Page 13 of Their Rejected Queen

Finally, all hands are off of me, and the water goes calm.

I wait.

My entire body is screaming, but I make sure there’s no sound or movement.

Everyone has left. I might actually get away with this.

Surfacing, I heave as I slosh to the side of the bath. My vision is bleary, but there’s no one in front of me as I crawl onto the edge, then haul myself up. My body rejects all of the water that has lost its magic, and I cough and feel like I’m dying all over again as my body shudders.

I blink a few times, then see rows of fluffy white towels still on the shelves. I stagger over to them and take one, then slowly wrap it around myself.

“Impressive,” a gruff male voice says, making my entire body freeze.

Shit.

Slowly turning around, I take in the massive form of my new pack master, who raises his brow at me.

“It’s rude to stare,” I croak out. My voice is hoarse after literally breathing water. It’s going to take some time for my lungs to recover.

He grins. For some reason, I have a feeling he doesn’t do that very often. The gesture is a bit too unnatural on his perfect face. “I’m the pack master. I can do whatever I want.” When I bristle, he chuckles, then saunters over to the clothing shelves. He selects a pair of pants and a shirt while bypassing a pile of revealing dresses. “Put this on. You’re going to skip the initial evaluation with the others. I don’t need them distracted by your little revival act when they need to be focusing on their own assignments.”

Glowering, I try not to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind when he tosses the clothes at my feet and then turns around.

No dress for me?

So you don’t find me attractive.

I’m merely an amusement to you, just like I am to everyone else.

Burying those thoughts, I instead say something a bit more relevant to my situation. “If I’m not going to be evaluated, where am I going?” I ask as I dry myself with the towel, then discreetly take off my strap containing the vials before I step into the clothes. He’s not facing me, so luckily he can’t see anything, and the invisibility magic that’s permanently on the straps gives me some reassurance no one has seen them yet. I resecure it with a practiced move before Godric can notice anything.

He waits a moment until I’m completely dressed, then turns around and sweeps over me with a scrutinizing look. His gold-flecked irises make his eyes seem like they glow from within, and I feel completely naked before him even though I’d just put on a few layers of protective clothing that is much more suitable for this climate than the thin dresses.

But Ulara had given the girls a choice of which outfit to pick, so maybe that was all part of the “evaluation.”

Girls who still clung to their old life in the Elite City might choose the dresses, suggesting they’d need more training.

Girls who selected the more practical clothing would show they were ready to fight.

But what would they be fighting?

What would I be fighting?

My stomach flips when Godric answers me.

“You’re coming with me.”

CHAPTER 4

“Stay close,” Godric says as he leads me off the train.

Or attempts to, anyway.

My legs stay rooted to the ground as I stare at a place I’ve only heard about in gossip circles.

A wolf shifter pack.

According to the stories, I should have been met with wolves fighting on the street, women running for their lives, as well as disarray and general debauchery.