Chapter 59
“I think it’s you who’s going to ruin me.” The words echoed round and round in my head. Each pass carved the words deeper into my very bones.
“Uh, Leighton?”
Connor’s voice brought me out of my daze. “Sorry, what?”
My homeroom pal chuckled. “You were really somewhere else there.”
I blew out a breath, fluttering the pages of my bio textbook. Connor had offered to help me study after school while the guys had yet another meeting with The Assembly elders. Declan thought it might help if all of them were present.
“There’s been a lot going on lately.” Understatement of the century.
Connor eyed the two hulking guards sitting at the library table behind us. “I’m gathering that.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the security and fought the urge to sink lower into my chair. After everything we’d been through, I understood why it was necessary, but it was slightly embarrassing. I hated the fact that most of the students could protect themselves, but I couldn’t.
“What’s that face for?”
I turned back to Connor. “It’s no fun being a dud.”
His brow furrowed. “A dud?”
“No powers. No way to defend myself like the rest of you.” When I’d peppered Declan with questions, he’d explained that anchors typically took on some of their bond’s powers, just to a lesser degree.
“Ah. I get it. But trust me, not all of us are as powerful as your bond there.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What do you mean?”
Connor shrugged. “I’m pretty much the lowest of the low in dragon ranks. I didn’t even have enough power to make it into one of the bonds. Guess I didn’t need an anchor.”
Guilt slid through me. I’d been so focused on feeling sorry for myself, I’d missed the fact that I wasn’t the only one going through things. “But if you don’t have an anchor, that means you’re free in a way, doesn’t it?”
His mouth pulled into a hint of a smile. “I guess it does in a way. But everyone looks down on you.”
“Declan and Ronan don’t, do they?”
Connor was quiet for a moment. “No, they don’t pull the crap a lot of the horde does.”
“Horde?” I asked.
“All our clans are different. The wolves are a pack. We’re a horde.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry people are crappy. It says something about them, not you.”
He gave me one of his typical goofy smiles. “Thanks. Now, mitosis and miosis…”
I groaned and covered my face. “Shouldn’t I get a pass on AP Bio when my entire world was just turned upside down?”
Connor laughed. “I wish, but the teachers around here are kind of hard-asses.”
He was right. They might not blink an eye at our absences, but they weren’t going easy on us in the grades department. And I needed a backup plan if everything here went south.
“Well, aren’t you two cozy. Do the guys know you’re fucking around on them already?”
Chloe’s voice had my head lifting. A chill skated over my skin as I followed the arm slung over her shoulders to a familiar face. Damien grinned at me, but it looked like more of a snarl.
The two guards rose from their chairs.
Damien rolled his eyes as he tugged Chloe tighter to his side. “Colt always was a drama queen. Two guards for this waste of space?”
“Back off,” Connor growled low.
Damien laughed. “What are you going to do about it? You can barely shift.”
“What do you want?” I flicked my gaze to Chloe. “Nice haircut, by the way.”
Pink hit her cheeks as she reached up to finger the ends of her bob. I guessed Trace’s fire trick left the girl with only so many options.
Chloe straightened out of Damien’s hold. “I just wanted to share a little information with you. Girl-to-girl.”
Unease trickled through me. “I don’t want to hear whatever lies and bullshit are about to fall from your mouth. Just run along and enjoy your life of misery.”
Her eyes flashed. “They’re not lies, and seeing how it’s about your precious little roommates, you might be interested.”
Damien picked at the edge of one of his nails. “I’d listen to her, Leighton. Might change how you feel about things.”
My pulse sped up, thrumming along my neck.
A smile stretched across Chloe’s face. “Daddy had a long talk with Darius today. He learned all sorts of things.”
One of the guards stepped forward. “We should go. Mr. Carrington wouldn’t want you exposed to this. And he wouldn’t want you around the vamp.”
That unease swirling inside me amplified.
Chloe snorted. “I bet he wouldn’t. Because it would be a shame if Leighton found out that they knew where she was all this time.
That they never came for her because she didn’t show any signs of manifesting.
That they only showed up when they did because someone saw her mom slap her.
It would’ve been bad for business if your mom got arrested for child abuse.
Who knows what she would’ve told the cops.
That’s why we don’t get involved with humans. They can expose our secrets.”
Chloe turned to me, her smile widening. “They knew you were a weakling and didn’t want anything to do with you. You were just a liability that needed to be handled.”
My ears started to ring. Colt knew where I was. They all had. They knew I was alone in the world, and they hadn’t come. Because they hadn’t cared. They only cared now because the mating urges had set in, not because they actually wanted me.
I stared at Chloe, eyes burning, but I knew in my bones it was the truth. She was too gleeful for it not to be. And suddenly, I was more alone than I’d ever been before.