Aria
After my run in with Pickle and his pack, I ran back up to my room and quickly showered and changed. Thankfully the uniform isn’t as stripper chic as I had first thought but it’s still pretty ridiculous. I’m twenty for god’s sake. I don’t need this in my life right now. I just made it to the afternoon class before the bell went and slipped into a desk conveniently in the middle of my three guys. I had Liam to the left, Kyle to the right and Sykes was stationed in front of me. Liam slipped a sandwich onto the desk for me and when I looked up at the teacher they just smiled and nodded at me to go ahead. Apparently, they knew that I had been in a meeting with the headmaster whilst everyone else was eating. She walked over to my desk as I started eating and placed a fat textbook in front of me.
“Good afternoon Aria, I am Professor Pax. You’ve only missed a few lessons but you will probably want to read this book to help with the background knowledge that the others may already have.” She smiled gently at me. I decided straight away that I liked her. She was tall, slim and had a gentle smile that made you instantly trust her. I had no idea what her race was. I wasn’t even sure if you could tell just by looking at someone. That should probably be one of the questions that I ask the guys before I embarrass myself. “If you have any questions just let me know and I can always set aside some time to tutor you through some of the basic information that you may be missing.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate that. I’ll give this a go first and then let you know.” I said pointing towards the book which she had given to me. If was about two inches thick with a black hardbound cover. The only writing on it were embossed gold letters reading “Angelic History.”
Professor Pax walked back to the front of the class and took a seat on the edge of her desk facing everyone. “Right class, we left off discussing the disappearance of the Angels during the Galvinae Wars and the various theories which have revolved around this. If you could open up your textbooks to page 118 we can start from there. Can someone give me a brief explanation of the war for Aria please?” She asked addressing the class. I quickly pulled my textbook and notepad out of my bag and grabbed a pen. When I opened up my textbook at page 118 I was greeting with a painting of a hoard of demons facing down a smaller army of people.
Everyone around me was shuffling around in the chairs and opening up their books. Conner who was sat at the front of the class and had been operating the simulator this morning was the first to speak. “The Fae battled with the demon race the last time that they tried to overtake this realm. They made an alliance with the angels and managed to push them back. At the final battle the angels never appeared and the Fae were left alone to face the demon army. The Fae won but were decimated in the process. The demons were sealed into their own realm where they have remained. After, the Fae were so enraged by the abandonment of the angels and the other races not assisting them that they withdrew from this realm into their own.”
“Very good Conner.” Professor Pax said. “And what was the consequence of the Fae leaving this realm?” She asked.
“They stole the majority of our powers to do it.” Huffed Della from the back.
“No,” Professor Pax corrected. “The Fae held a true connection with the natural realm and it was through them that the majority of the natural magic flowed. When they severed this connection by leaving this realm the flow of natural magic was greatly reduced and those of us remaining had less access to it.”
“It was selfish.” Della huffed again, clearly not liking being corrected in front of the rest of the class. “They knew what would happen and they left anyway.”
I tentatively raised my hand not quite sure what the process was here if I wanted to ask a question. Professor Pax just smiled at me. “Yes, Aria.”
“Why didn’t all the races fight against the Demons?” I asked. “That is a very good question Aria.” Professor Pax stated. “No it’s not,” Della scoffed. “They weren’t our problem.”
“It seems like a Demon race that wants to take over your realm should be everyone’s problem.” I countered.
“And that is exactly the point.” Professor Pax said standing. “There were two sides to the argument. A small band of the other races did come together to stand with the Fae but the majority refused to assist. Those who refused did so on the grounds that it was not their job to police the demons. Historically, it had always fallen to the angelic race to police them. Over the years their presence became less and less in this realm and it was felt that this was the cause of the demons finally rising up against us. Essentially, even with the stronger Fae connection to natural magic the rest of us didn’t have the strength to stand against them alone. It would only be if the races came together that we would have been strong enough but you have to remember that we had been through centuries of segregation. The realm was not as it was today. They refused to stand together. With the lack of an angelic force the Fae were the only ones who stood up and fought to preserve the way of life that we know today. Those that banded together to help them agreed with what I expect your viewpoint is Aria. We all live here and it was a threat to all of us if the demon race were able to talk over. It was for the greater good to stand up and fight.”
