On Heat for The Cursed Alpha

Chapter One

Lola’s POV

“Do you think Jack’s death was the highest and most intense romantic gesture known in history or was it totally tragic?”

The voice of my teacher booms from the front of the class, his perpetual inquisitive gaze watching our faces. It is my favorite class. Classical Art. Yet, I cannot seem to concentrate.

My eyes flicker to the empty seat next to me. Callen loves this class too. He has never skipped. Not once. Yet, I haven’t seen him today.

Reaching for my phone, I scroll through our chat, half of me expecting to see a message with his face on it, explaining his absence today. But it is as empty as it was this morning.

“Lola.”

My head jerks in the teacher’s direction and I notice everyone in the class is watching me. Senior year. The bane to my existence.

“Now that I have finally managed to get you off your phone, can you please tell the class what you think about the movie, The Titanic, and how you will describe Jack’s death?”

I don’t think about it. “Rose killed him,” I blurt. “She could have done better by going with her family when she was asked to. Jack wouldn’t have had to go out of his way to protect her, and she...”

“Miss Veyne?”

“I think love kills,” I conclude, then look back at Callen’s desk. “The selfish, possessive kind of love.”

The bell rings in that moment, saving me from all the curious stares still aimed in my direction. I pick my backpack off the floor and walk out through the doors before anyone else. I have a literature class next, but I need to go see Callen.

I have never ditched classes before, not even during heat when the school permits our kind to be away. But today, I find myself walking out the doors and into the street.

Callen told me last night that he wasn’t feeling too well. It has to be the reason he wasn’t in today. My boyfriend may be everything, but taking care of himself when ill is the one thing he sucks at.

And he detests asking for help.

Excitement courses through me at the thought of the smile that will grace his face when he sees me walking into his house. Making a quick stop by a diner, I grab a bowl of soup, along with his favorite drink and then another stop to get a copy of The Titanic.

Callen loves talking movies with me, so I am sure this will make him feel better.

With the key I have never used, handed over to me on our second year anniversary, I make my way into the house, dumping my backpack on his couch before heading upstairs.

I walk on my toes, careful not to wake him up just in case he is asleep. His parents died a while ago at the hands of a rogue, leaving him more wealth than he knows what to do with, and hence, his home is a work of art.

My ears are the first to pick it when I stop at his room door. They perk up at the oddly familiar sound, the grunts weaving into each other like a piece of classical music. The moans floating in the air and the soft sighs that can only go with sheets and matrasses.

With shaky hands and a disbelieving heart, I push the door open slowly. The squeaking halts and the moaning dies.

But it doesn’t take away the scene playing out before me.

Callen, my boyfriend. And Saphira, my best friend.

My eyes fall wide open, just as the bags in my hands fall to the ground.

“Lola!” Callen gasps, getting off her immediately. Saphira pulls herself up, leaning into the head board and staring at me with amusement in her eyes. Her hair looks like a bird’s nest and the mere thought of how it got that way makes fury and hurt lick through me.

“How did you get in here?”

I scoff disbelievingly. “Really, Callen?” I mutter, finally getting my tongue to work. “I meet you cheating on me with my friend and what you ask is how I got in.”

“You do not have a key,” he maintains, pulling the sheets over his naked frame. “Did you steal it? Lola, I told you…”

“I didn’t steal your bloody key!” Something snaps in me as I yell with fury, my voice bouncing across the walls. “You handed it over to me.”

“Well, that was obviously a mistake,” Saphira drawls, shaking her head. She plants her perfectly manicured nails on Callen and uses that tone I laugh at each time she is on heat and needs an equally ravenous wolf to mate with her.

“I keep wondering why he has been keeping you around.”

“Saphira.” My voice breaks. “You are my best friend.”

“I am,” she shrugs. “But you don’t get to pin this on me. You made all the mistakes. You didn’t…” she stops, then sighs. Her perfect legs get out from under the sheet and she makes her way over to me, not minding her nudity.

“Honey,” my best friend starts in such a condescending tone. “I warned you. You can’t blame me for this, and neither can you blame poor Callen. He tried waiting for you. He tried pleading with you, but you were just so adamant about keeping your virginity and not mating with him, even during heat.”

“Is this about that?” I whisper. Nothing makes sense right now.

Absolutely nothing.

“Callen…” I turn to him. “We were supposed to do this after our mating ceremony. You said you would wait till we were done with senior year. What happened to that?”

Saphira chuckles beside me. “You are so naïve, Lola.

Callen is only a man. Anyone in his situation would have done the same. You think life is all about the dark and uncommon opinions you have about books and movies, but wake up girl.”

My head hurts and I lift my hands to wipe my face, not knowing what else to do. A certain heat starts in the pit of my stomach, just as my boyfriend of over two years scoots to the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry, Lola, but we…we are not working out. I know I am your mate and all, but I have to…”

“Are you rejecting me, Callen?”

Saphira strides over to him and plants herself possessively by his side. “You have to agree that he deserves someone more…willing.”

“Saphira!”

“I, Callen,” he starts in an oddly serious tone. “Reject you, Lola Vayne as my mate. You are free to be whoever you want to be now.”

All hell breaks loose inside me suddenly. The heat grows stronger, climbing my body. I feel it travel to my hands, fierce and hot.

And just then, it licks up my fingers, and a ball of red flame curves in the centre of my palm. A scream travels through my throat just as I push back out through the doors.

My feet hit the landing of the stairs and I topple before I can stop it. The last thing I see before darkness swallows is Saphira, standing above me, a smug look on her face.