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Chapter 3

Ashley pov

As I stumble down the halls, I notice the posters covering the walls. “Enrollment day.”

“Shoot, such a great day to enter a place I wasn’t supposed to enter,” I mutter under my breath as I stop at one of the posters and read it.

There is nothing but praise about how great this place is, how many students have graduated and became big names in different industries. The more I read, the more I wonder why I haven’t heard about the same opportunities for girls.

“How about you enroll?” The sound of her voice startles me, but I manage to play off the initial shock.

“How about you warn me next time you decide to speak up?” I answer in my thoughts and glance around to ensure no one saw me nearly jumping out of my skin.

“How about you get used to the sound of my voice?” My wolf taunts me.

“How about..” I start but quickly stop myself. “This conversation will drag out with far more ‘how abouts’ than my mind is willing to process now, right?”

She chuckles. “Sure will.”

Rolling my eyes at the attitude, I return my focus to the poster and keep reading while Sam keeps taunting me about enrolling myself in this school. Which part of all boys school she didn’t understand again?

“Stop it, you could easily pass as a guy, especially with rocking that trendy hairstyle,” she tries to uplift my mood, but all her words do is add another reminder of everything I have lost. “Sorry,” she mutters and tries to back off.

“No,” I stop her. “It’s fine, really. I can’t say that I didn’t expect something like that from them, you know. They knew how to get under my skin and did that at every chance they got. It’s not my teeth that I lost, my hair will grow back eventually.”

Sam laughs. “That’s my girl. Now, about enrolling…” she trails off.

My eyebrows shoot up, nearly reaching my hairline. “You’re not joking?”

“I mean, again, you could pass as a guy and you’re excellent at killing any traces of pheromones on you. You’ve been hiding your scent for ages, so no one will even think of you as a woman. Also, clearly, this place is all money, no thoughts, and money - we have plenty of that. What better place to hide from those thugs and the future king himself if not here? I could bet my paws this is some kind of a boarding school, so this will be the last place they will look for you.”

As crazy as she sounds, she has a point. While those monsters took everything we used to have, my parents set up plenty of offshore bank accounts for me - for a rainy day, as they said. I couldn’t let anyone know about that money, especially since the attack happened because those barbarians wanted my patent’s wealth.

Initially, I planned to live wild and free, as the rogue they branded me to be - away from the werewolf territories and laws, but I suppose getting an education while I figure out what I want to do next wouldn’t hurt me.

Although hesitant, I glance at the building map and mutter, “here goes nothing,” as my eyes scan for the headmaster’s office.

“You’re doing the right thing. I have a feeling this is a start of something beautiful,” Sam giggles and blocks me out before I can answer.

She’s weak. So am I, but she’s been suffering way more. She didn’t get the runs, the freedom she needed and Sam took the majority of the pain from being rejected, so I don’t blame her for needing time to heal.

It takes me a good while to locate the office and finally be seen by the headmaster. Even more time is wasted inside the office as I spin a tale about why I don’t have any documents and school papers on me, but once I offer extra money to the man to ‘help me out’ he creates a personal file right in front of me.

Once done, he stands up and reaches a hand over his desk which I accept and shake. “Welcome aboard, Mister Kingston, we at the Darkwoods Academy hope you will find your stay here enjoyable.”

“Thank you,” I mutter and offer him a shy smile. My weak attempts to deepen my voice hurts my vocal cords, but this price is one I’m willing to pay.

The headmaster walks me out of his office, clearly excited to make a few extra bucks and points me towards a woman, standing in the hall, impatiently tapping her foot against the floor.

“This is Miss Florence, she will hand you the maps of the main building and the dormitories. She will also assign a room for you.” He explains.

I nod my head like a fool, thank him again and approach the annoyed woman. Once she notices me, she lets out a too-loud-to-be-true sigh and orders me to follow her inside her office.

Unlike the headmaster, she isn’t the most pleasant person to be around. In fact, she acts like a drill sergeant as she prints the maps and taps a few keys on her computer to find a room she can assign me to.

When her eyes leave the computer screen and focus on me again, she raises an eyebrow. “Are you planning to wear.. that for the entire school year?” There’s a hint of distrain in her voice, which I ignore.

Shaking my head, I quickly explain myself with another lie. “No, Miss. The headmaster told me we are supposed to wear school uniforms and I plan to purchase one before the classes start. I walk around like this for safety purposes.”

My explanation intrigues her, that much I can tell as the look on her face shifts a little. “Safety purposes?” She repeats my words.

“Let’s say the wealth of the family comes with its challenges and I rather keep it secret. A dangerous world out there, you know,” I chuckle.

“Yes, yes,” she joins in with a quick giggle, a complete opposite to the stone-faced facade from earlier. It looks like this word really is a complete opposite to one I’ve known so far. The world I left was ruled by ranks while this one is ruled by money. Weird.

“Well, Mister Kingston, let me be one of the first who welcomes you aboard and wishes you nothing but success in our school,” she flashes me a smile and hands me some more paperwork. “By all means, feel free to come by and seek me out whenever you have a problem.” Her hand grabs mine and squeezes it a little too tight, “any problem,” she emphasizes.

I thank her and hurry out of her office before I manage to vomit in my mouth. This experience is one I must add to the list of weird things that have happened to me.

As quick as I can, I start my way through the building and towards the dormitories. Some things don’t change even in a completely new environment - so many guys toss snide remarks at me as I walk past. Most of them love to point out how small, fail and petite I am, like “a real girl”.

Shivers run down my spine as I try to push myself to walk faster. I almost succeed to get away from the ridicule and stupids in my way. Almost.

In the hall that leads to the room I’m supposed to live in, I run into a bunch of butt naked guys, shoving each other around, seconds from throwing fists at one another.

Noticing my presence, one of them looks my way and huffs. “Since when Darkwoods accepts middle genders, lads?” He speaks over the commotion, drawing more attention to me.

I don’t get the chance to fear the possibility when he steps closer and pushes me, “how about you join in and show us all how much of a man you are, fresh meat? Don’t be shy, we don’t hit little girls..hard.”

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