Chapter 18
Julian
When Bayla got out of the passenger side, three ravens landed on my rusty hood and Bay backed away, startled. She clutched the book that she’d been burying her nose in all day – titled Breaker of Oaths , written by an author named Shassii – and slowly backed away.
Her widened eyes made me laugh softly.
“Are you still afraid of those poor animals?”
She looked from the ravens to me, aghast.
“Julian, I was attacked by these creatures,” she began, making a wide circle around the car hood. “Say what you want, but I’m sure they’re following me.”
Shaking my head with a grin and both hands in my jeans pockets, I followed her to Lola’s Diner.
I didn’t like the fact that she hadn’t eaten yet today. Her stomach had been growling ever since I’d brought her home, and I’d spontaneously decided to take her out for dinner.
She had protested, and I had had to promise her that she could pay for it herself, but her hungry look had spoken volumes.
Maxé
DOLKINS
We sat down at one of the tables, facing each other, and a familiar face immediately appeared at our table. Penny Bexley. She took our order and returned within ten minutes with eight burgers for me and a pancake stack with blueberry sauce for Bayla.
“Julian,” Bayla laughed after Penny had disappeared. “Eight burgers?”
Her cute dimples stood out, and I scrutinized the many freckles that adorned her snub nose.
Senseque had to be careful not to order too large quantities of food too often so that people didn't ask unnecessary questions over time. These burgers were big, but I hadn't eaten since yesterday lunchtime and as I didn't want to starve to death with the meager portions from the campus canteen. I didn't pay attention to whether anyone was staring at me or not.
“A Senseque’s body works differently than a Quatura’s,” I reminded us both of the reality I was planning to block out for the rest of the afternoon. But what did I expect in Blairville? That I would simply forget what was lurking inside me? What was waiting to burst out of me?
Bayla rolled her eyes and put the book aside.
“What are you reading?” I asked, trying to distract myself.
“Dark sapphic paranormal romance,” she said, her cheek reddening slightly.
“Dark... what?”
Bayla pressed her lips together with a mischievous look and reached for the cutlery.
“Something I’m sure is very foreign to you.”
I raised both eyebrows. Now she had made me curious. I would probably google it or steal the book from her as soon as she was done.
I didn’t know where the curiosity came from because I didn’t normally read. However, I was fascinated by how she could always sit by the window at weekends and read for hours without getting bored.
I often sat at my piano, but not even the music could really distract me from this town and the burden it placed on my shoulders.
Mia had moved out, and I was going to visit her later, even though the mere thought of going to the Copeland estate made me tense inside. Dad had asked me to go because he couldn’t manage it himself. He was too deeply involved in the Ezra Campbell case and all the missing people.
In my opinion, Dad was getting far too deeply embroiled in town politics. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get himself between the three fronts. But he didn’t listen to me anyway.
I turned my gaze from the window through which I had been staring at nothing, and tried to concentrate on the girl in front of me.
Bayla had cut her pancakes into even pieces and had already started to eat. I couldn’t help but notice the gleam in her eyes and the obsession with which she devoured the pancakes.
She energetically brushed one of her brown strands behind her ear and shoved a fork full of food into her mouth. Her lips were already shimmering blue.
“You’re in love,” I remarked with a grin and crossed my arms in front of my chest.
Bayla looked up in confusion, giving me an uninterrupted view of her two different-colored eyes. Turquoise and blue. A harmonious combination.
“What?”
The blush in her cheeks was so intense that my grin widened.
“With blueberries,” I laughed, pointing to her plate. “I don’t know anyone who is as obsessed with blueberries as you are.”
The confusion cleared from her gaze.
“They’re the most delicious fruit ever,” she said with her mouth half full.
That’s when I spotted the little berry hanging from her cheek. I had to grin. I would have loved to take a picture of her now.
“Why are you grinning like that?”
“Because you look like you’ve been eating blueberries,” I laughed softly, first touching mine briefly and then pointing to her cheek with a grin.
By now, her entire face was covered in red. “Oh no.”
