Chapter 243: Tests

"How on earth did you manage that?" The instructor stood up, shaking his head in dismay. "Be more careful. Go to the school nurse and get a medical exemption for a week or two. I’ll assign you a few research topics to write essays on instead."

Pulling my sock back up, I drew my leg onto the bench, rested my chin on my knee, and lost myself in thought. I needed to act—and fast. Damian’s words echoed relentlessly in my mind, pulsing like venom against my temples. I certainly wasn’t going to clean up in that vulgar outfit he gave me without any undergarments. It would be far easier to hit that psycho with something heavy and steal his phone.

That was it!

The sudden idea made me straighten up, my mind racing as I tried to figure out how to get my hands on Damian’s phone and call my parents. If I could just pinpoint where they were being held, I could send the police to rescue them.

The plan was half-baked, of course, and riddled with obstacles, but it was worth a shot. The first hurdle was that the Alpha kept his phone on him at all times. The second was a far more terrifying possibility—what if the phone wasn’t actually with my parents, but in the hands of the monster’s accomplices?

While the other students went through their drills, I weighed my options, searching for a way to get the phone without drawing his dangerous attention. Choices were scarce. For starters, I needed to observe him closely and map out his habits.

By the end of the class, I pulled my shoe back on—wincing at the sharp throb of pain—and walked out into the corridor with the rest of the group. As I neared the classroom, Rita jogged up to me, flushed and breathless from running.

"Are you ready for tomorrow’s inspection?" she groaned gloomily, fanning herself with a notebook.

"What inspection?" I asked sourly, stepping over the threshold into the room and sitting down at the front desk.

"Where was your head yesterday?" Rita raised an eyebrow, scanning the classroom before sliding into the seat beside me. "First thing tomorrow morning, they’re taking us to the institute to test for a mate mark and run blood panels."

"I forgot..." I murmured, unable to recall any mandatory screenings at school.

I remembered some students being taken for tests before, but those procedures had always required parental consent. My parents had always been fiercely opposed to any intrusion into our private lives, and they had signed a formal refusal for all medical interventions right from the start.

They had only called my parents in once during high school regarding our refusal, standing out against the backdrop of everyone else’s total compliance. It seemed they simply wanted me to fit in with the rest of the class—after all, I was already enough of an outcast. But Mom had submitted a formal waiver, citing the regular health checkups I underwent at a clinic belonging to an old friend of Dad’s. We had blood drawn to test for parasites and other markers every three months.

According to my parents, those medical certificates were more than enough, and anything beyond that was nobody else’s business.

"Unbelievable..." Rita whined, pulling out a notebook and her pencil case. "I’m just waiting for my Awakening to finally start. My parents take me for lab tests once a month, and I’m so sick of watching my hormone levels mature at a snail’s pace. I’m going to end up looking like a plump little doughnut before I ever awaken."

"What do you mean?" I asked, leaning in with genuine curiosity.

She was indeed on the curvier side, but she was adorable, and the extra weight suited her completely.

"My hormone levels are low, and they’re rising way too slowly. I’m a late bloomer," she sighed heavily before continuing. "Breeders need energy to trigger their Awakening. You’ve seen the dramatic transformation people go through after awakening, right? Well, those bodily changes don’t just happen out of thin air.

Like they taught us in health class, stored body fat acts as pure energy. When a Breeder starts gaining weight, it’s one of the first signs that an Awakening is near, so you’re strictly forbidden from dieting. I’ve been following all the rules, but I feel like I’m totally stuck, barely making any progress at all."

I drifted off into thought. We hadn’t taken classes like that, and truth be told, I had never paid much attention, though I did recall how a few of my female classmates had gained weight rapidly toward the end of high school.

Oddly enough, nobody had ever teased them about it—even though my class was far from friendly. No one mocked them; they only targeted me. I had never shown a single sign of Awakening, nor had I ever gained a pound. If anything, I tended to lose weight all on my own, taking daily vitamins to keep my strength up, though they did little to help.

When class ended, Kyle walked over and invited us to join him in the cafeteria. Rita indignantly insisted that she wanted to eat in strictly female company, but the sudden flush creeping across her cheeks gave her away completely. It was clear she had a crush on him, and besides, they had been friends since middle school and lived right next door to each other.

When we finally limped into the dining hall—a journey that felt like an eternity with my throbbing foot—my eyes involuntarily darted toward a far corner table where Damian sat. My gaze collided with his, and the sheer force of his presence seemed to drench me in shadow. A jolt of pure static electricity skittered over my skin, instantly killing whatever appetite I had left.

The wolf’s lips thinned into a hard, grim line as his eyes bored into Kyle’s hand—specifically, where he was carrying my bag. Damian’s jaw clenched tight, and a flash of primal rage flared in his dark eyes, stealing the very breath from my lungs.