Chapter 34
Emely
New Girl
Labrinth
One might assume I was the enviable princess in this story. The one with Prince Charming and a bright, glorious future. But life wasn’t a fairy tale, and I wasn’t a princess either. Instead, I wanted to sink into the floor, but it had just been pulled away from under my feet.
Mica stopped in front of me and I could literally smell estrogen in the air as countless girls gathered around us, excitedly whispering and pulling out their phones.
“Won’t you give me your hand?”
I stared at him, stunned, and it took me a few seconds to realize and give him my hand.
He kissed it.
My skin immediately tingled because his lips were pleasantly warm, and I shyly withdrew my hand, my cheeks getting warm.
Mica held the flowers out to me.
Of course, I took them, but not without more heat shooting into my cheeks.
“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl,” he said loudly for all to hear.
My heart leapt with an overwhelmed jump.
He gave me an extremely attractive smile, which made his blue eyes sparkle, and I automatically returned it, however cautiously.
His men suddenly started to cheer, and the many girls around us clapped.
God, how much I just wanted to disappear into thin air.
“Thank you...” I said and then, finally, I regained my courage. “But if you want to impress me, maybe you should try something else.”
I gave him a challenging glare, which he apparently hadn’t expected.
Mica’s smile disappeared. He seemed confused.
I had intended to give him a chance, but this was definitely not what I had meant.
“I have to get going...” I said quickly before he could say anything and turned away from him and the guys, embarrassed, meeting Hunter’s worried gaze.
All okay, I told him through our pack link, but his expression remained the same.
I sighed and turned away from Hunter and Nash’s guys as well, only to stare at the envious faces of countless girls.
Oh, great. Half the campus had probably just seen that.
I hurried past them, feeling silly.
I hated roses, but Mica couldn’t have known that. And now I had to walk around with this expensive-looking bouquet. I couldn’t just throw it away. That wasn’t right.
I would have loved to put it in the hands of one of those girls, but I pulled myself together and disappeared through the main entrance of the west wing and finally through one of the porticoes around the corner, where I stopped and took a deep breath.
There was almost not a soul here and the adjoining courtyard I entered was surrounded by a small green area with a fountain, wooden benches, and a rose garden.
How ironic.
Now would be the perfect time to throw away this smelly bouquet.
Everywhere – Epic Trailer Version
Hidden Citizens, Adam Christopher
“Roses... how creative.”
My neck tensed automatically, but I didn’t turn around. I felt him approach and stop close behind me. My body was on alert, prepared in case he wanted to attack me.
Could he really be that stupid?
I felt his every move, every time his arms brushed against his suit. I smelled him, inhaling the air deeply, as I automatically did when a Quatura or a Ruisangor was nearby, even if that smell usually put me off.
But all I could smell was a hint of almond mixed with a woody note... and an extremely pleasant body scent. This Ruisangor didn’t smell disgusting at all. His smell made me woozy, triggered a strange tingling sensation in my stomach… Confusion spread through me.
I turned around abruptly and was startled by how close he actually was to me. There weren’t even two feet between us.
He was taller than me, which hardly any man could manage.
It had always bothered me that I was the tallest, often taller than some of the men and guys in the pack. It had never occurred to me that one day I would wish I was taller than someone else. How amusing it would have been to be able to look down at him.
Miles watched me. The corners of his mouth turned upwards.
Office Talk
Christopher Tyng
“Did I scare you, little wolf?”
My expression immediately darkened, and I looked into his provocative eyes. Sparkling brown tourmalines. And then that grin... It wasn’t like Julian’s, warm and cheerful. It was pure malicious joy that was triggered when he was amused. Only I wasn’t his clown doll!
“Don’t call me that!” I hissed, holding the bouquet of roses between us so he couldn’t get too close to me. If he did, he would hopefully hurt himself on the thorns that were already pricking my hand. Stupid flowers.
He just kept grinning before looking down at the flowers.
