Page 7 of Feral
“It doesn’t,” he answered without hesitation. He could feel his brother searching for a sign of deception, but he’d find none. As unconventional as Ella’s appointment was, as far as Bishop was concerned, it was fate. There was no room for him or anyone else to question the will or whim of the moon.
“Is that so?” Eldric sneered, still holding a half-empty wine glass. “Well, in any case, she’s a stray who belongs to the Hill pride. That puts you in direct competition with Axel.”
“Competition?” Bishop echoed dryly. “Perhaps that is how he sees it.”
The other shifter snorted. “You know, it’s strange. He’s absent from the monthly ceremony, and Ella cancels your date at the same time. I wonder if that’s really a coincidence?”
Bishop rolled his eyes, but the truth was, it wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed his mind. There was no denying the fact that Ella was smitten with Axel. He could see it in their every interaction, and in the pain in her eyes now that Axel was finally playing nice because she was Empress.
In a way, he could sympathize. Bishop knew better than anyone what it meant to be loved because of what you were, not who you were. It was that very camaraderie he planned to exploit in order to get closer to Ella, and he had long since learned to tamp down any guilt he might have felt over it.
She was special. She was different. But that didn’t mean the plan had changed.
“You just worry about your own affairs,” Bishop told his brother, patting him on the shoulder on his way past. He relished the glare of indifference in the other man’s eyes. “Leave the serious matters to me.”
All his life, Bishop had grown up in his brother’s shadow. Now that it was clear the future Empress had been born as his contemporary, that had changed.
Bishop had known Ella was his destiny from the moment their eyes had locked in that ceremony room. Hers were so wide and full of innocence. She was so unaware of the ruthless world lying just beneath the surface of the one she had always existed on the outside of.
It was almost a shame she couldn’t stay that way forever, but there was one thing of which he was absolutely certain. He wasn’t going to give her up. Not to his brother, not to Axel, not to anyone.
Chapter 5
Ella
After enduring a half-hour lecture from the Headmaster and finally managing to argue for her innocence in starting the physical half of their altercation, Ella managed to escape the office with a stern warning and kitchen duty for the next few lunch periods. She had learned Marissa was facing the same punishment, and the idea of the Queen Bee wearing a hairnet was almost worth the whole thing.
She was dreading her necessary return to the Hill residence much more. Marissa hadn’t left her a scrap of clothing that wasn’t already on her back, and even the skirt she was wearing had a new tear in it. She had no choice but to go back to her old room and retrieve whatever clothing she had left in her closet. The Headmaster had told her she could pick up new uniforms from the office in the morning, so while she didn’t have much, she figured there would be at least a few pairs of sweats and shirts she could get by with on the weekends.
She was halfway down the hill leading away from the academy and determined to at least enjoy the fresh air and pleasant scenery when she heard the tires of a car crunching in the gravel on the road behind her. She stood aside waiting for it to pass, but when she realized the car had slowed down to keep pace with her, she turned back.
The moment she saw that flashy yellow sports car, she knew her day was about to get so much worse. She couldn’t help the scowl that naturally came across her face as the car pulled up beside her and the passenger side window rolled down.
“Need a ride?” Axel asked smugly, leaning over the center console.
Ella flipped him off and kept walking, determined to ignore him. His timing was impeccable. Maybe he had her lojacked or something to maximize his opportunities for harassment. She wouldn’t have put it past him.
Rather than driving off, he kept crawling alongside her. “You’re going home, aren’t you? I can give you a ride.”
She bristled at his words. She knew she would only be giving him what he wanted, but she couldn’t resist. “Now it’sourhome, is it?” she challenged without slowing down or looking his way. “And here I thought I was just the live-in maid.”
“Come on, Ella. Don’t be like that,” he coaxed.
She’d heard him talk that way to Marissa, whenever he was trying to calm her down from what he felt was an unreasonable reaction. Ella was starting to wonder if Marissa had always been the way she was, or if Axel had driven her to the same madness she now felt in danger of succumbing to.
“I know what happened with your clothes,” he finally said, once he seemed to realize she wasn’t going to respond.
“Oh, really?” she challenged, finally coming to a stop to face him when she could no longer contain her irritation. The car crawled to a stop. “So you heard that your jealous ex trashed my room and destroyed every piece of clothing I own becauseyoudecided to usemeto break up with her in front of the entire school? You heard about that?”
Axel gave a weary sigh, as if he was expecting the tirade. “You hate each other. Marissa has always treated you like shit. I thought you’d enjoy her getting put in her place for once.”
“So what, that was supposed to be a gift?” she asked, struggling to understand his logic.
No… On second thought, it wasn’t his logic she had a hard time following. It was his moral compass, or lack thereof.
He shrugged, further cementing his cluelessness.
Ella let out a growl of frustration and quickly walked away from him. If it wasn’t so damn windy that her skirt would’ve blown up and given him a show he didn’t deserve, she would have made a run for it.
