Page 16 of Stray
“I’m sorry, what is this?” she croaked, pointing at Axel’s name on the page.
“New transfers are assigned a guide,” she explained, as if it should be obvious. “You know him, don’t you?”
Ella gulped. She knew him well, which was exactly why she was dreading the idea of spending one second with him, let alone a whole day. “I don’t really need a guide,” she lied, deciding it would be much safer to figure out everything on her own, even if that had previously been what was stressing her out most.
The secretary looked at her doubtfully. Not that Ella could blame her. She was probably the one girl in the entire school who wouldn’t love the excuse to follow Axel around all day, but even if he wasn’t the way he was, she didn’t need to give Marissa one more reason to be territorial. “I’m afraid it’s policy. You’ll never find your way around this place by yourself.”
“Right,” Ella murmured, tucking the folder under her shoulder. “Thanks.”
She headed out into the hall and kept her head down as she walked toward her locker assignment. She was still getting stares, but not quite as overtly as before.
Maybe she was overreacting. Surely Axel wouldn’t have any interest in showing her around. She’d be surprised if he even bothered to point her in the direction of her first class.
She spotted the cluster of lockers where hers was supposed to be and just as she turned the corner, another girl shoved into her hard enough to push her against the nearest locker. Ella winced as the combination lock dug into her forearm.
“Watch where you’re going, stray,” the girl spat, surrounded by a group of smirking queens. Ella watched as they walked off, realizing Marissa wasn’t the only one she was going to have to watch out for.
She finally made her way to her locker and started trying to figure out the combination on the dial. While she was lost in focus, a shadow blocked out the light behind her. The second she registered the familiar, masculine scent, she turned around and found herself trapped between Axel, who was closer than he’d ever willingly gotten, and the locker behind her.
“Having trouble?” he asked in a tone that was too close to pleasant to be his.
“I was just figuring it out,” she muttered, clutching the folder to her chest. It made a paltry shield, but she’d never been able to help but cower in his presence.
“Yeah, looks like you’re doing a real bangup job.”
She was almost relieved to hear the sarcasm in his voice. That, she knew how to deal with. Part of her had feared he would change toward her in the same bizarre way his mother had, but she should have known better than to think Axel Hill would grovel to anyone, future Empress or not.
He reached past her, leaving her trapped between his arms as he adjusted the dial. She had to back up just to keep from being pressed against his chest, and she had a hard time remembering how to breathe with his scent playing with her head like it was. When the locker finally clicked, he pulled the padlock away, letting it dangle from his finger.
“You’ve gotta be forceful,” he said in a tone that gave her the feeling he wasn’t just talking about the dial anymore. She swallowed hard, stumbling back into the locker hard enough to push it shut when he moved closer, his forearm propped on the wall above her. He was so much taller she barely even came up to his chest, and while she’d studied his muscular physique from a distance a shameful number of times, she had yet to realize just how much power there really was rippling through his body.
Most shifters had an animal form that mirrored their nature in some way, but Axel was the other way around. He was always a tiger trapped in human skin, raw power and restlessness radiating through his every movement. His bicep flexed as he leaned in, close enough that she could feel the auras between their bodies merge. Her inner cat wanted to roll over in submission, but she knew acting like prey was only going to make him worse.
“We haven’t talked since the Unveiling,” he remarked casually, as if he wasn’t pinning her against her own locker.
“You haven’t been home,” she countered, struggling to eek the words out of her tightening vocal chords.
His lips quirked at one corner, the slightest hint of a smile that made her want to recoil and fall into his arms at the same time. “Well, you’re here now.”
Ella’s head was spinning, and not just from the dizzying effect of his musk. She’d never been this close to any male, and she was starting to see why that was the safest life strategy. She struggled to grasp onto something, anything that might distract him from whatever this was before it went wherever it was going.
“You’re supposed to be my guide.”
“I know,” he answered, unblinking and unsurprised. “Lucky you. Looks like I’m gonna have to show you all the ropes.”
Ella’s throat was bone dry, and she realized from the way the chatter around them had died down that the others were staring at them. Not that Axel seemed to care. He’d always acted like he was the only person in the world, anyway. Or at least the only one who mattered.
“I just need to know where this is,” she said, trying to keep her hands from trembling as she flipped through her schedule to show him the first page.
He cast a cursory glance down at it, but he didn’t budge. “I’ll take you there, when we’re finished talking.”
The bell rang and Ella had never been more grateful to hear such a shrill sound in her life. She managed to slip out from under his arm and took a step back. “It’s fine. I’ll find it myself,” she said, darting into the crowd before he could corner her again.
She realized halfway to the other wing of the classroom building that she had left her locker open, but there was no way she was going to risk going back for it, even if it was probably going to be filled with shaving cream when she got back.
So much for hoping nothing had changed between them. All her life, she’d wanted nothing more than for Axel to notice her. Now that he finally had, she just wanted to go back to being invisible.
Chapter 7