“Roses.” He raised both brows. “How come you don’t like these flowers?”
“What?” How did he know...? “I like roses!” I blurted angrily, hugging them to my chest for emphasis. A painful mistake.
“Your look told me otherwise, Copeland.” He continued to grin at me, and I was annoyed that he’d been able to figure it out so easily.
“They’re not my taste either,” he continued. “But I wonder, what kind of flowers do you like, then?”
He raised an eyebrow.
I looked at him, annoyed. “That shouldn’t interest you.”
“Someone has to tell your admirer that he’s in the dark.”
He seemed to enjoy making fun of me. However, he was still playing with the wrong girl.
“At least I have one.”
Miles’ grin widened. “If you only knew how many women are waiting to be desired by me.”
My jaw dropped.
“The list is long. Wait...” He pulled out a notepad from his shirt pocket – covered in unreadable scrawl – as if he were a waiter and pretended to read. “I’m afraid there’s no more room for you.”
My jaw dropped even further.
“In your dreams, DeLoughrey,” I hissed angrily, glaring at him.
I wanted him to know that I was annoyed. He was everything bad I had imagined a Ruisangor to be. Incredibly self-obsessed, passive-aggressive and on top of that, deceptively attractive... The last part, unfortunately, was due to his nature.
He wouldn’t fool me! He could perhaps do that with a human, but never with a Senseque.
“I hate people like you, Miles,” I gritted out.
“Why? I’m bloody adorable,” he replied with a grin. “I asked you about your favorite flowers, did he?”
I rolled my eyes.
What game was he trying to play with me now?
“He’s a gentleman, Miles. Now leave me alone. I have a lecture to attend.”
He should be glad I left it at that. I still wanted to strangle him for the St. John’s wort action from the weekend.
I turned away from him and was about to leave when he appeared right next to me and walked down the path with me.
“The legal department is the other way.”
I stopped and looked at him in disbelief. “Are you stalking me?”
“No, of course not.” He laughed as if I’d made a joke. “We’re just both sitting in the same lecture.”
“Of course...” I snorted and kept walking. “How could I have forgotten?”
Miles followed me, which set all the alarm bells ringing inside me. Probably the Senseque in me feared that he might use me as a throwing target for his ridiculous knives again or make some other stupid attack attempt.
“Do you actually get bonus points for sacrificing yourself for your pack?”
“Excuse me?” I stopped again, ready to punch him in the face if he didn’t leave soon.
“This man, Mikhail Rolanow. He’s from the Russian pack. On top of that, he’s the Alpha’s son.” If my face once had an expression, it just vanished in disbelief. “And there’s only one reason the Rolanows can be here. You guys want to pool your power, but you can only do that through this one good old tradition. A wedding.”
I stared at him. That was all I was capable of.
Just don’t freak out, Emely. I could handle anything, and Miles DeLoughrey would be no exception.
“I should report you for stalking,” I pressed out through clenched teeth.
“What are you going to tell the cops?” The corners of his mouth turned up again, giving me a good view of his two dimples. If he weren’t a Ruisangor... What was I thinking? “A charming young man knows that I’m being forced into a wedding to form an alliance with the Russian pack?”
How could he joke as if the situation was funny?
“I’m not being forced!” I clarified.
“Oh, no? And yet you do what Daddy says, am I right?”
That was it. I could feel my eyes starting to glow. The veins on my neck stood out and so did the ones on my wrists.
“I’m just fulfilling my responsibility!” I tried to make it clear, taking another step towards him.
It annoyed me that I couldn’t manage to scare him. Because this cocky bastard was looking at me calmly as if I had just described to him where the library was, not as if I wanted to rip his non-existent heart out of his chest.
“How is it that you, as the second-born, don’t simply enjoy your privileges?” he asked more seriously than before.
This question hit me harder than expected.
“What privileges?” I snorted.
He couldn’t imagine what it really was like within a pack. How could he? His kind probably knew nothing about ours and everything he thought he knew was lies or assumptions.
