Once our four new suitmates, three 1st years and one 4th year, are settled into their rooms, we decide to head down to the dining hall for dinner. We quickly grab food and find an open table. I'm contemplating what to say to the new guys to break the silence, when I get a sniff of an incredibly enticing scent. My head whips around and I spot the most beautiful girl I've ever seen entering the cafeteria. I drag my eyes up her body, admiring the toned legs under her uniform skirt, her slight curves and lush breasts.
It isn't until I take in her glowing silver hair, pale skin, and violet eyes, that recognition shocks through me. This is Ora, Jayden's little sister and she is completely off limits. If Jayden knew I was ogling his baby sister he would castrate me and then lock her in a tower. Although, the woman who stands by the entrance to the dining hall, definitely isn't a baby. In the five years since I last saw her, she has turned from a cute kid, into a full grown woman.
As I'm staring at Ora, my heart trying to remember how to beat, I notice a tall muscular guy, I think is on the football team, steps towards her. He looks like he is inviting her and her redhead friend to his table. My stomach lurches as she looks up at him and smiles. I watch as he puts his hand on the small of her back to guide her through the crowded room. I am shocked that he would be so bold as to touch her. I see red, but before even I can act Jayden is already on his feet and charging towards them. I am right on his heels.
"Don't touch her." Jayden practically roars at the stunned guy, his hand still on Ora's back. Jayden rips Ora out of his grasp and spins her towards me. I grab her elbow as she teeters and help keep her upright. Her skin is wickedly soft and her full kissable lips pout as she sees her brother square up to the much larger shifter. I want to caress those lips with my thumb and scoop her up into my arms right there in the dining hall.
"You want a claim to her forest boy?" The big guy taunts, ripping me out of my thoughts and bringing me back to reality.
"Yes." Jayden replies smoothly. "I'll fight you right now." Claiming fights aren't very common anymore. They are an outdated way for shifters to show off their strength and skill to an unmated shifter. The loser of the claiming fight has to stop their courtship of the shifter being fought over, unless that shifter decides to reciprocate the courting. In other words, if Jayden wins this fight, the football guy can't come on to Ora again, unless Ora approaches him first. It's not unheard of for a brother to fight a claiming fight for his sister, if he believes the guy is unsuited.
As Jayden and the guy leave to duke it out, I turn to Ora. "Hey Ora, long time no see." She looks up at my face, her eyes light up with recognition as they meet mine.
"Hi Aren!" She squeals and jumps into my arms.
"Careful there. I don't want Jayden to challenge me to a claiming match." I say inhaling her delicious scent.
"He wouldn't fight you. He knows we are just friends." Yeah friends, I think to myself bitterly. Ora signs and releases me. She frowns and looks towards the door Jayden just exited through.
"Do I have to go watch the fight? I should have known Jayden would do his best to make sure every guy in this school is too afraid to talk to me." I grin at her frown, because that is exactly what I hope he does. "I was hoping I would be able to actually date guys while I'm here." She continues. This idea steals the grin off of my face. What is wrong with me? I've never given this girl a second glance, and now the thought of her dating makes my stomach twist.
"You don't have to watch if you don't want to." I tell her and then lead her and her friend back to my table.
Eudora
Back in our room after the scene in the dining hall, I can't stop thinking about Aren. He's grown since I last saw him and now he's a few inches taller than even Jay. His yellow eyes, soft brown hair and tanned skin are emblazoned anew in my memories. Gia is practically buzzing with curiosity. "How do you know Jayden, and why is he beating up every guy that looks at you?"
"First of all, we just got here, how could you possibly know who he is?" I ask.
"My sister graduated last year and she's filled me in on everything I need to know about this school, but that's not important." Gia sits on her bed and she is practically bouncing with her excitement. "How do YOU know him? Were you lover's back in your pack? How scandalous!"
I sigh, resigned to the fact that my anonymity was already about to come to an end. It was nice not having everyone know who I was, even if it only lasted a day. "Jayden is my brother."
Her eyes widen, "Wait so that makes you the daughter of the Forest Kingdom's High-Alpha. You are practically an heiress, no, a princess. Holy shit, my roommate and new BFF is practically a fucking princess. I didn't know High-Alpha Manon had a daughter"
"Shhhhhhh, no one does." I quickly shush her and run to close our dorm room door. "You can't tell anyone this, but Jayden is my half brother. His father had an affair and I was the result. My mother died shortly after I was born, and Jayden's mother stepped up to raise me. All my mother left me was this locket." I pull my silver heart shaped locket out from under my shirt to show her. The locket has weird designs etched onto it, and it doesn't open. The only reason I even know it is a locket is because of the hinges on one side of its heart shape.
Gia walks over to my bed to look at the locket in my hand."Was Jayden's mom mad? Does she hate you?"
"If she was mad, I never saw it. She is amazing and has never treated me differently, just because I wasn't biologically hers. She is my mom, even if she didn't give birth to me. They decided to keep me a secret to keep me safe because I am a female shifter, the only one born into our kingdom in over five years. I am already going to have a tough time getting to know anyone here, with Jayden fighting every guy who looks at me. I don't want people trying to get to know me just because I have a powerful father."
Gia lets go of my locket and looks me in the eye. "Oh honey, everyone is already talking about you because of that scene Jayden made in the dining hall. They just don't know why Jayden was acting that way. They may not know that you are his sister, but they are definitely curious about who you are now."
