The ghost of Shadowvale

Chapter 004

The Tyrants Strike

Becks was practically vibrating with impatience. She had called Biden several times, but every single call had gone straight to voicemail. She kept leaning over the front counter of Sips and Drinks, stretching her neck to peer through the glass doorway, hoping for any sign of his flashy sports car.

Nyx, on the other hand, was stuck dealing with an incredibly difficult elderly customer who kept changing her coffee order. Nyx could see how anxious Becks was getting, yet she also knew Becks would never just leave and go to her dance class without him. Finally, after the old lady paid and waddled away, Nyx wiped her hands on her apron and turned to her friend.

"Are you really going to keep waiting for him?" Nyx asked gently.

"He texted me a few minutes ago saying he is busy with something and is on his way," Becks said defensively, her eyes glued to her glowing phone screen.

"I replied, but he hasn’t responded yet. Maybe he is driving. You know how traffic can be in Vale sometimes."

'Sometimes, I feel like taking control of your arm and giving Becks a reset slap for making silly excuses for that fool,' Leo muttered viciously in the back of Nyx’s mind.

"Can't you just go to your dance class and text him to pick you up there?" Nyx suggested, trying to keep her tone neutral.

"He knows the venue, right? Instead of you standing around waiting for that jer—I mean, for him."

Nyx caught herself just in time. She was about to roast Biden completely, but she knew better. There had been a day when Nyx tried to call him out on his toxic behavior, and Becks had angrily shut her down. Since then, Nyx tried to stay as far away from their messy relationship as possible.

"Let me wait a little longer. He’s just busy, that is all. He never ignores my messages," Becks said confidently, though her voice wavered.

Nyx sighed softly. She knew full well Becks would stand there until midnight if she had to.

'Busy with what, motherfucker? It has been over an hour!' Leo lamented internally, her wolf instincts completely rejecting the weak male. 'That jerk is probably busy with another woman. Wisen up, Becks!'

"Come to think of it," Becks said suddenly, pointing a manicured finger toward the window. "Why is that girl standing in front of Crescent? She is wearing your school uniform, Nyx."

Nyx looked out the window. Between the chaos of her shift and dealing with the customers, she had momentarily forgotten about the ash-colored G-Wagon parked across the street. It had been over an hour since Mr. Creed had looked at her through the glass.

Nyx narrowed her eyes, stepping closer to the window to get a better view. Standing right beside the driver's side door of the G-Wagon was a teenage girl. She was wearing the Shadowvale College uniform, but she had customized it to look incredibly expensive. A designer leather bag hung from her shoulder, and she wore custom heels instead of the standard school shoes.

"She looks like an entitled, pretentious princess," Nyx murmured.

"Do you know her?" Becks asked, leaning in beside Nyx.

"No," Nyx said, shaking her head.

"You go to the same elite school! How do you not know her?" Becks pressed, always eager for some hot gossip.

"I literally just started today, Becks. How do you expect me to know everyone in a single day?" Nyx shot back, spreading her arms in exasperation.

"Huh. That is true," Becks conceded, tapping her chin. She glanced down at her phone again, hoping for a text, but the screen was dark. "Oh man! Look at the guy walking toward her. He has such a fierce, dangerous look. He definitely looks like he could break the bones of any man on this street!"

'Creed!' Leo whispered darkly. It was the second time Leo had called him by his name so intimately, as if the wolf recognized him on a primal level.

Nyx quickly looked up. Mr. Creed had just stepped back out of the restaurant, adjusting a pair of sleek, dark sunglasses over his eyes. As he walked toward the G-Wagon, the girl beside his car immediately perked up, clutching her designer bag nervously.

Even from across the street, Nyx could sense the heavy, suffocating tension between them. As Mr. Creed approached, the girl reached out, trying to place a delicate hand on his chest.

Mr. Creed didn't even slow down. He swiftly and coldly swatted her hand away. The girl persisted, stepping into his path and speaking frantically, but Creed simply raised a single finger, pointing it directly at her face in a strict, silent warning to back off.

'Girl, this dominant male obviously does not want you,' Leo said gleefully, thoroughly enjoying the brutal rejection playing out on the sidewalk. 'He is mine! Mine alone!'

Mr. Creed eventually had to use his broad shoulder to physically push the girl aside to reach his car door. He climbed into the driver's seat and peeled away from the curb recklessly, the heavy tires screeching against the asphalt and barely missing her designer shoes.

Frustrated and humiliated, the girl stomped her feet on the pavement. In a fit of childish rage, she flung her expensive leather bag onto the dirty ground and stormed off down the sidewalk.

'Aww, princess,' Leo mocked maliciously. 'Should I walk you down the aisle so you can cry about it?'

