Chapter 15 Attention–seeking Mutt

SERAPHINA

Why am I here bagain/b”

I asked myself as I stood within the ancient ruins, cold wind howling through shattered stone arches. Silver light bathed the crumbling walls, band /bthere in the clearing – he was

The rogue.

Kneeling beneath the full, bloated moon, he chanted in a bnguage /bI didn’t recognize. I tried to move, to speak, but the air fel thick around me, like I was drowning in it.

And then his head snapped toward me, red eyes locking onto mine.

Unblinking.

A jolt of cold shot through me.

I woke with a strangled gasp, tangled in sweat–soaked sheets, my skin mmy and damp, Was I dreaming?

I sat

up in my bunk, the bdark /broom around me filled with the steady, heavy breathing of Alphas lost in sleep.

My chest heaved as I struggled bto /bbshake /bthe memory. The rogues. That cursed ce. Why had I ended up there when the others hadn’t? And what were they doing, living in bthose /bruins?

I checked the clock, and my eyes widened five in the morning.

Everyone was still asleep. The room was dim, save for the bfaint /bglow of dawn trying to seep through the curtains. This is bmy /b

chance.

Grabbing my towel, I slipped from my bed, careful not to make a sound, and padded down the empty hallway toward the showers. The stone floor was icy beneath my feet. I slipped into the bathroom and quietly clicked the lock bbehind /bme.

bThanks /bto Dante band /bRonan yesterday, I hadn’t even managed to return to my room. When I finally bdid /bgrab my clothes, I couldn’t get a proper shower. Alphas were always in band /bout of the showers some smoking inside, others just lurking around bwith /bno intentions of sleeping when morning was so close.

With no hope of privacy, I’d done what I could–washing my face, hands, and legs, throwing on a loose long–sleeved T–shirt and sweatpants before crashing for what little rest I could steal. But now, with the academy still cloaked in sleep. I wasn’t about to waste this golden opportunity.

The cold water hit my skin and I felt alive again. After so many days, a real, uninterrupted bshower /bwas almost too good to

believe.

Phina’s voice surfaced in my mind.

“If we want to shower daily, it has to be now while

everyone else sleeps.”

I nodded to myself. It’s the only way to bavoid /bsuspicion.

Freshly cleaned band /bdressed in my neat academy uniform, I stepped out of the shower room just as the wake–up bell echoed through the dormitory. Lights flicked on one by one, bAlphas /bgroaning and cursing bas /bthey dragged themselves from their beds.

But bRonan’s /bbbed /bwas empty.

Ffroze. Where was hel

Had he even been in his bed? Now that I thought about it I’d never seen him there whenever I bwoke /bin the middle of the night.

A sharp knock on the door startled me. The dormitory assistant entered, carrying a basket.

“Laundry’s in,” he announced, setting the basket down.

Chapter 15 Attention–seeking Mutt

“Right on time,” Cassius grinned, jogging over to grab his and Reed’s uniforms.

After thest trial, all of our uniforms bhad /bbeen sent for cleaning.

One by one, everyone collected their sets. When it was bmy /bturn, I reached for mine, but noticed something.

There was no uniformbeled for bRonan/b.

Why?

B Pearls

Confused, I grabbed the paper–wrapped parcel with my name on it and the moment I unfolded it, my blood ran cold.

The bck/b–and–gold uniform was shredded. Tattered beyond repair. Across the back of the shirt, smeared in sticky white paste, were the wordsb: /b

“Attention–seeking mutt.

Cassius let out a sharpugh behind me, reading it aloud. Reed joined him, while Finn’s eyes widened as they darted between the ruined uniform and my expressionless face.

Suddenly, Reed slung ban /bbarm /baround my shoulders, leaning in close.

“Did you really think you were hot shit because you caught Ronan and Dante’s attention, little mutt!” he sneered, his sharp gaze cutting to the side of my face. “Yesterday’s btrial /bwas nothing. Survival here.. that’s the real battle. And trust me, you haven’t even seen the start of it.”

His lips curled into a cold grin as he pulled away, leaving bwith /bCassius trailing after him, snickering

I stared down at the destroyed uniform in a daze.

bI /bonly had two sets. The one I was wearing. And bnow /bthis shredded mess.

“Theypletely ruined it,” Finn said quietlyb, /bing to my bside/b.

“They?” I asked, lifting my eyes to him. “You know who did bthis/bb?/b”

Finn hesitated before speaking. “The jealous wolves. And there’s a lot of them,”

“Why would anyone be jealous of me?”

He sighed, his voice low. “Everyone bsaw /bit yesterday. Ronan and Dante fighting because of byou/b. Two hierarchy wolves shing over a newbie, it’s unheard of. And then you, who everyone expected to die in the cursed forestb, /bcame back without ba /bscratch You earned their attention. That alone made you ba /bthreat bto /bthe others without you even realizing it.”

I clenched the shredded fabric in my fists. So this ball /bhappened because of those btwo /bassholes.”

Send Gifts

When The Moon Hides Her Crown.

+8 Pearls