Chapter 19
Miles
Wild Child
The Black Keys
My plan had seemed extremely ingenious. Until the moment, the redheaded co-director had appeared on campus and summoned everyone who wasn’t wearing the ridiculous uniform to her office. Professor Copeland had shown up and just shook his head, as had David, who had sworn to himself and us that he wouldn’t mess with the university administration again.
“It had already been a risk, leaking the video to that Quatura.”
I had regretted it too, because thanks to this action, we had now attracted Professor Wannabe’s attention.
If we had simply cut down the dogs’ favorite tree back then, everything would have turned out well for us.
David had even been quite taken with the uniform that everyone on campus was now wearing. Everyone except us. And when it came to Adrian, I’d spent hours persuading him to join in last night, and he’d actually decided to wear his designer clothes. We had gotten some looks for that.
I did my best to make sure we lived up to our reputation, as we should. We were the DeLoughreys and anyone who wanted to tell us what to do was definitely in the wrong place.
The thing I liked most about it was the fact that Larissa seemed to have the same attitude as me. She had thrown the skirt out of the window into our driveway and said that only over her dead body would she be wearing the – what did she say again? – rags for nerd chicks.
She was easy to get into a rage, and I wondered if she had been that way before her transformation. In fact, I was becoming more and more interested in what she had been like growing up and as a child. After all, she was my... sister now.
I didn’t like the idea that that bastard had left one of his children behind. What was he thinking? That she would die because she was a girl? Disgusting.
Now she was here. In Blairville. Fate couldn’t have been worse for us both.
“Bastien won’t be pleased.”
David walked anxiously on the other side of Adrian, who looked visibly upset. He blamed me, as usual.
“Nicolaj will be even more pleased than Bastien,” Adrian murmured audibly.
“You’re not going to let your rivals tell you what to wear. Your Nicolaj will understand that.”
I had to grin, because Larissa, who was walking to my other side, was right. How pathetic that we put up with so much at this university.
“You’re a girl. These things would have suited you a lot.”
“Fuck you, David,” she grumbled, and David and I grinned at each other.
I couldn’t imagine Larissa in a skirt that wasn’t skin-tight, like the dress from yesterday that Camille had managed to convince her into.
Adrian seemed to be ignoring Larissa, especially since the conversation in the car yesterday.
The memory of the bar visit burned a little, and I pushed it aside forcibly.
“Why again did I listen to you?” David sighed, addressing me. It had taken half an eternity to convince him, too.
“I’ve been asking myself that all morning,” Adrian grumbled, shaking his head.
I just couldn’t stop grinning. I was seething with excitement, especially now that I was preparing for a heated discussion with the strict red-haired Quatura.
The suppressed emotions thing didn’t seem to work for me the way it did for the other clan members, and I didn’t even bother to change anything about it, as I seemed to be invisible to Nicolaj anyway.
Admittedly, I had done it for the moment. The uniform wasn’t even ugly. There was something in me that wanted to annoy the new co-director. Yesterday, I’d seen how much she’d had to pull herself together in front of me. Let’s see how long that would last.
We walked through the corridor, past staring and whispering students on our way to the director’s office, in front of which we didn’t stop, but stepped straight into the already open door.
Office Talk
Christopher Tyng
The first thing I spotted was Professor Copeland sitting at his desk, rubbing his temples with his hand as if he’d been in seminars all day. The real reason for this was standing fifteen feet away, with her arms on her hips and an angry look on her face.
She possessed a feminine, attractive figure for her age and was therefore the best proof that shell did not equal contents. Her red hair was pinned up in a bun, which made her look more severe. The hair could just as easily have framed her face, and maybe I would have liked her a little more. I doubted it...
With both hands in the pockets of my black chinos, I walked ahead of the others, suppressed my emerging grin and dropped into the comfy couch, for the second time this semester. And my gut feeling told me that it wouldn’t be the last time.
The other guys sat down next to me, only Larissa opted for one of the armchairs.
“You’re sitting down like this is some sort of entertainment!”
The woman looked at us indignantly, but seconds later smoothed her face, making her look like a robot.
I would have loved to tell her that this was great entertainment for me, and damn it, I would have liked to get her even more worked up.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked after a while when nothing happened, and Professor Copeland poured himself a cup of coffee. It’s a wonder he needed it as a Senseque. The Alpha would probably have hit the ceiling with coffee and scratched the couch.
“For...” the woman wanted to begin, but then turned to the door with a strained expression. “Finally! Your unpunctuality is inacceptable!”
I raised my eyebrows as more students in anything but uniform entered the office. First, I recognized the Senseque who was sleeping in our room, which we no longer occupied for obvious reasons.
Other guys from the Senseque pack entered the room, even the African-American guy who always hung out with the Alpha son. Nash himself wasn’t there today, but one face caught my attention.