“How long ago was this?” I asked frowning.
“The final battle was won eighty nine years ago.”
“Wow, so only four generations ago the races all hated each other enough that they would rather die than stand together?” I asked.
“Essentially, yes.” Professor Pax answered. “There was no solidarity after the war either. It was a long time before we saw any kind of peace.” Sadness flickered across her face. Now I understood why the academy was so important. It there was so much bad blood that extinction felt like a better option, getting them all to even come to a school together must have seemed like an impossible dream. I understood now what an impossible task that the headmaster had taken on.
The rest of the lesson was spent looking at the angelic involvement in the early stages of the war. It was hard work and I took more notes than anyone else seemed to but I suppose they grew up around this and already know all of this stuff. After that the rest of the day was ours. The usual schedule was two lessons in the morning or one if it was combat, two in the afternoon and then everyone was free to do what we wanted. For me the schedule was even lighter, but if there was one thing that I was taking away from my first lesson, it was that I needed to do an absolute tonne of background reading. I felt like I had so much to learn just to catch up but I was determined to do it as fast as I could. If what the headmaster was predicting was going to come true I didn’t have time to waste.
I was walking out of the classroom with the guys and joking about when I suddenly walked into a solid wall of muscle. I bounced back off it and Sykes caught me chuckling and set me back on my feet. Liam and Kyle both slipped in front of me creating a wall between me and whatever man- gorilla had just got in my way. It was adorable really that they thought I
needed protecting. It was going to get old pretty quick though if they continued with it.
“Kyle” the man-gorilla growled. “We’re just here to have a talk with the new girl.” He smiled down at him. Well it was more of a grimace. Far too much teeth. Someone should really try and help him with that. It was more constipated than scary.
I shouldered my way between the guys and went to barge past man-gorilla. “Fibre, definitely need more fibre.” I said patting him on the shoulder as I walked past. I glanced over my shoulder to see the confused look on his face as I was checking if my guys were following. The two sides seemed to be engaged in some kind of stare-off which, I will be completely honest, I had no idea about. My guess is that it was some kind of male dick measuring contest. Probably best not to get involved. Eventually man- gorilla looked down and Kyle did the sexiest half smirk that I honest to god thought I might have done a little mini swoon for a minute.
“Her name is Aria, and she belongs to us” Kyle stated before pushing his way past man-gorilla, taking my hand and leading us all away.
We all silently walked back to my room and the guys waited for me to open the door before we all filed inside. Something weird was definitely going on and I definitely hadn’t missed the belonged to us comment. On one hand, yeah obviously I did. On the other, hello I met you yesterday and ask a girl first!
“Explain” I said slumping down in the armchair and dropping my bag on the ground beside me. Ordinarily I would go for the bed but I didn’t want to get pulled into one of those cuddle situations like last night that melted my brain. I needed to think for this conversation.
“After combat this morning, you basically made yourself top mate material. Every single male shifter in the school was talking about it at lunch. They’re all going to want to compete for your attention.” Liam explained.
Okay. I suppose that made sense in an animal planet kind of way.
“They can’t have you,” Kyle said pacing in the small space in front of my door. He was clearly agitated but I wasn’t understanding where this was coming from. My confusion must have been showing.
“Don’t you feel it?” Sykes asked me quietly while looking down at the floor.
If he meant the feeling of rightness that came over me when these three were around me then obviously. But I wasn’t going to be the first one to jump in and say that to three guys I only met yesterday. I didn’t know how to voice how I felt without making a fool of myself. Liam must have realised from the look on my face that I was struggling with how to put it into words and took pity on me. “You belong with us Aria.” He simply said. And all of the air just rushed out of me with relief.
I stood up and caught Kyle’s hand on his, what felt like, millionth time past the foot of the bed. He just stopped and looked at his hand in mine in confusion. I could feel a vibration in him and somehow instinctively knew that it was his wolf’s agitation that was causing the pacing. I couldn’t wait until I finally got a chance to see them all shifted. I wasn’t sure what I should say but in the end it was obvious. I yanked him closer to me, stood on my tiptoes and gently kissed him. He didn’t move at first but then his arms came around me. He opened his mouth to me and I felt his tongue swipe across the seam of my lips asking for entrance. I opened my lips just as I heard Sykes whisper “I guess she does feel it.”
