Filed To Story: Falling for the Alpha As a Student Novel
he said, giving Jonathan another nod.
“I’ll alert the chefs,”
Alpha Jonathan said, giving me a sly smile before glancing at Enzo.
For a moment, I thought he was going to invite Enzo to the banquet as well. I was praying to the moon goddess that he would. The silence felt so loud; I could practically hear my heart beating inside my chest.
But to my dismay, he turned his back to Enzo to address my father.
“May we have a word, Alpha?”
“Yes, of course,”
my father said just before glancing at me. “We will call for you when we need you. You should head back to your dorm for right now.”
I nodded, feeling uneasy in the pit of my stomach.
Enzo stared at the closed door for a long while before turning to face me.
“I don’t want you going there without protection,”
he said firmly.
“My father will be there,”
I told him, hardly recognizing my own voice.
I didn’t want to go there without Enzo, and I knew he was feeling the same way. Enzo stepped closer to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. I lifted my gaze to meet his.
“That’s not good enough,”
he said in a low tone. “Obviously I can’t go if I’m not invited. It would make him suspicious. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have one of my men go with you. We can say that because Bastien has been spending a lot of time at my pack, it would be easier for him to take one of my warriors instead of his own.”
“Okay,”
I said, trying to keep the tears from forming in my eyes. “Who should accompany me?”
“I was thinking of maybe Ethan. He’s my second in command and he could benefit your father. Plus, he’s skilled in combat as well and I trust him with my life”
Enzo said.
I nodded in return.
“I like that idea,”
I said in return. “But I don’t like the idea of going without you.”
He sighed, but he kept his eyes on mine.
“Neither do I…”
he breathed. “But if I can’t be there, at least someone I trust will be.”
I wanted to kiss him, but I knew it was probably better if I didn’t. At least not here.
“You should get back to your dorm,”
he said, dropping his hands from my shoulders.
“I wanted to find Rachel first,”
I told him. “I heard she’s in the library. Then, I’ll go to my dorm with her.”
Enzo’s eyes darkened for a moment, and I could tell he was thinking about something intently; it made me worry. I furrowed my brows at him, asking him silently what was on his mind.
“Be careful around Rachel,”
he said to me, surprising. “I saw her outside the academic center when I smelled the rotting flesh. Something was off with her.”
My heart fell into my stomach.
“You don’t think Rachel had anything to do with it, do you?”
I asked.
He thought long and hard about that for a moment.
“I’m not sure; I can’t be sure about anything right now.”
“She’s a bear, Cole,”
I said, shaking my head. “She couldn’t have—”
My voice trailed off as I thought about darkness.
“Just be careful, Lila.”
I looked back up at him and nodded.
“I’ll see you later,”
I said to him as I turned and left the arena.
….
Rachel sat in the back corner of the library at a small table with her history textbook laid out in front of her. She had a notebook to the side of the textbooks with different colored notes sprawled out on the thin paper.
She had her fingers dug into her dark hair and I could see that she was incredibly stressed.
“Hey,”
I said, sitting beside her. “You look stressed.”
She lifted her gaze and met my eyes.
“I have to study for this stupid history exam,”
she muttered. “It counts for 50% of my grade. Stressed isn’t the word I’d use.”
“Do you need some help?”
I asked. “I’m pretty good at studying.”
“It’s a bear history course, Lila. What do you know about bears?”
I shrugged; truth be told, I didn’t know much about them besides what Rachel told me. I knew they were known as the weaker species. Rachel’s race of bears eats a lot of nuts and berries. But I knew other bears ate a lot of meat and protein. It was also uncommon for bears to have special abilities.
Bears don’t live in packs; they enjoy being alone unless they are with family. They tend to live in dark spaces, like caves. But nowadays, they’ve made homes out of their caves, and they look a lot more modern.
I also knew that, like werewolves, bears can also have mates. They are usually mated with other bears, but they are unlikely to be mated to werewolves either.
Witches and fairies can also have mates, but it’s less likely for them to be mated to other species like werewolves and bears.
Vampires don’t get goddess-given mates despite falling under the same goddess, but they can take chosen mates and have their own mating ceremonies to strengthen their bond.
“I’m a fast learner,”
I told her, glancing at her notebook.
She quickly closed her notebook before I could get a chance to read anything.
“It’s fine, Lila,”
she said, standing to her feet. Her tone startled me and I felt my face warming.
“Okay…”
I said slowly, standing up with her. “We should get back to our dorm though; I hear we are going to have another lockdown.”
Her eyes widened at my words.
“Why?”
“Because they are reopening the investigation on the murders,”
I told her as I helped her pack her things. “Until they know for sure what happened, they are enforcing a lockdown.”
“Shit…”