Chapter Fifteen Dylan
As we walked back to the dorms, my wolf whined as my eyes glanced toward the trees.
She wanted out, but there was something I needed to do.
Seeing as I went out on a mini mission without my best friend, and I hadn't spoken to her since before class, I needed to get to Sera.
If there were psychopaths out there taking random people for Lupe's cause, I didn't want to leave Sera without checking in.
In this moment, I wished there was a bond between me and Sera.
It would bring me peace of mind knowing she was okay.
Could I bite Sera, claim her like a mate, and a bond work like that?
That was a question for Wilcox. Pack magic can be a tricky thing if you didn't know what you were doing.
I knew I could technically make Sera part of my pack, and it would pull her into a pack bond with me.
I could do that, but I didn't know if it would mess with the other pack bonds inside of us. That’s what I needed to talk to Wilcox about if Sera was open to that.
I doubted she would tell me no. Things were getting dark around this campus, and many people were turning up missing or dead.
If this is what it took to ensure our safety, it was definitely something worth looking into.
"Hey, before we turn in for the night, I want to talk to Sera."
Jackson grabbed onto my hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it before threading his fingers through mine. "Yeah, I agree. We haven't seen her all day."
I glanced at my mate with a sideways smile on my lips. "Trying to let me know something, Jack?"
He growled playfully at me. "Don't start setting traps, woman. I won't fall for them."
"Aww, and here I thought I could have some fun."
Hunter chimed in. "We care about Sera as much as you do. She's been a good friend to you, and to us. We know what you are thinking."
"And we agree. We shouldn't leave her without one of us," Jackson finished Hunter's thought.
My heart clenched hearing them say that.
Their words conveyed the same ferocity they used when speaking about me.
Sera may not officially be a pack member, but she was in our hearts.
These two would protect her as fiercely as I would.
Which meant, if Lupe would take Sera, these two would join me in burning the academy down to get her back.
Sera was pack . No one fucked with our pack.
We didn't even need to hunt her down. Sera stood at the bottom of the stairs as if she had been waiting for us to return. We should've known she would be since Sera knew as much as we did about Lupe. I was just glad she didn't leave the dorm rooms to find us.
"Where have you three been? No one has seen you since class!" She snarled as she threw herself into my arms.
I grunted from her sudden assault but still wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. It was a relief knowing Lupe didn't take my best friend during my absence. I'd have to murder her, slowly, if she did.
"Long story. Do you want to-"
"Yes!" she said before grabbing onto my hand and tugging me up the stairs.
Her urgency to get to somewhere we could talk had my mind running a mile a minute.
My wolf paced at hearing Sera's heartbeat being erratic.
I had to hope nothing happened while we were gone.
The very thought of Lupe or a goon of hers stalking Sera while we were dealing with Noah had me snarling.
My mates must have read my mind because they snarled along with me.
"Stop it! Nothing happened to me. I know how your minds work. Just get your asses to your suite and tell me where you guys have been all day."
It didn't stop my wolf from continuing to snarl. The thought was in her head, and she wouldn't let it go. I doubted she would allow me to leave Sera's side now that we wondered if Lupe would take her from us.
I'll kill her slowly if she tries, my wolf warned. I wasn't arguing with that thought. Lupe would die a miserable death if Sera was in her sights.
We locked the door behind us when we reached our suite.
Part of me wanted to send Jackson or Hunter to Sera's room and get her mattress so she could stay in our room, but I didn't need to be that level of an alpha yet toward my friend.
My wolf disagreed, growling at me for not following through with that plan.
I pushed her down before the boys picked up on her, clawing her way to the surface.
They'd get extra protective if they think I felt threatened right now with my wolf on the surface.
After a long day, I rolled onto the bed and propped my head up on my hands. Jackson and Hunter moved in on either side of me. Hunter went back into Enforcer mode, as if he couldn't turn it off, by staring at the door like someone would come in. Something about going after Noah triggered him.
"Spill," Sera said as she hopped onto the bed. "I need all the details."
The boys looked at me, giving me the floor to tell her what she needed to know.
They knew I may want to leave details about when it came to the angels, but I didn't plan on keeping secrets from my best friend, so I gave her the whole story.
While I spilled all the details of what happened with Noah, from being pulled out of class to dropping his unconscious body off with Arabella, Sera listened intently.
Not once did she stop the story to ask a question, letting me get everything out while she soaked it in.
When I was done, her mouth was on the floor.
“You mean to tell me they pulled you out of class to go on an angel mission?! How cool is that?!”
I laughed. "You could say that."
"Why did they ask you? I know they couldn't trust Lupe to get the job done, but how did your name get on their desk?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm going to assume because of me eliminating Cole, who was a threat to the school."
"Makes sense. You were the talk of the school after that happened. Lupe must have bragged about one of her students saving the school to the other councils."
I growled. "She had no right to brag about me if she did. Lupe had nothing to do with me doing the right thing. Cole needed to die. Lupe turned him into an abomination."
Sera frowned. "I still can't believe Lupe is trying to make everyone like that. How would we all function if our wolves were in the driver's seat? Would that mean our human mind would be gone?"
I rolled onto my back and sighed. "I don't know. There wasn't any trace of humanity in Cole or his crew, so I'd say so. A wolf without their human to stop them from... anything..."
"Would be disastrous. Imagine the blood that would be spilled if that would happen." Hunter finished my thought.
"I wonder how the sex would be."
I looked up at Jackson and I could tell the others were looking at him, too. He looked at us all and must have realized we heard him. "Did I say that out loud?"
I groaned and threw my head back against the bed. Hunter pushed Jackson playfully, but he still almost rolled off the bed from the force as Sera laughed.
