Seris's POV
I watched Vaelis walk away until he disappeared down the corridor, and I climbed down the stairs.
My legs dragged on the stone, my fingers scraping over the thick ornate balustrade, while my mind ticked like a busy clock.
He was right in some senses. I wouldn't want to make Alaric my enemy, being an Alpha heir that could rival the Ludwigvon. He seemed powerful enough to make my life miserable in Blackthorn if he wanted to.
I still remember his exact words. They'd been ringing in a loop in my head since he'd said them to me in the morning.
"Refuse me, and you become a variable I'll have to manage," he had said. And he had sounded sure and full of himself. There was nothing about him that said he didn't mean every word he uttered, because he meant it.
I shifted away from the balustrade for a group of wolves to pass, dust coating my fingers.
One of them turned hostile eyes to me, snarling, with his sharp fangs.
He sized me up, nostrils in the air, sniffing while edging closer to me, until a willy-eyed boy from the crew pulled him by the collar.
"Do you want your fucking head on your hands?" the wily-eyed wolf rebuked the other wolf sternly. "Don't you know she isn't to be touched. She's the Ludwingvons new pet."
I just sidestepped them down the stairs without a word. I hated to be referred to as someone else's pet, but the last thing I needed was to make a fuss about it.
I still needed to make a decision, though. The triplets had shown they wouldn't harm me, and Alaric had promised he would. I was bound between both forces, and I needed to make a stand… soon.
Damn! I grunted. I came here to find father's killer, not get into some stupid school politics. I…
I froze then at the bottom of the stairs, holding on to the wall, as a thought claimed my mind. It was so heavy in my chest that my legs couldn't move for a moment.
So what if I didn't take a stand? What if I just played both groups, spy on both of them, and report to both of them?
It might be risky, considering Alaric's temper, Vaelis's shrewd, manipulative mind, and Caelen's coldness. But if I could pull it off, then they would have to be fighting each other, while I use the privilege of being aligned with them to find father's killer, and then if I find out it's one of them, I can use the other to crush the first group…
The jarring noise of the ringing bell pulled my mind from the muddle of thoughts, and I hurried to class.
I had just dropped into my seat when the door opened, and a male teacher walked into the class.
Like all the other teachers, he picked me out instantly from the rest of the class, stared for an uncomfortable, awkward minute, forced a smile, and then turned to the board.
"Calculus." He muttered as he wrote on the whiteboard with a marker.
I might as well be his least favorite calculus equation because he spent the rest of the class trying his best to look away from the single anomaly in the class.
I left the class as soon as it ended, and I was crossing fast into the hallway leading to the library when they appeared.
"Well, well." He drawled, grinning and ambling closer, too close until I was forced to retreat into the corridor I was coming from. "We do meet again, don't we, Human."
His men fanned out from his back and spread out, trapping me into a circle, while Alaric moved closer, a dark grin growing tentatively on his lips.
"What do you want?" I demanded, forcing my voice to be as steady as I could dare, though I was no better than a block of ice on the inside.
He brushed his thumb on his lips, the lazy glint in his eyes growing. "I told you, human, that you don't want to be my enemy. But you decided to make yourself one."
His arm shot out to reach for me. I jumped back instinctively, only to collide against a wall of fat behind me, as one of his henchmen blocked the path from behind.
Alaric grinned, reaching for me again. Midway through, before his fingers could latch on my shoulders, an arm shot out from behind me, and slapped back his hand.
"Stay away from her." A familiar voice growled gently. "She's off limits." Caelen stepped into the scene.
Alaric jaw ticked as he saw him, and for a moment, both boys stood there, saying nothing but staring at each other. Their jaws clenched, eyes blazed with fury.
The tension was so tangible; I could feel it zinging in the air. My heart pounded against my chest as I watched their thickening fists beside them. Somehow, by some miracle, neither of them threw a punch.
Alaric sized Caelen up rather condescendingly, massaging his lips with his thumbs, and grinning proudly, taunting. "I thought you were interested in no one around here."
"Well, times changed," Caelen answered simply.
Alaric took a step closer to look intimidating, and his men broke the circle to gather behind him. "If you have forgotten, let me remind you, Caelen. We agreed on a truce. You don't want to break it, as I don't. Else it'll be messy."
"Yeah. But we promised to stay away from each other's territory, and right now, you are encroaching on mine."
There was a heavy ripple to his voice that chilled the air around.
Alaric just looked from him to me, "Technically, she isn't yours, or your brother's, Caelen. She's just a human prey. You can make her a pet, but you can't claim her as one."
The continuous reference to me as a pet stumped down on my nerves so hard, I had no idea when I shouted. "I am not anyone's pet, damn it." I barked at both men.
Alaric turned fully to me now, amusement brimming in his eyes as he took in my rage. "My dear, you are. It is—"
"She is not a pet," Caelen said, and he threw his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to his bigger body.
I tried to pull away, despite the warmth pressing into me from his body, but he held me firm. My shoulder brushed against his arm, and a tingling sensation ran up my skin at the contact.
Alaric cocked a brow high up his forehead. "What do you mean she is not a pet. If she isn't, then—"
"Then she is my girlfriend." Calen shut him up.
That shook me too. I stirred in his arms, but his grip was strong, as it was tender. I couldn't break away. Just what the hell was he doing?
I looked up at him to see his still-ticking jaw and his steel-gray orbs holding to Alaric's glare, which was slowly crumbling with mortification.
"That's a bloody lie, Caelen. She can't be your girlfriend. You're just making that up."
"Then maybe I should make this up, too." He grunted, and he spun me to face him.
Before I took my next breath, he'd leaned low, and his lips pressed down on mine. A wave of tickling sensations fluttered through my stomach as he claimed more and more of my lips.