Chapter 1 A Cruel Dare

• Audrey
• Tonight was the night of the New Year’s Eve dance—and it was also the night that I was supposed to finally sleep with my boyfriend, Max. But as I looked around the crowded ballroom, I couldn’t seem to find him.
• I grabbed my skirt and looked everywhere for him, all the while praying that Linda wouldn’t find me tonight. Linda O’Malley: one of the most popular girls on campus… and my biggest bully. She targeted me just because I was the only human amongst an entire academy full of werewolves.
• She had tried to shave my head several times because I was born with a streak of silver hair, which is considered ominous to werewolves. I had begun dying it black ever since.
• Strangely, she wasn’t anywhere to be found tonight, either; which was odd considering that she always loved to be the center of attention. I was relieved, to say the least.
• Linda’s bullying had come to a head three months ago, when she was bullying me in the storeroom. Max had rushed in and interrupted her; that was how we met. He said it was love at first sight.
• He was my hero.
• “Your dress is so cute, Audrey.” I looked up at the sound of a familiar voice to see my best friend, Tina, swaying slightly in front of me with a glass in her hand. Her compliment made me blush. I had made my dress myself—as I often did with all my clothes.
• But this dress was special. To make my first time together with Max memorable, I had even made my own lingerie, which I was wearing beneath my dress.
• “Thanks, Tina,” I replied with a smile. “Have you seen Max, by the way?”
• Tina furrowed her brow, then shook her head. “No. I figured he was with you.”
• I frowned. The dance had started, and everyone was dancing with their partners. Meanwhile, I had just spent the past ten minutes hiding in the corner, texting Max to ask where he was. But he never replied.
• Tina, noticing my frustration, reached out to touch my arm. “Maybe he’s just in the bathroom,” she suggested. “Maybe he drank too much.”
• I opened my mouth to respond, but then shut it again with a sigh. I hoped that Tina was right, and that was all it was; Max had been growing a bit distant lately, but I had chalked it up to school getting to him.
• “Well, I need to use the bathroom,” Tina said, finishing the last of her drink. “We’ll see if we can find Max along the way.”
• “You’re the best, Tina.”
• “I know I am.”
• With a grin and a shake of my head, I took Tina’s arm and followed her out of the crowded ballroom. The air was less stifling out here in the quiet, dimly lit hallway, and I felt like I could breathe.
• But that all changed when we heard the sound of two familiar voices floating out of a nearby utility closet. Max and… Linda.
• “...only dating her because of that stupid dare.”
• “It’s gone on for so long now. How could you put up with her all this time?”
• “It was hard. But it’s almost over…”
• Tina’s hand tightened around mine. “Audrey—” she began, but I cut her off with a shake of my head and gestured for her to go to the bathroom without me. She pursed her lips for a moment, watching me worriedly, before she left.
• As I watched her go, my curled up into a tight fist around my skirt—so hard that I thought my nails might rip straight through the lace.
• Everyone at this academy hated me, everyone except for Tina. I had accepted it at this point.
• But not from Max. Not from the sweet boy who supposedly fell head over heels for me three months ago. I had thought that he was… different from the others. That someone had finally seen me for me and didn’t care that I was a human, or that I was a bookworm, or that I was a fashion addict.
• Apparently, I had been dead wrong.
• “I’d never truly be interested in someone like her,” Max’s voice rang out. “Honestly, I thought she was super smart, too; so I’m surprised she actually fell for it.”
• “Ah, well. I guess all those books she constantly has her nose in don’t teach her what men actually want.”
• My heart clenched in my chest, and at that moment, all I wanted to do was get away. Somewhere safe, somewhere secluded, anywhere but here.
• But I was too slow. Before I had a chance to run, the door suddenly creaked open the rest of the way. I whirled around, my heart pounding, to see Max standing in the doorway just as I suspected.
• His brown eyes widened into saucers the moment he saw my tear-streaked face. “Audrey!” he gasped. “What are you—”
• I didn’t give him a chance to finish. Pulling back my shoulders, I tilted my chin up at him in the most defiant pose I could muster.
• “We’re through,” I said.
• And before he could even come up with an answer, I spun on my heel, picked up my skirt, and ran away.
• Thank the Goddess it never came to that, I thought to myself wryly as I slipped into the Academy’s private bar. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I slept with him; likely he would tell everyone, use it against me in some way.
• Hastily wiping my tears away, I slid onto one of the barstools and ordered a drink—rum and coke. I didn’t like alcohol that much, but I needed it tonight.
• I sighed softly as I leaned on the bar, sniffling. A moment later, the bartender shoved my glass over to me. I took it with a muttered “Thanks”, and took a sip.
• My phone buzzed in my purse, and I slipped it out with a sigh. Multiple texts: some from Tina asking where I was, which I quickly replied to. The others, however, were from Max.
• “Audrey, it’s not what you think,” he pleaded. “Please, let’s just talk.”
• I shut off my phone with a huff and stuffed it back into my purse. Talk. Yeah, right.
• I had no interest in hearing more of his lies. All I wanted to do was take a deep gulp of the liquid in my cup, and I did exactly that.
• But I wasn’t sitting there for long, however, when I suddenly felt someone bump into me. Before I could steady myself, I lurched forward—and spilled my drink on the sleeve of a man sitting beside me.
• “Oh! I’m so sorry,” I breathed, momentarily forgetting my heartbreak. I quickly grabbed a nearby napkin and began dabbing at his jacket without even thinking twice about it. “Here, let me get that for you—”
• “Stop.”
• The man’s gruff voice, combined with the sudden sensation of his cool fingers around my wrist, left me too breathless to even speak.
• It seemed as though I didn’t need to. Because not even a moment after the man’s striking gray eyes met mine from beneath his shock of black hair, a voice rang out across the bar.
• “Audrey! There you are. What are you—”
• Max’s eyes narrowed as he stormed up to us, a look of jealousy and anger flashing through his features. Before I could even tell him to buzz off, Max was reaching for my wrist to yank me away from the stranger who he clearly thought was his replacement.
• But when Max met those gray eyes, he froze, his mouth hanging open.
• “S-Sir,” he stammered, taking a step back as he bowed his head in respect. “I didn’t know that was you.”