Page 30 of Ava: Part One

He continued to dry himself slowly as he looked at the way she had draped herself on the bed. If anyone had been created to please a man, it was Claire. The buxom chest, the voluptuous figure, the pouty lips. She did a lot of the things well, things he liked. But he would never say that out loud; he was a bastard, but not that much.

“I hope the training didn’t tire you out,” Claire continued.

Looking at her did nothing. There was no rush, no stirring. The only thing that made him keep her around for so long was gone.

He sighed as he threw his towel into a corner and walked over to his drawers. He could feel her gaze on him, and it left him feeling cold. That and the fact that Shadow was growling in his head. He was too unstable right now to be intimate with anyone.

“It did, actually,” he lied as he put a pair of boxers on and turned back to face her. “I’m having dinner, then going to sleep.”

Claire pouted.

“I didn’t see you at all over the break. I thought maybe we would spend more time together this year.”

“Pack business. You know how it is,” he shrugged.

He didn’t move towards her because he didn’t want to risk her touching him. He had just calmed Shadow down; he didn’t think he had it in him to do it again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said when she didn’t take the hint.

Claire’s disappointment was clear on her face. But it was better she went to her dorm and stayed safe than try to take something Shadow believed belonged to someone else.

“Okay,” she said with a tight smile as she got off the bed.

He was sure the way she sauntered across the room in her lacy underwear was meant to entice him, but he didn’t react as he usually would have. Claire picked her coat off the chair and put it on before she tied the belt.

“Goodnight, then,” Claire said.

“Goodnight.”

He didn’t go down to eat or go to bed after she left. He paced his room for the second night in a row, racking his head for a way to get out of this. There had to be a way. If he asked anyone, they would put two and two together, so he had to research these true mate bonds the old-fashioned way. He would have to go to the library.

Chapter 22

Ava was shocked when she made it to the kitchen on time at the butt crack of dawn.

She was grumpy and had hardly had any sleep, thanks to Ezekiel. What was this now? First, he threatened to kill her, and then now it was what? Bed her to death? Her body still felt tingly, but she didn’t have time to worry about things like that when she was in a completely hostile environment.

She looked around the work area as she wiped one surface. There was a mix of people here, not just the First Years. Theother First Years were being shown how to prep and cook the meals, but she was relegated to cleaning duties the second she walked into the kitchen. They had magic users here. Why couldn’t they just magic all the rubbish jobs? Why did Omegas have to do it? She wished she could talk to some of them, but there wasn’t a friendly face around.

And with the looks they were all giving her as she worked, she knew it was only a matter of time until one of them tried something.

By the time breakfast was made and the kitchen supervisor stood over her to make sure everything was spotless, Ava was ready to fall asleep. But she still had the rest of the day to go through.

At least she’d get to eat breakfast today.

After she had changed in the room behind the kitchens, she walked into the most elegant cafeteria she had ever seen. They called it the Dining Hall; it could have belonged to a five-star restaurant. The only things missing were the servers, which was a good thing because that would have been the Omegas’ job as well.

She filled a plate from the buffet and put a glass of orange juice on her tray. When she turned to find a table, she stopped for a group to walk past her and then watched in horror as one of the girls tipped her tray. Her breakfast went all over her uniform.

She was too shocked to do anything other than gape as the girl turned back with a smirk and said, “Watch where you’re going, human.”

Just like the douche who had slammed her into the wall. What was this? High school? This had been such a regular occurrence back home that she’d had several changes of clothes in her locker for these special occasions. She hadn’t thought she would need that here.

When she looked closer, she realised this was the same group of girls who had given her the stink eye after assembly the other day. The high-end models with bad attitudes. She shook her head as she watched them walk away.

“Move, human,” someone growled behind her.

She stopped looking at the women to start picking up the remains of her breakfast and wiped it down with paper towels as well as she could. When she’d discarded her tray and used a million paper towels on her blazer, she searched the room again for the wolf who had done this.

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