Present (After the Assembly)
Slater
I stood at the entrance of the assembly hall, watching her.
It was Charis, alright. This was the first time I was seeing her a year, after our painful breakup.
Painful was a milder word compared to the emotional trauma I had to go through, after our three years relationship ended.
When I had seen her at that hall, near despair, I had to help, even though I wished I could have made a different choice. Now, I've embroiled myself in whatever drama she'd come with.
Even disguised as a boy, even with her hair shorn close to her scalp and her ridiculous clothes, I would recognise her anywhere.
What on earth was she doing here? What could have brought her to this nightmare of a place?
I wanted to walk away. I had every reason to. She had hurt me, rejected me cruelly on the day of our engagement, and had disgraced my pack in front of powerful allies. The memory of that humiliation was still fresh in my mind.
I should turn around, pretend I'd never seen her, let whatever fate awaited her play out without my interference. I could make an excuse for thinking she's my stepbrother and get away with it.
But how could I when she looked like that?
Lost, pale and shivering.
Her lips were actually chattering from the cold – the cold had never been her thing, and from the looks of it, she hadn't come prepared with warm clothes. At this point, she'd be down with a cold by evening.
The loose clothes she had on did little to disguise her womanliness to anyone who knew what to look for.
I could make out the outline of her breasts, the soft curve of her butt cheeks… I exhaled a shaky breath, already feeling aroused at the thought. Zair was worse. He still remembered her scent, her touch and the way she used to laugh at my terrible jokes.
Even now, despite their broken bond and everything that had happened between them, Zair was still longing for her. So shameless!
Sighing in defeat, I pushed away from the doorframe and walked over to her.
She turned when she saw me, and attempted a smile – those eyes, the same eyes that had haunted my dreams for a year now, stared at me innocently.
I reached for her hand and began pulling her away from the assembly arena.
"Slater – Slater! Let me go!" she hissed, trying to yank her arm free. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Getting you out of here before you get yourself killed," I replied grimly, still maintaining my grip despite her struggles.
"I said, let go!" Her voice was rising, drawing attention from nearby students. "I can walk by myself."
"You can't make decent decisions by yourself, so walking is questionable too," I shot back, not slowing my pace."
She tried to dig her heels, but I was stronger. "Slater, stop it! People are staring!"
"Let them stare. Better than letting them see you fall apart when they start asking you questions you can't answer."
I dragged her past the Assembly arena, past curious onlookers and whispering students, until we reached the open field adjacent to the building. Here, no one would hear us. Only then did I stop and spin her around to face me.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, gripping her shoulders roughly.
She yanked her body from my grip and glared at me. "What else would I be doing here? Sightseeing? And for the love of the goddess, why would you be dragging me around like I'm a stray mutt? Are you mad?"
I let out a dry laugh, staring at her with disbelief. "Is this the thanks I get for saving your ass back there? You're still as ungrateful as ever, do you know that?"
"I didn't ask for your help," she fired back.
"Well, you should have thought of that when you decided to use my surname and my pack affiliation for your little identity theft scheme!" I shot back. "What are you doing here, Charis? Really?"
She swallowed hard and turned away from me, her jaw set in that stubborn line I knew all too well. "Nothing."
"Nothing?" I scoffed, reaching out to turn her back to face me. "You think Ravenshore is some vacation resort? Or a playground? Did you come here looking for me?"
"Looking for you? You must be deluded. I thought you were dead. Your vehicle went over the cliff near the old bridge that day. My father tried to contact your pack for weeks and got nothing but silence. We thought you died in that crash."
I looked away, running a hand through my hair. I didn't think my death might affect her.
Not that it should matter. Not after what she'd done to me.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you were alive?"
"I didn't think it mattered."
There was a long pause. Then I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my wallet. I peeled out a thick wad of notes and held it out to her.
"You still have a chance to leave, right now, before this escalates beyond this. Take this." I pressed the money into her palm. "I'll make sure no one comes after you and come up with a suitable explanation to the Academy."
She looked down at the money in her palm with an unreadable expression. Then she threw the bills back at me.
"As much as I'm grateful for what you did back there," she said with a shaky voice, " you do not have the right to tell me what to do with my life. I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"You're seventeen, Charis Greye!" I exploded. I promised myself I wouldn't get angry, but it was impossible now. "What do you know about making decisions?"
She lifted her chin stubbornly. "More than you think."
"Ravenshore isn't a place for someone like you to be, much less Ebonvale!" I bent down and started gathering the scattered money. "I'm I'mnot doing this because I care so much about you – honestly, the only reason I lied back there was to protect my name and my pack. But I'm telling you, as someone who would prefer you stay alive. You need to leave."
I paused again, pulling more bills from my wallet and pressing the entire stack into her hands. "Leave. Now. Tonight, if possible. You can go with the night train."
For a moment, she stared at the money again, then flung it back at me. She turned and began walking away.
"Charis! Damn it!"" I lunged after her, reaching for her arm. "You don't understand what this place is!"
She spun around, her eyes burning with fury. "Don't try to scare me into leaving, because I won't. You've no idea what I've had to put up with since everything. Don't you dare try to make me leave. I won't"
She spun around again and started walking away.
"For fuck'ssake!" I growled and tried to reach for her again, only for a voice to ring out.
Both I and Charis turned to see Kael Winters approaching us.
"Enough, Beta Prime," he said, coming to stand between me and Charis. "Let him go."
My jaw clenched at the formal address. Beta Prime was my official rank within the Academy. It was a reminder that here, in this place, I had to play by their rules. On the brighter side, I was the third most powerful student in Ravenshore.
"Stay out of this, Winters. This is between my brother and me. It doesn't concern you."
Kael's expression didn't change. "It does. You see, Eamon here…" he gestured towards Charis "Is my responsibility as First-Year Coordinator. And you're creating a disturbance that could reflect poorly on both the Academy's reputation and my ability to manage new students."
"Your responsibility?" My voice was deadly quiet now. "Is that a challenge?"
"Maybe." He held my gaze. "This is my jurisdiction, and I have the right to do what I want, according to the books, of course. Manhandling a fellow student in public. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
"What?" I scoffed. "Are you talking to me?"
"Section 6 of the student handbook, subsection two, states that aggressive confrontation is a punishable offence; in the case of its severity, the student may face the risk of expulsion. I'm bound when a second-year student appears to be intimidating a new student under my supervision."
The accusation was a solid one. If Kael were to go through with the charge, it could result in disciplinary action, and I didn't want that to happen. It would mess up a lot of things for me."
"It wasn't...," I began, but Kael cut me off with a raised hand.
"Please don't make it worse with your denials. I have a lot of witnesses and evidence that you physically compelled him to come with you to this isolated location, even when he refused. It doesn't matter if you're relatives; you must work by the rules. I don't think we want that conversation with the Student Tribunal."
Zair snarled inside me, already beginning to pace restlessly. I took a deep breath to calm myself.
Kael Winters was the First-Year Coordinator —a position that made him influential with the administration and faculty. More importantly, he had a reputation for being ruthlessly logical and incorruptible; even the seniors stayed clear of him.
And causing another scene would only draw more attention to Charis, which was the last thing either of us needed.
"You're right, "I said finally, forcing my voice to remain level. "I was just surprised to see him here and got carried away."