by C. R. Jane
A deep bitterness wove its way through my heart when I thought about how unfair everything was. It was a life-changing realization to acknowledge that if I could pick him or Wilder as my true mate, I would. I’d found two men who somehow completed me. Our souls matched, even with as different as the two of them were, it felt like they had been put on the earth for me.
How cruel was it that the moon goddess had prevented me from ever being able to complete the promise of what could be with them?
And then of course there was the fact that there were two of them. And they hated each other. It was all a mess.
We pulled around a half-circle drive in front of a white mansion that reminded me of the giant estate houses in Savannah or Charleston I’d seen pictures of in books. It looked like it had been plucked right out of the pages of Gone with the Wind and was a little bit out of place in this town. But Amarok was always full of surprises, I guessed. The library was proof of that.
Daxon looked at me and opened his mouth, and I bolted out of the car like a coward. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I didn’t want to hear him tell me that he loved me again or anything else that would just make all of this worse.
Daxon
I watched as she ran inside, obviously having forgotten that she was wearing just my leather coat. I’m sure that would give anyone who saw her some gossip to talk about during the ceremony, even though the jacket covered all the important parts.
These things were always dreadfully boring though, so it would at least liven things up. Not that Rune needed more gossip about her.
Fuck. My thoughts were all over the place. And they all revolved around her. Wondering what she was thinking, what she was feeling. Did she feel this all-encompassing madness for me that I felt for her?
I doubted it.
Actually, I was sure she didn’t feel it.
Because watching her walk away felt like a piece of me was dying, and judging by how fast she was running, there was no dying happening on her end.
The bond hadn’t taken. I’d heard of that happening, but never in this kind of situation. I’d heard of it not working because the one giving the bite didn’t have deep enough emotions to complete the magic necessary for the bond.
That wasn’t what had happened here. Rune was somehow blocking the magic of the bond. And it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that she had a true mate out there. A wolf could have a true mate bond, and a mate bond. Miyu’s parents were proof of that. If you couldn’t have both, her father would have been shit out of luck when he met her mother. As much as it burned at my gut to know that she would have a true mate bond that would always trump my mate bond, until I killed him of course, I had accepted it, desperate to get whatever I could get from her.
But then she hadn’t accepted the fucking thing. I felt shattered, desperate to make her feel what I was feeling so that I could try again. I would make her fall in love with me. I would make it so that she couldn’t live without me. I would be everything she’d ever needed. I would make her obsessed with me.
She’d never get away.
Decision made, I got out of the car, feeling much more cheerful about everything. I walked into the mansion, nodding at the random townspeople I passed. Miyu and Rae were both Bitten, but they were popular enough that there were lots of members of Wilder’s pack here as well. He’d unfortunately be here too.
Speak of the bastard. Wilder was leaning against a wall, talking to some of his pack while he sipped champagne from a fancy flute glass. He was all decked out in a fitted tux. Luckily, my tux was waiting in the groom’s quarters somewhere here, since it was my job to officiate the damn thing as their alpha. Just beyond Wilder, I could see Arcadia staring desperately at him. I slipped up the stairs before she could see me. That was one way to ruin everything quickly. I’d probably snap and kill the bitch, and then the party would be ruined.
Pity.
I whistled as I walked up the stairs to get ready to do this thing. Everything was going to work out. I’d make sure of it.
Rune
“Are you ready?” I asked softly, buttoning up what seemed like the millionth button on the back of Miyu’s dress.
“I think so,” she squealed as we both admired her in the floor length mirror in front of us. She was a vision in her long dark, red dress that actually went perfectly with her red hair.
Red was usually the color a shifter got married in. It was a symbol of the shifter spirit and vitality and the forever nature of the promise she would be making today. She looked amazing in it.
The dress was sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline. It hugged every inch of her curvy body until it flared out at the bottom. A red lace overlay covered the red silk material that made up the first layer of the dress. I was obsessed with everything about it. Miyu’s hair was done up in an elaborate updo with pieces that framed her heart-shaped face. Her eye makeup was simple with long fake lashes to make her eyes pop, and she had finished the look off with a dark red lipstick.
She was perfection.
“You look amazing,” I told her, smoothing my dove grey dress down, anxious for everything to be perfect for my best friend.
She gave me her signature blinding smile and was about to say something when her mother popped her head in. “It’s time,” she announced, her gaze soft on her daughter.
Miyu squealed again before squeezing my hand and then marching towards the door. “Let’s do this thing,” she yelled, holding her fist up in a mock war cry. The other girls and I giggled as we watched her walk out before we followed.
The ceremony was taking place in the backyard of the mansion. An elaborate arch had been created that was covered with roses. Lanterns provided soft lighting for the event. Black chairs were set up in rows, and vases of roses were everywhere.
