Maisie
Nervous couldn't even begin to describe what I felt the moment we pulled up to the Academy's lodging's gates. It was a five minute drive from the Academy itself and twenty from the Packhouse.
I wanted nothing more than to bail.
The Lodging was built like a hotel and it spanned wide, twice as large as the Academy. White washed limestone buildings with tall windows and floodlights, like we were stuck in some lavish Victorian era. Manicured lawns and trees were spread out evenly across the property, stretching farther than my eyes could see.
All of my courage fled from my body as the car jerked to a halt and I stood on shaky legs at the entrance of the hall. Even the inside makes my jaw fall open. Marble floors, expensive decor and artifacts, every single surface polished to perfection.
I felt like a fraud.
"Relax, May," Regina said, hooking her arm through mine. "We're going to have so much fun tonight."
Jenny led the way and somehow, we located the party on the fourth floor. The music was so loud, it thrummed in my blood. My heart began racing. In anxiety, fear or excitement, I couldn't tell.
The atmosphere was charged with tension. The tension of bodies writhing and swaying to the music. The tension of skin sliding against skin and teeth scraping against pulses. Beside me, a girl moaned as a senior dressed in the lacrosse team jacket for number 8 pushed her against the wall and slipped his hand under her skirt.
To my left, the top button of a blonde came undone and the boy kissing her had her left breast completely covered with his large hand, squeezing as he dug up whatever treasures he'd kept in her throat.
My cheeks were inflamed before we ever reached the bar. I'd never been kissed before. I'd never seen anything quite as jarring. It felt like I was losing my innocence by just being here.
"Two shots of tequila," Jenny yelled over the music to the guy behind the bar counter. Then she smiled at me. "For liquid courage."
I swallowed and nodded, glancing around with a deer-in-headlights look.
And that's when I started to notice.
There were eyes on me.
I heard my name whispered in the hall and I noticed everyone notice me. It felt like something significant that had kept me hidden for years was broken and it was all they could do not to stare at me.
At my brown hair styled in waves, the natural blonde highlights standing out starkly, giving my hair a rich, honeyed hue.
At my blue eyes painted in a dark smoky eyed make up.
At my bow shaped lips coated in deep red.
At my body wrapped tightly in a silver, sleeveless body hug that cinched snugged my waist tightly and hovered just below my ass.
At my bare legs that looked longer in those black heels.
"Who is that?" "Maisie Adams." "She looks so good." "She had all of that underneath those tacky clothes?" "Fuck, I'd tap that ass." "You think Cole would mind if I asked for her number?"
My skin on the back of my neck prickled like fire and I felt my wolf stir in my chest for the first time since last week.
I turned around and across the hall, dark green eyes were locked tight on me.
Cole Hayes was staring at me. Hard. His eyes were dark as they roved from my face, trailing a hot line of fire down my figure. His nostrils flared as those dark eyes lingered on my curves and his jaw clenched as he took notice, too. Of the entire hall's interest in me.
Lana stood beside him, her eyes filled with hate and anger as she watched his eyes heat with lust.
I looked away sharply, breathing faint for too many reasons. My wolf, despite being hurt, only wanted to close the distance and let him touch us. And the attention—goddess, the attention. It was too much for me.
I'd never had so many people staring at me all at once for reasons that had nothing to do with being clumsy.
The lewd comments were way more than those of mockery. And I supposed the first phase of Jenny's plan was a success because every guy within the ten mile radius of me was talking about me.
It would seem that I had become the hottest thing at Greymoor Academy.
***
Two hours and three drinks later, I was pretty drunk. Jenny was damn near gone, rocking her hips against Pascal.
Regina was dancing with Nick, and there was someone behind me, his strong hands running up and down my ribcage. We were laughing hard and dancing to "Mad Hatter" by Melanie Martinez.
My neck prickled again with a spine-chilling feeling. It felt worse than earlier. I knew with my senses that Cole Hayes had been watching me all night. I'd grown used to his stare so much that it had become like a small, non-existent buzz in my subconscious.
This was different.
It felt like metal scrapping against my back.
I stopped dancing and turned, but I couldn't focus on anything.
The hands on my ribs crushed me tighter against a chest, and a hot mouth that stank of alcohol whispered against the curve of my ear. "Want to go somewhere quieter, beautiful? I stay on the seventh floor and I've got a big bed all to myself."
Jenny's eyes met mine and she nodded enthusiastically.
This was it. I should say yes. Phase two required that I said yes.
But I felt strange. Sick. I was going to vomit.
I stumbled away from him. "I–I need to use the bathroom."
The boy grinned, his pretty face turning coy. "Sure, if that's where you want it–"
"Alone," I snapped and walked away hastily, disappearing into the crowd before he could get it into his head that I wanted him to follow.
I didn't know where the bathroom was. Every time I tried to ask, I either got scorned or propositioned, wandering hands randomly trying to feel for my ass. I had my fist in the face of a drunk senior who tried to grab my breasts.
And by the time I reached the bathroom, I was both ready to commit murder and empty out my guts.
Just as I reached for the door, soft laughter flitted out from underneath the door. "Did you see her? Trying so hard to get Cole's attention. It's revolting."
I knew whose nasal, high-pitched tone that was. It was Darby.
"I don't know, she looked pretty to me," another said.
"Please," Darby scoffed. "Some cheap clothes and heels doesn't make her any less of a runt. If anything, she looks like a fucking hooker. How could she show up after getting rejected like that? I would've hung myself from shame."
I swallowed, fingers trembling.
"The same shame you feel when you're fucking her mate while Lana's your best friend?" the second girl laughed.
My head was pounding hard. I let my fingers slip from the doorknob, resolving to get some fresh air instead.
I was taking a turn through a quiet hallway when Cole Douchebag Hayes suddenly stepped out of the shadows, his face frighteningly dark.
My wolf began whining in my chest again at his delicious scent filling the hallway, but my senses suddenly screamed at me. At the reek of danger in the air.
At Jenny and Regina's instructions, I'd teased him tonight, flirting with my eyes, my lips, my soft laughter at every guy who had the courage to walk up to me. I lost count at twenty. We knew it'd affect Cole.
I just didn't know it'd be so quickly.
I turned on my heel, noting how lonely the hallway was. Yeah. No. Not picking a fight with an angry, big bad Alpha alone, especially not when my senses are so confused, I didn't know if I wanted to kill him or kiss him.
But I didn't make it very far.
Something hard slammed into me, flattening me against the wall. "You've managed to piss me off," he growled against my ear. "Not a good move."