Page 26 of Stray
“Or with people who actually cared for you,” he countered.
She knew his words weren’t meant to be cruel, but they cut deep and left her speechless all the same.
“I’m sorry,” Bishop said, stopping at the bottom of the hill. “I didn’t mean for that to come out the way it did. I just know how they are. Our families go way back.”
“It’s fine,” she said, hugging herself. She still felt exposed, despite being fully clothed. “I know it probably doesn’t make sense to you, but they’re the closest thing to family I have.”
“You deserve so much more than that,” he said, his voice laced with frustration. He finally gave a resigned sigh. “But I’ve overstepped my bounds enough for one night.”
“You’ve been very kind,” she assured him, smiling mischievously. “Other than nearly giving me a heart attack.”
He chuckled. “Let me make it up to you. Have dinner with me Friday night?”
The offer took her by surprise, despite the intimate moment they’d just shared. That was easy enough to brush off in the wake of adrenaline and animal instinct, but asking for a date was far more intentional. “Are we allowed to leave campus?”
“Exceptions are often made for royalty,” he said with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “You’ll figure that out soon enough.”
Chapter 11
Ella
While Ella poured herself into bed in plenty of time to get a full night’s rest, her restless mind had other ideas.
Maybe shifting hadn’t been a good idea, after all.
She still couldn’t get that kiss out of her head. She was sure she’d regret it eventually, if only because Bishop inevitably would, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Not yet.
At least an angry roommate was one problem she didn’t have to contend with. The room seemed to be made for two people, but whether the administration had taken mercy on her or her would-be roommate had simply asked for a transfer, she had it all to herself.
By the time she finally fell asleep, it seemed like an instant before her alarm went off. She would have loved to get up a bit closer to the time Mr. Bryant had asked her to meet him, but given the fact that the girls’ dorm only had communal showers, she thought it safer to get an early start.
To her relief, the shower was as much of a ghost town as the hallways were. Once she was finished, she returned to her room and put on a clean uniform, taking a bit of extra time with her hair. It was still hard not to get startled whenever she looked in the mirror, but at least the markings were only visible under direct moonlight. She was tempted to dye her hair black again, just so she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb everywhere she went.
The classroom hallways were equally quiet and every step seemed to echo endlessly. She wasn’t quite used to the layout yet, but the building seemed less vast and foreboding than it had yesterday.
The classroom door was closed when Ella arrived, so she hesitated a moment before knocking. There was no reply, so she knocked a bit harder and the door flew open so suddenly she gasped.
“You’re on time,” Mr. Bryant remarked, stepping back to allow her inside. “Come in.”
Ella followed him into the classroom, trying not to let her nerves get the best of her. He looked even more dangerous than he had that first day, if possible. He was wearing the same uniform, but his long hair was no longer bound and tamed. Instead, it spilled like ink over his shoulders, making his alabaster skin look even more ethereal in comparison.
Ella had never seen such a beautiful man in her life. Or anyone, for that matter. The only thing about his features that wasn’t flawless was the slightly crooked ridge of his nose, as if it had been broken once and never fully healed, but the unique feature simply made his face all the more appealing.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said, looking around the room to find it in quite a different permutation from the last class. Several of the tables had been moved over to clear an empty space.
“It is my duty to ensure that you possess the requisite knowledge to claim your title when the time comes,” he answered, walking across the room to some object stationed on the desk. Upon closer inspection, Ella realized it was a record player. She watched in fascination as he set the needle down and the record began to spin, playing a lackadaisical melody she felt sure she’d heard before.
“What are we doing?” she asked as the professor walked back over to her.
“Every queen must know how to dance,” he answered, holding out his right hand. The gallant gesture seemed like something out of a movie, but as reticent as she was to take it and reveal just how uncultured she truly was, he was far too intimidating to refuse without a good reason.
The moment Ella’s hand slipped into his, he pulled her close so fast her head spun, and slipped his other arm around her waist, pulling them close together the way Bishop had done so recently.
The fresh memory of intimacy and arousal was the last thing she needed right now, especially when she could scarcely look at the teacher’s face without thinking thoughts that would have her at once expelled from the Academyandcivilized society.
His scent was absolutely intoxicating. Exotic and loamy, understated yet powerful enough to have her senses in a tailspin. There was no way it was just the effect of designer cologne, either. All toms had a unique scent, which became even more alluring to females nearing a heat. The fact that she was so responsive to his scent and his touch filled her with a new kind of dread.
What if she went into heat at that very moment? As he swept her across the makeshift dance floor, she realized she’d be utterly powerless to stop it. A lifetime of waiting and of course it would be now that her body chose to betray her.
