2 - DITCH

I tossed my duffel bag into the trunk without a word, and I pulled the heavy passenger door open before sliding onto the pristine leather seat next to him.

The driver was one of Kiefer’s silent enforcers, and he immediately locked the doors before shifting the massive vehicle into drive and pulling away from the compound.

I stared out the window and watched the only home I had ever known disappear behind the thick line of pine trees, and a heavy, suffocating silence filled the cab.

We drove down the winding mountain highway for twenty minutes before I finally broke the quiet, because the tension radiating from Darian was starting to give me a headache.

"So you're just going to act as my glorified babysitter today?" I asked, and I kept my gaze fixed on the snow-capped trees blurring past the glass so I wouldn't have to look at him.

"My father told me to make sure you actually arrived at the academy, and I wasn't in the mood to argue with him after the stunt you pulled in the ring," Darian replied, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"He swung at my throat first, Darian," I snapped, and I finally turned to look at him while the anger I had been swallowing started to bubble up again.

"What the hell was I supposed to do, just lay down in the mud and let him rip my vocal cords out?" I challenged, and my voice cracked slightly as the pain in my bruised jaw throbbed.

"You could have yielded when you realized he was losing his temper, because you know he has anger issues he can't control," Darian argued back, and the hypocrisy of his words made me want to scream.

"Oh, so it's my fault the golden boy can't control his own temper during a basic training drill?" I laughed, but the sound was harsh and bitter as it bounced off the leather interior.

"Maybe if you guys actually disciplined your warriors instead of kissing their asses, they wouldn't throw temper tantrums when they get outsmarted by someone smaller than them," I pointed out, and I crossed my arms tightly over my chest.

"It isn't about kissing his ass, Liora," Darian sighed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose like we were having the most exhausting conversation in the world.

"It is about pack politics, and you just humiliated a high-ranking family in front of the impressionable pups who look up to him," Darian explained, and his tone was maddeningly calm.

"Fuck your politics, and fuck this pack," I cursed, and I leaned my head against the cold glass window while the rain started to drizzle from the grey sky.

Darian went silent after that outburst, and the only sound in the car for the next ten minutes was the rhythmic squeak of the windshield wipers pushing the rain away.

I traced a raindrop rolling down the outside of the window with my index finger, and I wondered what the hell I was going to do once they dumped me at the academy gates.

I didn't have any money, I didn't have any formal magical education, and I certainly didn't have a fancy bloodline to protect me from the snobs at Viremont.

"Do you even know what kind of place you are sending me to?" I asked, and I broke the silence again because the anxiety twisting in my gut was getting too loud to ignore.

"Viremont is an institution designed to foster peace between the four factions, and they have protocols in place to protect human attendees," Darian recited, and he sounded like he was reading straight from a glossy admissions brochure.

"That is a load of bullshit, and you know it," I scoffed, and I turned my head to glare at his perfect, aristocratic profile.

"I heard the rumors from the border patrols, and they said the casualty rate at that school is swept under the rug every single year to protect the rich kids," I reminded him, and my fingers gripped the edge of my seat.

"The rumors are exaggerated by paranoid wolves who hate the idea of mingling with vampires and warlocks," Darian dismissed, but he wouldn't meet my eyes when he said it.

"If it is so safe, then why did your father look so damn happy when he told me I was going there?" I pressed, and I leaned across the center console to force him to look at me.

"Because he thinks you will fail the entrance exams and get yourself expelled within a week, which would legally strip you of your pack affiliation," Darian admitted, and the raw truth in his words felt like a punch to the gut.

"So he is setting me up to fail just so he can officially wash his hands of me," I whispered, and I sank back into my seat as the betrayal burned the back of my throat.

"He doesn't think a human can survive the academic pressure without an elemental affinity or enhanced stamina," Darian said, and he finally turned to look at me with a desperate intensity in his eyes.

"And what do you think, Darian?" I challenged, and my voice wavered slightly because I suddenly realized how much his answer actually mattered to me.

"I think my father underestimates exactly how stubborn you really are," Darian said, and a ghost of a smile briefly touched the corners of his mouth.

"You took down a fully grown beta wolf with a piece of plumbing equipment today, so I think the academy is going to have a very hard time getting rid of you," Darian added, and the genuine respect in his tone caught me completely off guard.

"Are you actually giving me a compliment right now, or are you just trying to make me feel better before you abandon me?" I asked, and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously because Darian was never this nice to me in front of the others.

"I am just telling you the truth, Liora," Darian said softly, and he reached across the console so his large, warm hand could cover my freezing fingers.

I froze at the contact, and my heart gave a stupid, frantic flutter against my ribs because we were never this close without an audience watching us.

"You have survived everything this world has thrown at you since you were a kid, and a fancy boarding school isn't going to be the thing that breaks you," Darian murmured, and his thumb traced slow, soothing circles against my knuckles.

I didn't pull my hand away, and I let myself enjoy the rare comfort of his touch while the armored SUV navigated a treacherous hairpin turn on the slick mountain road.

"Are you going to come visit me?" I asked, and the quiet vulnerability in my own voice made me cringe, but I couldn't stop the question from spilling out.

"I am going to check on you every single week, and I don't care what my father says about it," Darian promised, and the fierce determination in his tone sent a warm shiver down my spine.

"You are going to get yourself in trouble just to check on a stray?" I teased, and I offered him a small, genuine smile for the first time that day.

"You aren't a stray to me, Liora," Darian said, and he leaned closer until his eyes dropped to my lips and the air between us suddenly grew incredibly thick and heavy.

"You are—" Darian started to say, and his hand tightened around my fingers as he leaned in just a fraction of an inch more.

"I'm what, Darian?" I whispered back, and my breath caught in my throat while I waited for him to finish the sentence that hung in the quiet space between us.

I never got to hear his answer, because a deafening, unnatural shriek of rending metal ripped through the air just as a massive force slammed directly into the passenger side of our vehicle.

The sheer impact shattered the reinforced glass instantly, and Darian screamed my name just as the heavy armored SUV flipped violently off the asphalt and plummeted into the dark ravine below.