She fumbled through her face, but missed the berry.
“Wait,” I said with a grin and leaned over the table. “Come here.”
I put my hand on her right cheek to remove the berry from her left with my other.
Bayla stared at me and to tease her, I took the berry and popped it into my mouth.
Her eyes widened, and I leaned back in my seat, satisfied at the look on her face.
“What is it, Blueberry?” I asked teasingly, stifling a grin. She would realize soon enough that she had blue stains all around her mouth.
“Don’t you dare call me that!” she said, snapping out of her shock.
“Does that annoy you?” I asked with a grin and finally started to eat, which made the taste of the sweet berry fade.
With red cheeks, Bay brushed her shoulder-length hair behind her ears and rolled her eyes before sighing and turning back to her pancakes. But she paused and stared at her plate, taking a deep breath.
“Bay?” I asked in alarm, and she lifted her head toward the window, staring with concentration into the void.
“Do you feel that too?” she asked quietly. “This energy?”
What was she talking about?
My chest filled with worry.
“No,” I replied, confused. “Are you all right? Are you cold?”
I didn’t feel any pain, which should have calmed me down, but instead it had the opposite effect.
Bay suddenly shook her head. “No, I was just dizzy for a moment.”
Suddenly, her cell phone buzzed and Bayla flinched. She stared at the display for a moment, and when I followed her gaze, I realized it was her alarm clock.
I raised an eyebrow. “Why is your alarm clock ringing at this time of day?”
It was six o’clock in the evening.
“It’s called a pill alarm clock,” Bayla explained and continued eating.
I eyed her suspiciously.
“For those pills your mother makes you take?”
“No,” she said quickly. “For the other pill.”
I felt lost. Was she taking more medication that she didn’t know the effects of?
“The contraceptive pill.”
Realization spread through me, accompanied by embarrassment.
“Oh...” was all I could get out, and I felt warmth shoot into my head, but Bayla didn’t seem to notice.
“You really don’t seem to know anything about women, can that be?” she said with a smirk and that playful twinkle in her eyes that automatically made me return her smile. “That must be a total turn-off for Emely.”
I leaned back in my seat with fake indignation. “What’s that supposed to mean now?”
Did she think I didn’t know how the female body worked? I had never slept with a woman before, but I was no longer a thirteen-year-old teenage boy who had no idea about anything. It had just taken me a little longer to understand what kind of pill she was talking about.
“Nothing,” she just said and grinned mischievously which made me squint at her.
“What’s going on in your head, Blueberry?”
“Julian!” she blurted, confirming that this nickname was an excellent choice for her.
I watched in amusement as she reached for my glass of water, removed a white pill from a blister pack and took it.
I wondered why she was taking the pill at all. After all, she didn’t have a boyfriend as far as I knew, and she didn’t seem to be the type for one-night stands. She probably just took the pill because it had other benefits for her.
“What?” Bayla asked. I realized only now that I had been staring at her the whole time and shook my head.
“Nothing.”
I decided it wasn’t a good idea to bring up her sex life, simply because it was none of my business. We were neighbors, and she was a Quatura who hadn’t really liked me until two weeks ago.
Hubble Confesses
Tony Morales
A whirring sound rumbled through the diner. Bayla’s head jerked around as if she’d heard it too. And suddenly, the lights flickered.
Out of nowhere, Bay squeezed her eyes shut and held her head with her hands.
I immediately felt a slight headache coming on.
“Bayla?” I asked with panic in my stomach. Then there was a loud burst of glass.
I jumped up and stood in front of Bay, leaning over her just in time before the glass came crashing down on me.
“Oh my God!” Bay gasped from beneath me. “What was that?”
People had jumped up around us. The lights were out... because the light bulbs had exploded.
What the hell had just happened?
“Julian?” Bay asked from below me, looking up at me in confusion.
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t know. Probably too much voltage.”
I pulled her out of the booth and reached for her book.
“Are you all right?” I asked, looking at her scrutinizingly.
