Page 6

Colton

“I t’s been a few months since you needed to go into solitary. How have you been feeling?”

You know exactly how I’m feeling, you empath douche.

Andrew Laurant, Headmaster and academy counselor, is the bane of my existence. He makes me do things like share my feelings and express myself. It doesn’t matter if I want to or not. I’d rather be in lockup than have to talk to someone about my life, or my curse.

But I don’t have any control over said-life, such as it is.

So here I am. Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad.

“Fine,” I say, stretching my legs out in front of me as I lean back on the couch. It’s actually comfortable. Maybe more comfortable than my mattress.

Laurant sighs. “Look, Colton, I know you don’t want to be here. I don’t need to use my curse to see that; you make it painfully obvious.”

I let out a snort.

“But you have a problem that will never go away. You’ve been in the system for eight years, and you still have instances of overload. Have you even tried the exercises I’ve suggested?”

I tried them. I’ve tried every single thing he and all the shrinks in the loony-bin told me to, and nothing has ever worked. Even now, when Laurant and I are the only ones on the entire floor his office is on, thoughts that don’t belong to me whisper in my mind.

Laurant’s: “ He may never get this under control. Then where will that leave me?”

Random people in classes throughout the academy:

“ Universe, her hair looks so ridiculous.”

“ I miss my mom…”

“ I’m gonna bash that dickhead’s teeth in.”

“ It’s better she hates me.”

That last one...that was Aubrey. He and I arrived around the same time and were paired up in our dorm when we were of age to leave the juvie campus. I’d recognize his inner voice anywhere. It’s the only place I’ve ever heard his voice.

Then a voice rings clear in my mind, familiar, but I can’t place it. Male.

“ If they head any further north, they’re going to find them.”

Laurant clears his throat, and I let out a frustrated sigh. “Nothing works,” I relent. “I’ve tried it all. The only time I don’t hear others’ thoughts is when I’m drugged up to sleep. I can barely concentrate in large classes—”

“Which is why we ensured you were in the smallest classes possible,” he cuts in.

I frown. “Yeah.”

“Listen, I’m reading a few research papers right now that may be helpful. I’ll have some more information next week.”

“Right.” I stand up and stretch my arms above my head and make my way to the door. “See you.”

“We still have five—”

I slam the door shut behind me, cutting off his voice but not his thoughts. “ Dick.”

I cough out a laugh, and as I near the stairway, then stop short when that voice I’d caught earlier floats through my brain again, clear and crisp.

“ Three hundred fifty klicks north-northwest.”

My brows draw in confusion. Who is this guy?

“ Old city. Rebellion.”

The thoughts fade, the man they belong to likely moving out of my range. But his thoughts had been loud and...strange.

My stomach growls, and I give it a pat before making my way down the stairs to the third-floor cafeteria for lunch. Usually me, Aubs, and Rai grab the table for four in the back corner, so it’s my intention to do just that when a lovely scent stops me in my tracks. My mouth waters and my teeth ache, facts that scare the shit out of me.

I’ve been surrounded by Omegas for my entire life, and never have I wanted one. I’ve found some attractive, but I’ve never been drawn to another person before, aside from Aubrey and Rai. But they’re my bros. This...this is entirely different.

I scan the lunch crowd surrounding the cafeteria entrance but don’t find her. The thoughts of those around me begin to flood my brain as more and more people file into the hall, ready to eat. My head throbs, the cacophony of thoughts makes my pulse hike. The room begins to tilt, and I gasp to breathe.

I haven’t had a panic attack in almost three months, and the last time I did, I was sent to solitary.

That thought makes everything worse, and I lean back against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Are you okay?”

The voice is soft beside me, that scent overwhelming all of my senses, a feeling of calm envelopes me like nothing I’ve ever felt before.

I peel my eyes open and look down into the most beautiful silvery eyes I’ve ever seen, framed by raven-wing lashes that match the damp hair she pushes off her concerned face. It’s barely a microsecond before her gaze deflects to my clavicle, and she begins to fidget.

“I…” I stare down at her, my brows drawing together tight.

Her thoughts. I don’t hear her thoughts.

In fact, the other thoughts around me are quieted. Still there, but not so loud.

