Page 9

Della

Dammit .

I stuff the superglue back into my shirt.

Professor Vincent doesn’t even blink.

“I should probably get off my knees, huh?” I grin.

There’s the subtlest shift in his expression, which, inexplicably, reminds me of when he had me pinned to the side of the building and was sniffing my neck like he couldn’t get enough of me.

Some slight movement draws my gaze down to his pants.

I blush and quickly stand up, brushing off invisible dust from my skirt. “Uh, I should head to class. Have a nice day now,” I say brightly, and I wait for him to move.

He doesn’t move.

He crosses his arms, heavy muscles straining his shirt. “You have been trying to set the school on fire since you arrived, Miss Farrow.”

The superglue falling out of my bra was not ideal. That just means I’ll have to make my lying face a little more convincing. “Of course not. That’s crazy. Who would?—”

He steps up to me.

I shut up and back up fast .

“You are not an omega. I’d be shocked if Delilah Farrow was even your name.”

Shit.

He closes the distance, and I retreat a little more, my ass bumping into a desk. His eyes flick down and linger for two beats. Flushing, I quickly button the top of my shirt that popped open.

“You will be off the campus by the end of today or I will expose you,” he threatens.

Fuck.

He sounds like he means it. I lift both hands pleadingly. "Look, I can explain what I’m doing. I?—”

“—don’t care.” He steps around me and returns to his desk. “I just want you gone. If you are not gone, I will go to Ms. Arkwright.”

“You don’t understand.”

He lifts his eyes from his laptop screen to pin me with a cold stare. “Have I made myself clear?”

If I didn’t think it would cause me more trouble down the line, I’d knock him unconscious, tie him up with his belt, and lock him in a closet until I finished what I came here to do.

But those shoulders…

It would not be an easy thing to hog-tie an alpha with shoulders like that.

“Fine.” I turn to leave.

“And if I discover you hiding somewhere, waiting until I’m distracted before you continue your destructive behavior, I will throw you in the trunk of my car and take you to the cops myself.

What you’ve been doing amounts to criminal damage.

” His voice doesn’t rise. Then again, it doesn’t need to with a threat like that.

I make a face at him.

My hand tightens around the doorknob. “I am trying to help the omegas here.”

“By bringing the building down on their heads?” He scoffs. “I want you gone by the end of the day.”

“I have to get permission to leave the campus. All students do.” I remind him.

It was in the contract I signed when I arrived, and I had a distinct impression that Ms. Arkwright rarely grants permission, if at all.

Haven Academy is pretty, but it has all the hallmarks of a gilded cage boarded by tall trees, hedges, and iron gates with spiked tops.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to get off campus. You seem like a resourceful beta.”

My heart leaps in panic, and I shove the door open to leave.

He won this battle, but that’s okay.

He hasn’t come close to winning the war.

“Are you okay, Delilah? You were quiet at dinner.” River is walking beside me as we return to the dorms.

I should have left after Professor Vincent’s threat, but I’ve been thinking about what will happen at the end-of-year ball.

River’s sister, Juniper, isn’t happy with her pack. If I don’t do something, I’ll be leaving River to suffer the same fate as her sister.

I twist to face her. “What would you say if I suggested we run away from here?”

She laughs. “ Run away ?”

I don’t laugh back.

Slowly, her amusement fades. “You’re serious.”

I grab River’s hand and tug her toward the side of our cottage so the rest of our roommates won’t see us. “This place is a cage, River. You have to get out.”

“It’s not a cage,” she denies. “We have the best teachers and facilities. And?—”

“—A spiked gate that goes all the way around, and we need to get ‘permission’ to take one step off campus. Do you know anyone Ms. Arkwright has ever granted permission?”

River is silent for so long that I grasp her by both arms and shake her, hoping to shake some sense into her. “We have to break free.”

“Why me? And stop doing that. You’re making me dizzy.”

I stop shaking my friend. “I’ve tried with the others. They’ve either been here too long or they don’t have a sister made miserable by alphas.”

“Juniper isn’t miserable,” she denies.

I arch a brow. “So, she’s happy then?”

Silence.

