I already told her through a mindlink what had happened; it was infuriating that she was being difficult right now. I had to hold myself back from grabbing her and dragging her out of this room, but that wouldn’t end well for either of us.
She could see the struggle in my eyes because she sighed and turned to face Kay who was looking between the two of us worriedly.
“Let’s meet in the library this afternoon around 4 pm and we can study together,”
she said to Kay gently.
Kay nodded.
“That sounds great,”
Kay said with a grin. “Thank you, Lila.”
On that note, Lila stood and turned to face me, narrowing her eyes.
“Let’s go,”
she said, walking past me.
I didn’t waste any time; I turned and went with Lila out of the student lounge and toward the arena where we could talk privately. The arena was my office; nobody went there until it was time for class, which gave me time to prepare and work out on my own.
I don’t usually lock the door, but in this case, I knew I had to for extra security.
Lila turned to face me, folding her arms across her chest as she peered up at me through her long and dark lashes.
“I know you are worried because Jazzy has escaped, but you have to be more careful in front of the other students,”
she said in a breath, shaking her head at me. “I don’t want them suspecting anything.”
“Do you honestly think I’d let that happen?”
He asked, cocking his head at me. “Lila, this is serious. I’m worried Jazzy could come after you. Keeping you safe is my priority right now.”
“I can’t miss any more school,”
she said, shaking her head.
“I’m not asking you to. But I think it’d be wise if maybe one of my gammas stayed with you to protect you while you’re here.”
“What?”
She gasped. “No way. The others will start talking. Gammas have the pack symbol on their uniforms. They’ll know he’s one of yours.”
“Then we can have one of your father’s Gammas come and—”
“I don’t want someone following me around all day. You don’t think I can handle myself?”
She asked, and I could hear the hurt in her voice.
“She’s a dark witch, Lila. The most powerful one to exist,”
I said firmly.
“And I’m a Volana.”
“A Volana who is weakened because of the wolfsbane in your system,”
I shot back. “You couldn’t even handle yourself with Xander. You expect me to think you can handle yourself with Jazzy the dark witch?”
I saw the hurt flash on her face, and she took a step back.
“I expect you to have a little more faith in me,”
she said in return, her voice softening as she became consumed with the pain.
“Lila… you know I have faith in you,”
I said gently, stepping toward her. “But I need you to trust me.”
She looked up at me and I saw how red her face was getting as soon as our eyes met. I loved that I still had that effect on her, but I hated the hurt look she was giving me. Max was quietly scolding me in the back of my mind for hurting our mate. But I needed to make sure she was safe; Lila was my main priority at this moment.
I reached my hand up to touch her face, but I heard the clearing of a throat in the distance, making me freeze.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Lila’s POV
I wasn’t going to lie; I was hurt. I was hurt at the fact that Enzo, the one who was supposed to be in my corner and have faith in me, was telling me I needed the help of gammas to keep me safe. I trained alongside gammas my entire life; I trained alongside my father.
There wasn’t anything a gamma could do that I couldn’t. Anyone of them could have gotten taken by Xander. He gave me something that made me pass out; it could have happened to any warrior. It doesn’t make me weaker than them. If Xander hadn’t been poisoning me slowly and then given me a large dosage of wolfsbane, then I would have been able to fight him with no problem.
I understood that Jazzy was the most powerful dark witch to exist and that she was dangerous, but I doubted a gamma could protect me from her.
It wasn’t fair to me that this was what his conclusion was.
But I loved him so much and looking into his eyes at that moment, I felt our mate bond stronger than ever. My wolf was pulling me into his and I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around him and kiss him, despite knowing how risky that was in the middle of a school day. I knew he had a class soon and it wouldn’t be long before students began to pile in.
I, unfortunately, didn’t have his class today.
He looked as defeated as I felt and neither of us had any more words to speak. He reached his hand up to touch my face and I stood still, bracing for the very touch that I craved so much. It’s been torture not being able to feel him. I knew he felt the same way.
Just as his hand neared my cheek, I heard someone clearing their throat from behind us.
“Am I interrupting something?”
My entire body froze, and I turned to see Alpha Jonathan standing before us. My entire heart fell deep into my stomach as he stared between the two of us with a questioning look. He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t look particularly pleased as well.
“Alpha,”
I said a little too quickly, bowing in respect.
Joseph bowed his head slightly, but not too much. He was an Alpha too and they were both part of the same committee. Just because Alpha Jonathan had a lot of money and owned a lot of businesses, including this school, it didn’t mean that he was above Enzo.
Technically, my father was above him considering he was the head of the Alpha Committee. But that was a detail Alpha Jonathan refused to acknowledge.
“I came here to speak with Alpha Enzo, but it seems he’s preoccupied. I can come back later and—”
“I’m not busy,”
Enzo said, sounding way calmer than I felt. “Lila was just leaving.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and without looking back at Enzo I gave Jonathan a small smile and bowed again.
“I’ll let you talk,”
I said, proud that my voice wasn’t shaking. I wasn’t sure why I felt so nervous around him; he just intimidated me so much. Maybe because he was Sarah’s father? Or because he owned this school? “It was nice seeing you,”
I managed to say to him just as I walked past.
“You as well, Lila,”
he said; I could feel him staring at the back of my head.
I walked out of the arena feeling more than embarrassed.
…..
Enzo’s POV
“A little young for you, don’t you think, Enzo?”
Jonathan asked just as soon as Lila walked out of the arena. “Also, she’s a student and—”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,”
I said, stopping his flow of words. “We were just talking about her recent assignment when you walked in.”
“Is that so?”
He asked, raising his brows with a bit of humor lingering in his eyes. “Then why was her face all red and your hand nearing her cheek?”
“She had something in her hair; I was simply getting it out for her,”
I came up with, hoping he would buy this lie. The last thing I needed was for Alpha Jonathan to suspect anything was going on between Lila and me.
“I noticed at our recent Alpha meeting that you were a bit happier than you’ve been previously,”
Jonathan said, narrowing his icy blue eyes at me. “Is there a reason behind that?”