“You could follow my example and live your life to the fullest.”
Now I was the one laughing in amusement. “Not everyone can enjoy the privilege of being a goddamn slacker.”
Miles stared at me, his jaw working barely noticeably.
“Better than wasting your time trying to live up to someone else’s expectations without being adequately rewarded.”
Miles was the kind of person who didn’t seem to care about the opinions and feelings of others. He had probably never had a loving family.
I knew exactly how it worked with the Ruisangor. The mothers died, the fathers took the children. What a cold-hearted creature he must be. Someone who had never known the love of a mother.
I bit my tongue when I realized that I had also grown up without a mother.
“You almost look like you’re going to be the new Alpha,” he laughed.
My jaw tensed.
“Oh, oh, I almost forgot...” he continued, grinning broadly. “Only the men get to call the shots in your pack.” I winced inwardly. “Am I right?”
Patriarchy was part of the tradition. I had grown up with it. Actually, his words shouldn’t have hit me. But they had penetrated right through my I.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something...” I tried to collect myself. “I have the same rights as my brother.”
I suddenly felt a lot more insecure, and I hated Miles for it.
He raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re telling me that your brother is really the firstborn and that’s the only reason you won’t be the next Alpha?”
I widened my eyes.
He had just finished me off.
But there was no way he could know that...
My whole body stiffened.
“We’re twins,” I managed to get out.
He began to laugh triumphantly. “Tell me he was born first without lying to me.”
Miles DeLoughrey had torn open a very old wound inside me that I had been trying hard to close for five years.
“How do you know…”
Miles stepped closer.
“We DeLoughreys are known for our excellent research skills.”
He laughed softly, probably not really realizing what a mess he’d made of me.
All these years, I had blocked out the fact that my father had gotten the birth certificates changed. The fact that I could never have the same responsibilities as my brother – responsibilities which seemed like privileges to me to this day – had become normal to me. I had forced myself not to strive for it, even calling Nash my big brother in front of others. And now a Ruisangor – of all people – was standing in front of me and ripping open that damn scar.
“You’ll never be able to lie to me, Emely,” Miles whispered in a low, barely audible voice. “Your eyes can’t lie.”
He turned away from me and walked down the stone path that led to the law lecture halls as if that unpleasant conversation had never happened.
I stopped, caught up in my thoughts, fighting with all my strength against the tears that kept fighting their way up.
Eventually, I took the bouquet off my chest and ripped threads from the white blouse of my uniform, which broke the camel’s back.
I screamed angrily and panted to calm myself down. I wanted to scream at him.
“Ems.”
Don’t Speak
Cha?l, kaii
I wheeled around. There stood Julian.
Oh God, he would notice something was wrong. Julian knew me.
He came toward me, his brown hair typically messy. The black uniform pants looked good on him, even if he wasn’t wearing one of the sweater vests with it, just a dark green Vanderwood hoodie.
A strange dress code had developed over the last few days. While the Quatura all wore the blue uniform, the pack demonstratively wore the green sweater vests and the Ruisangors wore either their suits or the black pieces. I had unconsciously joined in with all this.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the Rolanows?”
Julian looked worried, almost tense, like Nash had been since the weekend.
“Hey, what is it?”
He put a hand to my cheek and I winced. He took his warm fingers off me immediately.
“I’m sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
“It’s okay,” I replied, confused.
What was wrong with me? This was Julian... who had been acting weird around me since last week and was giving me strange hopes.
My cheeks heated up at the thought. If there was a competition for this sort of thing, I’m sure I would have won first place today.
“I’m all right. Don’t worry about it.”
Sighing, I lowered the flowers and looked down at the blouse. I definitely needed a new one. Those roses had gotten me into so many awkward situations, it was almost ridiculous. The Esadowa spirits were probably trying to punish me.
“But I do.”
I looked up at Julian, touched.
If only he knew his words hurt.