She reached out with a nod and wiped shards off my shoulder. Not a good idea with her delicate hands, so I brushed the last of the glass from my T-shirt myself.
I left money for the food on the table, put a hand on Bay’s back and pushed her past the angry diner customers, out into the parking lot.
“Let me take you back to campus.”
Tranquil Breezy Early Morning Forest
Nature Sounds
When I entered the Copelands’ property, goosebumps immediately spread up my arms.
Not much had changed since the last time I’d been here.
I cautiously touched the moss-covered walls that surrounded the huge garden, as if I could burn myself on them. And my body reacted by threatening to start my transformation.
I could deal with that. Until I reached a certain limit.
I pulled my hand back and looked straight ahead, through the garden gate, through which I walked a few seconds later.
Suddenly it occurred to me that I should have stayed with Bayla on campus. Because as strange as that thought felt, with her, it was easier not to think about all the crap I was about to face. By now, she didn’t hate me anymore, if she ever really did. I had to smile. That girl...
Something else was bothering me. Her words... On the drive back from the diner, while I had been trying to explain this strange lamp explosion to myself, she had kept bringing up Emely. I must have really been a fool, because I hadn’t noticed Emely’s behavior, and I still couldn’t believe that she wanted more than just a place in the pack for me.
With two goals in mind, I set myself in motion. I had to find her, but first I had to take care of the person I was here for. Mia.
After long hesitation, Dad had brought her here this morning and now she lived here. God, I didn’t want to know how she was feeling right now. That was exactly why I couldn’t just leave her alone with these people.
Stepping through the many trees and not stopping when the huge meadow with the big trees came into view took willpower, because unfortunately I wasn’t alone.
Nash’s guys and a few younger ones, including Emely’s little brother, who had just been playing football, stopped and stared at me. But I didn’t let myself get distracted and kept walking with an unyielding face, even when one of the men whispered, “Is that Bardot?”.
“Are you blind? Of course, it’s Bardot.”
“What is he doing here?” another voice interjected, but then they disappeared from my ear, because I had already reached what looked more like a garden.
An old fountain, decorated with stone wolf heads and surrounded by red-colored flowers, cascaded into the fountain and drowned out all other sounds. I could only hear the birds that lived in this part of the forest.
It was a lively forest, more than just lively. Not like other areas of Blairville.
The sun filtered through the thicket behind the house, which I had had to walk through on a narrow path, even though I could have just used the entrance via the driveway from the road. But this road felt more familiar.
In that very moment of realization, I cursed myself. This feeling was out of place. I didn’t want to be reminded of that time. Never again.
And yet it happened the moment I stepped up the steps from the paved garden and came to a halt on the equally stony terrace right in front of the double wooden door of the manor house.
I remained motionless, listening to the lapping of the water in the background, the chirping birds and the guys in the garden who had continued their game. It sounded exactly the same. Only there had been fewer people on the property back then.
The pack had gotten bigger. I knew that many new Senseque had come to Blairville with their offspring, especially in the last two years.
The door opened and Alarik stepped out.
I tried not to let my surprise show, because he was usually in his university office at this hour, just like Nickolas was in the hospital. It was the reason I had come now and not later, and I wondered if the Alpha was here too, and if maybe I should go back and meet Mia somewhere in the woods.
Just the thought of running into the Alpha caused an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Everyone knew he was capable of binding us to him if he felt like it.
It was called the Alpha bond. Anyone who possessed the Alpha gene was able to use it to bind their packs to them and ensure loyalty. This depended on the strength of the Alpha bond.
“Julian.” Alarik looked like he’d been expecting me, which confused me even more. “You’re here for Mia, am I right?”
“What else...” I sighed and looked around, checking that no one was overhearing us, which happened here more often than one would like. Back then, we children had always eavesdropped on each other. Emely had been the best at it, while Nash had been the best at disappearing. And then there had been Kieran Wheeler, the slightly older, gruff guy who had always come up with the best games for us. But I hadn’t seen him for a long time now, not even on campus.