I sigh. “This is not a good place, River. No one should have the right to choose your future partners but you. And now with the Asylum…”

She casts an anxious glance over her shoulder. “ Stop , Delilah. We’re not allowed to talk about politics here.”

Alphas from the city’s wealthiest families had been using free heat clinics as hunting grounds, snatching up omegas so lost to heat, they likely didn’t even know what was going on until their heat ended.

All free heat clinics are being investigated, and cops have shut down some already.

There’s still a long way to go to make them safe for all omegas.

“Do you know how insane that sounds? We’re in a school and we’re not allowed to talk about politics?

We cover history, but we’re not allowed to think critically about how much power alphas have over anyone.

Just look pretty, have the best of everything, and get tied to whatever alpha some perfumer and Ms. Arkwright decide will look good with our dresses. ”

“So, what do you want me to do?” River finally reveals her frustration, throwing her arms up.

“This is where omegas find alphas who will care for us; otherwise, we end up at heat clinics and…” She shakes her head.

“If I left, I’d never see my family again.

My parents would cut off contact, and I wouldn’t see Juniper either. ”

“They’re your family. They’ll come around.”

I avoid thinking about my fractured relationship with my mom. How guilty I felt for not realizing she was drugging Everleigh’s orange juice before she sold her to an alpha.

I never spoke to Mom again. I left, and I miss her. She is family, but after what she did, I can’t look at her the same way or even want someone capable of doing something like that in my life. I just can’t.

Some things are not forgivable.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” River says, smiling.

And I know I’ve lost her.

I came here thinking if I could get even one omega to leave this gilded cage, I’d have succeeded in my mission, and I failed.

Utterly.

“Sure. I’ll be right there.”

She eyes me warily. “You won’t set anymore fires, will you?” She lowers her voice. “I won’t tell anyone, but I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“I won’t set anymore fires,” I promise.

She enters the cottage, and I wait a couple of minutes before turning away from the entrance.

The campus is quiet this afternoon. Classes are over. We’ve all eaten our last meal of the day. Teachers had stood around the dining room watching us to ensure we came directly to the cottages. Even if I’d wanted to sneak away and set something on fire, there would be no point.

Professor Vincent was watching me as I crossed the quad to get to one of my classes. I looked into his cold steel-gray eyes and I knew he meant what he said.

If he finds me here tomorrow, he will expose me.

The time to go is now. The time to sneak back in again is in a couple of days. Maybe not as a student this time. I could try to get in as a gardener or a cleaner. A position that means I wouldn’t run into him.

Once I confirm the coast is clear, I circle around the cottage and dash from tree to tree along the gravel path that leads to the front gate.

Aside from a couple of gardeners in the distance busy with their work, I don’t see anyone. The weather is getting a bit cool for a short-sleeved white shirt, but my black socks are long, even if my skirt is barely knee high.

I don’t have any cash, but once I’m off campus, I’ll find a cab to take me to the Pack Ashe mansion. Everleigh might have questions about my uniform, but I’ll figure out a way of throwing her off the scent of what I’ve been up to.

The hair on the back of my neck rises as I approach the front gates, and I whip around, expecting Ms. Arkwright to tackle me. She seems the type to kick off her shoes and chase down any omega who tried to escape.

No one.

But I hesitate, sensing someone is there.

Seconds, then minutes, tick by. The only movement is the leaves swaying in a gentle evening wind. I tell myself to stop being paranoid and go .

I continue creeping toward the front gate. I don’t remember seeing any cameras when I arrived, except for the one above the keypad to call the school. It faces outward from the gate, so no one will know what I’m doing until I’ve made my escape.

I stand at the bottom of the iron gate, and I look up.

“I don’t remember it being so tall,” I mutter.

And I’m short. Five foot three.

That gate has to be eight or nine feet tall.

Everleigh got over Lawrence Wentworth's hedge when she ran from him. She had three alphas to help her, and I have no such help, nor would I want it.

It will take a lot more than an eight-foot hedge to defeat Della Jackson.

“Stop talking to yourself in third person,” I mutter to myself. “You sound insane.”

I stiffen my spine, and peer over my shoulder to make sure I truly am still alone, then I walk up to the gate.

It’s messy.

I hate to think there are any hidden cameras or people around because I sure as hell flash my panties to everyone in the vicinity.

