Page 18 of Kings
“The fuck?” Axel snarled. “No way in hell is she doing that.”
Ella found herself torn between putting Axel back in his place for answering for her and agreeing with him. “Bishop, you know I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” he pressed. “We’re already more or less mated in the colony’s eyes.”
“More or less,” she said flatly. “Like everyone in the colony isn’t looking for an excuse to declare me an unfit leader.”
“Who gives a shit what they think,” Axel growled. “It’s what I think that matters, and I’m saying no fucking way.”
Ella planted her heels and pivoted to face him. The sudden shift actually made him jump, which would be the first time she’d ever seen him do that. “You listen here,” she said, jabbing her finger into his puffed-out chest. “Just because I let you mark me doesn’t mean you own me, now or ever.”
“Oh, really?” he scoffed, not even reacting to the gesture. “That’s not what you were saying the other day.”
Ella’s face grew warm and the retort on her tongue fell off into the abyss his cutting words always left in her mind. Instead of dignifying it with a response, she growled and started stalking toward her class.
“Ella, wait!” Bishop called, picking up his pace to catch up with her. It was too easy. That’s what she got for choosing mates a foot taller than her.
“I can’t talk about this now,” she said, finally stopping when she had no choice, since they were in earshot of the students filing into the classroom. By the time she looked up at Bishop, Axel had already caught up with them. “We’ve got an exam this period I’m nowhere near prepared for and I just…we’ll do it later, okay?”
She could see the disappointment on his face, but it was masked by resignation. Before he could answer, Axel butted in and draped an arm around her shoulder.
“Yeah. Later, Bishop,” he said with a shit-eating grin. Ella elbowed him hard enough to wipe it off his face and walked into the classroom.
She took her seat and ignored Axel’s bids for attention. The professor finally started passing out the answer sheets and she was almost grateful for the test.
At least until she saw the first question and realized she was going to have to read it half a dozen times to understand it. The lack of sleep was only half of it, but it certainly wasn’t doing her any favors. Time seemed to evaporate, and she could tell from the speed at which the other students were flipping the pages that she was the only one having this much trouble.
Something small hit her shoulder, and she looked back in time to see the tiny folded piece of paper bounce off and hit the floor. She found Axel watching her, his eyes glimmering intently.
“What?” she mouthed, knowing they were definitely going to get caught if she kept it up. And just like always, she was going to take the fall for Axel playing around.
“Wrong,” he mouthed back, pointing to the sheet in front of her. Ella looked down at the answer she’d just marked and scowled. She’d been pretty sure about C, so now she was doubting her other answers all the more. Axel wasn’t exactly a stellar student, but Ella knew better than anyone that it was more from a lack of trying than a lack of skill. He was probably right, as much as it annoyed her.
“B,” he mouthed again.
“Stop it,” Ella hissed, turning back to her paper. The last thing she needed was him cheating for her.
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t thelastthing, but her pride wouldn’t let her live with it.
It took all her willpower to turn the page rather than marking the right answer. Every time she glanced at the clock, it seemed like twice the amount of time had passed as really had. She wasn’t going to have time to finish at all if she didn’t make some guesses, so she marked the ones she was sure about and took gambles on the rest before turning back to the question Axel had tried to answer for her.
She bit her bottom lip in indecision and waffled a few times between the lead and eraser ends of her pencil. Before she could decide either way, a wave of nausea worse than any she could remember lately washed over her. She leaped up from her chair, the legs scraping loudly in her haste.
For a split second, everyone in class, including the professor, was looking at her.
“Ms. Doe, please have a seat until the exam is finished,” he said sternly.
Ella ignored him, her hand clamped over her mouth as she rushed out of the classroom. She caught herself on the door frame and propelled toward the bathroom. Fortunately, it was closer than she remembered, but she barely made it to the sink this time.
Fuck.
At least she’d worn her hair back.
She was still retching when the door swung open and the glimpse of choppy blond hair in the mirror told her the last person she wanted to follow her had.
She quickly washed her mouth out in the sink, holding a hand over her mouth before turning to glare at him. “Would you stop breaking into the girls’ bathroom just to harass me?”
“More like rescue you,” Axel said, sauntering toward her. “And FYI, you’re in the guys’ room.”