It was director Copeland who smiled at her first, as if she had improved his day by disobeying the snippy professor’s instructions.
She stood there in a pair of skin-tight matte black jeans that emphasized her subtle curves. In addition, she wore brown leather boots and a cream-brown blouse that flattered her skin tone. She wore her black-brown hair back in a ponytail as usual, but with a few strands falling out. It made her look like a cute little rebel.
A female Senseque. Something extremely rare.
She let her head wander around the room and when our eyes met, I gave her my most devilish smile.
Her body seemed to stiffen, and her expression grew tense.
This was exactly what I had wanted.
I had met her outside this room yesterday and at first, I had wanted to blow her cover, but then I had found it much more fun to drive her up the wall.
I knew she hated us. Ruisangor and Senseque had been enemies for centuries. Nicolaj had told us the bloodiest stories when we were little and nurtured our paranoia about the Senseque. But when she’d jumped on my words in the hallway yesterday and before that on the lawn… God, it had been wonderfully amusing.
“You know why you’re here.” Professor Harlow began to walk across the room and picked up a sheet of paper from the director’s desk.
“Should we?” I asked, giving the woman my best smile.
I noticed that the Senseque guys were stifling their grins, and even the professor was squinting out the window, concentrating on not smirking. Only Emely Copeland rolled her eyes.
The wannabe director paused and seemed to be struggling with herself.
“You should, indeed!”
She began to flip through the pages, then pulled out a silver pen with a thorny R engraved on it and made a note on the black leather clipboard.
Who still used clipboards these days? Even Jenny Bexley, who wouldn’t stop running after me, had an iPad by now.
“You have violated regulation twenty of the new student code on our campus.” She looked at all of us without lifting her head. “As a result, each and every one of you must either write a fifteen-page letter of justification to me for this offense, according to paragraph twenty H, or participate in cleaning the campus for an afternoon.”
Loud groans went around the room.
“You can’t expect us to wear this ridiculous uniform. We’re of age and this isn’t high school.”
“Miss Champson!”
The wannabe director put on her glasses as if to double-check that the protesting girl was Larissa.
She had our mother’s name... Champson. My jaw tensed, and I pushed that thought away too, because it had no place here.
“You...” The woman seemed to have trouble finding words. Her eyeballs twitched. “Are one of those...”
She looked back at Professor Copeland, and he just nodded.
Bastien had probably not yet implemented the name change request in the files. Because from now on, Larissa’s surname would be DeLoughrey.
Director Copeland seemed to mind less than the Quatura did that Larissa was one of us, and for a moment I was worried that she would make a big deal out of it, but she seemed to realize that this was not her Circle where she could go cry about it.
The wannabe director adjusted her amber horn-rimmed glasses.
“You have to wear the uniform like everyone else. That way you can be identified as a student of this university.”
“What nonsense,” snorted the Senseque girl.
I wouldn’t have expected her to go against the rules. That was probably because she usually seemed to do everything the pack asked of her. The pack hated the Quatura as much as they hated us, at least to some extent. That was the only plausible explanation.
“Miss Copeland!” The woman wheeled around to face Emely. “I’ll increase your punishment. You’ll see for yourself how that looks.”
Emely’s jaw dropped, and she wanted to protest, but the English professor gave her a placating hand signal and indicated that she’d better drop it.
As far as I knew, he was the Alpha’s brother, and she was the Alpha’s daughter, so he had to be her uncle.
“Does anyone else have anything to say?”
Ban All the Music
Nothing But Thieves
“Yeah, us.” I stood up and noticed David trying to pull me back. I elegantly removed his arm. “Shove your rules up somewhere else.”
I didn’t say it with any contempt. Rather, it was in the meaning of the words, which I pronounced with a smile and the deepest kindness.
A whisper went through the Senseque group and Professor Wannabe seemed to be on the verge of bursting when Alarik Copeland spoke up.
“You should go now, Miles.” I eyed him skeptically. “You’re staying,” he continued, addressing my blood brothers, who had just stood up.
“May I know why?” Adrian asked behind me and the woman was quicker than the professor.
“Your friend has little respect for authority!”
She put on one of her absurd fake smiles, which I hadn’t expected at all.
“Never had, and that... wait, let me check my schedule...” I theatrically picked up my cell phone and pretended to scroll. “’... won’t change anytime soon.”
The wannabe director’s jaw dropped.
With a final smirk, I turned away from the red-haired witch and left the room without a word.
You’re Loved & I’m Hated
Christopher Tyng
I heard an awkward silence after my exit and decided to wait a little further away from the room for my blood brothers.
After just two minutes, the door burst open again.
I assumed the meeting was over and pushed myself away from the wall. But the person who slammed the door in a rage was not Adrian – who would never have done that, by the way – and not Larissa either, who I definitely expected to do that.