A violin started playing, and Miyu’s father, a distinguished-looking man with a friendly face held out his arm for her to take. The rest of us got ready to go before her. Looking at the other girls, Miyu had fulfilled her promise to make us look good for the ceremony. We all looked banging. Eliza, a sweet girl who’d known Miyu since they were girls, shot me a smile and set off. Two more girls went…and then it was my turn.
I took a deep breath and then started to walk down the dramatic staircase that led down to the garden. All the guests were staring up at us while we walked down, and all the attention was a bit unnerving. I tried to keep a smile on my face, even as my nerves danced around in my stomach.
And then, I saw them. Daxon was standing at the end of the aisle, dressed in a perfectly fitted black tux that had my insides going insane. His blond hair was swept artfully across his face, and those gold eyes of his were devouring me as I tried to walk down the stairs without falling. And just a few feet away from him…was Wilder. He looked every inch the dreamy bad boy standing there in his grey tux that was just a shade darker than the dress the girls were wearing. Wilder was part of Rae’s line, a sign of respect since he was the other leader in the town. His emerald eyes stared at me just as intensely as Daxon’s were, and my skin felt like it was on fire from the combined force of both of their gazes. My heart wanted them. My soul wanted them.
Everything was a blur after that. I somehow made it to the front where I was supposed to stand, unaware of anything but them. Miyu and her father made it to the arch, and Daxon mercifully dragged his attention away from me and then proceeded to start the ceremony. It was beautiful and heartfelt and made my soul long for my own happy ending as I watched Miyu and Rae make their vows and share their kiss. Their bites would take place privately tonight, away from prying eyes.
Speaking of bites… Wilder’s gaze was locked onto my shoulder, where I realized that some of Daxon’s bite was peaking out. He looked…furious.
I touched it self-consciously.
A loud cheer filled the air as Rae and Miyu kissed. They set off down the aisle hand in hand, and the rest of the mating party followed behind them. I could feel Daxon and Wilder’s gazes burn
ing holes in my back though.
I chatted with the girls distractedly as we waited to go into the ballroom, where the reception was taking place. One by one, we were announced, and then we stepped to the side while Miyu and Rae started their first dance.
Wilder appeared next to me, his hand stroking down my skin, thanks to the nonexistent back of my dress.
“You’re the most stunning creature I’ve ever seen,” he whispered, and I shot him a shaky smile. This was the first time I’d been really dressed up since coming to this town, and even I could admit I looked good with my hair in soft waves down my back, wearing the perfectly fitted fancy dress. Goosebumps stretched out on my skin as his fingers began to dance back up my spine.
“Anything you want to tell me?” he asked suddenly.
And I knew he was talking about the mark that was thankfully now covered.
“I can sense the bond didn’t work, but…” he began.
“It didn’t work?” I asked, confused.
Before I could ask any more, Daxon appeared on the other side of me, smiling prettily with that perfect grin of his.
My mouth opened and then closed as the music changed. The bridal party was supposed to join Miyu and Rae out on the floor. But as Ben Harper’s “Forever” began to play, Daxon and Wilder both held their hands out to me, asking me to pick one of them to take out with me on the floor. Confidence in their gazes like they had no doubt I would pick them.
I froze, my gaze flicking between the two of them. Their smiles faded as I took a step backwards, panic shooting through my heart.
I couldn’t pick just one, I couldn’t do it.
It suddenly felt like it was a thousand degrees in there, like I was going to pass out from the heat.
I turned without a word and stumbled away. I heard Wilder shout something after me, but I ignored him, desperate to get away.
I ran back out into the maze of hallways that made up the mansion, needing to get some fresh air before I passed out. Looking back, I didn’t see either of them following me, and I breathed out a sigh of relief as I made it back out to where the ceremony had just been held and took huge gulps of the cool night air. I absentmindedly admired how the courtyard looked with the fairy lights strewn all around, all the while thinking of what I was going to do about the very real feelings I had for Wilder and Daxon.
I was about to go back inside when it happened.
“Hello, little moon,” a very familiar voice silkily spoke in my ear.
I turned my head and stared into the face of the creature who had ruined my life.
“Alistair,” I breathed, grief slicing through my body.
I guessed I wasn’t going to have to worry about choosing between Daxon and Wilder again.
He’d found me.
Continue Rune’s story in Wild Girl. Get it here.
Wild Girl
Book 3
Real Wolves Bite. Continue the Wild series…
Get your copy of Wild Girl today!
