Page 32 of Untamed

I nod even though I’m still piecing it together in my head. All in all, this isn’t a horrible class. I envisioned being stuck in a room with a bunch of other girls reading textbooks, but I can get on board with hands-on learning. Unfortunately, at the end of class, Mrs. Graves brings out a booklet. “I’ve been teaching with this same material since 1972, and nothing has changed.”

I gloss over the cover of the book.Etiquette and Manners for the Modern Shifter.

Kill me now.

“Read at your leisure, but I will expect you to have read it from cover-to-cover before the end of our time together. Instruction is important, but classes on real life scenarios are far more practical, my dear. Next class, we’ll discuss etiquette at tea parties, but I want you to study the section about postures. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She smiles politely, dipping her head. When I stoop to pick up my bag, she curls her lip in disgust. “No, dear. Like this.” She teaches me the perfect way to bend over. It’s so elegant and charming that I feel like I’ve already elevated myself by five stations from that one move alone.

Damn. I’m practically a princess already.

She ruins my dreams when she tells me not to slouch as I’m exiting the room. Her prim and proper voice makes me smile as I walk backward, telling her I’ll do my best, but honestly, I made it worse. The look she gives me as I’m backing away tells me she’s horrified of my undignified exit. Why do I think our next class is going to be entirely about how to walk delicately?

Since I don’t have another physical class for the day, I slip up to my room, eager to start my self-study in botany. Ms. Ebon has charged me to come up with my own topics and research experiments, and I plan on putting all that together as soon as I get to my room.

I pause with my hand on the doorknob.Jonah.His aroma tickles my nostrils. I peer over my shoulder, but he’s not there. I tell myself I’m only smelling him because he stood in this exact spot yesterday, but my heart still sinks at his absence.

When I open the door and find him sitting on my bed, I instantly perk up.

He stands, decreasing the space by a third. I slip inside and close the door behind me. I’ve read theGreystone Academy Manualcover-to-cover, and I know for a fact having a wolf of the opposite sex in your room is against the rules, no matter if he’s your mate or not. “Hey.”

He launches into a one-sided conversation. My brain is so focused on how good his shirt looks draped over his muscles that I forget to pay attention to his words until he’s standing in front of me. “Have you heard from your parents?”

The strain in his voice kicks my animal instincts into high gear. I talked briefly with my mother last night, and she’d sounded off, but she has since I’ve been here, so I didn’t think anything of it. “Not since yesterday.”

He takes my bag from my hands and sets it down before pulling me by the hand to my bed. My nerves kick up. First, he’s actually being nice to me, which means there’s obviously something wrong. “I want to—I feel compelled to tell you something I overheard today. This goes against everything I’ve been taught to do, but I....” He rubs his chest, jaw ticking.

“What is it?” I finally ask. His sour look threads a needle of worry through my veins.

“Lydia Greystone wants your mother to go on trial for her alleged mate crimes.”

I gasp. “Her alleged mate crimes?” I echo. “Me, you mean?”

He nods slowly, interlacing his fingers through mine. “I went to the alpha mansion today to ask Lydia to reconsider your punishment, but instead, I was met with this news.”

I shake my head. “This doesn’t make any sense. Mom was already cleared of this after I was born. Not that anyone else seemed to care,” I growl.

He places his other hand on mine, kneading my skin roughly. What he’s doing works—taking the attention off my wolf threatening to burst free again and putting it somewhere else. He’s awfully damn good at this. “Your—our,” he corrects right away, “current situation has brought it up again.”

I turn my hard gaze on him, hoping I’m searing my contempt into him with everything I’m feeling inside. His flinches. “What were you saying yesterday about me not hating you? You did this.”

He snaps his jaw shut. The more alpha the wolf, the more they don’t take criticism well. Jonah’s temper snarls at the surface, his eyes shining yellow, but he doesn’t let it go. “Even if I hadn’t put in my rejection slip, the council would have. You know that, Kinsey.”

Fissures web across my heart. To think I could be the reason my mother is cast out…. I can’t take it. I yank my grip from his and stand in the center of the room. The weight of getting Jonah to accept me, of having my parents’ life be everyone else’s business falls on my shoulders. Everything’s crumbling around me. “Why did fate do this? I was happy being the outsider.”

My wolf’s claws threaten, the tell-tale needle-like tingles buzzing my fingertips. Jonah leaps for me, pressing his body around mine to keep my wolf inside. “Don’t give them another reason to try to expel you.”

My nostrils flare. Every time I freak out like this, it gets harder and harder to keep my wolf at bay.

“I want to help,” he says. “For any part I had in this, I need to make it right.” He pulls me away at arm’s length. “Tell me right now if you’re aware of any truth to Lydia’s accusations.”

My eyes widen. “You think I’m a freak?”

His answering growl sends a shiver down my spine. “I need all the information I can. I have friends who’ll help. This will not come between us. You don’t need another reason to hate me,” he fumes. “I want to work together, so I need to know everything you know about your lineage.”

I want to tear away from him, but I also know he’s the only thing keeping me sane right now. “I am the only daughter of Jacqueline and Kevin Walker. It’s not like we spent every day talking about how people ripped my mother and her morals to shreds with their petty accusations. We already lived a shit life because of this.”

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