Hekate’s Bride

The Dining Hall is noisy and filled with people holding trays and speaking into their gadgets. My stomach growls as the smell of chicken teases my nostrils.

I pass by a group of people and they laugh at me.

I know. I look like crap.

I skipped dinner last night, crying and punching the stupid mattress. Then I’d slept rather roughly.

I couldn’t find anything to comb my red hair with this morning and I have terrible bed hair. I lost my cosmetic bag at some point in the portal so my skin is dry like desert sand. My eyes are dark and haunted and my uniform doesn’t fit.

Worst first school day ever. Can it get any worse?

I follow the crowd and get in the line where I see the chicken being served. More funny looks are tossed in my direction, but I’m in a piss poor mood, and I don’t wish to speak to anyone. Not that they even want to speak to me either. Good.

I soon reach the head of the line and I extend my food tray to the lunch lady. Her face, while undeniably beautiful, is twisted into a perpetual sneer. Her hair is sealed in a white cap and she wears a pristine white uniform, which accentuates her curves and gives her an almost ethereal appearance. But her demeanor is anything but angelic.

“Where is your Star Badge?” Her words are laced with sarcasm and disdain.

Star Badge? What’s that?

I frown. “I’m new here.”

She raises her spatula and swats my forehead with it. “Get to the back of the line, wolf. Only star students receive special meals!”

I growl, rubbing my stinging forehead. “What does being a star student have to do with getting good food?”

She glances around, raising her hand in the air. “Sentinels! Get the wolf off my line!”

Someone grabs my arm and once again, I am hurled to the back of a different line by uniformed men and dumped beside a couple of people who look as lost as I do. I’m beginning to hate these sentinels. I think they hate me too.

At this rate, everyone here must hate me.

I hold out my tray in front of me, chanting a mantra to keep my angry wolf at bay. With every passing second in this place, I feel like I’m going to explode, shift and bite off some heads.

When it’s my turn, a murky grey liquid with clumps is deposited in my plate. It doesn’t smell terrible, but it looks like vomit.

I would throw this in the sink but I’ve not had anything to eat since I got here, and I have no doubt that I’ll need the energy for combat class.

Tired of fighting, I take the plate and stalk off, looking for a good enough place to seat. Cameras flash as I walk past and I make it a point of keeping my eyes glued to the ground as I walk. I may be angry, but I know better than to pick a fight I cannot win.

I keep repeating the mantra in my head, so focused on keeping my wolf at bay that I don’t notice the aura in front of me until I walk into him.

My tray slams into his chest and my plate topples forward, causing the liquid in the tray to pour on his shirt.

The entire hall falls silent and I have a vague sense of cameras flashing again. Don’t they have something else to do?

I look up from his soiled shirt slowly to find the darkest green eyes peering down at me with contempt. His moon-white hair spills down his shoulder, barely escaping the mess I’ve made on his white shirt that barely fit around his bulging muscles.

“Astrid.”

“Rune,” I say.

He looks at his shirt. “You ruined my shirt.”

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going next time?” I counter, inching around him to find a table to sit down. I don’t have a watch to tell what the time is, but I know it’ll soon be time for the first period.

But my path is blocked by another male who is nearly as buff as Rune. “Apologize.”

I scoff, turning to take the space on his right, but I’m blocked off by another buff male who repeats the word to me again. “Apologize.”

Looking Rune in the eye, I snarl, “Fuck off!”

Faster than I can see, the both males move. Hands are in my hair and my feet is kicked out from under me. I fall flat on my face, my lips landing on Rune’s boots and my food hits the ground.

I try rising but I am kept in place by the hands in my hair. I think someone’s foot is on my back.

“Let go!” I scream, trashing and jerking back to get the hand out of my hair, but it won’t move.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Apologize!” The male yells again and the foot on my back presses down hard, squashing my front into the tiled floor. Tears spring to my eyes.

The Chancellor had said hierarchy levels had no value in here, but somehow, the entire hall is watching me kiss Rune’s boots without a word. No one’s even trying to help me.

“Go to hell, Rune. You’re a bastard!” I cry out.

Rune crouches low and the grip on my hair loosens. I stare up at him and find him smirking. “Daddy isn’t here to save you anymore, Red.”

I hate it when he calls me that. My lips drawl back from my teeth in a fierce snarl and I feel my fangs elongate.

I’m losing control on my wolf. She’s just as angry as I am.

Normally, seeing my appearance shift should be enough to tell anyone off, but Rune only seems amused.

He pinches my chin, raising my gaze further and the muscles at my back groan from the stretch. I jerk back from his hold, but he catches my chin again, pressing it hard between his fingers. “I quite like seeing you this way. Sprawled at my feet as you should be.”

I bare my teeth at him. “Fucking bastard.”

His sensual cruel mouth curves into a smile as he lets go of my chin. “See you around.”

The pressure on my back is suddenly taken off and it is an effort to rise to my feet. My food is all over the floor and frankly, I’ve lost my appetite.

I don’t turn around to watch them leave. I run across the dining hall to find the nearest bathroom. I think I’m going to puke.