Chapter Four Dylan #2
The students were also talking amongst themselves about it all.
I turned slightly to see their faces, and they all looked as though they didn't understand why Lupe would turn down Hunter's help.
I turned to face Lupe and gave her a smug smile.
Lupe kept her blank face and motioned for me to sit down, but I remained standing.
"It shouldn't matter if he is a student.
He has more experience tracking down those who break our laws than anyone here.
I am aware that no staff members were Enforcers before becoming teachers here.
Why would you turn down the opportunity to have someone with his expertise help you? " Dylan challenged.
Lupe's smugness returned. "The law at this school does not always align with the ones of our people.
Here at the school, we have our own laws.
One of which is students getting caught up in teacher affairs.
As long as Mr. Hawthorne is a student at this academy, he cannot join our investigation. Have I made myself clear?"
Her tone dared me to keep going, but I knew I had lost this battle.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing Lupe had managed to win this one.
I flopped down onto my seat and crossed my arms over my chest. Jackson and Hunter gripped my thigh and pushed their support through the bonds.
At least they understood how angry I felt about this.
The way I boiled right now as I kept eye contact with Lupe only made her look happier.
If I could, I would rush the stage and challenge Lupe right now.
It wouldn't do anything to harm my chances of beating Lupe at this game.
"Now that we got that settled, I must move on.
There will be a curfew set in place moving forward.
We do not want to ruin the rest of your time here, but we ask you all to return to your dorms by eleven pm.
" A roar of no's and griping filled the room.
Lupe ignored it and continued. "I understand that means less time to mingle with your friends, but it is precautionary.
We are also limiting time in Mystwood until the culprit is caught. "
"Wait, is this for all students, or just us?" someone in the back called out.
That didn't occur to me. I assumed, because every person in the room was a werewolf, it would apply to everyone.
"At this time, we are requiring just the wolves to abide by these rules."
Another uproar from everyone. I joined them, along with my mates and Sera.
Making only one sector of the school follow these rules was absurd.
How was that fair to us? Lupe could have asked that wolf guard to grab one of the angel students!
Setting up this curfew, knowing I had followed Lupe to Mystwood, could be her way of telling me I couldn't stop her while she poked around the school.
This could pave the way for Lupe to find someone's power to break through the trouble she was having replicating her success with Cole and the others.
An Angel's power may not be what she is looking for. It's Shadowborns’ magic that can manipulate the bonds, my wolf reminded me.
Then what was up with that guard?
Probably something else nefarious going on in this school.
Well, that bodes well.
"Everyone!" Lupe's power flooded the room again.
I felt it brush against mine, nearly making me submit.
Instinctually, I pulled on my wolf's power to fight against it.
When the warming scents of coffee, whiskey, citrus, and cedar wrapped around me, I knew I drew on their power, too.
I looked down at them, and they were tense as they glared at Lupe.
The bonds were feeding their power through all of us so none of us would bend to Lupe's will.
Like she sensed me defying her, Lupe glanced down at me.
I kept my stare on Lupe's cold, pale, gray eyes.
Her body stiffened at first, seeing the unwavering hatred in my eyes, but then her body language changed to be more relaxed.
She broke eye contact and motioned to everyone else with her hand.
"I understand your anger, everyone. It does not seem fair to you to have your privileges taken away like this.
However!" Lupe yelled before anyone started their protests.
"This perpetrator is only attacking our kind at this time.
We wish to keep you all safe, and these are the measures we are taking for that to happen. "
Someone must have held up their hand for Lupe to motion with hers to them.
I didn't turn around to see who it was. I wanted to keep my eyes on Lupe.
I hoped it would make her feel unsettled with me glaring at her during this assembly.
However, when the person began talking, I found myself whipping my body around to look at him.
"What makes you think we can't defend ourselves?" Silas asked.
Not once did I think about Silas being in this room with us.
After the events at Mystwood, I had forgotten about Silas being here.
Seeing him join me in questioning Lupe warmed my heart.
He could have chosen to remain quiet like many of the others here, but he didn't. Was this his way of getting back into my heart?
Would that work on me? I thought about it, how it showed him wanting to stand up for what was right.
Hmm. It is definitely a step in the right direction. I still want to punch him in his face right now, though.
