Chapter 9

DOMINIC

She's making friends. Spending time in Billie’s dorm room with the girls. Getting presents from Raven (because of course she is). She wasn't supposed to fit in this well.

“Tris, I'm at a loss. Billie put a stop to any bullying. Selena stonewalls me about Nox. It's hard to get in her head. That girl is untouchable.”

“You'll think of something,” my best friend says. “The hazing went pretty well, and now you can move on to fucking with her head. Plant doubts about Nox. Flirt with her. Be seductive. Do whatever you have to do, I want them broken up. He doesn't get to have happiness when half the shit that went down he was there for.”

I rub my hand across my face. I'm sitting across from Tristan at his desk in his office. As Alpha, he has his own command center in the Rock House, and as his Beta I spend a lot of time there.

“You have to understand, this girl is different. There's something about her. I can't put my finger on it. She's just…different.”

He looks at me blankly. “Different how?”

How do I explain this? “She ate biscotti at the Student Union like it was her first time eating a cookie. She knew my parents fought a lot when I was growing up. She never owned any makeup until this weekend. I don't know, lots of little things. Things that seem to set her apart from everyone. And I don't think she has a great relationship with Nox.”

He zeroes in on that. “That's good though, half your job is done already.”

“I don't know, things are weird. How's Fleming?”

He snickers. “Fleming has made himself indispensable to half of Lunacy. They wouldn't know how to tie their own shoes without him now.”

Fleming is Tristan’s other Beta. He's a good advisor and procurer of whatever is needed. Tutoring, writing essays, making positive drug test results disappear, solving relationship problems–Fleming is a fixer. I can picture him zeroing in on the weakest link, fixing whatever problem that member had, and working his way outward.

Then pulling the plug on the whole organization.

Or just making all of Lunacy his little fiefdom.

Sowing chaos either way.

“I'll keep working on breaking up Selena and Nox, but it's not gonna be simple. They grew up together. There's some deep roots there.”

“What do you think of the girl?” he asks out of nowhere, making my chest itch.

“Selena? She's pretty, beautiful really. Has a sense of humor sharper than a knife. She's an odd one. She's anxious and terrified about some things, while other times she's as brave as Billie. Billie likes her a lot.”

He gives me a searching look. “She does, and that complicates things. I had hoped this girl would be a real bitch. I think we're going to have to flip this, put her under our protection and work on getting to Nox without damaging Selena too much. For Billie.”

“Of course. I don't want to hurt…Billie.”

At that, there's a ring at the doorbell. We hear an underclassman answer it, then he knocks on our door. Tristan tells him to come in.

“Alpha, Nox is here to see Selena Cross.”

“Clear out the common room and put him in there.” Tristan turns to me. “Go to her room and get her. I want to know her reaction.”

“Got it.”

I take the stairs to Selena’s attic two steps at a time. I want to see her reaction, too.

I knock on her door. “Selena?”

“Come in,” she calls softly.

I open the door. She's cross-legged on her bed, working on fake lesson plans for a class. She looks at me warily. “What’s up?”

I barge right into it. “Nox is here for you.”

And there it is. She flinched.

She fucking flinched. I saw it.

“Here?” she asks.

“We stashed him in the common room. Do you…do you want me to come with you?” She seems so anxious, I'm actually worried for her.

“I…Nox isn't the type of guy to make romantic gestures, that's all.”

“Come on, I'll walk you down.” I have to see them together. And I have to know how he'll react to me.

I take her elbow and help her down the stairs, because she's a little unsteady on her feet. When we get to the common room, I go first, opening the door without preamble. Nox stands up from his chair. “Finally, Selena, I thought I was going to have to–” He cuts off when he sees me. “Oh. Hello.”

“Just bringing her to you. Her room is in a different part of the House.”

Selena follows me through the door and goes up to Nox. She goes to kiss him on the cheek, and he puts an arm around her. Her entire body is stiff as a board.

“A little privacy with my girl?” he asks.

“Of course.” And I very reluctantly leave them alone.

SELENA

Nox is furious in a way only I can see.

“What the hell took you so long, little doll? I thought I was going to have to come get you.”

“S-sorry Nox, like he said it's on the other side of the–”

“What were you doing with him, anyway? You aren't giving away what's mine for free, are you?”

“No, Alpha,” I say immediately.

“You wouldn't do that, would you?”

“No, Alpha.”

“Well, I just needed to see if you were behaving and how they're treating you. You look fine. No cat fights or hazing?”

“No, Alpha.”

“That's too bad. I'd love an excuse to fuck with them. But they're untouchable as long as they uphold the bargain. We definitely got the best deal at Lunacy, Fleming is proving to be invaluable. As long as no one fucks you, we'll stay hands off.”

“No one is trying anything like that.”

“They will.” He brushes a lock of hair away from my face. “You're exquisite and easy. They'll want you when you go into heat. And when they take you, I can righteously destroy them.”

I should have known Nox had ulterior motives from the beginning. He's setting me up to be raped. Even if he doesn't consider that rape.

I don't have any response for him, and soon after that, he leaves.

I go for a walk in the rose bushes in the courtyard to try to shake off the slimy feeling Nox brings. I need to talk to Billie–or one of the witches–about my heat. It's coming soon, and I don't know how I'll weather it.

If the scent blockers are still on, I'll be able to hide somewhere until it's over. It's unhealthy not to mate when you're in heat, but I have a special toy that will help, and a salve, that I've been using since puberty, when I was allowed a nest in a closet to ride out my heats in.

Then Nox made me his sex slave, and every heat since has been traumatic. This will be the first heat in a year where I won't be expected to entertain a train of werewolves.

Theoretically.

I hear a rustle and look up. Dominic is coming towards me on the path.

“Oh, hello,” I say.

“How did it go?” he asks, concern clearly in his eyes, which a few days ago I would have assumed was fake. But now, since our truce, I can’t get a read on him.

“It was fine. He was just checking in.”

“He didn't have to leave so soon, we would have accommodated you if you wanted to spend time with him.”

“Oh, he's really busy. In fact,” I say, getting an idea, “he's using this semester apart to focus on his internship. It's pretty important to his mother and he's putting all he has into it.”

He wasn't, he was skating by on old werewolf family nepotism and contacts, but that didn't matter. This would help explain why such a devoted boyfriend never came around.

Nox would be proud of me.

I shudder at the thought.

“Hey, are you okay? You look kinda sick,” Dominic asks.

“Probably lunch. I'll be fine.”

We walk through the rose bushes together. I search for something to talk about. He beats me to it.

“I know we got off to a rough start, but I'm a really good listener. If you ever need to talk about anything, or anyone is hurting you, you can tell me. Or Billie.”

I don't know what to say to that. My inner wolf preens like he just asked us out on a date. I tell her to put a pin in it.

“Thank you,” I say to Dominic. “That’s very considerate.”

“I don't want you to think I'm all about hazing. What happened between Lunacy and the Underground still burns, that's all. I apologize that you got caught in the middle.”

“Thanks,” I say to him. “I accept your apology.”

“A pretty girl like you shouldn't be a part of all this sordid feuding anyway,” he says.

My face turns pink. The day seems brighter, like the sun came out from behind a cloud. My inner wolf purrs like a kitten.

Maybe things will be okay, after all.