“Let’s see. Why would you two be in my room without permission?” He put a finger to his temple. “I don’t know. Maybe because someone tried to convince you I was lying to you.”
“Dameon, we know everything.” Nadia’s voice shook a tiny bit. It was so minor that Dameon may not have noticed, but I did. I noticed every little subtle detail with her.
“You don’t know everything.” Dameon shook his head. “If you did, you wouldn’t be looking at me like that.”
“Well, we know you’ve been hiding things.” Her voice was strong now. She was pushing away her nerves. “And we know your name might not even be Dameon.”
I decided to keep my mouth shut at first and let her take control of the conversation. She didn’t like to feel like I doubted her.
Dameon shrugged. “Who isn’t hiding things? And who cares what my name is?”
“Come on.” I’d reached the end of my rope on keeping my mouth shut. He couldn’t be serious.
“You knew the true story about Jackie.” Nadia took a few steps toward him. “Yet you lied to us about it.”
“No.” He shook head. “No, I didn’t lie. I withheld the truth. That’s something altogether different. I had to do what I had to do.” He took a seat on his bed. “I needed you guys on my side of things.”
“So, you admit it. You were using us?”
“No, I was doing what was right. Just because Jackie only killed to protect a pup doesn't mean she didn’t kill. It also doesn’t mean the Elites aren’t dangerous.”
“But you’re dangerous too.” Nadia said exactly what I was thinking.
“Eventually, you’ll have to choose a side in this. View it as the lesser of two evils if you want. Either way, you have to decide.”
“Who says we have to?” I was so tired of all of it. “We’re just students here.”
“Today you are. But this is so much bigger than you.”
“Don’t we know it.” Nadia sighed. “Listen. I have no idea who you really are or what you want.”
“I want to stop the Elites. I want to keep things balanced.” Dameon put a hand in his pocket. “Is that so hard to understand?”
“We don’t know what to believe, but we are done trusting you blindly. We leave for break tomorrow. Are you even going to be back in the spring?” she asked.
“I’ll be back if you don’t blow my cover.” He looked between us. “But if you do, I’ll just send someone else in my place.” In a flash, he shifted into his wolf.
My wolf took over without warning and dove in front of Nadia, who was still standing in her human form. The ID and book had fallen to the floor.
Dameon picked up both with his mouth and jumped through the open window.
I jumped up on the windowsill ready to follow, but Nadia touched my back. My wolf loved the feel of her hand.
“What good is following him?” She kept her hand on me. “We know he’s lying about something, and at least for now, he’s gone. What else is there to do?” She removed her hand, and I shifted back to my human form.
Her eyes drank me in, and I smiled at her. “Glad you aren’t so upset about seeing me naked anymore.”
“Oh.” She flushed. “Yeah. Did you want to go to the party?”
“I’m standing here naked after Dameon stole the evidence and jumped out the window, and you want to know if I want to go to the party?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “That’s exactly what I want to know.”
“Sure.” I felt a grin spread across my face. “That sounds like a great idea.”
Nadia
I knew I’d packed a dress for a reason. Thankfully, the black lace strapless dress fit well, because it was the only option I had. I put on some lipstick and a pair of heels. Ryan had been shocked by my sudden change of heart about taking a break, but I knew we needed it. Besides, what else could we do? We were stuck, living as pawns in some much bigger chess game we didn’t fully understand. We had done our part for the time being, and it was time to focus on other things, namely us.
I didn’t fully trust Jackie, but that didn’t mean she was wrong about everything. We were only young once.
I took one more glance in the mirror before I headed out of my room and down into the central lounge. Ryan was dressed in a black suit that only made him look hotter than normal. Although, he always looked hot. No clothing could downplay it all that much.
“You look…” His eyes swept over me. “You look amazing, Nadia.”
“So do you.” I grinned at him. I didn’t even care if I looked ridiculous doing it. I no longer worried about what Ryan thought of me. That was a huge step.
“Not like you.” He put a hand around his neck. “You’re breathtaking.”
“If I knew it would get this reaction, I’d dress up more.”
“You always look amazing. But that dress.” His eyes were lidded, and I was even more glad I’d packed it.
He held out his arm. “Shall we?”
“Yes, we shall.” I linked my arm with his and let him lead us down the stairs.
