“Guess he’ll have to get over his crush on you,”
Becca chuckled.
“It’s about damn time,”
Rachel said making us all laugh as we headed across campus and to the dining hall.
Brody was finishing grabbing his food and coffee when we got there. As soon as we entered the dining hall, I smelled all the amazing goods that were being prepared. Along the back walls, through all the rows of tables and clustering students, was a big buffet of breakfast foods.
There were pancakes, French toast, waffles, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, eggs, hashbrowns and so much more. On the other side of the wall was the coffee station, which was my favorite station. Especially right now, I was with Rachel when it came to her need for coffee.
“Hey Brody,”
Becca said, waving at him.
The two of them talked while Rachel and I grabbed our coffees. Afterward, we grabbed plates and piled food on top of them. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until after I got to the dining hall and smelled all the amazing food.
“It’s too crowded in here for my liking,”
Rachel muttered once she finished getting our food. “Let’s go to the student lounge.”
We all nodded in agreement and moved as a unit away from the dining hall. The student lounge was only around the corner, it was part of the same building along with the counseling offices and the infirmary.
Just as we were nearing the student lounge doors, I heard a soft whimpering sound, making me freeze.
My friends continued walking, not seeing that I had stopped walking and obviously not hearing what I was hearing. It was Brody who noticed I wasn’t with them anymore.
“Lila? Are you coming?”
He asked, staring at me with his worried brown eyes.
“Yeah, go ahead without me,”
I said, smiling at them. “I need to check checking. I’ll be there in a second.”
They looked at each other frowning, but they nodded and went into the student lounge. Brody grabbed my plate and stuff.
“I’ll bring this in with me,”
he said, giving me a fond smile.
I nodded and watched as he too disappeared in the lounge.
I followed the soft whimpering sound around the corner; it grew louder as I walked down an unlit hallway and then froze outside of what I thought was the janitor’s closet.
Why would someone be in there?
I opened the door slowly and heard her gasp in surprise as the light shined on her face. Blood was coming out of her eyes, and she looked sickly pale; her entire body was trembling fiercely, and her lips trembled.
“Oh, my goddess,”
I gasped, running toward her before she fell over. “Sarah!”
“Please…”
she whispered almost inaudible. “Don’t tell my father…”
Lila’s POV
“Sarah, what happened? Are you okay?”
I asked, wrapping an arm around her to steady her.
“Get off me,”
she muttered, trying to shove me away, but I was too strong, and she couldn’t make me budge.
“Tell me what happened,”
I said firmly.
“It doesn’t matter,”
she muttered. “But my father can’t know about this.”
“Sarah, you are bleeding blood. Something is seriously wrong,”
I said, shaking my head. “We need to.”
“No!”
She growled, and this time successfully shoving me away from her. “We don’t need to do anything. This is just a thing I do. I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Just promise me you won’t say anything.”
I didn’t want to promise something like that knowing that it could cost Sarah’s life. If something were to happen to her and I knew about it, I could never live with myself.
“Promise me!”
She growled, anger crossing through her eyes.
I nodded quickly.
“I promise…”
I said in return.
She didn’t say anything more, she stepped out of the closet and her entire demeanor changed. She gasped and stared upward; her breath caught in her throat. I wondered what she was looking at, but I realized it as soon as I stepped into the hallway and my eyes widened.
“I thought you were meeting me in the lounge,”
I said, narrowing my eyes at Brody.
“I was… your food is with the others,”
he said, his eyes never leaving Sarah’s. “I’m sorry…I thought I…”
“Were you spying on us?”
Sarah asked, coming back to her senses as she folded her arms across her chest.
“No,”
he said quickly, running his hands to the back of his neck. “I was just walking by and…”
“Whatever,”
she muttered, shoving past him. “Just don’t tell anyone.”
He said nothing as she walked away; he watched her, almost longingly. I knew it was because his wolf wanted to go after him.
My heart clenched painfully for him as he looked back at me and I saw the sorrow in his eyes.
“It’s hard… “he whispered; I knew he was referring to his mate bond with Sarah.
I gave him a small smile.
“I know…”
I breathed. “Let’s go eat.”
He nodded and we went together to the student lounge to join the others.
We ate and talked as a group and then shortly after we went our separate ways for our classes. I thought about Sarah a lot today. I wondered if she was okay; if she went to the nurse or spoke to anyone else about what had happened.
I still wasn’t sure what had happened myself, but I had a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I wasn’t sure what to think about it. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to think about it.
At some point during the day, I was reminded that I had to tutor some students in the library later. I couldn’t bail on them and let them down, so I sent Rachel a text explaining that I’d have to raincheck our plans for discussing my election speech.
For most of the day, until my last class, I only saw Enzo once and it was only during passing. Our eyes met from across the hallway; he was talking to a couple of different students, and it was obvious he was on his way to the arena because his shirt was already off and he was dripping in sweat.
The very sight of him made my heart flutter and my knees go weak.
He was so incredibly good-looking, and he was all mine.
He turned and our eyes met; I saw the smile in his eyes, but his face remained natural. I was suddenly super embarrassed being caught checking him out and I quickly scurried down the hallway to my next class. But I felt his eyes on the back of my head as I went.
My last class was with Shifting and Combat and I was super nervous about how this was going to go. Sarah appeared to be back to her normal self when I saw her in the arena. She was still pale and thinner than usual, but she had no blood on her face, and it seemed like she put makeup on and brushed her hair into a high ponytail to match the look of her other friends.
She was in the middle of talking about the latest gossip to even notice me walking into the room. Which, I was beyond grateful for.