chapter 3

Chapter 3

Naomi's POV

The first thing I noticed upon waking up was that the world was way too loud. 

The hum of the fluorescent lights above me sounded like a swarm of angry bees, and the smell of antiseptic was so strong it actually made my eyes water.

Then, the memory hit me: the roof, the fall, those deep, impossible blue eyes.

I bolted upright, and a sharp pain flared in my side, reminding me that Jax had basically used my ribs as a drum kit yesterday. I didn't  care.

I scanned the room, but the only person there was a nurse at a desk, typing away and looking bored out of her mind.

"You’re awake," she said, not even looking up. "Lie back down, Naomi. You’ve got a concussion and three cracked ribs. You’re lucky to be alive."

"Where is he?" I asked, my voice sounding like I had been swallowing sandpaper all night. "The man. The one who brought me here."

The nurse finally looked at me, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Nobody brought you here, honey. One of the night guards found you passed out on the roof access stairs. You probably tripped and hit your head."

I shook my head, ignoring the way it made my brain rattle inside my skull. "No. Someone caught me. I felt him. I saw him, I swear it."

"Sure you did. Hallucinations are a classic symptom of head trauma," she said, turning back to her screen.

"Now, stay put. I need to get your discharge papers ready for the Dean. He’s already breathing down my neck about your graduation status."

I didn't  listen to another word she said.

I could feel it deep in my chest, right where that empty hole used to be…. my wolf.

I wasn't alone anymore. I had my wolf now. And she was leading me towards the door. 

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My body felt like it was held together by duct tape and was at the verge of falling apart, but the hum under my skin was driving me forward.

I had to find him. If he was my mate, he was the answer to everything, my way out of this hellhole, and the reason I was still breathing.

I ignored the nurse’s shout as I shoved myself off the bed and bolted for the door. I was shaky, and I had to use the wall for support, but I made it into the hallway.

The Academy was buzzing. It was graduation day, and the air was thick with the scent of expensive perfume and sweat.

I was a mess—my hair was a bird’s nest, my uniform was stained with mud and dried blood, and I was pretty sure I looked like a ghost that had climbed out of its grave.

I was scanning faces, looking for the face that housed that blue gaze, when I rounded the corner toward the main hall and slammed straight into a wall of solid muscle.

The impact sent a jolt through my body, but before I could fall, those same powerful hands from the roof steadied me. The scent hit me like a physical wave. 

Woodsmoke. 

It was him.

I looked up, and my heart nearly stopped. Up close, in the daylight, he was even more devastating. Devastatingly beautiful. 

He was wearing a sharp, dark suit that made him look like royalty, and those deep blue eyes were staring down at me. The soul-searing connection was so loud I was surprised people in the next building couldn't hear it.

"You," I breathed out, my hands trembling where they rested against his chest. "It’s you. You saved me."

I was practically vibrating. I wanted to tell him everything, that my wolf had just woken up and was calling for him.

I wanted to tell him that my name was Naomi i, and I had been waiting for this moment since I was a little girl dreaming of a way out.

"I... I didn’t think I’d find you so soon," I stammered, a huge, hysterical smile breaking across my face. "My mate. You’re my mate."

He didn't  say a word. He just held me in silence, his gaze locked on my face.

But before he could open his mouth, a shadow fell over us.

"Naomi Reed!"

The voice was like a bucket of ice water being dumped on me. I turned to see Dean Miller marching toward us, his face twisted in a sneer.

He was a tall, thin man who treated the students like cattle, and he had always had a special brand of hatred for me.

"What are you doing out of the sickbay?" he snapped, stepping between me and the stranger.

He reached out and physically shoved me back, treating me like a piece of trash he had just found on his shoe.

"Get to your classroom. Now. You’re already a disgrace to this institution; don't make me add 'public nuisance' to the list."

"Wait," I protested, trying to push past him. "I need to speak to him. Dean, you don't understand—"

"I understand that you are an anomaly who hasn't even shifted yet," the Dean hissed, his voice low and venomous. "You are a stain on this school. This man is a prestigious guest of the Academy. He doesn't need to be accosted by a delusional, wolf-less girl who looks like she slept in a gutter."

He shoved me again, harder this time, forcing me to retreat down the hall.

"Move!" Miller barked. "Unless you want to be expelled before the ceremony even starts."

I stumbled back, my heart sinking. I looked over the Dean’s shoulder, trying to catch the stranger’s eye one last time.

I wanted to see him tell the Dean to back off. I wanted to see him claim me.

But the Dean was blocking my view, and the hallway was filling up with other students who were staring and whispering.

"Go, Naomi!" Miller ordered.

I turned and ran. I didn't  have a choice. If I got expelled then, I would lose everything.

But as I headed toward my classroom, I was practically floating. He was here. My mate was actually here.

The Dean could be as mean as he wanted. The students could talk all they liked. It didn't  matter.

I had been found. Someone as powerful and handsome as that man belonged to me. He had saved my life, and he was here at the Academy.

I imagined him walking into my classroom in a few minutes, telling everyone to shut up, and taking me away from all this.

I could already see the look on Helena’s face when she realized the ‘nothing’ girl ended up with the most impressive man in the room.

I was so caught up in my own head, so high on the feeling of the bond, that I didn't  even look back.

If I had, I would have seen the stranger standing in the hallway, watching me go. I would have seen the flash of pure disgust on his face as he wiped his hands on a silk handkerchief, as if touching me had left a layer of filth on his skin.

I would have seen him turn to the Dean and say something that made both of them laugh.

But I didn't  see any of that. I just walked into my classroom with my head held high, thinking my fairy tale was finally starting.

I had no idea that the man I had just claimed was about to tear my heart out of my chest in front of the entire world.

I was walking into a trap, and I was doing it with a smile on my face.