“Unnecessarily,” I sighed.
Every time he was sympathetic, I wished we were still best friends, maybe even more. Except it would only get that far in my dreams. I had to finally put an end to it.
“No,” he continued to disagree. “You should have told me something.”
“And then what?” I laughed. “You don’t have to protect me. I’ve managed fine without you for the last two years,” I slipped out a little too sharply as I straightened my blouse and tightened my ponytail.
There was regret in Julian’s gaze.
“If he wins the games, I’ll accept my fate,” I continued, trying to change the subject.
“You don’t even love him.”
I looked into Julian’s eyes.
What did he know about love?
“It’s about the pack,” I clarified my intentions in case he’d already forgotten.
“It’s always about the pack, for God’s sake!” Julian cursed, and I felt that sting again from the scar Miles had just ripped open.
How ironic that a person I absolutely disliked and someone who meant the world to me could touch the same wound inside me.
I looked at my former best friend and remembered that I was actually mad at him. Hell, he had been sitting in a room with two Quatura and – even worse – a Ruisangor, reading diary entries of a Quatura who had been in touch with my uncle.
As I had stood in the kitchen, making myself a snack, the ham sandwich had almost slipped out of my hands from shock.
I had never wanted to eavesdrop on them, but it had been so clear to my sensitive hearing that I would have had to get some earplugs so I couldn’t hear anything. And when my uncle’s name had been mentioned, I hadn’t been able to resist the urge to listen in disbelief to Bayla reading aloud.
It was no secret that Alarik didn’t take part in the rivalries. He had helped Julian’s father back then by contacting the mayoress, and that had brought a lot of conflict. But these diary entries, a bloody love letter? To a Quatura?! I really needed to talk to him.
Julian’s look became more worried. I realized that I had been staring at him the whole time, lost in thought, and hadn’t reacted to his critical comment, as I usually did.
His pretty small freckles sparkled at me like little stars. When the summer passed, they would disappear too, just like every year. And it was already November.
Welcome Home, Son
Radical Face
“I don’t want to argue with you now,” I said quietly.
Julian understood, and then he did something I hadn’t expected. He pulled me into his arms.
“Me neither,” he whispered warmly against my ear.
Heat shot through my body.
It took a few seconds, then I finally let myself sink into the hug I had needed for so long. The one from a childhood friend, a person who had always made me feel so safe. I had longed for this embrace for years. My body pressed against him, pleading for his gentle touch, and he gave me a minute that felt like half an eternity.
“I want to go out with you,” he said as he pulled away from me.
I winced, my knees went weak, and the next moment I was gasping for air.
“No.”
“No?” He looked at me as if I’d just punched him.
“Yes,” it slipped out of me faster than I could think.
I smiled like a Cheshire cat.
Julian had asked me if I wanted to go out with him? He was asking me if...
I looked him straight in the eyes.
My childhood best friend smiled softly. “Probably overdue.”
A moment ago, I had been devastated and now Julian had asked me out on a date! Him? Me?
I was literally floating across campus toward the legal department because my heart was jumping up and down. Until the moment Vivienna Westcode brought me back down to earth by crashing right into me.
“I’m sorry, I...”
The roses were scattered around us on the path, and when I realized whom I had just accidentally ripped the folder from, I broke off mid-sentence.
I was more than happy that not even this arrogant cow could manage to burst my bubble.
She gave me a nasty glare. “Don’t get too excited!”
I glared at her.
“Everything tells me you did that pregnancy test.”
My joy died abruptly.
Julie.
I had wanted to talk to her all along. It had taken me hours to make this decision, but I couldn’t leave her alone with it. Not after I had taken the test with her and put her in this situation to a certain extent. As much as I didn’t want to admit it. I owed a Blair-Quatura something.
Vivienna picked up her things, huffing. “Better watch out next time! Why do you have such good senses if you don’t use them?”
Then she rolled her eyes and hurried past me.
This day had been a tough one.