"Jeez, Jackson. I don't think I ever want to be in your head after a comment like that," Sera joked , and we all laughed at that.
"No, you don't. It's a lot of sex and sarcasm in there." I told my friend before Jackson grabbed onto my foot and ripped off my shoe.
Shit. I should have kept my mouth shut. Jackson wiggled his fingers against my skin, and I yelped before I screamed, the tickling making me regret my life choices.
My training didn't help me one bit against my mate as he held onto my ankle and tickled the hell out of me.
My flailing around didn't do a damn thing against Jackson either as he held the other leg down, and that bastard Hunter joined in, holding me down enough so Jackson could continue.
But they forgot something about their mate.
I called on my wolf, and she was more than happy to assist me.
She pushed for the shift to happen, calling into the magic of the Shadowborns to become my shadow wolf.
I sunk through the bed and moved out onto the floor, snarling as I did to show my annoyance.
When I turned toward the bed, I lowered my head and bore my teeth at them .
The assholes just smiled at me like they thought I was the cutest damn thing on the planet.
It made me want to smack them, but what would that help? Both of them were too thick headed to learn not to fuck with me. Maybe I needed to do something to them in their sleep.
"Ahem." Sera's sweet voice called to me, and I swung my head in her direction. "Can you stop with the foreplay and continue talking about the angels and Lupe?"
I huffed at her, and she laughed. Without pack bonds, I couldn't tell her how I felt right now or ask her to help me in getting back at these jerks.
Please, she loves us. Sera wouldn't help you, Jackson said with a laugh through the bond.
If anything, she would tell you to use this to love us more because not everyone can have mates like this, Hunter added.
Sometimes, I really hated my mates. You two suck.
No, but you are amazing at it, Jackson said with a wink.
There wasn't a way for me to respond to that in a way I really wanted, so instead I growled at them.
Because of my shifting, I lost my clothes.
Hunter stood from the bed and walked over to my dresser to pull out a baggy shirt and pants and held them out to me.
I sneezed at him and bore my teeth at him again.
He chuckled, but didn't move away. I snatched the clothes from him with my teeth and trotted off to the bathroom. It wasn’t that I felt embarrassed to be naked in front of Sera, but more that I knew how my mates were when I was naked.
Sera didn't need to see that.
No one needed to see that.
It was just my pleasure to experience it.
The shift back was quick, and I pulled on the clothes Hunter gave me.
When I walked back in, Hunter and Jackson were talking about how they asked Silas to get Noah to come to the angel dorm because she was in trouble.
Sera bit her lip, and I knew my friend knew something, but didn't want to say it.
Something told me I didn't want to know what she knew.
The mention of Silas caused my wolf to perk up and whine.
She missed him, and I hated that I missed him, too.
That night together really messed up the bond. Before I could ignore it.
I couldn't anymore.
The mention of his name caused it to tug for me to find him.
The need for the bond to be completed grew with each passing moment.
It annoyed me to know how my heart could betray me so easily.
Silas still had a long way to go before I forgave him, but fuck me.
I didn't like the idea of him disappearing.
He could've let me suffer that night. Locked me in his bathroom and let me ride out my heat with no pleasure.
Silas took care of me even though I could wake up the next morning and still hate him.
That was love.
Hunter and Jackson would have done the same thing if they were in the same predicament with me. If Silas will do the same things as the devoted mates I have now, how the hell could I remain mad at him?
"I don't know how to say this, but I saw him talk to Noah," Sera said.
When she looked at me, the concern grew in my chest. My wolf whined as the feeling that something bad happened settled in.
"What did he do after he talked with Noah?" Hunter asked her.
He glanced in my direction, and I could feel how he hoped nothing bad would be coming out of her mouth for my sake.
There was an undertone there, too, of him hoping it was something incriminating, so he had more of an excuse to punch Silas in the face.
For Silas's sake, I hoped it wouldn't lead to that.
Hunter, being as lethal as he is, could probably kill someone with a single punch.
"That's the thing. I don't know. I saw him talking to the guard, and then he disappeared," Sera explained.
Hunter leaned in, going into Enforcer mode, which meant he wanted information to track Silas down. Not good. Through the bond, anger rose in Hunter's bond. He needed more information before he passed judgement.
"How did you lose sight of him? Did he disappear by going into the school, or did he walk off somewhere?"
Sera bit her lip again. I could scent the nervousness on her. Hunter was a scary dude on a normal day. Give him a reason to bring out his Enforcer side, and it would make you want to run for the hills.
"A group of students walked in front of me.
I was walking out of the school when I saw him.
He looked in my direction and waved, so I didn't want to be rude because I thought he was flagging me down to talk.
He spoke with Noah for a moment, the students walked past, and when they were gone, he was, too. "
Jackson looked at me next, and he didn't like how that sounded. "Why wouldn't he come with Noah toward us?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. He knew the plan. Silas was supposed to help us with Noah."
Hunter growled. "That's the point. Did he do this and then just walk away to leave it up to us to capture him?"
Now anger boiled inside me. That couldn't be it, right?
He didn't just abandon me when I needed him after he got what he wanted, right?
Silas had to be a better guy than that. He looked utterly heartbroken when I rejected him after he showed up here, and he's looked like a lost puppy around campus since he got here.
He couldn't have acted like this all because he wanted sex.
That couldn't be possible. No one could fake everything like that.
Hunter walked out the door, and I reached through the bond to find out where he planned to go. There wasn't a wall to block me out, but I could feel his presence below us. There was some knocking, but no movement to answer the door. Silas wasn't in his room. So where did he go?
Hunter walked through the door and shook his head. My wolf whined again, and I shared what she felt. Betrayal. Silas got what he wanted and then disappeared.
I fell for it when I shouldn't have.