Once Upon A Wolf: A Dark Academy Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Everafter Academy Book 1)

by Scarlett Snow

  “Pustulis correptus!” she blurts.

  A flash of yellow-green light arcs out of the end of the wand. It’s not even moving very fast. I hold up my hand and block the tiny lightning with my palm, my face deadpan, and the spell to cause acne falls away like grey dust.

  Inside, however, I’m furious.

  Nobody hexes a Hemlock!

  “You’re lucky I didn’t turn that back on you,” I snarl, rising slowly off my seat.

  “I think you should,” Sirena coaxes. “She deserves it.”

  I want to laugh, but I’m so angry that every hair on my head shivers and I’m seeing red. Rapunzel falls back toward Gideon, who manfully steps away from her so she can’t hide behind him. All of her so-called friends back away from her, trying to get out of the blast zone of my retaliation.

  There won’t be any. Lockwood’s eagle flies into the room and lands on the back of the chair beside me, its red eyes flicking over the assembled students. He’s sizing up the situation and will no doubt report back to his master. If I cast anything now, I’ll end up expelled for sure. I grind my teeth and force myself to stand down.

  The eagle looks at me and speaks in my mind. —You will see Professor Lockwood immediately.—

  —What about my classes?— I ask.

  The eagle makes a sound like laughter. —We all know you don’t need this class, Ravyn.—

  I don’t expect him to call me by my real name, but I suppose if Lockwood knows my secrets, then his familiar does, too.

  —Tell him I’m on my way. Please.—

  The bird spreads its wings. —Don’t make him wait.—

  I gather up my books and shove them into my bag. “Guess you just lucked out, Medusa.”

  “You’re the lucky one,” Gideon tells me. “If you’d hexed her again, we’d be within our rights to string you up as the Darkblood you are.”

  I want to stab him in the eye. Instead I turn to Sirena, who’s lifting a fist at Gideon, her hair growing red from her roots down. I grab her arm to stop her, not wanting my friend to get in trouble because of me.

  “I’ve gotta go. See you later?”

  She rests her arm and nods, keeping her eyes pinned on Gideon. I wave at the bullies and leave the classroom, hoping just a little bit that she does smack him. His smug face deserves it more than anyone.

  My heart is pounding with excitement as I make my way to Lockwood’s tower. I’m going to finally get his answer. I don’t know what I’ll do if he says no, but I’m 98% certain that he won’t. He was enthralled by the idea when we were in the forest. He wants to be my Master. It’s almost like he just doesn’t realize the subservients have all the control.

  The door to the office is closed and the eagle’s perch has been moved out onto the landing of the stairs. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. The familiar nods his head to me and I knock politely. How unlike me.

  “Come in.”

  Lockwood sounds calm. I open the door and step inside.

  “You wanted to see me, Sir?” I lean on the word ‘sir’ for emphasis.

  He’s standing with his back to me again, staring out over the school like a king overseeing his domain. His hands aren’t behind him this time.

  “Sit down.”

  I put my book bag aside and sit in one of the straight-backed chairs that has been provided for guests. I cross my legs and wait, trying to calm my heart rate.

  “You’ve given me quite a lot to think about, Miss Hemlock,” he says in a low, calculating voice. “And after much consideration, I have come to the determination that as a Darkblood who has illegally infiltrated my school….”

  He turns around, holding a thick bamboo cane in his hand.

  My heart skips a beat.

  Yes!

  “You need to be punished for that infraction.”

  Oh, I do, Sir. I do.

  He swings the cane and strikes his opposite palm, leaving a pink line across his own skin. I flinch at the sound, desperate to feel that sting on my own flesh.

  “Stand up.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  I stand primly in front of him, smoothing down my tartan skirt before I hold my hands in front of me. I look up at him through my eyelashes.

  “Now what?”

  “Now what, Sir,” he corrects. “That is your last reminder. Turn around and grasp the seat of the chair.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  The chair seat is low enough that when I bend to grasp it, my ass is in the air. He comes forward and kicks my feet out, widening my stance. He yanks my skirt up, revealing my red silk panties. I’m glad those are the ones I wore today. After a moment, his big hands grab the elastic holding the triangles together and slowly pulls them down.

