Not just among the top 25% at Drakewood, but at the very peak of this shitty mountain. I just need to finish this term, and then I’ll be inducted into the ranks of the prestigious alumni. I’ll have all the connections I need to make something of myself, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.
Amber is an unneeded distraction, I know that. And yet…
I can’t help but find myself drawn to her.
I don’t know what landed her here, but I can tell she’s different. And not just because she’s female.
She watches me with a guarded expression as she lowers herself onto the opposite twin bed. “So why are you here? I mean, at Drakewood? You seem nicer than anyone who ends up here ought to be.”
I need to give her something of me if I expect her to offer any of herself in return.
I shrug, ignoring her comment and offer, “I’m here for armed robbery. How about you?” I show off my perfect pearly whites. Mom always says that all I have to do is flash a smile and then the whole world will fall at my feet. Maybe Amber could fall, too? There is just something about her. Beau senses it, same as I do. It’s why he’s acting like such a bastard. While he plans to grow on her like the mold he is to the world, I’ll take the same approach my father had: alphas should ask. They should care. Amber clearly doesn’t see that yet, and I can’t help wondering why.
Tension ripples through her body, but then she lets it all go. “Murder,” she says, refusing to meet my gaze any longer as she murmurs the words at the floor. “I killed my sister.”
five
AMBER
Gabe smiles hesitantly as if I’ve just told a joke he doesn’t quite get. Yeah, I wish. It couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I didn’t mean to,” I explain, pressing my palms into my eyes to block the horrific scene from replaying behind my eyelids. I remember my own scream roaring louder than anything, Jade’s voice vanishing in my rage.
A tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. Damn it, I can’t believe I’m crying again. I wish there was a way to shut myself off like I had when my true nature exploded from me. I inhale a ragged breath and reach for the flower pendant I saved—one Jade never took off. I couldn’t bear to be without something belonging to her, so I stole it to keep. The jade stone cools my finger tip, and I count my breaths, grounding myself before I fall apart completely.
Gabe moves to sit beside me and strokes his sleeve across my cheek. “What happened?” His gentle voice wraps around me like the soft scent he leaves on my skin. I had no idea an alpha could act in such a way. Not with another. Not with someone like me.
“Jade,” I murmur, her name somehow both a prayer and a curse. “My sisters were all home to celebrate my eighteenth birthday. They went out to make some last-minute preparations for this big surprise they had for me. My parents were off at some combo work-vacation thing, which meant I had the house to myself. It’s why my sisters agreed to come. Most of them were unwilling to set foot anywhere our mother was, so this was our chance to have a couple days just for ourselves. But Mother unexpectedly came home early. She hadn’t warned me. Just shown up as if nothing was the matter. And she wasn’t alone either. She’d brought her enforcers, Pack Fernando, which immediately told me something was very, very wrong.” My voice cracks, and I pause to keep from crying out.
Gabe leans closer and places a strong but inviting arm around my shoulders. “You don’t have to keep going. It’s okay.” He smells like a fresh ocean breeze, clean, salty, and wild. It reminds me of Jade; she was always so wild, and she loved the ocean.
She was not only wild but cunning. She tended to know things my sisters and I didn’t because of her own pack. They tracked my mom. They knew she was up to something, so Jade came back early—claiming to have forgotten her purse of something—and interrupted what Mom had planned. Apparently, my loving mother knew what I was and wanted to get rid of me before the rest of the world learned it, too. As soon as I was of legal age, she’d called in Pack Fernando, the crooked gang who did all her dirty work without question.
“This is your pack now. Go with them,” Mother said, pushing me into the arms of their leader—a hardened middle-aged man with scars slicing up half his face. She expected me to do exactly as she said; after all, she’d raised me to be compliant. Now this was her birthday gift to me, life as that corrupted pack’s dirty little plaything. Really, it was a gift for herself. She’d waited for who knows how long, then as soon as she was able, she made a plan to get rid of me.
My eyes dart frantically from side to side as the memory unfolds before me. My body trembles, my stomach twisting. I let out a strangled cry, and Gabe pulls me into a tight hug, protecting me from a past I wish didn’t belong to me.
“Tell you what,” he says, then waits for me to look up at him before continuing. “The Warden is shit for introductions. Let me show you around this place a bit. That is, if you’re up for it. It’ll be better than hiding in your room.”
I hesitate, torn between not wanting to be alone and not wanting to let this stranger any further past my shoddily constructed walls. He could have ill intentions or want something from me. No alpha at this academy does anything out of kindness—at least, that’s what I heard.
But there’s something about Gabe…
“I should at least show you how to get to your classes, so you’re ready for tomorrow. C’mon.” Gabe stands, stretching both arms overhead and revealing about an inch of skin on his torso. Before I can stop myself, I reach my fingers forward, wanting to experience more of this seemingly kind-hearted alpha with so much more than just my eyes.
Why am I so drawn to him? Is it because I’m really an omega, after all? True, I’m angry and hostile right now, but who wouldn’t be given the circumstances? What happened with Jade was a terrible tragedy, but an omega could have done the same exact thing. I don’t care if Mother claims my scent and pheromones scream alpha. Or that she thinks she knows everything.
What proof do I have other than Mother’s word and her decision to dump me in Drakewood?
Am I in denial? Fuck, I just don’t want to believe it.
I manage to stop myself just before my fingertips brush Gabe’s tempting peek-a-boo abs.
He smiles and reaches out his hand to me, thinking that I accept his offer. “I promise it’ll be good.”
I gulp down a fresh wave of anxiety and twine my fingers through his. My feet automatically follow his lead. It’s what an omega would do, let her alpha lead the way. Together we head for the door.
“Wait,” I cry, stopping in place, getting my head in the right space. I can’t just leave. “I need to splash some water on my face. And to do something about my stuff before we go.” It’s bad enough that I’m already missing one duffle bag and a pair of panties. I’d hate to return to my dorm to find even more of my personal effects missing. Beau would steal everything, I bet. Even the damn massive dildo. That thing makes a damn good weapon, and I need it.