with that he dropped the call, telling me without words that whatever happened was big if he was calling me.

I had no idea at which point of my life I started trusting Jax more than almost anyone else, and I knew it was the same for him. We were both raised to fear the other families, to rarely let our guards down, but as Jax would often joke, it was destiny that brought us together, and when my best friend called, no matter where I was and what I was doing, I would answer and help in any way I could.

Turning toward the little cabin I had the last time I was at the Academy, courtesy of my father and the power he had here, I looked up at the gray skies, inhaling deeply, before opening the door of the only place that felt like mine, regardless of how silly that sounded.

But I had no time to dwell on the past and what led me to this path. I grabbed my jacket and keys and walked out, heading toward the main building, as Jax had instructed.

14

ADRIAN

The walk from my cabin to the main building usually took about fifteen minutes, but with the amount of people gathered around the area, it took me more like twenty.

Students milled around, whispering, guessing, some of them terrified, the others with gleeful looks on their faces, happy about whatever had happened. At least the screaming I'd heard over the phone had stopped, but the deadly energy suffocating the air only became stronger the closer I got to the main entrance of the Academy.

I pushed through the crowd, more annoyed than curious at this point, looking for Jax or at least trying to figure out what had happened. I couldn't figure out what anyone was talking about with so many voices overlapping and making no sense.

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