Page 37 of Stray
After a fitful night’s sleep, Ella had woken up early in order to give her second dose of suppressants as much time to kick in as possible before class. She had taken the first right before bed the night before, and she’d woken up considerably less restless and desperate than she had been before.
At least it was possible to think clearly now, without having her judgment clouded by her infatuation with toms she had no business wanting.
She still didn’t feel remotely prepared to embrace the challenge of the day before her. As if struggling to catch up in class wasn’t enough, now she had to find not one but at least two males desperate enough to court her, even if it was only temporarily.
Bishop seemed like the obvious choice, and Ella had to admit, she had fantasized about it well before her heat had sprung up. They’d come close to going further than she ever expected in the woods, but she hadn’t heard from him since, and she had no idea how he would respond to such a request.
For all she knew, he expected a monogamous relationship like his mother and father shared. In fact, ever since Natalia had bucked the trend of taking more than one mate, it had become the new trend in itself.
And why should he want to share? It was unfathomable enough that he was even interested in her. As much as she wanted to ease at least some of her tension by asking him, she had no idea if she’d actually get up the courage to give him the ring anytime soon.
Hopefully she could talk to him. Assuming he had found out and still wanted anything to do with her. She was sure his mother had told himsomething, and the fact that she had a dozen missed calls and unread text messages from Axel was confirmation that Emily had already told him everything.
What a mess. If it weren’t for the fact that the women’s dorms were carefully segregated from the men’s, Ella had a feeling she wouldn’t have gotten a moment’s sleep.
By the time she had no choice but to head downstairs, the heat suppressants had dulled the remainder of her symptoms to a tolerable degree. Not that she had any hope of paying attention in class anyway.
The moment Ella left her room and walked into the common room that was necessary to pass through before leaving the women’s dorm, all the chatter in the room ceased immediately. If she thought it was bad to be the center of attention before, she realized now that it was only beginning.
Ella walked past them as quickly as she could, hoping to make it to breakfast at the tail end of the morning rush to at least grab some juice and a granola bar. She was supposed to take the suppressants with food, but she’d gotten up much too early for the cafeteria to be open.
The hallways weren’t quite packed yet as it was still a bit early for class, but the few students who were gathered around stopped and stared just as the ones in the dorm had. That was to be expected, but to Ella’s relief, none of them made any comments directly to her. She saw one of the males who had been with Brad the day before, and he cast her a curious glance up and down, but he didn’t have the same predatory gaze in his eyes as he had before, reassuring her that the suppressants were doing their job.
She noticed there was a teacher posted at either end of the hallway, watching closely. They hadn’t been there during any other class period, so she knew the headmaster must’ve assigned sentinels for the purpose of making sure she got to and from class safely. She was both embarrassed and unnerved that it was necessary.
She spotted Lyra across the hall, but the other girl took one look at her and quickly disappeared into the nearest classroom. Ella couldn’t blame her. Lyra had always disliked her, but now that association with her was guaranteed social suicide, she had all the more reason to keep her distance.
If only Axel felt the same.
Kyrie had crossed her mind as a potential candidate more than once, but each time, she had dismissed the idea, if only for his sake. Just because he’d always been kind to her didn’t mean he would be willing to go that far, and even if he was, it would immediately turn Axel against him.
He might not have had any genuine interest in Ella, but he was a possessive bastard and family allegiance would do nothing to keep him from terrorizing anyone who stood between him and something he had decided was his.
Ella checked her phone and realized she was still much too early for class, and taking an early seat was a guarantee of getting harassed. She walked into the women’s room and disappeared inside an empty stall, lowering the toilet lid and sitting down to bury her head in her hands.
What a mess this day was already turning out to be. And it wasn’t like she could hide out in the bathroom forever.
At least this one wasn’t filled with the smell of cigarette smoke as the one at her human school had been.
She was enjoying the few moments of silence until the door opened and she heard the sound of familiar chatter. One of the voices was Marissa’s.
Ella immediately pulled her feet up onto the lid and hugged her knees close to her chest, hoping she could hide until they were gone.
The four cats who’d walked in with Marissa all congregated around the sink, chattering away about the next exam coming up. The conversation soon shifted to far more troubling subject matter, confirming Ella’s suspicion that the news of her near heat had spread like wildfire.
“I can’t believe they’re pulling out that antiquated old tradition,” scoffed another girl Ella recognized it as Tina from a few pride events. At one point or another, she and Marissa had been on the outs, but it seemed the queen bee was rallying all her forces now that another enemy had emerged.
“Who do you think she’ll choose?” Asked a girl whose voice Ella didn’t recognize.
“More like who’s desperate enough to say yes,” Marissa answered, her voice dripping with bitterness.
Surely word of Ella turning down Axel’s proposition in the hallway had made its rounds the same as this latest gossip, but Ella soon realized her hope that it would soften Marissa’s hatred of her was in vain. If anything, she seemed even more spiteful.
“I wouldn’t mind being in a position like that,” Tina mused.
Ella couldn’t see through the door more than just a crack, but she didn’t need to see to know Marissa was glaring daggers at her newly forgiven confidante.
“Hey,” the fourth girl said, quieting the room. “Someone’s in here.”