Nyx smirked but remained silent. A moment later, she noticed a man in a black suit standing beside a sleek Lexus RX nearby. As the angry girl stormed past him, she purposely bumped her shoulder hard against his chest. The man didn’t react or complain. Instead, he simply bowed his head, quickly ran over to retrieve her abandoned designer bag from the dirt, and opened the back door of the Lexus for her.

'You were totally right about one thing, X. These rich folks are f*****g rude,' Leo yelled inside Nyx’s head, her canine teeth bared in anger. 'Who the hell does she think she is? A governor? A royal princess treating her driver like trash?'

"Tone it down, you are giving me a migraine," Nyx scolded her wolf. "Save your anger. She isn't even here to fight."

'Oh, I am definitely going to find her tomorrow and crush her,' Leo vowed, a low, rumbling growl echoing in Nyx’s mind.

"No, no, no, Leo. I am not getting into a physical fight with some rich snob on my first week of school," Nyx cautioned firmly.

'This little princess is already in for a dirty fight with me,'Leo declared, ignoring Nyx’s logic. 'She is stepping on our territory. And when I fight... I fight dirty.'

"Shut the f**k up and let me work. Please," Nyx snapped with absolute authority.

Leo immediately fell dead silent. The wolf knew better than to test Nyx’s ultimate patience. Once, years ago, Nyx had completely shut her out, trapping the wolf in a dark, silent mental prison for nearly a year. It was a punishment Leo was absolutely terrified of repeating.

Suddenly, a deafening noise shattered the quiet street.

“PUNM! PUNMMMM!”

A bright yellow Lamborghini pulled up to the curb, its horn blaring loudly alongside deafening, obnoxious rap music. Even a deaf person living in the Howling Hills would have felt the vibrations from the bass.

"Bye, love!" Becks squealed happily, completely forgetting she had been waiting for over an hour. She grabbed her purse and ran out the door toward Biden’s car, leaving Nyx alone to finish the shift.

The Next Morning

The heavy, oppressive fog of the Howling Hills clung to the windows of Shadowvale College as Nyx walked through the main corridors. The grand, gothic architecture felt less like a school today and more like a beautifully decorated prison.

Nyx kept her head down, clutching her backpack straps tightly as she navigated the maze of students. The whispering had already started. Everywhere she walked, groups of students stopped talking, their eyes tracking her every move. She could hear the name Freya falling from their lips like a cursed spell.

She turned the corner to the B-Wing, heading straight for her locker. But as she approached, her footsteps slowed to a halt.

Her locker had been completely defaced.

Thick, dripping red paint had been smeared across the metal door. Written in jagged, aggressive letters were the words: GO BACK TO THE GRAVE.

But that wasn't the worst part. Taped to the center of the door was a perfectly preserved, dried black rose—the kind of flower you leave on a tombstone.

Nyx’s stomach dropped. Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out to pull the dead flower off the metal. Before her fingers could even touch the petals, a sharp, mocking voice echoed down the hallway.

"Aw. Look at the little ghost. Does she miss her coffin?"

Nyx slowly turned around.

Standing a few feet away was a tight-knit clique of four students—the "Tyrants" Aiden had warned her about. And standing right in the center, acting as the undisputed leader of the pack, was the exact same girl from the street yesterday. The girl Mr. Creed had rejected.

Up close, the girl's custom uniform looked even more ridiculously expensive. She crossed her arms over her chest, staring Nyx up and down with a look of pure, unadulterated disgust.

"I don't know what sick game the administration is playing by bringing a lookalike here," the girl sneered, stepping into Nyx’s personal space. Her expensive perfume smelled like vanilla and malice.

"But let me make one thing perfectly clear, fake Freya. You don't belong here. And if you think you can just waltz in and steal her life, her seat, or her people... we will make sure you end up exactly where she did."

'Let me out,' Leo roared in Nyx's mind, a feral, violent urge washing over her body. 'Let me rip her throat out right now!'

Nyx clenched her fists at her sides, her fingernails biting into her palms. She refused to show fear, but she was entirely surrounded. The hallway had completely cleared out; the other students were too terrified to intervene.

"I don't know who you are," Nyx said, keeping her voice dangerously calm and low. "But you need to back off."

The girl laughed—a high, cruel sound. She raised her hand, fully intending to shove Nyx hard against the blood-red painted locker.

But before the girl's hand could make contact, a deep, terrifyingly cold voice echoed through the empty corridor.

"Is there a problem here, Ms. Sterling?"

The entire clique froze in absolute terror. The girl's hand dropped instantly to her side.

Nyx looked past the bullies. Standing at the end of the hallway, shrouded in the shadows of the morning light, was Mr. Creed. His hazel eyes were locked entirely on Nyx, burning with a dark, furious possessiveness that made the air in her lungs evaporate.

He wasn't looking at the bullies. He was looking at his prey.