I groaned, “Yes!” at the same time Monster grunted, “No.”
I could feel his low chuckles against my chest. “Soon, Mouse.”
I huffed and climbed off his lap, and while I scowled at the guys, I was so damn happy to see them. Sure, it had only been like four hours since I saw them all at school, but I’d missed them.
I ran and jumped into Sammie’s arms, and he kissed me like he’d felt our time apart just as acutely.
“Hey, share!” Flint grumbled, dragging me into his arms and kissing me until my back was arched and I felt completely plundered.
He dropped me to my feet, and I swayed over to Bobby. His eyes ate me up, like he was the big bad wolf and not me. I stopped in front of him, looking up into his brooding face. “You look so happy,” he murmured softly.
I couldn’t help the smile on my face, and I didn’t try to. “Why wouldn’t I be happy?” I had four mates. Enit was finally out of the hospital. The true villain of our story was dead, and according to Lucius, chopped into 217 pieces and then each piece burnt and buried in the earth.
Bobby bundled me to his chest and kissed the ever-loving crap out of me, his mouth branding me as his until I had to drag myself away to breathe.
He pulled me into his arms and pressed his face into the crook of my neck. “Are you ready to run with your Pack, mate?”
I felt like my chest would explode. “So damn ready.”
I raced out of the apartment, and I could feel my Packmates behind me as I raced out through the back entrance of the diner and into the woods outside Dark River. As soon as I hit the tree line, I stripped and shifted.
It was like being free. I sat down on my haunches and yipped as the other guys stripped off too. Flint walked over, running his hand down my brownish-gold fur. It was average in coloring, with Christopher being entirely black, and Enit being completely white, but I was still vain about how soft I was. I licked at his hand and he tasted like smoke and mate. “Sugar Plum, you’re gorgeous.”
I gave him a toothy wolf grin, and we both watched as Sammie shifted to his panther. The shift was slower, but not his first. He’d shifted the first couple of times at the Academy under the watchful eyes of the administration.
But soon enough, a glorious black big cat stood in front of me, and I judged the response of my wolf. I mean, it was a cat and dog thing, but my wolf just seemed excited to run with her mate.
I ran around him in circles, yipping excitedly, and he chuffed a happy laugh. I leaned down, wanting to play, and he seemed to work out that was what I wanted because he half-heartedly booped me with his paw, which sent me rolling. Jesus, he was strong.
Oh yeah, it was on now.
I chased him around and he prowled after me, making Flint and Monster laugh. I bounded up to Monster, yipping my question. “No, Sweetheart. There’s no place for the Wendigo here. Go and play with our Pack.”
Naw. Our Pack. I made a sickly sweet cooing noise, but it just came out as a weird squawk in my wolf form.
Then Bobby shifted into his bear, and it was on. We chased each other around the woods, always ducking back to see Monster and Flint. Flint hadn’t changed either, though he did ride around on Bobby’s back for a bit, more than happy to wrestle with us completely human. Crazy bastard.
Honestly, it was just one wonderful afternoon in what I was sure would be decades of many wonderful afternoons. Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, I shifted back to human.
We stood around, all entirely naked except for Monster and Flint.
Flint looked between us. “You know, now would be a good time for group se—”
“CARMEN!”
I whipped my head toward the panicked sound of Christopher’s voice. Before I even recognized the need, I was running toward my brother. I could see him, blurred by the trees, standing at the back of the diner. He better not have been carrying on just because I was about to boink my pack in the woods like some kind of heathen ritual.
Bobby threw me his shirt and I jammed it over my head as I ran. I skidded to a stop, and the look on Christopher’s face made panic burn in my chest.
“What’s wrong?” I gasped out as everyone came to a stop behind me.
He was pale, his eyes too wide. “Enit’s gone.”
I frowned. “What? No, she’s still at the Academy with Bohdie.”
Christopher was shaking his head furiously. “Bohdie just called. She’s completely disappeared. They were shifted, out beyond the Academy fence, and then she was gone. He thinks she’s been taken.”
Ice flooded my veins. Enit was gone.
About the Author
Grace McGinty is eclectic. She has worked as a chocolatier, a librarian, a forensic accountant and finally a writer. Like her professional career, the genres she writes are also eclectic. She writes romance, reverse harem romance, fantasy, contemporary young adult and new adult books.