Kyle kissed me until my knees felt weak and I was definitely in the realms of having been kissed silly. I was currently cuddled up against Sykes on the bed with Liam sat next to me with my legs across his lap and Kyle had pulled the desk chair in front of us.
“You must have some questions.” Kyle asked.
“I’m not crazy? You all feel like this, don’t you?” I asked feeling a little ridiculous now.
“Yeah, we all feel it too sweetheart. We all belong together.” Kyle just shrugged. I get this is normal for them but I needed it spelling out for me.
“Because I’m your … mate?” I winced. It sounded so foreign to me and I was still waiting to be declared crazy.
“Yeah sweetheart. How do you feel about that?” Kyle looked genuinely concerned. Here was me worrying about myself but what must this be like for them. They had some hopeless case who had no idea what was going on as a mate. That had to be a disappointment for them.
I cocked my head to the side and took a minute to actually think about it. How did I feel about this? “All my life, I’ve only been able to rely on myself, and then I had Alfie. I was never able to fully let him in. I should have but it’s hard. I don’t trust easily. It’s one of my very few character flaws,” I said smiling. “But all of this, this feels right. I don’t understand how and I’ve never felt anything like it before. It doesn’t feel wrong though. I think that I was supposed to come here. Does that sound crazy?”
“No, not crazy. Magic determines a lot in our world. Some people call it fate. There is this other theory that magic has its own will and that it determines our path.” Sykes determined.
“So, fate then.” I deadpanned.
“Yeah, I suppose that I’m not explaining that very well.” Sykes said tilting his head to the side.
“In our world we believe that there is someone out there for everyone. A fated mate. It isn’t unusual for a female to have more than one mate. Some people never find their other half and remain alone. Other’s elect to choose a strong mate that isn’t fated to be theirs rather than wait.” Liam said taking a shot at explaining.
“Look just because we have all this fate stuff saying that we are meant to be doesn’t mean that we have to rush into all of this if you aren’t ready for it. We can still just go along as we were. Get to know each other and let things just happen when they happen. There’s no rush.” Kyle said squeezing my knee. It was like he could read my insecurities straight from my mind.
“I’d like that. All of this is pretty new to me. Literally everything about this place and this situation. It’s all pretty confusing. I don’t want you to think that I’m not happy about this though.” I quickly explained.
“Let’s talk about something else. What did Caleb and the headmaster want to talk to you about?” Kyle said and I could not have been more grateful.
“Oh, just about the impending doom and why they are building their own little army.” I shrugged.
“Wait, what?”
“Apparently there is something coming. Some problem with the veils separating the realms and demons are getting through or something.” I
explained what little information I currently had.
“I have heard about the demon attacks in the human realm but we haven’t heard anything about demon attacks on this side. They wouldn’t be able to take an army across to the human realm not with the way that things are going at the moment.” Kyle looked over at Liam who just shrugged at him.
“Maybe there is more going on in this realm than you know about.”
“Nah, if something were going on Kyle would know.” Sykes said snuggling up against my side with a happy sigh and getting himself more comfortable.
“How?” I asked looking from one of them to the other. We really didn’t know anything about each other. This was so messed up.
“Well my father is kind of important and one day I will take his place, so I pretty much get to know what is going on around here. He’s … well … he’s the Prime Alpha.” Kyle shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he explained to me.
“So pretty important then?”
“Yeah you could say that.” Liam laughed.
“Okay, here’s something I don’t understand. You guys are a pack?” I said running my hand round in a circle indicating the three of them.
“Yes” Kyle answered.
“And I met these guys in the corridor earlier who said that they were a pack?”
“What? Who approached you in the corridor?” Sykes said bolting upright from his previous snuggled position.
“Doesn’t really matter, poor little Pickle learnt that I just wasn’t worth the trouble.” I snickered.
“Okay, I feel like there is a story there and I definitely need to hear it.” Liam said leaning away so that he could look me in the eye. I had all three of them intently staring at me and it made me fidget in my seat and not because I was uncomfortable. More because my lady bits were telling me to screw the getting to know you stage and just, well, screw.
“Let’s just say little pickle paid the price for big Pickle’s stupidity. You’ll be able to tell who he is tomorrow. He’ll be the one limping.” I snickered.
“Ooooo that’s cold, you don’t go after a man’s pickle.” Sykes laughed.
