T W E N T Y

Nova 🌙

He looked at me, shocked into stunned silence.

"Now come on" I dragged him to our assigned station "The faster we get this over with, the faster I can learn some things about my new friend."

Our temporary teacher, Nikos perked up at our approach, sending a wide grin my way.

I couldn't help the small blush that spread across my cheeks.

Because while I didn't want to get involved with someone at this school, especially at a time like this, I couldn't deny that he was handsome.

Nikos was considered an unconventional type of handsome, the flirty grin he wore making my blush deepen just a little bit more.

Charlie flinched from beside me, his eyes glancing over to where Atlas was glaring at us from the inside.

"Okay students" Nikos clapped his hand, motioning for us to follow him onto the mat "In this station, you'll be learning the art of redirection."

"Redirection?" Charlie question, his nose crinkling "What's that?"

"Good question" Nikos smiled "Redirection is when you counter your opponent's technique and use it against them."

He eyes slid to mine "Do you mind if I use you for an example?"

I nodded and his smiled widen even more as he moved over to where I stood, his hands gripping my hips in a way that had me flushing as an uncomfortable feeling started in the pit of my stomach.

It was a dull and unpleasant feeling, making my body want to recoil away from his touch.

A thunderous growl sounded from behind us, making everyone's eyes shifting towards the grumpy ass Alpha locked up in the cage behind me.

My eyes met his and I was startled when I saw an almost animalistic and brutal look in his eyes.

Eyes that somehow seemed to freaking gleam even more golden than before.

Coach scowled before stomping over to where the cages were located and typing something into the key pad.

Suddenly, the electrical fence was powered down a second before three panels shot down from the top of the cage, encasing it in what looked like thick ass glass.

Atlas pounded on the door, snarling something no one could hear.

"Back to what you were doing!" Coach barked at us "Don't mind him!"

While everyone returned to their exercises, I was hesitant to turn my attention away from a very pissed off looking Atlas.

My attention was redirected when Nikos placed his hands on my hips once again.

"Back to what I was saying" he said, forcing me to face Charlie "Charlie, if you will, please attack us."

"What?"Charlie raised a polished eyebrow "You want me to attack the last living Lupine Heir?"

Nikos laughed "Trust me, she won't get hurt."

"How sure are you of your techniques?" Charlie questioned seriously "Because if I so much as leave a tiny scratch on her, I'll have nearly a million wolves coming for my heads...and that doesn't even include my very pissed off Alpha Heir that's right behind me."

He hitched his finger behind him and I didn't even have to look over to where Atlas stood to know that he was shooting us a scathing look.

Nikos didn't even bat an eyelash "You won't hurt her. I promise."

Even though Charlie still looked unsure at his words, he lunged hesitantly towards me.

Nikos' grip on my hips tightened as he did some kind of maneuver that had me moving at a dizzying speed.

Charlie stumbled slightly before righting himself, turning towards us with a surprise look in his eyes.

"How did you do that?"

"Redirection" Nikos grinned, releasing his grip on my hip and taking a step back "Like I mentioned, is a particular skill we use in order to gain the upper hand on our opponent."

"When do we use it?" I questioned "Because from where I stood, he had to get pretty close before we even moved."

"Good question Nova" Nikos sent another flirty smile my way "The downfall of this particular move would have to be the proximity in which your opponent must be."

"What's the proximity?"

"About five feet and a small reaction time" Nikos said "And about a ten second window for you to decide if you want to use this move or not."

"Why so small?" I asked, ignoring Charlie's snicker from behind me.

"Because you have to decide if it's the best course of action to use on the particular opponent in front of you" he said "And while this move works on a majority of those who try to attack us, there is a small percentage of people in which it doesn't work on."

"So there's no guarantee that this move will work when we need it?"

He shook his head "Guarantees aren't something we consider in our world."

"Then what do you do in case this doesn't work on someone?"

"You use anything you can in order to survive."

The moment his hands moved to gripped my hips, presumably to go through the move again, was the moment all hell broke loose.

The shattering of glass was the last thing I heard...

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Atlas

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Phoenix bitched at me from his perch on Headmaster Cortez's Desk "You nearly killed one of the Lupine shifters and injured a shit load of our own Pack Members. And, according to my Third, Nikos Alexandris was fucked up so badly, he had to be shipped out to a specialty shifter medical facility two hours away."

