Chapter 36: All the Blairs

"You did not give me a last name," the plaything stammered, her fake confidence crumbling the second Jasper spoke. She shrank back against the podium, her hands nervously playing with her diamond necklace. "Or a description. So... I brought you all the humans named Blair in the academy."

Jasper blinked. His bright blue eyes swept over the seven women again. They were shivering, clutching their gray skirts, looking at him with wide, infatuated eyes. They were very ordinary.

But then, a puzzle piece clicked into place in his brilliant, twisted mind.

I thought they were supposed to be super, super pretty and otherworldly.

The words the human on the phone had used echoed in Jasper’s memory. Along with the title they were looking for: a Supreme.

Jasper looked back at the terrified, swooning girls. If this anomaly was a "Supreme," and she was hiding in plain sight among these boring, frail humans... that meant she was using a disguise. A perfect, flawless disguise. Was she a rare beast? A goddess slumming it with mortals? An alien?

The sheer mystery of it sent a thrill racing down Jasper’s spine. The boredom that usually plagued his days vanished in an instant, replaced by an intoxicating rush of adrenaline. It was a hunt.

"Brilliant," Jasper murmured, a genuine, breathtaking smile spreading across his face.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a diamond ring. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed it across the room. It clattered against the podium like a bone being thrown to a stray dog.

The plaything scrambled to catch it, clutching the jewel to her chest.

"Good girl," Jasper praised smoothly. "Come to my bedroom tonight. I will reward you."

The girl’s face flushed a brilliant, triumphant red. "Thank you, sir!" she breathed out, bowing her head.

Jasper walked past her, lazily patting the top of her head as if she were a well-trained pet. He turned his charm onto the seven trembling Blairs.

"Ladies," Jasper purred, his voice dropping into a velvety, hypnotic cadence that made the humans swoon. "Today is your lucky day. One of you is exactly who I have been searching for."

The women practically shook with anticipation, their cheeks flushed and their hearts hammering against their ribs.

Jasper stepped back, pulling the classroom door open with a gentlemanly sweep of his arm. "Please. Come with me. Let’s go somewhere a bit more comfortable, shall we to figure this out?"

Halfway across the campus...

Blair was standing outside the massive, dome-shaped glass building of the Ice Rink. The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving the air biting and cold. She pulled her gray sweater tighter around her chest, staring at the frosted glass doors like they were the gates of hell.

She needed to see Daemus. Heather’s vulture friends had demanded a meeting with the Wolf Prince’s royal circle in exchange for the information about the party.

But actually going inside the rink was proving to be harder than she thought it would be.

They’re hockey players, Blair’s brain warned her, her imagination immediately kicking into overdrive. Massive, aggressive, scary wolf hockey players.

She paced back and forth on the freezing concrete, vividly picturing the worst-case scenarios. She imagined opening the locker room door and accidentally startling a three-hundred-pound linebacker wolf in full gear. He would slip, body-check her into the concrete wall by accident, and she would literally explode into a cloud of human confetti.

Or worse, they wouldn’t even notice her at all. They would just mistake her for equipment and use her as a hockey puck for their slap-shot practice.

"Nope," Blair said aloud, stopping in her tracks. "Absolutely not. I will find him somehow tomorrow. Or leave a note. Notes are safe."

Feeling immensely relieved by her decision to abort the mission, Blair turned around to walk back to her dorm.

She nearly slammed right into a wall of solid muscle and thick fur.

Blair stumbled back with a gasp. Her heart stopped. Her lungs just gave up.

Standing directly behind her, blocking her path, towering over her, was a wolf.

It was huge: the size of a small car. Its thick fur looked dark, almost navy-blue in the fading light, and it had piercing, bright silver eyes that locked onto her with terrifying intensity. It hadn’t made a single sound approaching her.

The giant wolf lowered its head, baring a set of white fangs, and let out a low, rumbling snarl that vibrated right through the soles of Blair’s shoes.

Every single survival instinct Blair possessed screamed at once. All logic went out the window.

She spun around and bolted. With the wolf blocking the path back, she only had one option. She sprinted directly toward the glass doors of the Ice Rink.

The automatic sensors triggered, sliding the doors open just in time. Blair scrambled inside, the freezing, refrigerated air of the arena burning her lungs instantly. Her breath plumed in little white clouds as she ran.

"Daemus!" Blair screamed, her voice echoing wildly through the empty stadium seating. "Daemus, help!"

She heard the heavy, rhythmic thud of paws hitting the rubber mats right behind her. The wolf was inside. It was right on her heels.

Blair didn’t look back. She threw herself over the waist-high boards and vaulted blindly onto the ice.

It was a terrible, terrible mistake.

The moment her shoes hit the freshly resurfaced ice, there was zero friction. Her feet flew straight out from under her in a blur.

"Whoa!" Blair shrieked, her arms flailing wildly in the air.

She went down hard, landing flat on her back. She slid another ten feet across the slick surface before finally skidding to a halt.

Groaning, Blair opened her eyes and looked up.

The massive, navy-blue wolf was airborne. It had leaped over the boards and was currently lunging through the air, its paws outstretched to pounce directly onto her face.

Blair’s life flashed before her eyes. She squeezed them tightly shut and braced for the teeth.