  “Step,” he orders, and I step out of the panties with one foot. He leaves them around my other ankle.

  My palms are sweating and I’m tingling with excitement. He’s a strong man, so I expect that he’ll hit me hard. I wonder how many strokes he’s going to give, and whether he’ll say anything.

  I bend over again and grasp the seat of the chair firmly.

  “Hold still,” he orders.

  He steps back and I hold my breath. There’s a whistling swish, then the cane lands across my naked ass so hard my knees almost buckle. The initial pain isn’t that bad, but it intensifies over the seconds that pass until it feels like a thousand wasps are stinging me. I’m just acclimating to that feeling when a second blow lands across the first.

  I gasp, my body jerking forward from the force of his strike.

  “We do not allow Darkbloods at Everafter,” he says, his voice even, but I can hear a little quiver underneath it. I wonder if he’s hard already. How I’d love to reach back and find out.

  The cane whistles, and another stripe burns into me.

  “Dark magic is not allowed here.”

  Crack.

  “Dark witches are not allowed here.”

  Crack! This blow is harder than the first two. I muffle a whimper.

  “You have lied to us.”

  Crack!

  “You lied to me.”

  CRACK!

  This time, I let out a wail as the white-hot pain lances through me. He stops enumerating my sins and just beats me. Blow after blow, the cane sears into my ass and I’m struggling to stay in position. It’s getting harder, and my pussy is dripping wet. Tears are falling down my cheeks. Cleansing me. Purifying me for just that little while. I want him to either keep hitting me or put the cane aside and fuck the heaven out of me.

  He hesitates and I wave my ass at him, begging for more, delirious with pain. For a terrifying moment, I think he’s going to stop. Then he lays into me and I find myself screaming from the interwoven pain and pleasure. I’m screaming so much that I’m hoarse, my throat burns and I hope all the good little kiddies in the courtyard can hear me.

  Lockwood tosses the cane on the floor. It’s streaked with blood. My blood. I shiver. Then I hear his clothes rustle and I think that the moment I’ve been waiting for has arrived. One of his big hands rests on my welts and cuts and I hear the wet sound of his hand working his cock. A hot splatter hits my ass and it adds disappointment to my pain. He groans, the sound emotional pain and pleasure combined.

  He didn’t fuck me. Damn it. What a waste.

  “Please, Sir,” I beg. “I’m so close already. Please…”

  “Don’t you fucking speak,” he grinds out. “This is exactly what you wanted. Pain, depravity and your useless cunt used for my pleasure. Open that mouth again and you’ll live to regret it.”

  I whimper and hang my head. He’s right. This is what I wanted.

  His cum mixes with my blood and runs down my skin. I start to straighten up, but then his hand is on my back, keeping me down. Two thick fingers push themselves into my slick pussy and he starts ramming them into me at a dizzying pace. I cry out in ecstasy when he curls his fingers and digs them into my G-spot, pushing me over the edge. I cum hard, my insides exploding and t
he only thing holding me up are his fingers inside me.

  He none-too-gently yanks them out, steps away and murmurs a magical command. The prickle of magic courses over my body and the pain eases just a little. The sticky feeling of his cum fades, much to my disappointment.

  “Stand up,” he commands. “Fix your clothing.”

  His voice is quiet now. I pull up my panties. The welts on my buttocks have been healed, but only part way, which makes me happy. Now I can keep feeling them for a little while longer.

  Lockwood is doing up his trousers and stowing something in one of his desk drawers. He’s cleaned himself up with his spell too and the smell of sex has even been taken out of the air. Disappointing. I guess he’s got to cover up his tracks.

  He won’t look at me. “You don’t belong here. You will go to Nevermore, effective immediately.”

  I object profusely. “I need to stay here. You don’t understand.”

  “I understand plenty, Miss Hemlock.” He’s all business now, cold as ice, but I know men. I know he’s just hiding, afraid of what he’s just done to his student.

