I was almost successful sneaking back into my bedroom at the Packhouse. Almost.
The second I opened my bedroom door, I was instantly assaulted by my best friends.
"Did they hurt you?" Regina said, words tinged with worry and fear. "Where did they take you?"
I cleared my throat. "We were…er…training?"
Right before I was practically shoved into the vehicle by Mercer, he had practically snarled in my face, "It would do you well to keep this hidden until the transition is over, Ms. Adams. Should anyone find out what you might be, your life and those of your loved ones will be in danger. We have enemies, even amongst your peers. Spies for the rogues who want nothing more than to get their hands on a female Lycan. Or a budding one. If anyone asks, we brought you along for training. We have the perfect cover of Combat and Defense for your alibi to check out. Use it. Or not. If you died, we wouldn't need to get our hands dirty killing you." He had smiled. "I might even prefer that option."
"Training," Jenny repeated like I had said something truly outrageous. "Maisie, that Lycan knocked you out and kidnapped you!"
"It was…" I cleared my throat again. "Part of the regimen. Team building. They're very committed to–"
"Maisie Adeline Adams."
"--immersive training experiences–"
"Maisie!" Regina growled, holding up a white letter. The Greymoor crest was stamped on the front in navy blue. I recognised it before she said a word. "The Head Mistress was looking for you. Desperately. She wanted to personally apologise for her mistake, and offer you a steady allowance to make up for the error in her decision. I'm not stupid, Maisie. What the hell is going on?!"
My throat closed. I really hated lying to Regina. "She must have realized it was all a misunderstanding–"
Regina shook my shoulders. "Then what happened at school today? I have seen every version of you that exists. I have seen you cry in a bathroom stall over a ninety-eight percent score for forty-five minutes. I have seen you give away all your salary to a scammer who pretended to be blind, and even when you found out you had been deceived, you said, 'Oh well, he must have needed it.' I have never–" her voice cracked. " –I have never seen you like that. You were going to kill your sister. Your eyes went black."
I stopped.
"They went black?" I said.
"Like–" Jenny stepped forward and pointed at her own eyes, "--black black. No iris. No white. Like someone had replaced your eyes with–"
"Like a Lycan," Regina said. Her voice was quiet now. "Maisie. Your eyes looked exactly like a Lycan's."
I swallowed, resisting the urge to lift my fingers and touch my eyes. I laughed nervously. "You must have seen wrong–"
"You threw Cole Hayes across a room."
"I was upset–"
"He hit the wall, Maisie. There is a Cole-shaped dent in the cafeteria wall right now–and trust me, I fucking measured it. It is deep," Regina said.
I opened my mouth.
Jenny, who had gone quiet, made an appreciative sound from the direction of my wardrobe. "Ooh–sexy. Is this… a lingerie?"
We both turned.
She was standing in front of my open wardrobe door holding up the box I had gotten from the boutique. The lid was on the ground and her fingers were pinched on the silky lace. The thong to be precise.
"Holy lord, May," Jenny whistled. "Talk about putting the F in Freaky. Who's the lucky guy?"
I turned red with embarrassment. "It isn't mine."
Jenny quirked up an eyebrow. "Uh… yes, it is. There's a name card in here for Ms. Adams…" Her voice tracked off as she squinted into the box.
Then she shrieked. The kind that could blow off eardrums. "T-this is from…" Her eyes blew wide. "This is from Prince Soren!"
The room went very quiet.
Regina looked at me.
Jenny looked at me.
I looked at the dangling lingerie and sighed. "I can explain."
***
When I was through explaining, my friends had their jaws on the floor. "You're going to become a Lycan?!" Jenny all but shrieked and I jumped, slapping a hand over her mouth before she could scream down the entire packhouse.
"Or die," I whisper-shouted. "But you can't tell anyone!"
Regina was fuming, her lips pinched tight. "To think I ever fan-girled over them. Assholes. Fucking assholes, all of them." Her eyes shot to mine and she drew my hands away from Jenny. "This is serious, May. We just can't sit around and wait for the worst!"
"We're not," I said, shifting uncomfortably. "They'll train me and make the transition easier–"
"There's no guarantee you'll survive, Maisie!" Regina snapped. "Ever wonder why there's no record of werewolves transforming into Lycans? It's because it doesn't happen. I won't place all my eggs into the basket of men who have pointed out that you are a loose end they want to get rid of!"
"Mercer," Jenny commented. "I already hate him."
"What happened at the mess hall today proves that it's already begun. The clock is ticking, Maisie, and there's a time bomb inside you waiting to explode, waiting to kill you." Her eyes pierced mine. "Maybe this was an error, but Maisie, this is an impossible opportunity."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Right now you're a liability. A complication they're tolerating." She sat on the edge of the bed, leaning forward. "You need to change what you are to them. You need to become something they can't afford to let go of. This is how we save you!" Her eyes were suddenly bright. "Make them want you, Maisie. Not as a problem. Not as a loose end. This was the missing edge to our plans! We have to make the Lycans fall for you!"
Jenny sat up slowly. "Not to be a pessimist, but you're beginning to sound mad, Regina. The Lycans are forbidden territory. Having one of them fall in love with her is one thing, but four of them? Just how much coffee did you drink?"
Regina swung to face Jenny. "They chose her, Jennifer. In an entire hall of students, they chose her, even after she failed the assessment and was half beaten to death. They said it was charity, but charity is definitely not what made Quinlan try to jump your bones. And charity can't be why Soren gifted you a box of lingerie. Neither is it why Quinlan snarled at Cole when he tried to stop him from taking you–"
I was instantly on my feet. "He did what?!"