“What can I say things were said, he put his hand on me and his pickle paid the price.” I was not here for anyone’s entertainment, well at least not Pickle’s, and personal space was a thing.
“I’m so proud of you.” Sykes smiled. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mate.”
I laughed. I felt like I should be a bit more nervous about the word mate being batted around so casually, but weirdly it just feels right. “Back to my original question, how are you all packs but there is only one Alpha?” I asked seriously.
“We have lots of, I suppose you would call them, satellite packs. We form groups when we are younger. It’s hard to explain how we just know those
that we are meant to be with. These groups eventually go on to find a mate that they share. All of these packs are part of a larger pack and we are all ruled over by one alpha.”
“So, are you an alpha?” I asked Kyle.
“Yes. It takes a strong alpha to be able to lead all of the packs. Only the strongest of us can draw all the packs together. All the other alpha’s that lead the smaller packs have to answer to him.” Kyle explained.
“So, what happens now? How do we stop everyone else from pursuing her? I seriously cannot sit in the cafeteria one day listening to them talk about her.” Sykes growled and the sound made me feel the need to melt into a puddle of want and need on the spot.
“The only way to stop that is to claim her but that could open up other problems.” Kyle said giving Sykes a knowing look and I didn’t miss the nervous glance he cast in my direction.
“What do you mean?” I cautiously asked, looking between all three of them.
Liam gently took one of my hands and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “If we claim you, the other packs could challenge us for you. We are only a small pack and some of the packs at the school are much larger than us. They may not be more skilled fighters but they could overwhelm us in numbers.”
“Don’t I get a say in this? I’m not some piece of meat to be fought over and won.”
“No, you wouldn’t get a say. If a challenge was made you would belong to the winning pack.” Kyle explained and he at least had the decency to look embarrassed about it.
“Well fuck that!” I shouted jumping to my feet and pacing the room in a rage. My magic started to rise with my temper and I could feel the delicious burn of it start to flow through my body. “No one can force me to mate with them and no one will separate me from my mates. If they dared to touch you, I would destroy them all.” I seethed.
“Woah there dark and angry. Whilst the possessiveness is all kinds of hot, we don’t need to go wiping out all the shifters in the school.” Sykes laughed.
“It is weirdly hot right?” Liam agreed looking over to me. I could see the predator shining through his eyes and suddenly it felt like it was getting a bit hot in here. Liam’s nostrils flared and I saw him scent the air. Crap, could he smell how turned on I was getting. Wait, is that a good thing? I looked around the room at my three guys. The atmosphere had changed. Was this something that I was ready for. I hadn’t taken this step before. I didn’t even know if I was ready to tell the guys that I was virgin. I liked the idea of us all getting to know each other before we took any steps like that. Essentially, we were all still strangers and there was a reason why I hadn’t taken this step with anyone else before. It felt right with these three but I still wanted to know them better first. My mind and my body were having conflicting feelings on this issue right now.
Kyle suddenly laughed “Look nothing needs to be decided about the claiming right now. Let’s just carry on as we were and just see where it goes. We have all the time in the world right now. We don’t need to rush into anything. We were always meant to be, nothing is going to change that.” He pulled me into his arms and I sagged against him. My emotions were all over the place but at least the rage had calmed. Well at least there was one plus point to this whole situation. I had found a new way to calm
the rage when it took hold, apparently, I could now add uncontrollably turned on to the list of my problems.
“Let’s change the subject, shall we?” Liam suggested. We spent the next few hours with the guys trying to teach me about the pack and their rules. School was apparently the best place for me right now. I know nothing about this world and apparently if I met Kyle’s father right now I’d probably just piss him off somehow. How were there so many rules to this world? If it wasn’t for the guys I don’t think I could be a part of this world. I had just come from one society which subtly treated women as lesser and that had been hard to bear. Did I really want to enter a new one which was so open about it? I would never allow myself to be treated in such a way and thankfully my guys would never do that. But if I blindly accept this world as my own am I accepting all of their rules and customs as well? Would I be accepting their position on women? I strongly believe in equality and not just in theory. It wasn’t enough to just stand up and demand equality. You need to take action, if they won’t accept you as an equal then you need to stand up and crush them beneath your boots until they beg you for the right to be considered your equal.