  “Why? Are you making me leave because you enjoyed what you just did to me?”

  His eyes swivel toward me. “You are enrolled as a student here and you cannot be. Full stop.”

  “No. That’s not it.” I advance on him and he backs away a step, just like before. “When you kissed me in the forest, you wanted me. You still want me. After this, you can’t say that you don’t.” I go for the jugular. “It’s bad enough that you’re a coward. Don’t be a liar, too.”

  He glares at me ferociously. A part of me thinks he’s going to raise a hand to me in anger. He gets a grip at the last possible moment and growls, “I have already given you my decision. You are leaving Everafter. End of discussion.”

  I sigh, but this has actually played out the way Lucifer said it would.

  “Go into your top filing cabinet. My lord left you a present there. I didn’t want to do this, but you’re leaving me no choice.”

  Lockwood looks at me suspiciously, but he goes to the cabinet. Inside, he finds a crystal ball, one that fits nicely into the palm of his hand. As soon as he touches it, an image springs to life.

  It shows him and me in this very office, but the scene is something that never happened. The clip shows him fucking the daylights out of me, calling me his fucktoy, his little whore, filling my needy cunt. He’s choking me and pulling my hair, and I cry out—like I’d make a fuss over something that small. He tells me that I’m his slave and that if I ever tell anybody that he’s fucking me, he’ll make sure I never graduate and send me away.

  Gross misconduct. Abuse of power. Sexual harassment. This is enough to ruin him forever.

  Of course, this scene never really happened. It’s in a recording crystal, and my Dark Lord made it himself so I know it’s seamless. That’s what we did last night at the altar, acting out this little scenario. The Prince of Lies knows his job. He told me this would happen and that Lockwood would have no choice but to let me graduate here. I didn’t want to blackmail him but he brought this on himself.

  And it when it comes down to it, I am a villain. This is in my nature.

  “I have a duplicate of that in my possession,” I explain calmly, “and I can get copies any time I want them. Multiple copies. Enough for the whole High Council, if need be.”

  He snaps his head toward me, the look of murder on his face. “What do you want?”

  “To stay here at Everafter. To graduate, no matter what and to be allowed out after curfew whenever I want.”

  It must be hard for a man who usually runs the show to find out that he’s been outmaneuvered. He’s the predator trapped by the prey. The scene plays on and he watches. Lockwood’s face gets redder and redder, but I can tell he’s not completely angry—he’s aroused by what he’s seeing.

  Monkey see, monkey want to do.

  The image stops playing and he throws the crystal against the wall. Nice try. No recording crystal is breakable by normal physical means. If he wasn’t so pissed off he’d remember that.

  I cross my arms. “So… what’s it going to be, coward?”

  He trains his eyes on me, malice flashing in those sapphire depths. “Come back at the Witching Hour and find out.” He seizes the cane off the floor and shoves it into the cabinet. “Now get out of my office.”

  I gather up my books and slip out past the eagle. I can feel it glaring at me all the way down the stairs. I do hope that, once he’s cooled down, Lockwood appreciates me leaving my panties for him.

  If I’m honest, I feel a little bad about what I’ve done to Lockwood. He’s only trying to do the right thing. He just doesn’t understand. I can’t leave Everafter. Not only will leaving prevent me from avenging my family, it will send me to hell sooner rather than later. I want to take as much time as possible here. The whole four years, or longer if I can manage it. I still have a life to live and things I want to see before I’m consigned to the Pit forever.

  It’s possible, but not likely, that Lockwood might actually send me away anyhow. I don’t think he will, because if he does, that crystal will cost him his job and possibly his life, depending on Queen Laurette’s mood. She’s the ruler of Fantasia, the kingdom that hosts Everafter, and even I know she has a very dim view of men who take advantage of innocent young girls. I don’t think I’ve ever been an innocent; but the crystal makes it look like I am and if it comes down to it, I can play the part. Maybe not well, as my tenure here as shown, but I can play it.

  Lockwood has too much to lose to call my bluff.

