Page 2 of Hell Kissed
Not for me.
I take my time combing through my white blonde hair. It hangs in a long veil around my pale features. After I’ve brushed my teeth, dabbed on some concealer around my left eye, and pulled on my jeans and black tee-shirt, I’m finally out of time. Speech class awaits.
And so do the alpha wolves.
The front door to our tiny cottage closes behind Mary with a heavy slam. Pressure shoves into my chest as I slide on my sneakers and grab my black bookbag.
Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe I’ll get another concussion in the hallway, and I won’t even have to deal with the group project. Why is this an issue in my life? Why is my life so mundane that a group fucking project is the worst thing that could happen to me on the day of the Dark Moon?
Tension continues to build in my lungs and throat, but I refuse to think about it as I step out into the warm morning sunlight. It shines across my face in a calming ray of tranquility.
Everything’s going to be fine.
Kyvain won’t taunt me. And I won’t accidentally attack his dick with my fist again.
Becausethatis truly the worst thing that could happen.
Alpha Morganson nearly disowned us that day. Mary was furious. She said we could easily be packless if I dishonored our alpha again. A lone wolf can’t survive in the wild, she said. Thewildbeing typical suburban America.
Shudder.
But she’s right. I barely fit in with my own kind. How could I possibly live in the human world outside of our pack community in the quietest part of Los Angeles?
“Rhys!” Her excited voice blooms in my chest, and I can’t explain the tingle of wolf magic that shakes through me.
“Bea!” I smile hard as she jogs from her cottage just next door to mine.
Her thick brown hair falls in glossy waves around bright green eyes. She’s as beautiful as she is kind. The Dark Moon Celebration will be the night of her dreams, I’m sure.
She’ll shift and find a mate. Me… I’ll be lucky if the brooding wolf inside me decides to show her face to this pack of assholes.
A man catches my attention from just behind Bea though. I freeze in my steps. He’s a stranger. I’ve never seen him in our pack, I’m sure of it. Messy dark hair falls into his eyes as he follows my friend’s movements until she gets to me. My heart stutters when I meet his intense, studious stare.
I blink, and the scent of ash singes the air.
Then he’s gone.
I close my eyes and check again several times…
It’s so busy out this morning, maybe it was just another neighbor with a bad hair day… bad hairmonth… year.
All around us, the other cottages are a rhythm of opening and closing doors. The community is more of a village. I’ve seen a human television in the mall that once referred to our pack as a cult during a news report.
They’re not entirely wrong.
Take tonight for example. The entire pack is going to gather on the hill for the most important night of my entire life. The night of my twenty-first Dark Moon.
My wolf will finally show herself. Some will claim mates tonight, others will simply find themselves.
I’ll probably be the latter… Maybe. If the she-wolf inside me feels like it. Because let’s face it, she wears the pants in our relationship.
She’s the alpha dom and I’m just some quiet submissive who owns the body she struts around in.
I grimace at that thought but keep heading to the end of the lane where the monstrosity that is Dark Moon Community College awaits.
Our alpha’s great-great-great-grandfather built the school himself. That explains why it’s all one level and the windows slant on the left, like the institute had a bad stroke once upon a time.
“I’m paired up with Jov today,” Bea whispers with a deep blush as we walk up the two small steps to the front entrance.