Had he moved away? Would Emely have told me about it? I mean... he was like a third brother to her.
“It would resemble a miracle if you wanted to join the pack,” Alarik sighed, walking past me while gesturing for me to follow him.
“Good thing you know me,” I confirmed in a firm voice, and followed him through the paved garden.
Images flashed through my mind of how, when we had been little, we had built a tent here out of blankets and benches, full of pillows from Emely’s room. It had been night and the older ones had been on a dangerous hunt. Afterward, Nickolas had almost torn us apart, but Alarik had defended us, as he always did with those who were weaker. His hopes for this town were definitely too high.
I bit my lower lip. So many memories that held more power over my emotions than they should.
“It must have taken a lot for you to come here.”
Alarik looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze.
“It did,” I confessed honestly.
“I think your sister appreciates that.”
“Where is she?”
It made me uneasy that I hadn’t seen her yet. Mia knew I had wanted to pay her a visit.
“Emely’s helping her move in.”
Move in.
I stopped in the middle of the stony path that led us around the house. And Alarik knew.
“She’ll live here until your father has raised the necessary finances to afford a house in our territory,” he said. “I already offered help, but Graham still avoids taking on debt.”
“He wanted to repurchase our old house,” I replied with suspicion.
Even if it meant more pain. I wouldn’t be living there anyway. The campus, as stupid as it was, was my home now. The fact that I was as good as homeless didn’t make it any better.
“It’s already occupied.”
My hands balled into fists.
“By who?”
“By my family.”
Alarik and I turned around.
There was a guy standing there. Not just any guy. It was Nash’s stopgap for me.
“Hunter Jones,” I murmured unenthusiastically. I was boiling inside.
How could Alarik allow another family to move into this house? How on earth... And Dad hadn’t even said a word.
More anger rose up inside me. I would have to talk to him.
“Julian Bardot.” Hunter grinned, and it didn’t even seem hostile, more amused.
“Did you follow us?” I wanted to know, because even though Hunter was the calmer and more reasonable type of person, I didn’t trust anyone here.
“Someone has to make sure you don’t cause any trouble,” he laughed.
Was he serious?
“Why would I?” I replied, unimpressed.
“You’re not part of the pack, and you’re still hanging around on our territory.”
One point for him. Members took it seriously when there were intruders who disrupted the order. Only I wasn’t planning on staying long.
“Do you think I’m here to test Nickolas’ patience?” I joked dryly.
“You’re already doing that anyway.”
“He’s my guest, Hunter,” Alarik said, and I looked back at him.
I didn’t need his protection.
As if an angel had heard my request, his phone rang, and he retreated apologetically.
“Listen, Hunter. I’m only here to see how my sister is doing. I have no intention of causing any trouble, nor do I pose a serious threat.”
“Hey” He slapped me on the shoulders in a friendly way and I didn’t know how to respond. “I never intended to expose you.” Somehow, he sounded sincere. “I guess I was just curious if you were more like how Nash or how Emely described you.”
I started moving and Hunter walked beside me. He definitely had more muscle mass than me. I wonder how much he worked out. The width of his shoulders didn’t make me doubt that he could beat me in a competition.
Senseque were able to build up more muscle mass more effectively when they transformed regularly. The mere thought was frustrating.
“I’d be very interested to know how Nash describes me,” I remarked suspiciously and my conversation partner grinned.
“You’re supposed to be very cocky and irresponsible.”
“Oh, yeah?” Now I was the one who had to grin. “Someone seems to know me better than I know myself.”
“Don’t hold it against him. You haven’t had anything to do with each other for a long time.”
Except for the little disagreement a month ago and his stupid comment about my mother, for which I would still like to beat him black and blue.
“Indeed.” I stopped and looked at him firmly. “And you should know that the rumor mill is the spiciest.”
Hunter stepped back with dismissive hands. “Never mind.” I turned away from him to keep walking. “Then it seems Emely’s descriptions are also just... rumors.”