"He should have never touched her then" I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest "What was I supposed to do? He was pawing at her like she was his. I couldn't just stand there and not do something."

Phoenix rolled his eyes, scoffing at my words.

"Both of his arms and legs were broken" Kass frowned as he scanned the incident report that Coach filled out after he pried me off of that little shit's body "Nearly torn from his body and ripped out of their respective sockets."

"You're an Heir for gods sake" Phoenix said, pinching the bridge of his nose "You can't be acting like this."

"Just because I'm an heir doesn't mean I don't have some kind of emotions" I glared at him "Didn't those alien leaders of yours teach you about them before they left you here to enact their plan of world domination?"

Kass snorted at my words, covering it up with a forced cough.

The glare Phoenix shot me would have shaken a lesser man.

"We both know that, that isn't true Atlas" Phoenix said, ignoring my dig "We all know how much control you have. You talk about what marvelous fucking control you have every chance you get."

"I don't think you understand me Phoenix" I frowned at him, sitting up in my chair "I was in control of everything I did."

"What?"

"The moment that motherfucker placed his filthy hands on her, was the moment I was done. I wanted him dead and I didn't care what I had to do in order to accomplish that" I explained with a shrug "I was in full control of my actions. I wanted to end him."

Phoenix's eyes widened comically as Kassian shot me a surprised look.

I wasn't the least bit sad or disappointed at my decision to fuck that asshole up, in fact, the only emotion I felt was joy when I saw his face was unrecognizable.

The moment he touched her was the moment I decided that he needed to die...or at the very least...suffer for his capital offense.

"Question is...what made him act that?" Kass questioned from his perched "Because from where I'm standing, the answer's pretty clear."

Phoenix's shot him a confused look as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What does that mean?"

"The constant staring, the tracking of her movements, the possessive nature" Kassian snapped "I didn't know I had to fucking spell it out for you too."

"Spell what out?"

"No..." Phoenix whispered "That's not possible..."

"Is Nova your Mate dumbass?" Kass growled.

My eyes widened as I flew out of my chair like my ass was on fire "WHAT? NO!"

"How do you know you're not?"

"Because that would be pretty fucking hard to miss, don't you think?" I snarled "I would have known if she was my mate the moment we met."

"No you wouldn't" Phoenix said "Because Nova isn't twenty-one and won't be for another two and a half years."

"Why does that matter?" I barked "Cal was eighteen when he found out Aurora was his Mate."

"Because unlike our Packs, the Lupines and the Lykos have the long standing tradition of finding their Mate the moment they hit Twenty-one" Phoenix crossed his arms over his chest "The Mating signs won't reveal themselves until the month before her twenty-first birthday."

Kassian nodded.

"Why do you think my parents are waiting until I graduate to announce my betrothed?" he said "They wanted to at least give me a year of trying to find my own Mate, if I have one, before they force me to shackle myself up to some power hungry stranger for the greater good of my Pack."

He winced, shooting a sympathetic look my way "Sorry."

"This doesn't make any sense" I shook my head "How is it possible for me to be Mated to Nova? Heirs aren't supposed to be mated to others Heirs."

"That doesn't mean they can't be" Phoenix grumbled "It's just...abnormally unusual."

"How unusual?" I asked hesitantly.

"Like once in a lifetime" Kass said sarcastically "Considering she's been the only female Heir born since the beginning of time."

"Enough" Phoenix redirected our attention "We don't even know for sure if she's your Mate."

"But if you look at it Phoenix," I said "It kind of makes sense. I am protective of her and I do find her more interesting than I've ever found anyone else. I...we...There's a connection there."

"Well shit..." Kass mumbled "I feel a connection too."

Phoenix's head snapped around so fast, it was nearly comical.

"What?!"

Kassian flushed "I'm not going to deny that there's definitely a spark there."

"Since fucking when?!" We both shouted

Kass avoided our narrowed gazes.

"Uh, let's see..." he put a finger on his chin "I guess since the moment we've met."

My mouth dropped open.

"How is this possible Mr. Smarty Pants?" My eyes slid to Phoenix's "Whose her real Mate?"

"I...I don't know" Phoenix murmured "I've never heard of someone having two Mates at once."