The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 268

Liora’s POV

The final month of school was upon us. And with it, the final exams.

“This year, the final exams will be structured differently,” Principal Alder announced, his voice carrying across the packed auditorium. “The exams will be split into two halves: a written portion and a field test.”

Zane leaned over, draping his arm across the back of my chair. “Gods, I fucking hate written exams.”

I rolled my eyes and kept listening to the principal’s announcement.

“The written exams will be given in a standardized fashion. You should have all received an email outlining the date and time slot of your exam. Please note that it will be closed-book, and cheating will result in an automatic failure.”

Principal Alder looked around for a moment, then went on, “Now, as for the field tests. Our professors have decided that, due to the lockdown and the higher number of enrolled wolfless students this year, the traditional physical performance exams from previous years may not be suitable. Therefore, you will be tested on everything you have learned during one completely randomized field test. Each test is designed to include various skills across multiple disciplines, without a heavy emphasis on any one thing in particular.”

“So the wolfless students get an easy pass,” a boy behind me muttered. I shot him a glare, and he quickly hid his face in his hoodie.

“Furthermore,” Alder said, “we believe that the rogue incidents this semester were a prime example of the importance of developing well-rounded skills that can be used in a practical setting. In life, we don’t always have time to prepare ahead for emergencies, and so we must use the resources we have to make do. That’s why groups of students will be called at random to partake in the field tests, at any time of day or night. Each test will be completely different, thus preventing cheating or pre-planning.”

The students murmured at that. Even I looked at Mia with surprise. It was both exciting and terrifying. I wondered what the tests would entail, or when I would be called. Hopefully not in the middle of the night when I was sleeping.

“Remember, how you perform on these exams will determine whether you proceed to next semester,” Mr. Alder finished. “Please do your best.”

With that, the assembly was dismissed. I stood, shouldering my bag. Zane laced his fingers behind his head and smiled. “I’ll probably perform like shit on the written exam, but the field test is gonna be easy,” he said.

“Probably the opposite for me,” I muttered. The longer I went without my wolf, the more my physical abilities diminished. If the field test involved combat or anything overly strenuous, I might be screwed.

I hoped Alder would keep to his word that the tests were designed with wolfless in mind, but knowing his track record with how he felt about our kind, I wasn’t so sure about that.

“Hey. Liora.” I turned at the sound of Amy’s voice, and saw her standing there with a small group of other wolfless. “We were thinking of having a training session tonight. Just us wolfless. Wanna come?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “Sure. Why not?”

“Perfect!” She grinned. “We’ll meet in the combat classroom after eight.”

Sure enough, later that night, I met the wolfless in the combat classroom for practice. They were already training when I entered, running various physical drills to warm up.

Practice was actually fun, although it was a little easy for me. After we ran drills, we paired up and practiced sparring.

My years of training at the palace still held a lot of weight even without my wolf, and against other wolfless, combat was quick and simple. Maybe I wouldn’t do as bad in the field exam as I thought, and I was just being down on myself.

“Amy,” I said as we circled each other, stances low, “you know you leave your left side wide open, right?”

“Do I?” She looked down at her left hip, and I easily knocked her onto her back. She gasped, eyes widening as she looked up at me from the mat. “You tricked me!”

“I’m not sure…” I leaned forward, squinting through the darkness. The room was inky black, making it nearly impossible to see anything. But as my eyes adjusted, I saw movement. Multiple figures stalking silently through the room, headed right toward us.

Three wolves, fully shifted. Maybe more.

Amy’s breath caught. “Hey!” she shouted. “If this is some kind of a prank, it’s not funny! You’re not supposed to shift inside school buildings, assholes—”

“Shh.” I put my arm out to stop Amy. Something was wrong. The way those wolves were looking at us wasn’t normal. In the darkness, I could see their eyes—or rather, where their eyes should have been. They weren’t glowing like a normal wolf’s might, but rather, they were pitch black, their irises completely swallowed by their dilated pupils.

And the one in the front, the biggest, a male…

His fangs were bared. A low snarl rumbled in his throat.

He came to stand mere feet in front of me, so close I could feel his breath on my face. It smelled… wrong. Not just like the heady tang of a wolf’s saliva, but rather like herbs. I knew that scent from my tutoring with the healers at the palace, but it took a moment to comprehend what it was.

Then, suddenly, it hit me.

This wasn’t just a prank designed to scare the wolfless.

These wolves had eaten wolfsbane, and it had made their primal sides take over.

And right now, we were their prey.