  Speaking of bluffs, my thoughts turn to Aladdin. He’s a pretty boy, all right, but I’m convinced he’s nothing but a big fat liar. If he does have the goods on people though, he might be a contact worth cultivating. Since it looks like class has ended, I decide to seek him out and see what he has to say. I could do with another distraction anyway.

  My entire body is aching with pain, which I love because it dulls the impurity of my soul and all that. It’s also making it difficult to walk normally and not hiss whenever I irritate the wounds, so I use a little magic to heal my back and ass. It’s not enough to erase the marks, but enough to help me walk like I haven’t shit myself.

  After many failed attempts trying to find Aladdin on my own, I ask a group of seniors lounging in the courtyard. None of them seem eager to talk to me. They must have heard of all the chaos I’ve been creating. I can hardly blame them for their reluctance. They don’t want to be seen talking to an outcast troublemaker.

  As I step back into the school, one of the seniors runs up to me and suggests I check out the groundskeeper’s shack at the southern gate. I thank him and walk back through the courtyard toward the gate.

  The shack is small and wooden with little circular windows. I really hope this isn’t Quasi’s home. It’s barely fit for a dog kennel. I find Aladdin just outside, wrestling with a bag of grass seed.

  He looks up at me and grins. “Hey, if it isn’t the prettiest witch in town!”

  I smile at the compliment and stroll over to him. “Can we talk… in private?”

  His eyebrows shoot up toward his unruly dark hair, and after a moment, he says, “Sure. Come on into my office.”

  He leads the way into the back of the shack. It’s full of bags of grass seed, gardening tools, three wheelbarrows, and a stack of bagged peat that makes the whole place smell earthy and wholesome. It’s unnerving. Aladdin grins at me and flops down on the bags of peat, which have been arranged in the shape of a chair.

  “Just make yourself comfortable” he tells me, sweeping a hand around. “I don’t charge visitors.”

  I sit down gingerly on a rickety wooden stool beside a bench that’s full of botanical potions like fertilizers and bug sprays. He watches me, his black eyes studious.

  “I wanted to talk to you about what you said in the library, about having secrets.”

  He puffs. “I do. I have secrets on almost everybody.” He win
ks at me. “I’m a spy by profession, you see.”

  “Uh-huh. Sure. No real spy is ever going to say, `Hi, I’m a spy.’ That’s not how this works.”

  “I am a spy,” he defends.

  “Just not a very good one, it seems?”

  He crosses his arms. “For your information, I was hired by the Penny Royal Pack to keep an eye out for Darkbloods. If I see any, I’m supposed to report back so they can bring their hunters here. I won’t tell them about you… if you help me.”

  I snort. The Penny Royal Pack is a complete joke. They can barely hunt their own tails. He’s either the worst spy in the business or an idiot. He’s certainly shit at blackmail. Either way, it might be fun to play along.

  “What makes you think I care if you tell them?”

  His arms fall down by his side. “Come on. You were totally infringing on my moves with Beauty earlier.”

  “Moves? Pah. Please. I nearly got off my seat to whoop your sorry ass.”

  Starry-eyed glee lights up his face. “I would’ve loved that.”

  “Masochist?” I ask, curious now.

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Yeah.”

  There’s a moment of silence, as one masochist sits in front of another. Then we burst out laughing. He’s surprisingly funny. I can see why Beauty didn’t suckerpunch him when he refused to go away.

  “All joking aside,” Aladdin continues, folding his arms again, “you came here for a reason. I’m not gonna budge unless you help me.”

  I sigh. “All right, I’ll bite. What do you want?”

  I’m not prepared for the way he seems to change. His cocksure attitude melts away and I find myself looking into the eyes of a sad little boy.

  “I need you to help me find my dad.”

  His words catch me off guard and I feel a sharp pang of sympathy. I’ve never felt this for a stranger before and I don’t really know how to handle it. When did I turn into a softie?

  Stupid white magic.

  I keep my voice low. “What happened to him?”

  Aladdin sighs and looks away. He pulls up his knees and wraps his arms around them, the long fingers of his right hand gripping his left wrist. He starts to talk in an equally low voice, as if he’s afraid someone will hear.