She lives in rural Australia with her crazy family, an entire menagerie of pets, and will one day be crushed by her giant piles of books that litter every room.
Head over to www.gracemcginty.com and join my mailing list for sneak previews into what I am working on and to stay up-to-date with new releases and giveaways!
Not ready to leave Eden Academy yet? You can preorder book 2, SWEETHEARTS AND SAVAGES, here: www.books2read.com/eden2
Turn the page for a sneak peek at the prologue of SWEETHEARTS AND SAVAGES (EDEN ACADEMY #2).
Sweethearts and Savages (Eden Academy #2)
Prologue - Enit
3 years ago
“I’ve written you your final essay. I know you wanted to do it on the French Revolution, but the Russian Revolution is more relevant in today's social context.”
I stared at the pretty girl in front of me, my eyebrows drawn together as I took the manilla folder she was thrusting at me.
“Stacey, I don’t need you to write my essays for me,” I said softly, not wanting to injure her feelings. Stacey was a genius. I don’t just use that in the casual, pop-culture sense either. She was like, legit a genius. Just a human whose brain was different, so unusual that she learned things at a rate that blew my mind.
She frowned. “I dumbed it down to the correct learning level. No one will know that you haven’t written it yourself. You said you were worried about this essay. I’ve helped you.”
Hell. How did I explain to her that just because I said I was worried, didn’t mean I wanted her to do it for me. “Its cheating. I don’t like to cheat, Stace.”
She chewed her lip, one of the few unconscious habits she had. Stacey was intense. She thought and behaved like someone three times her age, but she didn’t really understand social norms outside of what books told her. Some of that was the fact she was rescued from an actual laboratory, the mean kids, stupid Teesha , whispered about it whenever she was around. But most of it was that her brain wasn’t thinking like yours and mine. If a conversation were like playing chess, she wasn’t thinking about the next move; she had already won this conversation and was onto the next.
It made it hard for her to make friends. But I was an Omega, which meant I could, I don’t know, sense things. And she radiated so much goodness, that I’d decided I would be her friend. Plus, with me always came Carmen and Christopher, my littermates. Ever present shadows, snapping and snarling at people who looked at me the wrong way.
Somehow though, despite the fact she inadvertently insulted them at least five times a conversation, they liked Stacey. Carmen thought she was funny as hell, and Christopher just added her into his tiny little flock that needed protection by the big, bad Alpha wolf.
I was still walking toward my History class, my feet dragging as I tried to figure out a way to not hurt my friends feelings. If Carmen and Christopher felt protective of me, I felt that way about Stacey, whether she needed it or not. The only reason they let me walk to History by myself was because they both had P.E. this period. I did not do sports. Gross. Plus Stacey was with me, and no one was stupid enough to t
angle with the daughter of the Lycanthropes who ran Eden Academy.
I herded Stacey into an alcove of lockers near the girls bathroom, and turned my softest smile in her direction, passing back the manilla folder. “Thank you, Stacey. I really appreciate you trying to help me, but some things I have to do myself in order to feel satisfaction in the achievement, you know?”
Stacey just stared at me, her face screwed up like she did when she was trying to figure out an extremely complex math problem. And I mean, this was PHD level mathematics.
Then she leaned forward and kissed me.
I stood so still, I was basically frozen. Her lips were soft, and tasted a little like the watermelon chapstick she used sometimes. I flicked my tongue out to taste it, like I couldn’t help myself and then I drew away.
I was across the hall in front of the girls bathroom in a flash.”Stacey, I- what?”
Stacey was still frowning, but there was a flush to her cheeks now. “I think I might love you, Enit.”
She said it like she was coming up with a scientific hypothesis, like it was a problem she wanted to figure out. Like I was a problem she needed to figure out.
I was shaking my head repeatedly, and a small voice in my head wondered if I was going to shake my brains up like a milkshake.
“It's just the Omega pheromones.”
Stacey was shaking her head now too. “No it's not. We don’t have the same physiology.”
“You’re too young. I’m an Omega,” I said again, like it was an excuse for what just happened. It was the only excuse I had for why I’d enjoyed it. “I’m sorry, I have to pee.”
