Page 40 of Untamed

Her gaze narrows. “Aren’t you the lucky one? Elevated by about a couple hundred spots.”

“Ifhe lets her out of the academy,” Rachel offers smoothly.

Laura tsks. She’s always been the head bitch, acting as if her shit doesn’t stink, and using Jesse to do it. Her claws are sunk so cleanly into him that if he ever matches with someone else during graduation day, whoever that girl is will end up at Greystone Academy. “Do you really believe you have a chance of him choosing you? If you’d been made to go Feral with your family when you should have then at least he wouldn’t know this shame.”

Her words sink into me, and I hate her for them.

“You’re pathetic,” one of the other girls snarls. “You should just go Feral so you don’t put him through any more of this. His parents won’t talk to him. They’re trying to do everything to not have him tied to you and your disgraceful family.”

My heart beats painfully in my chest. I breathe in steadily to try to calm myself. Back at Lunar High, I’d walk away or lash out. This time, I decide to stay and face it. “I don’t want to be anyone’s enemy,” I say, trying to keep my cool even though it feels as if my wolf is beating a door down inside my chest. “Fate chose this. Not me. Who are we to decide she’s wrong?”

“You’rewrong,” Laura snaps.

“If I’m not a product of my parents,” I growl, assuming that’s what she’s getting at, “do you really believe Fate would’ve matched me with someone at all? Not to mention someone like Jonah.”

“Fate gets it wrong all the time,” Rachel concludes. “Why would we need a place like Greystone Academy if it didn’t?”

Because there are people out there like you.

Behind me, someone snarks, “Yeah, what’s it like there, anyway? Eating out of troughs?”

I snicker at that. If they only knew how nice it was. Not to mention that the people there are one hundred times better than the ones at Brixton. “Something like that.”

Laura’s eyes glow in the dark, snapping from her normal color to her wolf teeming at the surface. “You find us funny? Someone really thinks highly of herself now.”

A growl tears from my chest. My fingertips throb, and I close my eyes to talk myself down.Don’t do it. Don’t do it.

Keeping my wolf in check goes against our nature, though.

A ripping bark sounds from behind me, and I spin to find a wolf launch through the air at my head. I fall to the ground, and it flies over, landing on all fours behind me. A whine bursts from my lips as the overwhelming urge to shift and defend myself laps at me. Shifting hurts like a mother, but nothing hurts worse than holding it in.

“Just shift, Kinsey,” Rachel calls, laughing. “How come you’re still human?”

By the echo of giggles rising up, realization dawns on me. They want me to shift. They want me to go against Lydia Greystone’s orders because they know what will happen if I do.

“Pathetic,” Laura cackles. “She’s deformed. Did anyone even see her on graduation day? She probably walked around half shifted like the freak she is.”

I snarl. “Yes, Jonah saw me on graduation day.” Peering around, I search for a way to get the hell out of here. Nothing good is coming from this. I march toward the girl who’s in front of the path, but she gets in my way. I try to walk around her, but she shifts closer, staying in my face. My wolf roars in my chest, and the sound comes out right in her face. My incisors elongate, and I physically remove her from my way and start down the narrow trail.

A hand grabs my hair and yanks backward. Searing pain emanates from my skull, and I fall to the ground. “We didn’t say you could leave, bitch,” Rachel thunders.

A figure emerges out of the tree line. A flood of relief flows through me at the sight of the larger-than-life form, but I quickly realize it’s Jesse Greystone wearing nothing but a pair of joggers. He was the wolf who flew at me. He leans down and locks lips with Laura in a searing kiss. She pats him on the chest. “Let’s get this over with. Send her to where she’s belonged all along.”

Jesse swaggers toward me. He gets down on all fours and scoots next to my side. I try to move away from him, but two hands on my shoulders pin me in place. “Smile,” Jesse teases.

“The fuck?”

Someone tugs my hair again and yanks me against Jesse’s shoulder. A flash lights up the forest, and I blink, waiting for my eyes to return to normal.

Jesse jumps to his feet, clapping his hands together. “Good enough? I want to go for a swim.”

Laura lowers her cell. “One more thing,” she says. The group of girls descend, walking toward me. The one girl still has me by the hair, keeping me in place. My heart ricochets around my chest. They loom closer and closer. Rachel swoops to grab a rock protruding from the ground, and Laura’s fingers turn into black claws. My wolf batters at me. My deep breaths turn into pants through clenched teeth. “Get your cameras ready,” Laura calls out, smiling at how much I’m losing control.

I gnash my teeth together, a rumble emanating from my chest. But it’s of no use, I’m going to play right into their little act.

Behind the head bitch, a wolf launches into the clearing, landing in front of me. Jonah’s huge, brown wolf howls, a snarl ripping through his chest. Laura takes several retreating steps, knocking into one of the other bitches. Backing up, Jonah turns to the girl behind me who drops her hold on my hair. I don’t see her run away, but branches crack in the forest.

Jonah settles alongside me and shifts, ending in a kneeling position right next to me. Rachel drops her rock, and her eyes round. He moves to his full height, and they all look like they’re going to shit their pants until Jesse moves into view. “Dude. You growled at my girlfriend?” He puffs his chest in true alpha fashion.

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