The Mating School

Chapter 6

The other girls were dressed in pale attire as well. Lily understood then—she couldn't be the only servant working there. Opposite the girls in attendance, the males were all in dark clothing. She thought about what Paul had said last night, about the school being elite. It seemed like it was. Well, for the males at least.

"Honestly, it's just plain barbaric," said a girl with short black hair as Lily climbed into a black, oversized SUV.

"Masochistic," said a girl with a kind, round face, who was sitting opposite the first girl.

"The school is?" Lily asked, buckling her seatbelt and getting situated for the trip to the train station on the border of Ahjuta's pack land. She could see the shadow of four other cars beginning to move forward before their car lurched into motion.

"It's not all bad," said a new girl.

"Easy for you to say," said the first girl. "You want to have a mate."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lily asked.

A couple of the girls giggled. But it was an uncomfortable moment before the girl with the round face said, "Rochester Academy... haven't you heard the rumors?"

"Nicknamed the mating school," said the dark-haired girl. "It's where they send girls to find their mates. And we have no say in it. It's disgusting."

"We have a say in it! That's what it is to be female," said the round-faced girl, whose name Lily gathered was Anne. "Besides, you can only find your mate with skin-to-skin contact. So just don't touch anyone."

"Males looking for their mates will bump into us in corridors," said the first girl.

"Okay," Anne said, seeming determined. "Just go hide in a bathroom or something."

"Yeah, and starve to death?"

"We don't even know if the rumor is true," said another girl who had been quiet up to that point.

"I've heard that females can't leave until they've found their mates. Even if you survived for a year in the bathroom, you'd just be stuck there for another year, and another year after that."

"I don't think that's true."

"Didn't you wonder why all the females are low-ranking?" the dark-haired girl said to Lily.

"I—" Lily started to say, but the idea that she was going to cook and clean seemed somehow silly now. "I don't know," she said instead.

"Speak for yourself, Rachel," said a new girl with sharp features.

Anne, the round-faced girl sitting next to Lily, leaned in to whisper. "Don't mind Kelly. She thinks she's too good and too high a rank to have been assigned to go to Rochester."

"But what does it matter that we're low rank?" Lily said to Rachel.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

Lily felt a sickening chill of unease for a moment, but then another girl spoke up. "When males mate, they come back to their home packs with their new partner. It strengthens the pack. That's why the males sent are all high-ranking. It benefits the pack for those shifters to find their mates first."

"The females, though... well, really, we've all just been kicked out of our pack. They wouldn't give high-ranking females this kind of assignment."

Lily felt sad then. She wasn't even sure why. Was all this true?

Sure, she had been miserable living at the Ahjuta Pack. And yet, it had been her home. She watched out the back window as the pack buildings became smaller and smaller in the distance.

What about the other orphans? Is this the fate that would await some of them also?

Lily thought about the vow she'd made last night, about returning at some point, doing what she could to help them... and now, would she even be able to help herself in this new situation?

Did she even want a mate?

"Usually, high-ranking shifters are matched with mates with high rank," Lily said. "It doesn't seem like that many mates would be found with this system. I rather doubt my mate would even be there."

The car was filled with a heavy silence. The other girls exchanged worried glances, their earlier chatter subdued by Lily's words. The reality of their situation was sinking in, and the uncertainty of what awaited them at Rochester Academy loomed large in everyone's minds.

The train was sleek, its shiny black exterior resembling a sports car. Lily and the other newly assigned students from neighboring packs stood in lines, waiting to board.

"It might be okay," Anne said, standing beside Lily. "They're just rumors, you know."

Lily nodded but still felt uneasy. Her gaze wandered to the edge of the nearby forest, entertaining the fleeting thought of slipping away undetected. But she quickly dismissed the idea—running away wouldn't solve anything. Besides, she couldn't abandon her orphan family.

"They didn't tell you the good rumors," Anne continued as they approached the front of the boarding queue.

"I'm listening," Lily said, feeling a sense of camaraderie with Anne. "Is the food amazing?"

Anne chuckled. "I'm not sure about the food. But if we do find our mates... well, the only males there are high-ranking."

"Ah, Miss Luna Anne," Lily joked. "I can see it now."

"Maybe," Anne said with a smile. "But I haven't even told you about the Lycan who's in attendance. I think things are going to change with the packs. It has to be true, don't you think?"

"What?" Lily asked, intrigued. But their conversation was interrupted as they reached the front of the queue, where a strict and emotionless man stood guard just inside the train door.

Lily reached out to scan her wristband, feeling a moment of apprehension as the machine processed the information. What if she was rejected? The thought made her chuckle nervously. The guard regarded her for a moment before the machine blipped, granting her passage onto the train.

A few minutes later, Anne joined Lily on board, and they both seemed relieved to have each other's company as they searched for seats.

Lily didn't know what to expect from the school, but she was glad she wouldn't be facing it alone.

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