"This person has had no trouble with the people they have killed thus far. I-"
"Did any of those people have experience fighting?" Silas questioned.
I thought back to the people who had been killed.
They all didn't seem to be that advanced in fighting skills.
Though, most of the students here aren't either.
The males, sure. The females, though, I doubted.
Some were versed in hand-to-hand combat just from their packs wanting all their wolves to know how to handle themselves in combat.
Others females just knew how to fight out of instinct from their wolf.
I thought about Camilla and knew her wolf drove most of her fight, and it wasn't that hard to take her down.
"A few, no, the others, yes."
I knew how people were chosen. I wondered if the room would like to know how each victim had been chosen by Lupe.
If I said it right now, it would be what Lupe would consider an act of war against her.
I looked at my mates. They gave me a knowing look, telling me they had been listening in on my thoughts, and agreed with me.
The warmth spreading through my chest was the indication I needed.
"I'm pretty sure the victims all had something in common," I called out.
With how silent the room became, they could have heard a pin drop.
Dylan felt everyone's eyes on her, including Lupe's.
The fire in the councilwoman's eyes dared her to continue.
Dylan smirked at Lupe, making the fire grow with the anger the woman felt.
"They were all Shadowborn or a descendant of a Shadowborn. "
Murmurs broke out in the auditorium, and my smirk turned into a smile as Lupe looked like she was ready to kill me.
Jackson and Hunter gave my thigh a tight squeeze.
When I looked at them, they were smiling, too.
They knew my admitting this would make everyone look into their family tree to know if they were descendants of Shadowborns now.
It would be harder for Lupe to find victims in the school with this knowledge.
If anyone contacted their families after this announcement, word could get around and make it almost impossible for werewolves of Shadowborn descent to walk around alone.
"How can we find out if we are a descendant of a Shadowborn? There can't be many of us out there who are, considering most Shadowborns breed with their own kind," a random student asked, I assume male from the deep voice.
Wilcox walked up to Lupe and grabbed the microphone from her. "Shadowborns have bred outside of their kind throughout our entire history. Some packs only breed with other Shadowborns because of the stigma attached to their kind, but it is entirely possible for every one of you to be a descendent."
Lupe somehow kept her composure during all this.
She put her hand out toward Wilcox to receive the microphone and then turned back toward the crowd.
"I know this all has been stressful, but as I said before, we are working on keeping you safe.
The curfew will remain in place. Anyone caught outside their rooms past eleven pm will be reprimanded.
After classes, we ask for everyone to walk among a group or with at least one other person. Do not walk around alone at any cost."
"So we can't leave our dorm, or we can't leave our room?" Silas asked.
Again, I felt tingles of happiness hearing him challenge Lupe.
The man may not know about my dealings with Lupe yet, but he was standing against her after seeing me do it.
It didn't lessen my anger about him rejecting me.
We were not that far yet. I was even angry about him showing up here, thinking an apology would fix him rejecting me, but this was definitely a way to get back in my good graces.
"Your rooms," Lupe said matter-of-factly.
A vicious growl erupted from my throat as I jumped to my feet. "Excuse me? How are you going to limit us to our rooms? What if we wanted to talk to our friends past that time?"
Lupe's face showed the lines of her anger. Good. The bitch needs to be annoyed and angry at me. I will not take this sitting down.
"We do not know who this person is, Miss. Pierce. It could be another wolf."
"So how is making us stay in our dorms safer?" Hunter challenged. "If it's another wolf, they could end up in our rooms at any time."
"The guards will be patrolling your dorms at random times throughout the night to enforce this rule."
Lupe continued to talk, but I was no longer listening.
The guard could be the one to kidnap the damn students for all I knew.
This was not going to make things safer.
If anything, this would put the students at a bigger risk.
I surged to my feet and crossed through the row to get to the aisle.
Jackson and Hunter tried to protest and ask me what I was doing, but I kept walking.
I didn't look back at Lupe even after I shoved the door open, making it slam against the wall.
I heard her yell my name and even felt her power wash over me to make me stop.
My wolf surged to the surface to fight against it so I could keep going.
Lupe won't fucking control me. She also won't get the chance to kidnap someone else from this school.