It’s like an old radio left on a channel that doesn’t come in. The static is nearly as soothing as her scent.

I clear my throat against the lump that’s formed. “I’m okay. Thank you.”

Her head bobs up and down fast and nervous. “Great. I’m glad.” She coughs, and oh boy, her fidgety behavior is doing all sorts of crazy things to my insides. “I’ll be going then.”

She turns toward the cafeteria, and my mouth runs before my brain catches up. “You should eat with me and my friends.”

What?

She turns to me with an expression that matches my shock, her eyes deflecting from mine to focus on my nose. “Why?”

Because I don’t want you to leave.

Because you being near me soothes me.

Because I want to stay by your side.

Because I want you to look at me, dammit.

“You’re new, right? May as well get to know some of us.” I lean in a bit closer. “Some of the cool ones, anyway.”

Holy shit. This girl has turned me into a complete dork.

Her eyes do a little rapid blink thing as her brows knit, but she gives me an affirmative nod. “Okay.”

Yes!

“Come on,” I say, ushering her inside the cafeteria. “You like mac and cheese? They actually make a pretty good one here. And the pizza’s not bad either. Oh, man, and the pies! I don’t know where they get them or if they make them here, but they are delicious.”

I need to shut the fuck up. It seems relief turns me into a jabber-jaw.

She peers at me—or at my chest—from over her shoulder with a raised brow. “You like carbs.”

Well, yeah. Who doesn’t like carbs? People who stay away from carbs aren’t doing it out of hatred.

I give her a shrug and keep my mouth shut as we get in line and grab trays.

I grab two slices of pizza, a coffee, and a slice of good ol’ apple pie.

She hesitantly takes a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water before pausing at the dessert station a moment. I grin like a madman when she picks up a slice of chocolate pie with lots of whipped cream on top.

One thing I can say for this place is that they treat us well when it comes to food. I’m sure that’s Laurant’s doing. We won’t be treated anywhere near as well once we’re sold and shipped off to wherever-the-fuck.

“This way,” I tell her and gesture with my head to the back corner, where I see Rai is already seated. As we walk, I say, “I’m Colt, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Mira,” she says over the clatter of voices in the room. The dulled thoughts around me try to permeate my brain, but that subtle static still keeps them mostly at bay.

I don’t have much time to consider why before we reach our table. “Rai, this is Mira. She’s going to join us for lunch.”

Rai was already seated with his back ramrod straight before we reached the table. His nostrils are flared, a sure sign that he’d scented her before our approach.

He wears his usual Mandarin-collar black shirt and pressed black pants. The wrap around his eyes is also black, making his snowy hair stand out in stark contrast, his bangs hanging over his eyes as always.

“Hello,” he says, all stiff and uncomfortable. Not abnormal for him, but maybe a bit more than usual.

I sit beside Rai, and Mira sits beside me, making me grin like an idiot. Like she chose me or something.

Get over yourself, idiot. You’re probably one of the only people she’s talked to.

“So, Mira,” I begin as I remove the cover of my coffee cup and add sugar before the cream, “we don’t get many older intakes here. Where are you from?”

There’s a loud bang as pain shoots up my shin. I shout in pain and glare at Rai, the obvious culprit, who looks calm and collected, if not stiff as a board.

What’s wrong with asking where she’s from?

“I, um…” she trails off, staring down at the half of her sandwich in her gloved grasp. “UNA, Sector Two-B,” she finally finishes.

“I grew up in Fifty-Two A,” I tell her. “Rai, here, was from One-A. Right?”

Rai nods slowly. “I was born there. My family is still there now.”

“Were…” Mira hesitates. “Were you close? With your family?”

Rai’s body relaxes a bit. “Very,” he whispers. “I miss them every day. My older brother was here with me until…”

He doesn’t have to finish. I can see that Mira understands. Kiyoshi was here a few years before Rai, and he was sold off to some unknown army about three years back. Rai had been inconsolable.

I frown at the memory and at how jealous I’d been when they were together. Brothers who were best friends, caring for and helping each other. With a family back home that never wanted to let them go.

I will never forgive myself for how selfish I’d been. It isn’t their fault their family loves them, and mine would rather see me dead than acknowledge my existence.

