CHAPTER ONE
Not an Interview
Claudia walked between the tall rows of books and smiled when she reached the Physics section. She threw a glance at the old, elegant spines and moved on. Physics had never been her thing, but at the end of that row there was a door. A door which led into a small room where the Alma Venus Boarding School kept all its secrets about hidden passages and deep, cold catacombs. Those secrets had once helped Avelyn escape. Remembering that night, three years before, Claudia chuckled.
“It didn’t last for more than a couple of hours, but I guess it was worth it,” she whispered to herself as she scanned the British Literature section. She took a book, read the back cover, then sighed and put it back on the shelf. “Can’t believe I read all of them…”
She was trying to distract herself. As always. Actually, not as always, because these weird emotions she was dealing with had started troubling her on and off for only a month. Or two? Had there been three months? She couldn’t tell. Most of the time, she couldn’t even figure out what she was feeling. She’d be in class, paying attention to the lecture, then an overwhelming feeling of restlessness and anxiety would wash over her, leaving her sad and confused. Spending time in her dorm didn’t help either, as she often felt claustrophobic. Claudia had never suffered of claustrophobia, and her bedroom was huge, all tall windows and wide, open space. It had been designed to host four Alma Venus students, not one. For some reason Claudia had yet to grasp, Miss Delacroix, the headmistress, hadn’t given her any roommates after her friends, Avelyn, Amelia, and Delyse, had been bought by their Alpha husbands and left the boarding school. In fact, Miss Delacroix hadn’t taken in more young girls to raise and educate to become shifter-brides in years. Maybe she had grown tired of this hard, stressful job in her old age, or maybe she was planning something else. Claudia had tried to engage Miss Jones, her secretary, countless times in hopes of getting the tiniest bit of gossip out of her, but it had been useless. She had distracted herself with her little, exciting investigation for a couple of days, then she had given up. Whatever Monique Delacroix had in store for Alma Venus, the most famous boarding school for shifter-brides in the world, would remain a mystery until the headmistress decided it was time to make the changes she had obviously been working on.
Claudia walked over to the American Literature section and contemplated re-reading “Gone with the Wind”. After all, it was one of her all-time favorite books, and it was thick enough to keep her mind off her mild depression for a while.
“Depression…” Claudia shuddered at the thought. “No, no way. It’s not depression.”
She had considered talking to the school therapist, especially when her anxiety and claustrophobia almost triggered panic attacks, but the truth was she was afraid of what the therapist might tell her.
“I’m only 22, young and healthy… I can’t be suffering of depression,” she whispered to herself and grabbed the first and the second volume of “Gone with the Wind”. She would read them in the garden, in Avelyn’s favorite spot, although the old lime tree wasn’t there anymore.
As she walked out from between the long rows of books and crossed the large room, she caught her reflection in the antique mirror next to the staircase that led to the second floor of the library. She stopped when she realized just how tired her big, brown eyes looked. She tipped her chin to assess herself better, and frowned at the medium-length, frizzy hair that refused to be tamed by any brush or comb. She had high cheekbones and ridiculously full, sensual lips she loved to paint for hours. She usually went for dark colors because they complimented her chocolate skin so well. Her eyes traveled down her long neck to the round breasts, elegant waist, and generous hips the short and frilly olive dress emphasized so well. Because she liked to be comfortable, she had gone for a pair of black, shiny flats.
“Why?” she asked her reflection. “Why does no one want to buy me?”
Claudia squeezed the two books to her chest and kept staring in the mirror, waiting for the wave of anxiety to pass. There she was, in the exact same situation all her friends had been. Avelyn had avoided to be bought by a shifter, true, but Amelia and Delyse had never fought the system. Amelia was bought by a fox-shifter when she was 22, and Delyse was bought by a Beta dragon-shifter for his Alpha when she was only 18. Avelyn was now married to an Alpha werewolf and had three children, Amelia was the Alpha of her own clan and had two children, and Delyse was probably going to get pregnant soon enough. Claudia… well, Claudia was still stuck at Alma Venus, and the worst part was that she hadn’t had an interview in a month.
