Page 28 of Ava: Part One

The hour went by peacefully, and her stomach was growling by the end of it. But it was six in the evening, and meal times were over, according to the timetable she had looked at. So it looked like she was going another night without any food from the kitchens. It was a good thing she still had the food Jared had packed.

With a sigh, she put her tablet in the bag and waited for Mr Patrick to dismiss her. He looked right at her with his arms folded across his chest as if he had been looking for a while. Had she broken another rule that she had no idea about?

“What are you?” he asked directly.

That was an odd question. And a bit rude.

“Um... human, sir. What are you?”

It was only fair. He had asked first.

His brows lifted, and then he laughed as he stood and picked up his briefcase.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Morgan. Try not to be late.”

She followed him out, but once again, he had disappeared by the time she came out of the room. The academy was for every species except humans, but she had no idea what Mr Patrick could be. Once she was outside the First Year building, she pulled her tablet out again and tried out the navigation on the map. When it worked, she stuffed her paper map back into her bag and started walking.

The map on the tablet had more details, and the restricted areas were more prominent. Why would they have so many restricted areas? Were these areas where they did the more advanced classes? Magic and other specialities like that? If that were true, that would be something she’d want to see. It lookedlike if someone was anything other than an Omega, they got to enjoy their time at the academy.

She looked down at her fingers with the million needle pricks and was filled with envy. Why couldn’t they just treat the Omegas the same as everybody else? Maybe if they did, she wouldn’t have been so pissed off with this place.

She was almost home when another notification pinged on her tablet. She lifted it to look and saw her duties listed for the semester. She was to help in the kitchen and be there by five in the morning.

“What?”

What time would she have to wake up to get ready and walk all the way to the kitchen? The dean was getting another visit from her tomorrow, whether he liked it or not. She would do as she told Ezekiel and go every day if she had to. She was not happy here and didn’t belong in this world.

As she approached her dorm, somebody emerged from the woods across the road. He was standing in the shadows, but she didn’t need enhanced sight to know who it was. Her mind went back to the time in the dressing room again, and she felt her body heating up. And when Ezekiel sniffed the air and closed his eyes, she felt so mortified. How could she have forgotten about their sense of smell?

She walked quickly, cutting across the green grass in front of her dorm instead of using the road that would have taken her right past him.

“What time are you seeing the dean tomorrow?”

The voice was right behind her. She quickened her step.

“I don’t know.”

“Use your tablet to make an appointment.”

She was just going to turn up, but she remembered Penelope said she couldn’t see the dean without an appointment last time.

“Thanks,” she mumbled without looking back.

When she got to the entrance, her hand slipped off the handle several times as she tried to open it. Then she felt his heat behind him, and a second later, his hand on the door above her. He didn’t say anything, but she felt his breath as he lowered his head to her neck again.

Her stupid body didn’t listen to a word she had just said; it reacted like it was on fire. Everything was just so hot and wet. She closed her eyes against the onslaught as she felt Ezekiel’s heat even through her blazer.

“Do it quickly, Ava,” he whispered in her ear.

And then he was gone.

Chapter 21

Zeke should never have touched her. It made everything worse!

He slammed the door as he walked into his house, then stopped short when he saw two Omegas with their bags standing near the doorway. Great. Now he had to share his personal space when he was already struggling to control Shadow.

Already, the beast was snarling, trying to go back to Ava.

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