There is a loud, booming thought in my head that doesn’t belong to me.

“ What the fuck?”

Aubrey approaches our table at my back, and he is not happy about Mira’s presence.

Too fucking bad.

“Aubrey!” I sing sweetly and smile up at the hulking Alpha as he sets his tray down. “Nice of you to join us. This is Mira,” I tell him, a toothy smile set on my face.

“We’ve met,” she says from beside me, and my smile vanishes as my head whips to look at her.

“Oh?”

She nods, an odd look in her eyes. “We sparred today. He knocked me out and left.”

“What the fuck, bro?” I snarl at the same time as Rai slams his fist on the table.

“That is most unacceptable, Aubrey.” Rai is more aggravated than I’ve ever heard him.

Aubrey bares his teeth like an alligator ready to strike before digging into his food.

“ Getting close to her is a mistake.”

Now that errant thought of his that I caught earlier makes sense.

Gaze narrowed, I assess my friend and roommate. About six and a half feet tall, muscles atop muscles, the smoothest mocha skin a man had any right to have, lips full, jaw strong, black hair buzzed to nearly nothing, and clear, almond-shaped hazel eyes, the likes of a beauty queen.

And he can be an absolute asshole.

Even Rai is beautiful. Not as tall as Aubrey or me, but lean muscles, smooth-shaved porcelain skin, slightly puffy lips, and that pure white hair that always looks like he was just caught in high winds yet it settled in an elegant mold. I would bet if he could remove his blindfold, his eyes would be gorgeous, too.

Dick.

I’m just...me. A blond dude with two different colored eyes who’s so fucked up in the head that he’s spent almost as much time inside institutions as he has outside of them.

It says a lot when you’re not even in contention against a guy who can’t see and another guy who can’t speak.

Who am I kidding? There is no “contention.” Thinking like this could get me killed. All of us.

My head shoots up at Aubrey knocking on the table. He gives me a strange look and tilts his head to one side before signing, “What’s up with you? You didn’t hear me.”

He must have been trying to speak to me through his thoughts, and I couldn’t hear him over my own thoughts. So, I can hear his loud, shouting thoughts, but not his more calm ones.

This is all Mira’s doing.

I look at the beautiful young woman beside me whose gaze bounces from Aubrey to me and back again.

“Uh, he said he’s sorry for being a complete dick earlier,” I offer.

She gives me a disbelieving look as Aubrey’s eyes bore holes in my soul.

I couldn’t care less.

“So, Mira,” Rai begins, “who are you rooming with?”

“Her name is Nyx,” she responds.

“I know her,” I say. “Smart. She’s in my history and Advanced Military Tactics classes.”

“She’s been nice to me,” she offers simply before focusing on her chocolate pie.

I grin again as she takes a bite. When she lets out the smallest moan of delight at the taste, my entire body goes rigid, and I am not the only one. I can feel the tension around the table, and for the first time in my life, I miss my curse. I want to know what Aubs and Rai think and if their thoughts are like mine.

The desire to take, to claim, to knot.

Fuck. I’m not used to these feelings. They’re dangerous beyond belief.

Most of all, I wish I could read Mira’s mind. She looks so unaffected by us that it’s almost infuriating.

Something inside my chest snarls at the thought of her not noticing me. Not wanting me.

Look at me.

Frightened eyes shoot up to mine, and my heart races, pounding like a hammer against my sternum.

Did she...hear me?

No. No way.

Aubrey bangs on the table again, directing my attention to his glowering face. His eyes are filled with a level of rage I’ve never seen before. And one glance at Rai, his covered eyes are focused on me in that eerie way he has, his lips forming a straight line.

I am definitely missing something.

“I should get going,” Mira says with haste, grabbing her tray and water bottle as she stands. “Thank you for inviting me to eat with you.”

Before I can open my mouth to protest her departure, she’s gone.

In her place, a roar of thoughts fills my head. I let out a growl of frustration and pain, clenching my fists to my temples.

There’s the scrape of chairs before Rai says, “Come,” and takes my arm to lead me from the cafeteria to one of the quietest, least populated places in the entire academy.

The library.