WILD SERIES
Wild Moon
Wild Heart
Wild Girl
Sneak Peek at School of Broken Souls
C. R. Jane & Mila Young
Copyright
School of Broken Souls by C. R. Jane and Mila Young
Copyright © 2019 by C. R. Jane and Mila Young
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review, and except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
For permissions contact:
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Welcome to Raven Academy… Where the price of admission could be your soul…
Adeline Jones is perfectly average. Or at least she thinks she is until she receives an invite to attend Raven Academy, complete with a full scholarship. Raven Academy is the mysterious school that only the elite of the elite go and despite Adeline's misgivings about giving up her whole life to attend, there's no way her parents are going to let her give up such an opportunity.
But things at Raven Academy aren't what they seem. Everyone is a little too perfect, a little too rich, and a little too powerful for any normal student population. Things only complicate further when Adeline catches the eyes of Raven Academy's group of elite boys.
Can Adeline figure out what secrets Raven Academy is hiding before it’s too late? Or will the price of admission to the elite academy be more than she can pay...like perhaps the price of her soul.
Chapter 1
I grip the gun under my coat, and my hand shakes. All of me trembles.
What the hell am I doing here?
A drop of sweat slides down my back. It must be a hundred degrees in this store. Or maybe my nerves are just making me feel like I’m in the living embodiment of hell.
A sudden shriek has me jumping in my boots, and I flinch around to see a child stomping his feet when his mom takes away a bag of fruit snacks that’s he’s poached from one of the shelves. Listen to your mother, I want to say, but I can’t find my voice. Not now.
Not when I’m ready to run and hide.
But I have to see this through. People are counting on me. And I can’t let them down.
I won’t let them down.
I glance around at who else is in the store. There’s a teenage couple making eyes at each other in the row over, and a grizzly old man looking over the beer aisle, but other than that the store’s empty. I need everyone to leave before I do this though. This stupid, crazy, impossible thing.
I go through my plan again in my mind for the hundredth time. The gun is filled with water... a toy gun. But it will do the trick. Please God let it work.
The first time my friend Cody pointed it at me, I screamed. It sure as hell looks like a real handgun. The toy mirrors a Glock G43. I have no idea what the number means, but it’s black and looks real. That’s what matters.
Hopefully, the store clerk will think the same. And then when inevitably the police pick me up, maybe they will take it easier on me since it isn’t a real gun. At least that’s my hope, but I know I’m just fooling myself. I have to lie to myself, or I’ll never go through with this.
I need the money.
I need it despite the fact that I’ve always been a good girl, the type of girl who never walks outside the lines or does anything unexpected.
Until now.
Robbing a 7-11 is definitely going to yank that title from me fast. And if that is the worse it does, I’ll take it.
Sweat is rolling down my back now. It slides under the waistband of my jeans and beneath the elastic of my underwear. Why is it so hot in here?
I think again of the other night when I walked into the kitchen at midnight and found mom crying over a stack of bills. Dad withers away in their dark bedroom, too weak to come out, and too proud to ask for help from anyone.
There’s a surgery that can help him, a surgery that can fix my family. But we need money for it.
I hated the word.
Need.
Just as much as I loathe the cancer slowly taking my dad from me.
My throat chokes, and I struggle to breathe. I glance around, finding the sliding door as the young couple leave.
Escape.
It’s there for me. But it won’t help my family.
I work two jobs after school and save every penny. But $8.00 an hour doesn’t add up fast. I often talk to mom about maybe dropping out of school for a little bit, but she won’t listen to me and threatens to make me quit my other jobs if I even mention it again. My mother and I both
work as much as possible, but it’s never going to be enough. Or at least it’s never going to be enough in time to actually save my dad.
Another review of the store reveals three people wandering around the aisles, and this will be the best I can hope for. I swallow past a dry throat, my finger twitching on the gun handle, and I meander toward the only working cash register. The guard is at lunch, and I see no cameras. This is the right time, but hesitation slows me.
Dad. I have to think of him. Losing him isn’t an option, and the doctors say with the right amount of money, he stands a damn good chance to heal.
I want that chance, so with squared shoulders, I march closer to the young girl picking at her nails behind the register. She’s wearing her blue hair in a high ponytail and she has a small piercing in her nose.
My thoughts tangle into a web while fear squeezes my chest. What if I get caught? Mom and Dad will be horrified.
Shaking my head, I push that thought out of my mind. I can’t let those thoughts creep in, or they’ll cripple me. It took me three weeks to work up the courage to finally take action.
So, I have to do this.
I need this.
Fuck.
I lick my dry lips and approach the young girl. She looks up at me, disinterested, and my attention falls to her name tag.
Mary Sue.
I almost laugh out loud at the simpleness of her name, the cliché of it, but she distracts me.
“What do you have?” She eyes me up and down, seeing no groceries in my hand.
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out, and I will my hand to move. To pull out that damn gun. Sweat rolls down my neck.
“If you’re gonna order cigarettes, I need to see an ID.” She folds her arms across her chest.