We walked outside to where the quad had been decorated for the occasion. There were bare lightbulbs hanging all over, and tables covered in bright colored table clothes that matched the different house colors scattered throughout and surrounding one large wooden dance floor. There were four big tables, all with a house’s color covered in all sorts of foods. My eyes went immediately to the chocolate fountain off to the side of the dance floor that looked nearly empty even though there were dozens of people dancing.
“May I have this dance?” Ryan held out his arm right as the music switched to a slow song.
“I thought you’d never ask.” I linked my arm with his and let him lead me onto the dance floor.
We danced closely together, barely dancing, because to do so would require creating more space between us. Instead, we swayed, and I had absolutely no problem with that.
We danced for hours, to slow songs and fast ones, it didn't matter. And I knew I’d never get tired of being in his arms. As the night wore on I was holding on to him even tighter and resting my head on his chest.
“You ready to go?”
“Sure.” I lifted my head from his chest. “That sounds great.”
He wrapped his hand around mine and led me back toward the Wolf Born dorm. It was hard to believe we’d been at the academy for only one semester. So much had happened in the time there that it felt like so much more.
We passed Finn in the hall. “Hey, man. I’m out for the night.” He winked at Ryan. At another time, that would have annoyed or terrified me. This time, it got me excited. Very excited.
Ryan unlocked his door, and we moved inside.
“I’m glad we went to the party.” I slipped off my heels. Neither of us had specifically said anything about it, but I had no plans of going back to my room.
“Me too.” He put his hands on my hips, the touch sending waves of awareness through me. “Mostly because I got to dance with you while you were wearing this dress.”
“You like this dress a lot, huh?” I made a mental note to do some dress shopping when I was home on break.
“I’d like it a lot more if you weren’t wearing it anymore though.”
“Oh?” I fought the nerves welling deep inside. This was Ryan. I wanted this, and so did he.
“Yeah.” He ran his lips down my neck. “I’d really like that.”
He reached around and unzipped the back of my dress. It fell in a heap of black lace on the floor, leaving me in only a set of black bra and panties. I’d purposely chosen my only remotely sexy ones.
“Wow.” Ryan’s eyes slid over me. “You’re even more gorgeous than I imagined.”
“Well, you aren’t done yet.” I was feeling uncharacteristically bold, and I reached around and unclasped my bra. I let that fall to the floor. In an action so fast I didn’t realize what was happening, his mouth was on my breast. I moaned as his teeth grazed my nipple.
“You like that, huh?” He
looked up at me.
“Yeah, I do.” I really, really liked it.
“You sure you’re ready for this?” he asked. Didn’t he realize the time to ask me that had come and gone?
“Yes, I’m ready.” I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be fully connected with Ryan in a way I’d never wanted to connect with anyone before.
“Good.” He slipped off his jacket and then moved on to his shirt. Once he was done, both had joined my dress and bra on the floor. He put my hands on his belt. I undid it and then unbuttoned his pants.
His lips crushed against mine as he slipped his hands into my panties, slowly slipping them off. I took him in my hand, marveling at his size and wondering how in the world this wouldn’t hurt like hell.
I didn’t need to worry. I was flying high by the time he laid me down on his bed. His fingers worked me expertly before he moved on top of me and looked into my eyes. “I love you. I love you so fucking much.” He thrust into me, and my entire world changed.
I was still on a high from the magic of his fingers, but having him inside of me was an entirely new experience. It was nothing like I expected. It was everything.
He never stopped looking deep into my eyes, watching my reactions, needing to know that I was okay. I’d never felt safer in my life.
“Does this mean we’re officially together?”
“We’ve been officially together since day one. I love you, Nadia Hazel, and I will always love you.”
“I love you, Ryan Grayson.” I put my arms around his neck.
“Just so you know, if we mate, you don’t have to take the Grayson name.”
“Thank you.” I appreciated that he’d even offer that.
“And I’d even take Hazel as a name if you wanted.”
“Wait. What?” I couldn’t have heard him right.
He laughed. “Hey, then everyone will think I'm smarter.”
I swatted at him.
“Or we could do Hazel-Grayson,” he suggested.
“Hazel-Grayson. I like the sound of it.” I ruminated. “Or just Grayson. I haven't decided yet.”
“All I need you to decide is that, eventually, one day you’ll be my mate.” He brushed his lips against mine.
“I already made that decision.”
“Then you have made me the happiest wolf ever.” He kissed me hard.
I refused to interrupt the kiss, but I felt exactly the same way.
Thank You
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The Lunar Academy will continue with Wolf Blood, Year One coming in September!
Wolf Born: Lunar Academy, Year One Page 13