"Well they can stay curious." I retort, "I want to have a normal school year and be a normal girl."
"You will never be normal, but your secret is safe with me. I will not tell anyone that the hottest, strongest, richest and most eligible guy in school is your brother."
"Eww don't call my brother hot… or eligible for that matter. This isn't the 16th century."
"Arranged marriages still happen sometimes, even if it is rare, and oh boy I would not mind an arranged marriage to your hunk of a brother." Gia winks at me.
I shriek and throw a pillow at her "Stop, I did not hear that!!!" Gia responds by running back to her bed, grabbing a pillow, and chucking it at me. I quickly catch the pillow then I tackle her to the ground, beating her with her own pillow.
"Okay okay, enough, I give up. You win!" She cries under my assault. I smile and get up off of her and offer her a hand to help her up. She grins and takes it.
"So your brother is a very powerful shifter. Are you a powerful shifter too? What do you shift into?" Gia asks.
"I have very strong shifter pheromones, but I haven't had my first shift yet. My 22nd birthday is in a few weeks, so I am going to have to have my first shift soon." Whenever a baby is born into a pack, a pheromone ceremony is held where the pack alpha uses his alpha pheromones to sense if a baby is a shifter. When I was born, my father could sense my shifter pheromones, making me a rare female shifter.
Over the last couple hundred years, female shifters have become more and more rare. Now only 1 in 500 female babies born into a pack are shifters. With so few female shifters in the world, many of them mate with multiple men they have strings with. Madison and I are the only female shifters at this school. I'm not surprised Madison didn't realize I was a female shifter when we met earlier, since the idea of another female shifter attending the school probably didn't cross her mind. Most shifters have their first shift between the ages of 11 and 14, when their bodies go through puberty, but not all of them. Some shifters are late bloomers. One thing is true for all shifters though, everyone has their first shift before they come of age at 22. I am one of the latest shifters in written history.
"You aren't 22 yet? When is your birthday?" Gia looks surprised. "It must be tough being a shifter and not having turned 22 yet. I would die if I couldn't take these shifter men for a ride." Gia wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. Mate bonds in shifters aren't like what you see in movies. The moon goddess doesn't choose one perfect mate for you. Once a shifter comes of age, their potential mate strings appear. These strings connect two shifters together and show who is most compatible. Some of the strings connecting shifters are stronger than others based on who you are most compatible with physically and mentally. Shifters cannot have sex with other shifters before they come of age because it could influence their mate strings and lead to them only having one string with the shifter they slept with. Once the shifter has turned 22, they can sleep with whoever they want, because the strings have already appeared and sex will only influence them a little. It is only sex before 22 that leads to this. Mate strings can only be affected by sleeping with other shifters. Non-shifters, humans, or other species, all won't affect the mate strings.
Other species never feel these strings with shifters, but they can have children with shifters, and they can form a mate bond with them. I don't know how mate bonds are formed. All my mother will tell me is that the mate I choose will guide me. Because of the increasing rarity of female shifters, being able to mate with other species has been crucial to our survival.
"My birthday is October 31st." I say and focus back on our conversation. I am really young for my grade, so most students have turned 22 by the time they start at the academy.
"Cool birthday. Very spooky." Suddenly our door slams open and Madison marches into our room. Her face is contorted with anger and her eyes glow red. She walks right up to me and slaps me across the face.
My face stings and I sputter, "Why did you do that?"
"That is for trying to steal my man." Madison snarls at me.
I stand and shout back at her. "I didn't try to steal your man. He chose to fight a claiming match for me. I did not ask him to."
"I don't know how you manipulated him to fight for you, but if I ever see you even look at him, I will gladly rip your throat out."
I gap at her, too stunned to respond. She just grins at me and whips her hair around as she saunters out the door.
Gia gets up and closes the door as soon as Madison is gone. "She would be treating you very differently, if she knew he was your brother."
"Yeah I definitely need to talk to my brother about the girls he chooses to date." I reply, rubbing the sore spot on my cheek. The pain is already fading and I am mentally planning a visit to my brother's dorm. "So where do you think you'll end up in placement testing?" I ask, changing the subject.
Gia leans back on her bed and plays with the drawstring on her hoodie. "I really don't know. I have always wanted to go the medical route but it would be really cool if I ended up on a magic path. Magic paths are so rare though, I met a magic user once."
"Really? You got to meet one?" I respond curiously.
"Yeah, I don't know their name, but they were called to my village during a drought to make it rain. They stayed for three months and never talked to anyone. They just went out to the fields every afternoon and then it would rain."
"Wow, a weather manipulator. That must have been fascinating to see."
Gia looks disappointed as she responds, "Yeah it was, I just wish I could have talked to them, or seen them use more of their magic."
"Well, you will probably get the chance to meet another magic user here. This school is known for its magic program." I respond, trying to cheer her up.
It works and she perks up immediately. "That's true!" I like how easy it is to make her happy.
I look at her happy face and then make a decision. "I'm actually going to talk to my brother about Madison, do you want to come?" I ask.
"I would usually never pass up an opportunity to meet a bunch of hot guys, but I already removed my make up, so I am going to pass. Have fun though! Don't stay out too late, we have a big day of placement testing tomorrow." Gia says cheerfully.
"I'll be back soon." I respond, and then slip out of the room.