Page 3 of Kings
It had been three days since Ella had returned to the Academy, and the three men who’d been so attentive during her heat were now nowhere to be found. She knew it was at least partly because they were aware she’d be interrogating them the second she got any of them alone, and they seemed to have formed some truce behind her back, which was more infuriating than anything else. Even so, it didn’t stop the silent treatment from stinging.
At least she had Avery. She felt like a hypocrite since she’d done nothing but lie to her friend ever since they’d returned, but she couldn’t very well admit that she had been holed up in a cabin with the school’s two hottest guys and its sexiest teacher.
She knew she had to tell hersomething, and the school’s physician would be wanting an update on her heat, so she’d come up with an edited version of the story. When she’d learned she had gone into heat, she’d called for the help of the males she’d chosen and they had taken her away to a secluded spot to ride it out. If the doctor asked, it was none of his business, but Ella knew she couldn’t keep the truth from Avery forever. Not all of it.
After class, Avery insisted on meeting for lunch over at the café. Ella reluctantly agreed, even though she knew her own interrogation was coming.
Once they were seated in a booth with bubble tea and croissants, she realized they were getting more than the usual amount of stares. Surely the toms had noticed she was no longer on the verge of heat. The suppressants had never been able to suppress all of it.
Knowing the entire student body could tell she was no longer a virgin was unsettling to say the least, but in a way, she was relieved. At least the anticipation was over.
If it hadn’t been for the whole feral thing, she would have felt more than relief. Those few days she’d spent in the company of her males were the most blissful in her memory. She’d felt held and seen by each of them in ways she’d never even known she craved so badly, until the need was sated.
Even now, there was some part of her that felt safer and more secure for it having happened, even if they were MIA. Like the three of them were connected somehow. Bonded.
She still couldn’t get the fact that she had somehow marked Axel out of her head, let alone how it was even possible. What if Bishop and Sterling weren’t the only ones who could tell? She realized that was one possible reasonhehadn’t been to class.
“Alright, spill,” Avery said, folding her arms as she watched Ella expectantly. She hadn’t even looked at the food or drink in front of her and Ella realized lunch was a thin pretense.
She sighed. “What do you want to know, exactly?”
“Everything!” Avery cried, leaning forward on her elbows. “You just disappeared and went radio silent. I wasn’t sure if you’d been kidnapped or swept off to some exotic location.”
“I left a note,” Ella mumbled.
“Yeah, a note a kidnapper would totally have you write.”
Ella leaned back in the booth, taking a sip of her tea. It tasted more sugary than usual. “I wasn’t kidnapped, but your second guess isn’t far off.”
“Ooh,” Avery said with a scandalized smile. “So dish already.”
“Fine,” Ella groaned, knowing the more she protested, the more likely Avery was to believe the part of the story she could tell. “I went into heat, and the suppressants weren’t cutting it, so I kind of panicked and called Bishop.”
“I knew it,” Avery said triumphantly.
Ella rolled her eyes. “He came and got me, and took me to a cabin his family owns.”
“That’s so romantic,” Avery murmured, her eyes growing dreamy. It soon turned to curiosity. “And that was enough?”
Ella felt her cheeks grow warm. This was the part she wasn’t looking forward to confessing, but she was sure Axel had already told the whole damn football team he’d finally gotten into her pants, so she might as well tell her only friend at school. “Not exactly.”
“Well?” Avery demanded as if every second Ella was making her wait was pure torture. “Who was it?”
“Axel,” Ella mumbled so quietly she was surprised to see the way Avery’s eyes widened in recognition.
“Axel Hill?” she asked in a whisper that was far too loud, considering the girls at the booth across the aisle were already trying to listen in.
“Shhh,” she hissed. “Yes, how many Axels do you know?”
Avery clamped a hand over her mouth as if she didn’t trust herself, but the glimmer in her eyes spoke volumes. “You lucky slut.”
“Hey!”
She snickered. “I’m just kidding. I’d drop my panties in a hot second for either of them, let aloneboth.”
“It was…interesting,” Ella said, stirring the tapioca pearls in the bottom of her cup.
“Interesting?” Avery mocked. “You can cut the downplaying, the entire school is already jealous enough.”
