Big Bad Academy

“But I’ve changed my mind. She’s good for this pack, and I think she’s good for you. You two still haven’t mated yet, though.”

“Dad, I’m not going to talk about my dating life with you.”

“The dreams are going to get worse, Flynn,” he looks concerned now, and I know why. We’ve both known wolves who went crazy when they didn’t mate with their destined partner.

“I know.”

“You have to do something,” he says. “Win her over, son. You have to.”

I decide that being blunt and honest with my dad is going to be the best course of action here.

“Look, I kidnapped her.”

It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud to someone else. Gaston knows. Obviously. He was there. My dad probably suspected what happened, but he never asked me, so I never told.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He doesn’t look shocked, surprised, or sad. He doesn’t look like he’s judging me. If anything, my dad seems to not see that there’s anything wrong or fucked up with what I did.

“Dad, I stole her.”

I don’t know if he’s getting the gravity of the situation.

“Flynn, that girl is sweet and she’s kind and she’s smart. I still don’t trust her. I don’t know if I ever will. She’s an outsider, and it’s best to be weary of people we don’t truly know or understand, but there’s something about her that your wolf likes. You owe it to both of yourselves to explore that.”

Is my dad right?

Do I owe it to my wolf?

Do I owe it to her?

I’ve been giving Heather space because being around her is intoxicating. I hate how much I want her. In fact, I kind of loathe myself for it. Part of me thinks I never should have marched into that book signing and stolen her away. Part of me wonders if I should have just left her there.

The problem is that we wouldn’t have had answers, and honestly, I know that we can’t let her go. Not until we either mate one another and the dreams stop naturally or until we find another way of stopping her dreams. As far as I know, death of one of the mates is the only way to stop the mating dreams without consummation.

We can’t send her home while she’s having those dreams, though. The risk that she’ll inadvertently release pack secrets is just too high. There’s too much of a risk that she’ll accidentally let other people know how the pack works. What if in her next book, she reveals some of our safety protocols? What if she releases passwords? Hell, what if she talks about the history of our pack?

Part of me hoped that by letting her attend classes, I’d be helping her understand exactly what our pack has to offer.

I didn’t really realize that I’d be sending her to gather information that could be used against us.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I finally say to my dad.

“You need to talk to her,” he says. “And do it quickly. There’s a full moon coming, Flynn, and she might be our only shot at finding out what’s coming.”

DESPITE THE FACT THAT she’s not officially a prisoner, Heather’s never really alone. I didn’t tell her, but I’ve assigned guards to her anytime we’re apart. It’s for her own safety, but it’s also for my peace of mind. I don’t want to be in meetings or dealing with pack business and have to worry about her. When I meet her in the cafeteria for dinner, I nod slightly to the guard I had assigned to her for the day. He nods back and leaves, disappearing into the crowd.

Heather doesn’t seem to notice, which is good. Part of me feels a little bad for not trusting her, and I wouldn’t want to make her feel sad.

She can’t run away yet.

Not when we don’t know what threat we’re facing here at the academy.

She takes a bite of her food and suddenly drops her fork and starts waving wildly. I turn behind me to see Gaston and Lily coming into the cafeteria. Lily grins and hurries over. Gaston heads for the buffet.

“Hey!” Lily comes over and pulls Heather into a tight hug. Since when did they become such good friends? She pulls back and looks at Heather. “How was the test?”

Test?