Page 17 of Feral
“People don’t get bit, they get bitten,” she answered, enjoying the anger that flashed in his gaze.
“You know what I fucking mean.”
She planted a hand on his firm chest and gave him a hard enough shove to push him back from her. Everyone in the school already thought she was a slut, and she didn’t need to give their imagination any fuel.
“Who I go out with is really none of your business.”
“Don’t you meanwhom?” he quipped, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ella rolled her eyes but found it hard to resist smiling. She had been on the receiving end of Axel’s razor-sharp wit for most of her life, but now that she actually had the spine to talk back to him, she enjoyed their banter. Not that she would ever let him think that.
“The point remains the same,” she said, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “I like Bishop and you’re just going to have to deal with it. As a matter of fact, I’m going out with him again tonight.”
“The hell you are,” he snarled, his voice deep and rumbling enough that he seemed a split second away from shifting.
A few toms who’d ventured too close backed up to give him space. Ella turned back to Axel. “Calm down before you embarrass us both. Again.”
She expected him to lash out, and his expression made it clear he wanted to, but he simmered down in the end. She could still feel his chaotic energy, surging beneath the surface.
“What’s going on with you?” she asked, trying to hide her concern. “You’ve never had trouble controlling your tiger before.”
His nostrils flared. “It’s nothing,” he muttered, looking away. When he finally looked back, she could tell he was studying her closely. She hated when he did that. Like he was trying to read the thoughts in her mind through her eyes or something.
“You gave him a ring, didn’t you?”
His question took her by surprise. So he really did know. It was a question, but she could tell from the way he asked that he already knew the answer.
“Like I said, it’s none of your business.”
He blew a puff of air through his nose and seemed about to say something else when Ella caught sight of a red blur further down the hall. She recognized Marissa’s cackle immediately as she walked down the hall with her posse-slash-girl-gang.
Ella wasn’t sure where the petty urge rising up within her came from, but she wasn’t in any mood to deny it. Not after she’d promised herself she would get Marissa back for what she’d done to all her clothes, and finally saw an opportunity to do it.
She turned back to Axel and grabbed his face in both hands, pulling him in for another searing kiss. He got over his shock quickly enough, his arms wrapping around her as he returned the kiss with equal fervor.
As Ella dug her fingers into Axel’s hair and let his tongue delve into her mouth, she found it a bit too easy to get into the act. When she stopped to breathe and opened her eyes to find Marissa and her friends stopped in the middle of the hall, staring in disbelief along with everyone else, it was all worth it.
The look of humiliation and anger on Marissa’s face might once have inspired pity in Ella, but not now. Now she knew that whatever love Marissa had for Axel, it could only be as deep and selfless as she was, which was hardly at all. He was just another thing she wanted and didn’t think anyone else should be able to have.
Especially not someone as undeserving as a stray.
Well, she hadn’t shown any mercy when she’d destroyed nearly every item Ella had to her name, and two could play at that game.
Axel finally turned to see what she was staring at, and the recognition in his gaze as he realized why she’d kissed him came closer to making her feel like shit than Marissa’s shock ever could.
The other queen turned and stalked off the way she’d come, her friends chasing behind her. The other students mostly went back to what they’d been doing, though Ella could tell from their nervous glances that she was the subject of their whispers.
They already thought she was a slut. A filthy stray who’d open her legs to any tom who showed her a scrap of attention. Why the hell should she bother correcting them? Any attempt she made just blew up in her face anyway, and it felt good to push the caring away. To shut it down, just like everything else that would keep her from surviving in the ruthless jungle that was Felidae Academy.
“You never would’ve done something like that before,” Axel murmured. He didn’t sound hurt, but there was something pensive in his tone that gave her pause. Something uncharacteristic.
“I’ve changed,” she told him, shrugging it off. She reached into her pocket and took out a ring. His eyes widened in shock again as she placed it in his palm. “Consider it a loan. I’m mating with Bishop tonight, and if that’s not enough to get me out of heat, you can be my backup.”
He stared at her for a few seconds, as if waiting for her to say she was joking. “You’re serious.”
“Take it or leave it,” she said, shrugging. “I’m sure I can find someone else if you don’t want it.”
His jaw clenched in frustration, but he made no attempt to hand the ring back. Instead, he just stared at her like she’d lost her mind.