“Yeah… if I’m depressed, it’s because of that,” she sighed.
As she looked in the mirror, she tried to convince herself none of it was her fault. It was what she had been doing for almost half a year, but lately it had been more and more difficult to stay positive.
“Twenty-two… there’s still plenty of time.”
Unfortunately, she couldn’t help but think that if no one had bought her until now, then no one would buy her before she turned 25. One of the worst things about being a shifter-bride was that the young women would become eligible to be sold to shape-shifters when they turned 18, and if they weren’t married by 25, they were kicked out of the boarding schools and left to fend for themselves, which was the worst fate possible in a world where everyone believed it was their duty to give themselves to shifters and bear their children so the peace between humans and shape-shifters would continue smoothly. Twenty-five. The thought that she could reach that age without being bought terrified her. Paralyzed her.
“I need a shrink.”
Instead of seeking help, she had tried to talk herself through her anxieties, especially by analyzing the current political situation as best as she could. Huge, unprecedented changes had taken place in the Council of the Six Factions lately, and it was very likely that the shape-shifters were more interested in the new law about the antidotes for the five types of shifter venom than in taking brides. No, it wasn’t her fault. It simply wasn’t a good time for shifter-brides in general. The world was changing. The peace treaty suffered new additions and ame
ndments every month. It made sense, of course, and Claudia knew it was all for the best, but her problem was so current and real that she found it hard to think about the future of humans and shape-shifters. Cures for shifter venom meant shape-shifters could turn their brides into hybrids so they would have the long lifespans of their husbands. What did that mean in the long run? Less demand for young brides. The world wasn’t there yet, as Harington Pharmaceuticals had only discovered the cure for werewolf venom so far, but it was getting there. Slowly, surely. When the scientists and researchers found the antidotes for dragon venom, fox venom, bear venom, and eagle venom, the boarding schools would have to rethink their strategies.
So, yes, Claudia couldn’t help feeling stressed, anxious, desperate… She was probably part of the last generation of shifter-brides. She had to find a husband, and soon. Actually, a husband had to find her. Why? Because she had no idea what else to do with herself. Her mother had abandoned her at the gate of Alma Venus right after she was born, and Miss Delacroix had been the closest to a mother figure and mentor Claudia had ever had. Here, she was raised to become a shifter-bride one day, she belonged to House Ursi, and studied the culture and traditions of bear-shifters. Isolated from the rest of the world, her destiny had become her dream. She felt like she had been born to become a shifter-bride. It was all she had known; all she had wanted. It couldn’t be taken away from her…
Claudia took a deep breath, squeezed the books harder, and clenched her teeth to stop her chin and lips from trembling with the need to burst into tears.
“I got this,” she told the young woman in the mirror. “I got this.”
Just as she turned around and headed to the door, Miss Jones entered the library.
“Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. Weren’t you supposed to be in the Comparative Therianthropology class?”
“I… n-no…” Claudia bit the inside of her lip when she realized she had completely forgotten about that class. Well, it wasn’t her fault it was the only one after lunch on a sunny Friday.
The secretary cocked an eyebrow. “Nevermind. There’s someone who has asked for you.”
“Oh?”
“In Miss Delacroix’s office.”
Claudia’s heart started beating faster. The headmistress’s office was where the interviews took place when shape-shifters came to Alma Venus in search of brides. Miss Delacroix always took the interviews as the perfect opportunity to work on the terrace. She had a second office on the first floor, but she didn’t like it. Too cramped, dark, and it didn’t overlook the main gate.
“Is it… an interview?” Claudia asked hesitantly.
It didn’t sound like one. When a shifter came, he was presented with the catalogs of the five houses – House Lupi, House Ursi, House Dracones, House Vulpes, and House Aquilae – and he filled out a form with the names of the prospective brides he wanted to interview, then the chosen girls were notified in advance so they’d have some time to prepare.
The secretary shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea, child. He only asked for you. He didn’t even check the catalogs.”
“Bear-shifter?”
Miss Jones made to leave, and Claudia followed her.
“No. Wolf. Karl Blackmane, if the name tells you anything.”