Academy Of Mates novel Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

I paid him no mind… though it did still hurt me.

Jeff is my best friend, or so I thought.

What kind of friend does that?

Final rules are given and I get to watch as all the participants start kicking off their shoes, removing suits and unbuttoning their tops. I blinked, a little taken aback, and I don’t know why, since they obviously can’t swim with clothes on.

My eyes, as foolish as my heart, were quick to find Andrew and I was right on time as he impatiently yanks off his dress shirt, not bothering with the buttons as it breaks off. I watch the buttons fly away as he shrugs off his shirt, revealing a body that makes every girl in the lake have their lips part.

He was built powerfully, with bulk not just muscle, and he had hair across his chest and trailing down his stomach until… oh.

Much like the rest of the girls, the sight of this further halted my lungs, but I tried not to stare, keeping my eyes away from the taunt skin and his muscular chest.

“Delicious, isn’t he?”

I forcefully had to peel my gaze away from Andrew to face the girl standing beside me. She is petite but voluptuous, her curves showing from the tight white dress that she wore. Her eyes were kind and bright, her lips pulling into a smile that told me she knows many things.

She is pretty and stood in a way that made her taller than she really was.

I shook my head. “He… I mean… it’s not for me to say.”

“Of course he is. He certainly doesn’t look at you like it’s not for you to say.” She wiggled her perfect eyebrows at me suggestively.

“Look at me like what?” I asked, but I was already glancing towards Andrew, who was already staring at me.

“Like he’s thinking about devouring you.” She muses with a laugh. “Goddess, if I had a man who looks like that with the hair and the eyes and the chin, plus he looks at me like he wants to eat me? I’d already be on my knees. Don’t get me started on the fact that he’s a Beta. Who wouldn’t want a Beta?”

I shrugged, knowing Andrew and his teasing ways. “Don’t think it’s special. He looks at everyone like that.”

Successfully unlocked!

She didn’t look convinced. “I’ve been in the School of Love for as long as he has and I’ m telling you, he doesn’t look that way to anyone else.”

3/5.

Chapter 25

“Oh, Vareesa! You’ve met Christy.” Kelcey joins us then, her ruby red lips grinning at us. She was holding an entire bottle of rum in her hands, drinking from it as if she was drinking from a champagne glass. “I’ve wanted you two to meet.”

“Girls with potential always catch my eye.” Christy says with a nod towards me. “It’s my last year. It’s your first, right?”

“Yes.” I say shyly, “My first.”

She claps her hands excitedly. “Oh, you’re going to love it. Everything about this place is amazing and it’s good to meet everyone from all over the world.”

I could tell from one deep breath that Christy wasn’t from the poorer packs. She was too radiant, too full of life to come from our side of the world.

It was strange because she is the first girl outside our pack to actually treat us like people.

Most of the girls here turn their nose up at us. And with Christy, I know she’s ranked so she had all the right to put us down like all the rest do.

“Translation, Christy likes to taste everyone from everywhere.” Kelcey teased with a roll of her eyes. “She gets around. I met her this morning. We both woke up at the bar together.”

Unashamed, Christy sticks her tongue out. “I like to taste before I commit.”

I remember the question that I’ve been dying to ask. “What really happens if you don’t find anyone and refuse to choose in your last year?”

Christy happily answers my question. “Originally, it just meant you would be single forever or mate with someone outside the School of Love, though it won’t be official, but these days you can petition your Alpha for another year. The only catch is, an additional year is when Alphas will have to pay for it. And I hear it’s very expensive.”

We could barely afford one year.

And I know how much our Alpha worked to be able to be here.

“No one really spends more than five years here though.” Christy continues, giving me an encouraging squeeze as she touches my shoulder. “Trust me, after the first few nights, things are going to get better.”

“I mean, it’s already good now.” Kelcey says under her breath as the topless, almost naked participants start to walk towards the lake.

Andrew was already knee deep in the lake when he turned to playfully salute me, winking as he did.

“That guy is bad news.” Kelcey tells me. “Very bad news but don’t worry I don’t mean it in a bad way.”

2/5

Chapter 25

“That’s when you know he’s good in bed.” Christy retorts back, elbowing me in the side. “Is he?”

I flushed. “I wouldn’t know.”

Kelcey frowns, looking at Andrew as he plunged into the water. “He’s a heartbreaker. I think we all knew that before even meeting him.”

He definitely is.

“Well, I’m off to get wet.” Christy leans all the way down, grabbing the ends of her dress before pulling it off. She was completely naked underneath her dress, having no underwear on and looked incredibly proud of her body.

As she should because she was certainly flawless.

All around us, the attendees that didn’t participate in the games started running into the water, removing their clothes as they did and floating outside the lane that the lanterns lit. Immediately, the boats with the drinks and food paddled towards the attendees, handing over colorful beverages and finger food.

I hate how I thought of Benedict all over again. The memory of being in the water with him and then how I still haven’t seen him at all after he abruptly left.

Yet all his pack members were here, enjoying…

I thought we had a connection.

But it seems it was all in my head.

“You coming?” Kelcey asked, removing her own dress and discarding it along with the other attendees’ clothes. Unlike Christy, she had on underwear.

I hesitated because of the way my dress was… I was not wearing any bra but all around me were naked werewolves who did not care who saw them, who did not care if people stared, so I braved it and nodded.

My hands reached behind me to pull the lace that tied my dress together while I attempted to even my breathing so I could calm down a bit. Once undone, I slip the straps from my shoulders as my dress spills down and pools at my feet.

Silently, I was thankful that my hair was long enough that it hid my breasts slightly.

Just before I could overthink, Kelcey took my hand and we ran towards the water along with the other attendees. Water splashed all around us and with Kelcey laughing while we ran, I couldn’t help but laugh as well.

I tried not to look as we got deeper into the water but my eyes found Andrew in the starting area of the race… already looking. He had a look on his face as if he was so amazed.

Right before I look away, he tilts his head in my direction, smirking at me.

Chapter 25

Kelcey took me towards Christy who was busy aggressively flirting with a muscular guy by the boats. I tried to watch how she did it, her lowered eyes and the way her lips. moved. Her hands were under water, moving towards him and I did not want to know what they were doing down there.

Back home, I’ve never been too close to guys. The only man I spoke with was my father and Jeff but I don’t think they count.

The water is cool on my skin as I submerged my body all the way to my collarbone. Kelcey hands me a drink from the boat and introduces me to the disinterested men around us.

But my attention was towards the race that was about to start, anxious as my eyes glanced between Andrew and the golden wreath.

I would never receive that.

I shouldn’t even think of it.

“Odette has won that wreath four years in a row.” Christy says, floating on her back, exposing her chest, which made me look somewhere else. “The prettiest, the coolest, the most wanted. Andrew won it for her actually but as she’s busy with her Alpha… who knows who will win right?”

‘It’s starting!”

I didn’t get to check who said it as my eyes immediately turned to where the participants were. Andrew was in front stretching in the water, his muscles pulling and giving me an eye full of his body.

Girls were cheering for him loudly, lifting their drinks towards him or flashing him their exposed chests.

‘Vareesa!” He’s calling me, shouting over the girls that cheered for him.

I frowned at him, confused, and mouthed; ‘What?’

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