Adira(Flynn)
The universe, the moon goddess, or whatever supernatural force that was up there had to be playing pranks on me.
How?
I hurried down the hallway, ignoring the lazy eyes that came my way. I needed to find Carl, take back the envelope because if I had never exchanged it, my fate wouldn’t have landed me in this mess. This was like purposely delivering myself into the den of wolves and judging by my brief interaction with Miguel, he looked like he harbored murderous intent toward me.
I could feel it from the way my stomach tied in knots. From the way he looked at me with nothing but venom in his eyes.
Just how horrible was the real Flynn Hitchcock? Why didn’t his parents fill me in on how villainous their son was so everyone to fear and hate him so much?
My eyes lit up and a wave of relief surged through me when I spotted Carl trying to drag his own suitcase into his dorm room. A bolt of panic rushed through me and I took to my heels, weaving my way through the throng of bodies in the hallway.
There were collective ‘argh’ and ‘ugh’ sounds here and there, with the Alphas ready to pick a fight with whoever bumped into them. But the moment they discovered it was me, they cowered in fear.
Nice.
Just nice.
Carl glanced up, his eyes widening in surprise as they clashed with mine. I stopped right in front of him, pushing the strands of hair on my face back.
Carl’s eyes studied my face before he buried his face in his palm. “Alpha Flynn…” His voice was barely a whisper as he glanced around.
“Why are you running down the hallway in that manner? Alpha Flynn would never do that, everybody in the hallway would make a path for him to walk through. I thought I filled you in on this already” He heaved an exasperated sigh.
I ignored his words. “That doesn’t matter right now Carl, we have a problem!”
He raised a brow. “We?”
“Yes, that envelope…” My voice shook. “I am roommates with Miguel!”
His mouth parted in shock and he ducked his head, palm pressed over his mouth as he stifled a laugh.
Confusion tugged at me. Why was he laughing? What was funny about this situation?
He cleared his throat. “That sounds more like a ‘you’ problem. Not WE”
An exasperated groan slipped from my mouth as I tipped my head back. “Look, Carl, can you return the envelope to me and take yours…” I grabbed him by the wrist, trying to force the yellow envelope back into his grip.
Carl wriggled his hands free from mine, his eyes now brimming with concern. “Alpha Flynn, the code and the name on the envelope have been registered in the academy’s system. If the academy discovers that I am not staying in the assigned room, I would be expelled…” His head hung low in despair.
“It would simply put me in trouble”
I ran a hand through my hair. “So nothing could be done to change this?”
He raised his head. “Nothing,” he muttered.
Bitterness gnawed at my insides and if I could turn back the hands of time, I would have never exchanged the envelopes. What was I even thinking then?
“Also Alpha Flynn, you should stop acting close to me in public. We don’t want to arouse any form of suspicion…”
I cut in immediately. “I don’t care, you are the only friend I have here”
Carl opened his mouth to speak but no words came out before he finally heaved a sigh stemming from defeat. “I don’t know what to do with you, Alpha Flynn. Anyways, return to your room and remember to act confident. Irrespective of the enmity between Miguel and you, he wouldn’t dare harm you”
With those not-so-comforting words, I returned to the dormitory, sucking in a breath— deep enough to calm the nerves swilling in my stomach.
Confident that I had mustered enough courage, I pushed the door in as pairs of eyes settled on me immediately. But, that wasn’t the issue now.
The issue was that my eyes were fixed on something entirely different.
Miguel.
The moment I entered, the towel dropped from his waist, my eyes making a trail down his perfectly muscled ripped back. Snake tattoos inked on it— a perfect mixture with the beads of water attached to that tanned skin like a second skin.
My throat went dry, my eyes settling on the twin curves of his ass as a sudden heat pooled between my thighs. My fingers fluttered to my neck and in that moment, it felt like a different kind of heat was unleashed on me.
I was burning within.
As if he noticed my eyes on his ass, he froze midway through drying his hair with the towel, turning slightly. His hazel eyes darkened underneath the shadow of his towel and when he made a turn, facing me fully, my jaw dropped.
Inked tattoos ran from his chest to his—
A gasp slipped from my mouth, gaze landing on the half-erected c**k. My heart stopped, heat rising to my cheeks and a wave of dizziness washed over me.
“Are you some sort of a creep? Flynn. What are you doing here too” His deep voice snapped me out of my daze and if it weren’t for the fact that I was posing as Flynn, I would have melted at that voice.
I swallowed the invisible lump lodged at the base of my throat, gathered the strength inside of me, and fixed him with a stern gaze. “Roommates man, much to my displeasure…” I shut the door behind me.
“Since we are now roommates unfortunately, I will suggest that none of you here shove your naked bodies around in our faces. It surely makes some of us uncomfortable!” I forced out the words.
That was a lie.
Miguel scoffed. “You know I would always do the things you hate, Flynn Hitchcock” He pulled on a pair of black shorts while my eyes flitted to someone at the other end of the room, staring at me as a mischievous smile graced his lips.
Just how many enemies did Flynn have?
My eyes dropped to the name sticker on the wall. “Vernon Reese, young alpha of the Eclipsed Shield Moon pack”
Another one?
Then my eyes flickered to a boy seated on a bed, his knees pulled to his chest as he dipped his head like he was trying to avoid eye contact. With every step that I took to the bed, I could feel Miguel’s eyes following me with bad intent.
Murderous ones.
I slowly settled on my bed, pulling the duvet over my head until it was light out. Before the lights went off, I could feel Miguel’s eyes burning holes through the thick clothing.
The speaker in the room blared. “Contestants of the Crestfall Academy, the first trial commences tomorrow after the morning breakfast. Goodnight”
My heart thrummed hard in my chest as dread descended on me when Carl’s warning flashed through my mind. Carl had mentioned that on the night before the next trials, scary things would always happen like the weak being stabbed with a knife just before morning.
He had told me to keep a dagger close if I ever felt scared.
And the scary part of this was the person who set this ‘trample on the weak’ system was none other than Flynn— the Alpha I posed as.
All of a sudden, a scream of horror echoed through the still night, sweat breaking out on my skin as my fingers tightened around the hilt of the dagger. Then screams came from every corner, sending a shiver down my spine.
Tears welled in my eyes and just when the screams waned, the sound of footfalls approaching floated into my ears, stilling me in place.
I strained my ear to pick where the sound came from— from Vernon’s corner and—
Miguel!
It was over for me.
I didn’t believe in prayers but in that dreadful situation, I muttered words of prayer to the moon goddess as I felt two figures hovering around my bed. One single sound and they would sink their blades into my flesh.
After what seemed like eternity, I heard the sound of their receding steps and I breathed out in relief.
Slowly, it dawned on me that since I was a woman unfortunate to be Flynn’s replica, I needed to be careful. Like very careful.
Because if I weren’t, I could suffer the consequences of Alpha Flynn’s mistakes as it seemed like he had stepped on a lot of toes before his death.