Page 18

Sol

When I was bitten, I lost more than just my pack alpha future. I was scooped up on the spot and transported to this place after what amounted to a Band-Aid on the ragged, seeping wounds left by the three vampires who fed off me. So anemic, I couldn’t stand up, I was brought in the door on a gurney and taken up to the room where my roommates were already ensconced.

If not for them, I would have died. They not only stole medical supplies from the infirmary to treat my wounds but lied to the teachers and staff, claiming I was making great strides in healing and only needed a week to be back on my feet.

Nobody allowed that kind of time anymore, which was why we were being so pushy with the new girl who currently sat two tables away from us having breakfast with Desi. The day before, it had been three tables distant, but we’d done a little trading with the dessert-loving people in between to switch. Technically, this was against the rules, but as long as it wasn’t a dramatic switch, nobody seemed to notice. And we were close enough now to hear most of what Roxy and Desi were saying. Honestly, we got the best of the deal. Any cakes or pies for the next week was a cheap price to pay. Particularly since Odin had an in with the cooks and could get us extras. Cheating on the trade? Maybe a little, but if everyone was happy, where lay the harm?

“What are they saying?” Evander asked. He had the seat farthest from the pair, and the dining room was crowded and loud.

“Something about a quiz,” Odin said. “History class.”

“They have Mr. Haley, don’t they?”

“Yes.” I knew because I’d dropped her off there the day before. “He was my first homeroom and history teacher, too, and his methodology is questionable at best.”

“He gave me nightmares,” Evander growled. “Look at Roxy. She is either wearing too much blush, or she’s still running a fever.”

“She’s following our advice,” Odin said, jaw gritted. “But she belongs in bed getting lots of TLC.”

Not that we could do anything about it. “I think she looks a little better.” At least I hoped. “Maybe we can get a look at her bites and see if they are healing at all. You know what mine were like when I got here.”

“A gory mess. And mine weren’t much better.” Odin pushed his plate of eggs aside. “I don’t know how anyone gets better here.”

The two guys launched into a discussion of how we could help Roxy heal without getting her in any trouble. We got demerits all the time, but that was the last thing the female needed after all the trauma she’d been put through. I kept my eyes on Roxy and my ears on my friends’ conversation. If I wasn’t mistaken, they both were far more interested in her than I’d ever heard them with anyone else. Basically, we hadn’t been looking for relationships, any of us, more interested in figuring out how we could get out and get back to our lives.

Now, all that had changed. While Roxy and her friend had their heads bent over a notebook, they were making awful faces but also laughing together, and it warmed my heart to see her smile. This female needed joy in her life, and my wolf was positive we were the ones to give it to her. The uniform that looked so dreadful on so many actually was cute on her, emphasizing her trim waist and flaring hips. Among other things. Maybe I was wrong to be ogling someone who at this point needed compassion and kindness more than a mate.

My mate-to-be in the pack had never been fated. We’d been betrothed very young with the intent of creating connections between powerful alphas, and when I was stripped of my future position, so I was stripped of my future with Madison. Although we’d been thrown together regularly over the years, and she was nice enough and certainly stunning, losing her had been the one part of my old life I’d never been able to bring myself to care about.

I only hoped she’d be happy with my younger brother who she’d been handed off to, I’d heard, like a possession with no say whatsoever in her life. Here, I couldn’t come and go at will, and I was locked in at night, but nobody was trying to force me into a relationship that I didn’t want.

One plus to this prison school.

If Madison left me cold, Roxy heated my blood. I already knew I’d lay down my life for her not out of duty, which would have been the case with my former betrothed, but because I chose her life over mine.

“Sol?” Odin elbowed me. “Daydreaming?”

“Something like that.” My friends had been talking about Roxy nonstop, and I wasn’t sure what that meant. Still, the most important thing was to help her get through her first days if not unscathed, at least no worse than she’d arrived. Way harder here than many realized when they first showed up.

Anything else, we could discuss later. What were the odds they also had strong feelings? I believed she was my mate, and therefore not theirs. If they attempted to take things beyond friendship and protection with her, I would just let them know she was my fated. It would be fine. “Let’s make a pact to keep an eye on her. I think she’s overdoing what we told her to do, and we don’t want her to draw attention by acting too healthy. Nobody will buy that either.”

“Anything can be a problem here,” Odin said. “I’m in.”

“Me too.” Evander’s gaze lit on Roxy. “Whatever she needs, I will protect her.”

“Deal, then.” It was only about caring for her. Nothing more. Until I claimed her as my mate.