I narrowed my eyes and quickened my pace. “I’m all ears.”
“I was surprised you wanted Nash’s opinion first and not hers, since you seem to be so important to her.”
I wheeled around quickly. The look on my face was probably one of bewilderment.
Had I really been that blind?
“If she means as much to you, you should join the pack.”
Emely and the pack. Two inseparable things. That was the problem.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I grumbled, displeased that I hadn’t just gone to Mia.
“You may be right.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Hunter sighed. “She is to be married.”
A few seconds passed before I burst out laughing. “You make good jokes. I’ll give you that.”
He grabbed my shoulder and I paused.
“I’m not joking.” His expression darkened. “You know exactly how it works with us.”
“But Emely is just the sister of the future…”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
It really didn’t. Nickolas would never do anything like that to his daughter. He wasn’t a dominant father. Sometimes, I even had the feeling that he had already completely forgotten about Emely. And now he wanted a marriage for her? With whom anyway?
“Don’t question the Alpha’s decisions,” he pressed out.
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t you do the same?”
He narrowed his eyes, seemed to be fighting something inside. And I knew it was the bond with the Alpha. This bond was currently putting him in an extremely dangerous inner conflict.
Although an Alpha didn’t know when his pack members doubted him or disagreed with him, it was harder for them to misstep in the first place because the Alpha bond gave them something like a mild migraine.
Somehow, though, Hunter managed to stay focused on me.
“That’s the reason you have more chance of changing anything about Emely’s fate.”
He sounded like he cared about her. Like her life was at stake. Like it really hadn’t been a joke…
“If that’s what Nickolas has decided...” he began. “There’s nothing anyone can do about it except join the games.”
“Games?” Anger rose in me. “You’re playing for her hand?” I pressed out in disbelief.
Hunter’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I’d do anything to keep her from being married to a stranger and disappearing, even if it meant taking part in the games.”
My breath hitched. Once at the fact that Emely should leave, and once at the fact that Hunter was so supportive of her.
Shit. She seemed to need people like Hunter to stand up for her.
“Julian?”
I winced as I caught sight of the girl everything had just been about. Emely was standing there in her black jeans and one of her olive-green blouses, her hair for once not in one of those wild ponytails. Her eyes glistened.
“You’re here.”
She looked confused. And it was my fault.
“I came to check on Mia.”
“She’s upstairs.”
I turned away from Hunter and walked toward her, determined to get past her, but too many thoughts of Bayla’s words, and now Hunter’s, made me stop. Right in front of her. I looked into her eyes, a disheveled strand of dark hair hanging in front of them, and immediately I had the urge to brush it out of her face.
After all this time with her, it was only now that I realized how pretty she had become over the last three years. She always had been. But it hadn’t mattered back then.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Then Hunter cleared his throat, and I stepped back. “By the way, Emely, I really like your idea from this afternoon.”
She turned her eyes away from me and smiled towards Hunter.
“What idea?” I asked with interest.
I felt idiotic for not paying attention to Emely all these years, as she deserved. I had been trapped in my bubble, and maybe what Bayla had said was true.
Ems looked at me again. At first, she seemed very focused on me, as if I had thrown her off track.
“I... we... well, a few of the pack are planning on not wearing the uniform tomorrow, against the rules.”
“Is that so?” My grin widened as I looked at Emely. This was how I knew my childhood friend.
She started to smile and for a second I thought I spotted something playful in her eyes.
“Are you in?” she asked quickly.
I tried to memorize every detail of her, only to realize that a hell of a lot had changed about her. Her lips looked fuller than before, as did her hair, which looked much better loose.
As if she had read my thoughts, she brushed the left strand behind her ear.
I realized that I was making her nervous. Something that must have happened before, otherwise Bayla wouldn’t have noticed.
I didn’t want to make Emely nervous... and I wanted to stop this carousel of thoughts about my childhood friend before it did more to me than I wanted.
Finally, the corners of my mouth turned upward. “I’m in.”
Hypnotic Suggestions
Chris Tilton