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“For what? If anything, I did Cass a favor.” He aims a finger at me and I rear my head back in shock. This fucker.

“How so?” I ask, eager to understand his thought process—or lack thereof.

“No more Leticia.” He says it slowly, like I’m a child, and it only serves to piss me off more.

“That might sound good at first, but it’s also going to travel like wildfire around the other wolves at the academy, and Addi is going to be caught on the end of it. You just linked me to the damn fae without even realizing it,” I snarl, unable to bite back my anger any longer.

His shoulders slump as he tilts his face to look up at the ceiling. “I’m not going to get laid now, am I?” he mutters with a sigh, a sense of defeat drifting over him, and I shake my head in disbelief.

“I’d assume not,” I snap, my hands balling into fists.

“Fuck. My dick was so hard watching her fight, too,” he admits, making a show of adjusting himself through his pants.

“Tell me about it.” The admission comes from Kryll, which feels more surprising than if Raiden were to say it, but I keep that thought to myself.

“I told you we should have ended her the first day,” Raiden grunts, wiping his hands down his thighs as if he’s not talking about killing someone so casually.

“Not doing that is the best decision ever. I definitely don’t have a chance if she’s not breathing,” Brody grumbles, and I press my fingers into my temples, trying to calm the raging headache that’s taking over from all of this bullshit.

“It’s entertaining, at least,” Kryll adds, and I sigh.

I don’t know what it is. Drama. That’s for sure.

“If you guys aren’t going to agree with me, then you can get the fuck out,” Raiden states, pointing to the door. His brown eyes shimmer with challenge. It’s a look I’m all too familiar with when it comes to him.

He wants to purge the adrenaline coursing through his veins by arguing, and I don’t have the energy to go toe to toe with him right now. So I stand, heading for the door without another word.

I have no idea what Kryll or Brody decide to do as I make my way down the six flights of stairs. Of course I have to be friends with the vampire who gets the penthouse. I’m sure it’s because his mother is working here as the head of the vampires, but even Vallie is on the fourth floor, and her connections link her to The Council.

Thankfully, I don’t pass a single vampire as I make my way down and step out into the night air, taking a deep breath as the cool breeze brushes over my skin. I storm down the pathway from the vampires’ building, but my pace slows as I turn down the wolf path.

It looms ahead, ominous in the dark sky, with only the moon to light the way.

Everything I’m going through, every ounce of disappointment that comes from my pack, especially my father, is all because I chose to be here, and right now, I’m questioning whether that was the right decision.

Being a Kenner is highly regarded within the wolf community, even among the other packs who fall under The Council’s guidance instead. When my father declined a place on The Council to focus solely on his pack, it didn’t make him an outsider; it made him a fucking legend. So for his first-born son and true heir to the pack to relinquish his role to find one within the new kingdom that is forming before everyone’s eyes is nothing short of a failure to him.

The disappointment in his eyes still flashes in my mind, the damage he caused to our home in his fit of rage following swiftly after. He thought his tantrum would make me fall in line, but all it did was confirm I’m doing the right thing.

Every pack should have an alpha, but when they refuse to see past their own perspective for the good of the people, it will inevitably start to crumble. Besides, when the rumors began that the academy was forming, I swore a pact with my friends that we would face this together and change the future of our kingdom. I swore it before I dedicated anything to my father, not that it matters to him. He shouldn’t have to expect me to dedicate myself to him with pacts or other shit.

I’m family, that should be all that matters.

Sighing, I approach the building, and the door opens before I reach it. Two omegas step out, grins quickly spreading on their faces as they catch sight of me. I avert my gaze and try to step past them without a word, but I’m halted by a hand on my chest.

“Hey, Cass. Do you want to?—”

“Don’t talk to him. Didn’t you hear about the duel?” My spine stiffens as one of the girls cuts the other off, talking about me as if I’m not here.

“Duel? What for?”

“Leticia challenged someone for him and lost.”

The gasp echoes in my ears as the hand slips from my body. I try to move around them, but they’re both still peering up at me, waiting for confirmation that it’s all a lie.

“Who?” The blonde asks, eager to reach back out for me again, but she laces her hands together instead.

“A fae,” her friend whisper-shouts. The look of horror on her face is almost laughable. I consider picking her chin up off the floor but think better of it. I don’t need to be getting involved in this right now. It only just happened and I need to sleep.