Chapter 11 Rules?

SERAPHINA

“Why don’t you shift into your wolf?”

+8 Pearls

For a beat, my limbs paralyzed. How did he know I had not shifted even once? Had he been watching me? First he bhad /bbalready /bnoticed that I had been hiding my scent and now he found out I was avoiding shifting. My bthroat /bsqueezed shut. He bhad /bbeen suspicious of me. Panic red hot in my chest, but I forced my face binto /bba /bbmask /bof defiance.

“I don’t need to bshift /bto take you down,” I bit out, jerking my wrist free and stepping back.

His gaze narrowed, like he could see bstraight /bthrough the bravado to the storm beneath. The blood on his skin gleamed in the pale light, the stench of bdeath /bband /bbearth /bclinging to him like ba /bsecond skin.

“You sure about that, little wolf?” His voice was silk over steel, a threat hidden behind something dangerously bclose /bto

amusement.

I snorted, trying to ignore the chill trickle down my spine. “Capable enough to win without it.” I could not let him get me.

His lips twitched binto /ba smirk, and I hated the way my pulse jumped at the sight. “I really want to see how it works…”

I frowned, taking a step back ready to fight him as he seemed to be battacking /bme bbut /bba /bblur of motion to bmy /bleft made the bhairs /bon bthe /bback of my bneck /brise.

A massive bwolf/b, thick as a boulder and dark as storm clouds, burst through the trees.

Not just anypetitor. One of the most ruthless bbastards /bAlpha in the Academy.

Phina recognized his scent and aura, “He was with Jordan the other day!”

bAnd /bshe was absolutely correct because his blood–red eyes locked straight onto me.

No hesitation.

No challenge.

Just a predator zeroed in on his target.

Me

I secretly gritted my teeth, witnessing revenge in his eyes. Revenge bfor /bJordan being kicked out of the bacademy /bbut if he only knew his friend had already been killed and eaten by Dante.

However I didn’t bhave /btime to think. His timing was horrible. bRonan /bwas also here. bNow /bI had to fight two bAlphas /bbat /bonce t that slowed me from crossing the finish line.

The wolf lunged. I ducked low, feeling his ws graze my shoulder, the bforce /bbof /bhis bleap /bbrattling /bmy bones. I rolled, grabbing a jagged branch, and rammed it into his nk. Not deep enough to bkill /bbut enough to bmake /bhim stumble.

I was on my feet in seconds but ready to counter another battack /bbfrom /bbRonan /bwherever it wasing from but then I realised he was not there.

My pulse thundered

The air crackled, and I felt the weight of a gaze 1 whipped bmy /bhead up

There he was Perched on a rocky ledge babove/b, bthe /bmoonlight cutting shadows across bhis /bface. His bexpression /bbwas /bunreadable.

Why the hell wasn’t he attacking? Was I not his bprey/b? Was he not the hunter? Why bwaste /btime here, why not just cross the Inishing line?!

The wolf snarled behind me in rage. I turned baround /bat lightning speed. He lunged again, jaws snapping, but I dodged left, bmming /bmy elbow into his snout andnding a hard bkick /bto bhis /bbribs/bb. /bI felt the bcrack /bbthrough /bmy boot

Chapter 11 Rules?

But then Phina suddenly froze bin /bmy mind when we both felt it.

“More are closing in!” she growled in my mind.

I could feel the others. Predators circling.

“Why so many together?” Breathing hard. I murmured to myself.

Ronan’s amusing voice came. “Apparently this trial is no longer one on one.b” /b

+8 Pearls

My muscles tensed, understanding the bother /bwolves were actually aligning, others bbreaking /branks. Packs forming out of necessity, old grudges forgotten in the face of survival.

It wasn’t strength balone /banymore.

It was strategy, bn /band simple.

They are going against the rules. Are they not afraid of being bkicked /bour of the academy?” After seeing what happened to Jordan, how could they dare to do something like this?,

“Rules?” Ronan chuckled. “There are no such things as rules in this Academy. Rules are something that are only used when Alpha instructors bare /bwatching. Here in this cursed forest where not everyone bwill /bget out alive, no one is watching. No one cares. Everyone is just…he paused and looked at bme /bup and down. “…huntingb,/b”

My body reacted in a strange way to the way he looked at me.

I cursed under my breath.

Until Ronan moved towards me without warning.

I grew alert, ready to fight. So it bwas /bfinallying. But suddenly he turned his direction slightly, intercepting a wolf that bhad /bbeen creeping toward my blindside. I turned in surprise. How had Phina not sensed this wolf? Ronan’s bws /btore through the wolf like paper, dropping him before the wolf even had a chance to yelp.

I watched Ronan’s actions while holding my breath.

For a fraction of a second, our eyes met.

Not the blook /bof an ally.”

Not quite the blook /bof a killer either.

Something darker,

Possession.

Then he started walking towards me. The look in his eyes bwas /bbnot /bmurderous but more dangerous than this. His intentions towards me screamed danger, not death. From the corner of my eye I saw a wolf leap out of the darkness. Ronan reacted towards his wolf, bthat /bwas my chance.

I bolted deeper binto /bthe woods, letting bhim /btake care of that bwolf/b. I did not bhave /btime bfor /bbhis /bbintentions /bor bfights/b. I had to cross the fish line.

My pulse pounding in my ears, branches bwhipping /bbat /bmy face. I didn’t care. Didn’t dare look back.

bBut /bI could feel Ronan

Not chang

But there

His presence bwas /bsharp in iny veins, blike /ba second heartbeat.

And I knew my escape had passed lum off.

Dad he expect that I would bstand /baround and wait for him to fish bthat /bw

wolf so that he could attack me next!

I kept running, dodging shapes in the mist, the sounds of starIS JULI HUWIS Sausing me

bbut /bI forced myself to keep moving.

This bwasn’t /bsurvival anymore. It was endurance.

A ruthless brace /bto see who would oust the others.

But then bwhat /bcame into bview /bwas not the finish line like I had been expecting. It was a structure rising out of the mist like a ghost.

Ruins.

“Shit! What is this ce?” I stopped dead in my tracks.

There were ancient stone walls half–copsed, vines curling over broken archways, the bones of some long–forgotten ce. My stomach twisted. “I followed the map, so how did I get lost and ended up here?”

I stumbled toward it, slipping inside the shattered remnants of what had once been a temple, or a shrine. Symbols I didn’t recognize were carved into the walls, but the air was bthick /bwith some mysterious power that felt a little scary.

That’s when I sensed someone’s presence other than mine.

“We are not alone,” Phina whispered in my mind.

A shadow shifted to my left.

I spun, heart pounding.

What was it?

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