They were so deep a brown they were almost black, and his naked body rippled with heavy muscle. He wasn’t as tall as me, but size didn’t matter much in the Dire world. Alpha power was born, not made. And his hammered at me repeatedly as he approached.
I set my jaw and did my best to fight it. My brah was a strong alpha, but he’d never apply his power like this. It told me a lot about this bloke. That he would rather use his birthright to intimidate—than lead with integrity.
I already despised him. But my beast pushed at me to lower my eyes, to submit. And when I didn’t immediately do so, his eyes narrowed, and he ramped up the power.
“What are you doing way out here?” he asked.
“Could ask ya the same thing,” I replied through gritted teeth.
His companion—likely the beta—raised his head and sniffed. “You’ve been prodding the wildlife?”
No surprise that they scented what I’d been up to. I didn’t even look at him as I answered. “Aren’t you a stickybeak. You should give it a go, ya bludger.”
“What the hell does that mean?” The beta’s eyes shot daggers, and he stepped toward me, but the alpha stopped him with the slightest raising of his fingers. The look the beta gave his alpha sent a shiver through me. Not that of an advisor or even friend—instead, it held a hint of something bleeding unhealthy.
I couldn’t nail it exactly, but it was enough to peg him as a bootlicking, mealy-mouthed brown-nosed bludger.
The alpha’s dark eyes measured me with a little more interest before he swamped me with enough alpha power to make me flinch.
“My pack and I were doing one last run before I start classes.” The alpha’s words were casual, but there was something guarded in his eyes. It set my instincts on edge. His pack had come to this realm for one last run? They’d have to get permission to use the gate. It seemed—odd.
Odd enough that my mouth opened, and I said, “Well, I guess if you buy your way into this place, ya get extended gate privs?”
The sudden flare of beast bronze in his eyes was my only warning before he unleashed the full power of his alpha on me.
I didn’t stand a chance. When I next blinked, I was kneeling on the ground at his feet, shaking like a leaf.
“That’s better,” he growled. “My privileges, as you put it, are for me and me alone. It would be best if you remembered that.”
He turned on his heel and let his beast take him. By the time I was able to breathe, he’d vanished into the bushes and taken his pack with him.
I trembled, not only as a result of the power he’d slammed me with, but also with humiliation. My brah would never have used his alpha ability like that. To strip away everything that I was and reduce me to a shaking wreck.
If this was his idea of leading, no wonder his beta hung on his every gesture.
It was some time before I recovered enough to complete my own shift. As I trotted on unsteady legs toward the academy, my mind simmered restlessly.
This time it wasn’t preoccupied with Anna. My thoughts centered entirely on the alpha. He would be destined to either take over his father’s pack or start his own. By what I’d seen in the forest, the latter was most likely. But neither explained why he would join the academy. And why would he be running with his pack way out here?
Maybe he’d told me the truth.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.
10
Anna
A deep noise woke me.
Trix’s warmth was curled up next to me. But I swear, the walls were vibrating. I blinked up at the ceiling, struggling to identify the source.
Mari was snoring.
In keeping with her probable lung capacity, the sound threatened to bring the building down around us. I sighed and rubbed my face. Just my luck to be roomies with a giant who snored. Of all the things I’d assumed I’d need on this journey, earplugs hadn’t made the list.
By the aroma in the room, she wasn’t just exhaling through her mouth and nose. She may talk like an English professor, but she didn’t fart like one.
Of course, I hadn’t actually ever slept with an English professor, so what did I know?