Then I pushed open the bathroom door and slammed it close, resting my back against the door. I listened intently, and after a minute, I heard the clip-clip of her shiny blue brogues. They were the only shoes she would wear, not matter if she was wearing a summer dress or jeans and a duffle. She argued they were the perfect shoe and she had at least fifteen pairs for when they wore out.
I let out a shuddering breath and stepped further into the bathroom, stumbling over to the sinks. I stared at myself in the mirror above the sink. My cheeks were flushed and I swear, I could still see the shine of her chapstick on my lips. Holy hell, how did I look her in the face now?
How did I tell her that I couldn’t return her feelings?
How did I tell her that she probably didn’t even have those feelings, that she was confusing my kindness with something like love?
How did I tell her that maybe I liked the kiss anyway?
I turned on the tap, splashing water on my face as I ignored the opening and closing of the bathroom door. I was sure, that if I turned to look, whoever it was would read what just happened all over my face.
My hands stilled though as an unmistakable scent hit my nose.
Alpha. And not Christopher or Bobby, the safe Alphas.
I straightened, my heart starting to pound. Be calm, Enit. This means nothing. Don’t overreact. He might just be here to… To fucking what? What logical reason would he have to be in the girls bathroom?
I looked up, not meeting the Alpha’s eyes. I knew him, of course, I knew all the Alpha’s here by scent and sight, even if I avoided all of them. Todd. Wolf Alpha, from the grade above mine. He was huge and mean, and was from the school of thought that Omega were made for Alpha’s to kick around, so they could get out their aggression and better lead their pack.
Carmen had called it bullshit, but with a few more f-words involved. Even suggesting such a thing made Christopher go into a rage.
I skittered around him. “Excuse me,” I whispered, dashing toward the door. But his hand whipped out, grabbing my arm, and throwing me against the wall.
“Where are you going, Omega?” he growled, and a primal fear ran over my skin as I froze. I couldn’t move, except to shake.
No. I needed to run. I kept imagining Christopher’s voice telling me to get out of there. Never be trapped in a room with an unknown or untrusted Alpha. And I definitely didn’t trust Todd.
“History class,” I whispered, and his other hand came up to wrap around my throat.
He chuckled darkly, and no seventeen year old guy should sound so evil. But still, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t shout for help.
Couldn’t be anything but helpless.
Todd inhaled in a lungful of my scent, the acrid stench of my fear. Then he slapped me. My head whipped to the side, and he laughed.
“Fuck, Omegas really are as pathetic as my Alpha said. Weak. You aren’t even going to fight back, are you, little Omega? Not even if I do this?” He slid his hand from my neck down to my boob and squeezed.
I whimpered, screamed in my head to move, but still, I did nothing. He was right, I was pathetic. His hand slid lower, his fingers slipping beneath my shirt, the rough callouses on his fingers stroking my skin.
Then the door slammed open and there was a whirl of anger and fists barrelling through it.
Carmen was here.
I let the tears fall down my cheeks with relief. Carmen was on top of Todd, slamming her elbow into his face repeatedly. Todd growled, rolling out from under Carmen’s furious form even as she pounded her fist into his face over and over.
Todd threw a punch, connecting with her cheek in a sickening crack, and her head whipped back. But Carmen was feral, just scrabbling backwards until she had her feet back under her and launching at him again. I don’t know where she learned to fight like that, but she was holding her own against the Alpha. She gave him a quick jab to the throat, and he began to choke as she smashed his windpipe. She didn’t stop though, oh no, she was way past that.
She knocked him backwards as he grabbed at his throat, and once he was down, she lifted her foot and stomped his dick.
I swear, I heard something crack beneath his howl of pain, his body curling like an armadillo in pain. Carmen pulled back her foot and kicked him in the head, and then he was lights out. The door slammed back open, and Christopher was there.
His eyes took in Carmen and the unconscious Alpha on the floor, and me still shaking like a leaf, the wall the only reason I remained on my feet. He was across to me in two strides, and he wrapped me in his arms, his Alpha presence slid over me like a blanket and I could finally breathe again.
“We’ve got you, E. We always have you,” he cooed and I cried.
Eventually he passed me into Carmen’s waiting arms, and she was still blood spattered. She murmured reassurances and kissed my head, echoing Christopher’s words about always protecting me.
But I knew they couldn’t always protect me. I was weak, powerless, and one day, I would be dead.
Rebels and Runaways: Eden Academy Book One Page 30