Emely turned to leave in my direction and only became aware of my presence at the last moment, when she almost ran into me, looked up startled and flinched as if I were the ghost under her bed that she had feared since childhood.
We were standing right in front of each other, an arm’s length apart.
I scrutinized her.
The last time I’d had this opportunity, I’d been pushed against the wall by her and, damn, this girl had power.
Now she stared at me out of her memorable dark brown eyes.
She was pretty. That wasn’t up for debate.
I mentally slapped myself for that thought. She was one of those damn dogs, even if she didn’t smell like it. She smelled unexpectedly... pleasant.
I quickly held my breath.
Emely interrupted the intense stare and made me realize what an uncomfortable situation I was in. Nothing about this was pleasant, except her expression, which darkened, and my inappropriate grin, which slipped over my lips once again.
It was simply amusing how easily she could get upset.
“You again,” she snorted, trying to get past me when I stood in her way.
“Yes, me. Do you have a problem with me?”
I blinked at her, which obviously seemed to bother her. Her bad luck.
“To be honest, yes, Miles.”
She tried to go around me again, but I shifted to the right this time, and she almost bumped into me.
I raised an eyebrow in playful surprise. “You remember my name?”
She gave up trying to get past me and looked straight at me as if she wanted to strangle me. “Don’t feel honored now, idiot.”
“Did you just call me an idiot?”
“And I thought your hearing was better.” She rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed. “Must be a myth.”
“What isn’t a myth is that a Beta does whatever the Alpha asks of him, which gives your kind quite a bit of weakness.”
I’d hit the mark because she squinted, causing a pretty little wrinkle to form between her eyebrows.
“I’d love to take a photo of your face right now.”
Her tension gave way to disbelief. “This picture would remind you how much your presence excites me!”
“More like what an angry puppy looks like.”
She seemed to grow even angrier as her expression stiffened.
“Now I know what people mean when they say you can turn as red as a tomato,” I laughed softly.
If my words made her uncomfortable, she didn’t let it show. In fact, she seemed less anxious than the last time we met. It must have been quite a shock for her that I hadn’t killed her.
“Are all of you like this?” Emely seemed to be referring this question to our clan.
“How exactly? Classy? Intellectual?”
“Conceited and annoying!” she finished my sentence, swearing, and I pretended to be hurt by patting my chest.
“Ouch, no one’s ever said that to me before.” Which was a big, fat lie.
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m starting to think your eye roll belongs in the Guinness Book of World Records.”
“What do you want, Miles?”
It sounded kind of... oddly good the way she pronounced my name.
I bit my tongue to push the bizarre thought away.
“I just didn’t think you’d ever break the rules, wolf girl.”
Her expression normalized and now, for the first time, I saw... a scornful smile?
“You’d be amazed if you knew what I am capable of.”
She piqued my curiosity.
“Oh yeah? Is there a rebel slumbering inside you?”
“I don’t know what business that is of yours, so don’t call me that,” she hissed back. “Now let me go.”
Once again, she tried to squeeze past me at the wall, but she hadn’t expected what I did next.
Everywhere – Epic Trailer Version
Hidden Citizens, Adam Christopher
I placed my hands on her surprisingly soft shoulders and pressed her against the wall. I immediately felt the warmth of her skin through her blouse.
“Nobody just leaves me like this without answering my questions,” I murmured threateningly softly.
Emely looked shocked, as if she didn’t know how to react.
She sucked in her breath, perplexed, and I couldn’t stop myself from inhaling her scent again. She really did smell different than I had expected. The flowery scent of her perfume was mixed with a pleasant sweetness that didn’t come from her blood.
Normally, Senseque should smell strange to us because we were conditioned to it in training. The training that I had often neglected…
For a moment, her scent broke my concentration.
“How can you be so arrogant,” she pressed out, and her eyes turned yellow.
“I can afford it,” I whispered.
Then I formed a slight smirk with my lips and caught myself looking at hers. They were rosy and curved... full.
Damn, Miles... She’s a Senseque.
I had her confused because she just stared at me. Her body looked rigid, like she was tense. Her eyes glowed menacingly, but that only made me continue to scrutinize her curiously. I had never been this close to a Senseque before.
I was about to use my powers, but something stopped me. Her emotions were so real, and I was sure that I was able to evoke the full range of emotions in her without wasting my energy with my powers. So, I stepped closer.
“What? Mm?” My glowing eyes pierced hers and I saw her open her full lips to gasp.
“Did I leave you speechless?”
I realized I was brushing against her. I was already that close...
I looked from her eyes, shielded by thick lashes, to her plump lips.
That had been a mistake, because I could feel all the blood in my body rushing downwards.
Shocked at myself, I stared back into her widened eyes, streaked with fine-fibered yellow galaxies, letting my jaw work to distract myself from the overwhelming hardness of my cock.
Then I heard the door burst open nearby and jumped back. And without hesitation, I disappeared down the spiral staircase.