Midfield Academy: Book 3

Chapter 86: Final Days (16 years, 9 months)

Jagger scrolled down the latest update to Jace Harrison's website. Raven was looking rather mature in the photos. The sub had on a button up shirt that was completely open in the front. His hair was messy with a couple of pieces fallen over his face. The sunlight was coming through the window and highlighting his features. It was completely different than the timid little white pup Jagger knew. It was weird for the dominant to think that the Raven had a little sex appeal.

They were nicely done photos. The sub was a natural in front of the camera, but Raven had a lot of practice. Aunt Karen and Aden were always taking photos.

Daven walked out of the bathroom and stretched his arms overhead. His hair was still damp from the shower. "Do we have practice in the morning?"

Jagger shook his head. "No. Coach gave us a recovery day."

"Thank god." Daven grabbed his phone off his bed. "I'm going over to see Jess. Do you want to come?"

"Hmm... maybe."

"Well, hurry up and decided." He started to text someone.

Jagger took in a deep breath. "There's not much for me to do there."

"Hang out with Liam." Daven shrugged. "Jesse always whining about how Liam is always being left out."

"I wish I were left out more," muttered Jagger. "I can't wait until basketball season is over so I can have some time to study. I'm tired of cheering for someone I barely even know."

Daven chuckled. "Jesse is a passionate sub, and at the moment he's really into being supportive of his cousin." He checked his phone. "So are you coming?"

Flopping back on his bed, Jagger shook his head. "No. I think I'll go to bed early."

"We finally get a day off and you want to sleep?"

Jagger raised an eyebrow. "You're acting like that worried. Back home, whenever we got a day off, we'd sleep all day in the cave."

"True," chuckled Daven. He tapped his phone on his leg. "I miss Northern Ridge. Not night patrol, but some days, I wish I could go back for a few months."

"I'm sure your parents would be okay with that." He lifted his phone up to his face. "I might ban you once I'm in charge, though. I don't need a rival alpha coming around and causing trouble."

"Asshole." Daven slapped his friend's leg as he walked to the door. "I'll be back in a couple hours."

"See you."

The door opened and closed. Jagger clicked on the other tab he had open and looked through some old photos of Raven. Had the sub always been this pretty?

***

(16 years, 11 months)

Raven threw open the hotel room doors and raced inside.

Jace maneuvered over the bags the sub had left in the doorway. "Gez, Raven."

The werewolf had thrown himself on one of the beds.

The human's mouth dropped open when he saw the suite. "Woah. Your dad paid for the upgrade?"

Raven rolled onto his stomach. "He wanted to make my last few weeks special."

Jace put his bags on the other bed. "So you're going home straight from here?"

The werewolf propped up his head and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Yeah. My guardians have already gone home. I had to pack up all my things and ship it home." He remembered all of the bags. "It took forever. My dad is going to freak when he sees how much stuff I bought."

"You did go a little crazy," laughed Jace. "A few of the others are heading home too." He went to the window and peered out over the city. "I'm staying in Paris."

"Oh, I have good news." Raven hopped up onto his knees. "My dad said yes."

"What! Really?" Jace hurried over. "What did you do to get him to say yes?"

The sub sucked in his lips. "I told him the wrong date for when the field trip was over. I'm not flying to Midfield but to the airport by my hometown, so my dad booked it, instead of the school. So when he called to ask me when I was done, I might have fudged it by a few days." He wrung his hands together. "A fashion show is part of the whole experience, right?"

"Oh my god"—Jace couldn't stop grinning—"look at you breaking the rules."

"I don't think I was breaking the rules. I only stretched them a bit."

"I'll let my parents know we need another seat." Jace went to start unpacking his suitcase.

Raven fell back and chewed on his fingernail. If his dad found out he lied, Raven would be in so much trouble. It would be okay. It was three extra days. He was going to be with Jace and his family the entire time, before getting on the bus to the airport and going home. The sub had everything planned out. It would be fine. Everything was going to work out.

***

"Go, Daven!" Jesse climbed up on the seat of the bleachers and screamed as his fiance raced around the track.

Liam was scanning through his notes. Finals weren't too far off. He was struggling to get everything done and his study time was getting cut into because of track districts. Liam peered up at the sub, jumping up and down. He would never understand why Jesse got so worked up over sports.

With a sigh, Liam slipped his notebook into his bookbag.

"Go, go!" Jesse threw his arms in the air when Daven crossed the finish line in first. "He did it!" The sub hopped down and hugged Liam before taking off down the bleachers. "Daven!"

Liam watched as the boy practically launched himself over the fence to hug the dominant. Daven couldn't have looked prouder of himself. Liam's eyes wandered over to the dark hair boy stretching by the jumping pits. Jagger had already qualified for nationals in the long jump. It looked like both of the dominants would get to go this year again.

Liam's gaze dropped to his feet. Jagger hadn't been coming to the sub-campus very often lately. The sub knew the dominant was busy with track, but it was kind of lonely. Whenever Daven showed up, Jesse completely forgot about him. Liam let out a deep breath. Whatever, it wasn't like Jagger was even interested in Liam, anyways.

The sub's head fell onto his shoulder as he gripped the edge of the bleacher seat. Jagger wasn't in a relationship, though. Most of the dominants that were the same age had already committed to some sort of arrangement. But that was a perk for the high ranks, they didn't have an expiration date like omegas.

Liam heard a squeal and peer down at the bottom walkway. Jesse was bubbling over with excitement as he talked to his cousin who had shown up with some girl. Daven and Cyrus were laughing back and forth as the sub bounced around. Liam was more interested in the blond girl holding Cyrus's hand. So the bastard found someone stupid enough to go out with him.

"Poor thing," he muttered under his breath.

Thankfully for Liam, it hadn't gotten out around campus about what had been said after the basketball game that day. Cyrus hadn't even come near the sub since Liam chewed him out.

Liam shook his head as the couple waved goodbye and continued on to general seating. The sub would never understand why anyone found Cyrus remotely interesting. The dominant was tall, he was taller than even Daven, but Cyrus was scrawny for a higher rank. Not to mention, his personality was the typical egotistical jerk.

Jagger jogged across the track and put an arm around Daven's neck. The two future alphas were all smiles.

Liam bowed his head. Jagger was nothing like a typical dominant. He was nice and caring. He listened to the sub. No one ever listened to Liam. They were too busy telling him about their problems. He peeked up to see Jagger waved up at him. Liam lifted his hand with a head nod.

After slapping Daven on the back, Jagger wandered off to get ready for his next event. Liam took out his history notebook and flipped to the last couple pages. He'd love to have a man like Jagger as a mate, but Liam wasn't going to wait for dominant to come around. He didn't have time to leave it up to a higher rank to save him.