Page 74 of Knot What She Seems
I’ve been evading texts and phone calls from my parents. But by now, I’m certain word has filtered up to them that I’m not interested in Brock and company. They’re going to want answers, and I don’t have any to give because they won’t accept the very basic fact that I want to be a spinster.
Still want to despite the urges that keep intruding on my logic.
Scenario Training with Alpha Team X this evening had been defusing bombs… And damn it all to hell, but Kylian’s competence at directing our team through a practice maze of a building to get to the bomb’s location was hot. His focused, furrowed brow, his crisp movements, and the way he’d used his weapon to cover me. You could tell he’s been in the field, that he can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. That brawny confidence and competence had me salivating.
Then Luka’s demonstration analyzing the different wiring mechanisms made me squirm in all the ways I don’t want to squirm.
I wish they were idiots.
It would be so much easier to dismiss the attraction I have to them if it were only physical. But the more I get to see them in action, the more the draw becomes mental too.
“You are mental,” I mutter to myself under my breath as I heave myself up a flight of stairs. A random alpha up ahead turns to see if I’m talking to him, but I wave him off. “Just cursing how sore I am. Sorry.”
He juts his chin in acknowledgement. “I feel that.” Then he heads around a bend.
I finally arrive at my destination, feet dragging, thighs burning, and eyelids ready to slam down like those metal gates at the mall—closed for the night.
I don’t want to stay here, but it’s apparent I’m not going to get much choice in the matter. When I attempted to sneak over to Darling Academy, I saw a hulking, masked figure pacing near the tree line.
Colter.
As if he knows that’s the pathway I take to get back to school.
As if he knows I hide my Darling clothes in a hollowed-out tree there.
As if he knows who I am and what I’ve been doing.
Fuck, he must’ve put two and two together after he saw me attempting to hide my backpack in the tree. And then the little stunt after practice the other day, when I practically molested his chest with my nose?
A chill careens down my spine, and I try to shake off my fear as nothing but paranoia. If Colter knows, he would’ve said something, right? He certainly would’ve told his packmates.
I guess I have no choice but to remain at Eros Academy, at least until early tomorrow morning, when I can finally sneak back over for my morning classes. I’m just grateful Sam has a late-night class that he bitches about whenever I’m around.
Once I ensure that Sam’s not in the room, I set down my tea and pull out eight thousand bobby pins so I can yank off my wig. Immediately, the air around me feels so much cooler, and I give a satisfied sigh of relief.
Glancing down at my suit, I groan. Taking it off is going to be such a bitch.
“Buck up, buttercup,” I tell myself and start to yank off my black T-shirt. I’ve just gotten the stupid thing up over my head when a thunderclap rattles the building.
“What the fuck?” I pause, frozen, my mind shocked into blankness for a millisecond before I remember… It’s been nothing but clear skies today.
The hair on the nape of my neck stiffens as I shove my shirt back into place with shaking hands.
That’s when the lights go out. I hear a terrified yell from down the hall. The type of mortal yell that shoots right through you.
An alarm screams in the distance, too late. Three long blasts and then a pause—a message every student at Eros knows.
“Holy fuck. We’re under attack!” Chest heaving, I try to decide what the hell I should do. Hole up here or make a break for it?
The smell of smoke makes the decision for me.
I have to leave. But what if I have to fight my way out?
Arms trembling, I scan my room for a weapon, but nothing’s allowed in the dorms. It’s all fucking locked up each night as if we’re bloodthirsty fools. Maybe most alphas are, but right now I’m cursing the stupid policy. I could use a handgun or five.
I grab my bottle of tea from my desk and yank open the door. Black smoke is billowing down the corridor from the left-hand side, and figures race past me. The stairway in the distance echoes with boots thundering downward.
Curses fill the air along with the rancid scent of panic.