I rip my skirt, nearly skewer myself on a spike at the top of the gate, and get my leg caught on the other side of the fence when I wedge my foot in and can’t get it out.

I hang upside down, fighting to yank my trapped leg free and cursing the stupidly hot math professor for this ridiculous mess I’m in.

Then I fall the rest of the way and lie on the ground, dazed from my collision and dizzy from all the blood flowing to my head, but I am successful .

I bounce to my feet with a triumphant fist raised. “ Yes !”

A dark-haired girl is staring at me, big brown eyes wide, gripping a bag in one hand. “Hey.”

“How much of that did you see?”

She blinks. “All of it.”

I drop my triumphant fist of victory. “Um, well, pretend you didn’t.” I sniff her sweet almond scent and grip her shoulders, turning her away from the gates. “You don’t want to go in there.”

Her brow furrows. “Why not?”

“Buildings keep getting set on fire. I’m sure there are even ghosts. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were haunted. You wanna go thatta way.” I steer her away, back to the only car in the visitor parking lot, a beat-up Toyota, hoping she wouldn’t mind giving me a lift.

She doesn’t look like she believes me about the ghost, but she’s not fighting me. Why else would someone humiliate themselves by flashing the entire world if they weren’t trying to get away from something terrible?

“Why didn’t you drive through?” I ask.

The school closes for guests at five, but if a prospective new student came knocking, Ms. Arkwright would crank those gates wide open even if it were midnight. She’s not just the head of the school. She’d give a prison warden a run for their money.

Her gaze turns wary. “I wasn’t sure about the place. I wanted to speak to someone first before I decided if I wanted to go in. I’ve been hearing stuff.”

Smart.

“I think I like you…?”

“Mercy.”

“Mercy. I’m Del?—”

A car engine starts up.

I hadn’t seen the black BMW parked on the edge of the visitor parking lot, but it must have been there all along.

Normal people do not hang out in the darkest corner of the city’s omega-only academy parking lot late in the evening.

This behavior is both creepy and alarming.

I grab Mercy’s arm, halting her as I start looking for some way to defend myself. I left everything behind. Everything but my perfume. Getting off the school grounds couldn’t have happened if I had a bunch of stuff weighing me down. “Is that your car?”

She shakes her head, eyeing the BMW with increasing wariness. “No. I don’t know who that is.”

Thought not.

I point my chin at the battered Toyota on the other side of the parking lot. “That one?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this. You should?—”

The BMW doors open, and three guys climb out.

All look like spoiled alphas. Young, arrogant, and probably born with more money than sense.

The dark-haired one is holding something in his right hand.

I can’t tell what it is until his index finger tenses.

Electricity crackles, white and blue light bright in the late afternoon.

A taser.

“Hey there, ladies,” the guy with the taser calls with a hungry smile.

Shit.

“How’s your car at starting?” I speak quietly out of the side of my mouth.

“ Me ?” Mercy asks.

“Yes, you.”

“Uh, it’s old, so not great. Sometimes it’s stalls.”

I briefly close my eyes. “I was afraid you were going to say that. You’re going to drop your bag and run like hell to those iron gates. Press the call button. Start screaming that you are being attacked and climb it if you can.”

“W-why w-would I do that?” she stutters.

The guys stalk toward us.

I search for any weakness I can exploit to give Mercy a chance to get away. “Because it might be the only chance you survive this.”

“And you?” Mercy whispers.

I have no weapon to speak of. Just a small bottle of perfume tucked into my bra.

“Me?” I eye the guys stalking toward me with smirks so confident that I know I’m going to enjoy this. “I’m going to give them hell.” I shove Mercy back toward the gates. “ Go !”

She drops her bag and bolts across the parking lot, back to the gates.

The guys pick up speed, the one with the taser shouting, “ Hey! ”

I shift to my side, pull the perfume from my bra, and hold it down, waiting.

I duck to avoid the taser aimed at my chest.

I dodge the blond guy trying to grab me and spray the perfume directly in his eye, taking extreme pleasure in his yell of pain.

The other blond guy lunges at me. I spray perfume into his face, spin, and then…

Crack .

All the lights go out.