by Jen L. Grey
"I found out something today." I couldn't even get myself to use our mate bond and mind link. It felt tainted until I knew how he was going to respond. I hadn't realized how scared I was until now.
"Okay..." Unease filtered through our bond, and he took a deep breath and asked, "Does this have to do with Kai?"
"What?" I hadn't expected that reaction. "No!"
"Then what?" He lifted both hands in the air. "There is so much damn guilt rolling off you; it's scary."
"I learned something else from the professor today." I had to rip it off like a bandage even if it hurt like a bitch. "If you stay mated with me, you won't be allowed to be a member of the council."
"What?" It was as if his breath got knocked out of him. "Is this a joke?"
"No, it's not." There had to be something we could do to change this rule. "It's because the member and Overseer could be influenced by one another … thus corrupting the purpose of the council."
"Wow." He took a step back as what I said to him processed. "So, I have to give it up or leave you?"
The fact that he even brought up leaving me hurt, but, in all fairness, I was the one who threw the option out there first. "Or I could not join the council. I mean, hell, they don't have an Overseer now."
"And look how well that's going." Liam arched an eyebrow and huffed. "All this time … hell, and for what? Nothing." He ran his hands through his hair. "Maybe Kai had it right all along."
"What does that mean?" I wasn't sure why Kai kept being brought up in this conversation.
"He and I used to be best friends." Liam rolled his eyes and laughed even though no smile crossed his face. "We had the same tastes and interests. In fact, it's kinda funny how you played into that."
I wasn't sure how to take that comment. I was pretty sure he hadn't meant for it to be an insult, but it stung.
"Then, when I turned ten, Dad started pressuring me to learn the ways of the council. I didn't want it. I saw the life my Dad lived. He had rejected his mate; he was in a loveless marriage; he'd lost his best friend, and it was as if he was dead inside. I mean, who wants that?" He ran his hands through his hair. "While Kai got to still be a kid, I was forced to watch them beat and torture people while Kai got to go hang out at the park. I started resenting him, which made me become even more like the man I didn't want to be."
He'd gone through so much. No wonder he was an asshole when I had first met him. It broke my heart to know how young their fathers had subjected them to all of that.
"So... if you want to know the answer to your unasked question." He took a deep breath, and his eyes held something I didn't understand in them.
He was about to break my heart, and I wasn't sure if I could pick up the pieces after he did. Tears threatened my eyes, but I sucked them back. At the end of the day, I was strong, and I still had to find out what had happened to my father.
"I choose you." He dropped his hands to his sides and gave me a small smile. "Always."
It took me a second to comprehend the words. I hadn't expected them to be said. "Really?"
"Did you think I wouldn't?" He pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips to mine. "In a way, this frees me."
A sob wracked my body. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I am." He pulled me into his arms. "You had expected me to pick the council over you."
"Kind of." I wiped the tears away from my eyes but smiled. "But you do realize even if you aren't a council member, you'll be right beside me as Overseer, right?"
"That's where I want to be." He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me so sweetly. "By your side; always."
I pulled back slightly. "You need to tell Bree." She deserved to know before the others.
"Shit, you're right." He nodded his head. "I'll tell her soon. She might not take it well though." He cringed.
The thing was that all of our lives were about to change. None of us were getting out of this unaffected.
Chapter Fifteen
The next day, after my training with Evan, Liam and I met outside the girls' dorm.
Are you sure we need to tell her? Liam frowned, and his blue eyes darkened as they met mine. He glanced at the building and back at me. His face was a mask of indifference, but the bond alerted me to his anxiety and worry.
Yes, she needs to know what her future holds. Liam had his whole life to wrap his head around being a member of the council, but Bree may have a few months at best. The longer we waited, the more off guard she would be. She deserves the luxury of at least coming to grips with it, and she needs to be training with Evan too. She'll need to be able to hold her own.
You're right. Liam took a deep breath and opened the main door. He waved me through as he blew out a breath. I just want her to stay safe is all.
This is the way you keep her safe. The truth had a way of getting out. The student area had a few girls hanging out on couches watching some stupid reality television show on the big screen.
Sometimes I wished that our group had time to do something like that. Our lives were continually focused on people being mistreated or who had been kidnapped. Maybe one day, we could have time to just be us.
Forcing all that negativity out of my mind, I took Liam’s hand in mine. And the last thing we need is for her to know we kept something like this from her.
When we reached the dorm, I lifted my hand to knock on it when the door suddenly opened.
When I found myself face to face with Mr. Hale, I took a step back into Liam’s chest.
"What are you two doing here?" Mr. Hale arched an eyebrow as anger flashed through his dark eyes. They were the same black as his suit.
"Coming by to see Bree." I forced my voice to stay level. I couldn’t allow him to believe he could control me. "After all, this is my dorm too." Even though I hadn't been staying here, it was technically assigned to me.
"I'm well aware." He scowled at me.
Suddenly, it hit me. Mr. Hale, along with the other council members, always looked very young for their age, but today, Mr. Hale seemed more aged. He had faint crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes, and his hair had some gray patterned in. It was very strange.
"Is something wrong?" Liam tugged me to his side. "You seem upset."
"No, I'm fine." He took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I came up empty-handed, but you won't get away with it." He stared at me with such contempt before he pushed past me and headed to the elevator. “I’m on to you.”
“On to me?” Could he know about the rebellion? But if so, why was he only directing his anger at me?
“I’ll figure out what you’re holding over them.” The elevator door dinged open, and he glared at me one last time. “Enjoy yourself because your time is limited.” He walked into the elevator, and the doors shut immediately.
“What the hell was that about?” It felt like I was frozen in place.
“He’s acting strange.” Liam opened the door and shook his head. “I’ve never seen him like that.”
I entered the room and was surprised to not find Bree there. "Bree?"
"Mia?" Her voice sounded as if it was coming from my room.
That was odd. I walked down the hallway with Liam right on my heels, and when I turned into the room, I lost my breath at what I saw.
Drawers were scattered along the floor, the contents dumped all over, and the clothes in the closet were thrown everywhere. The only thing that remained in place were the sheets on my bed.
"What the hell happened?" Liam scanned the room.
"Dad. He came in here like a bat out of hell." Bree shrugged her shoulders. "He said something about catching her red-handed. That he was done playing games."
"What was he looking for?" Thank God I'd taken my jewelry box to Liam's … unless he planned on going there too. What if he's going to your place? My pendant is there.
I'll call Evan. He should be there now. Liam pulled his phone out and dialed his friend.
"No clue." Bree shook her head. "He said he'd
have the cleaners come pick up this mess, but he was scary."
"Hey, my dad may be heading over there." Liam's voice was low. "Can you go into my room and hide Mia's pendant? Also, make sure that spray is in your room." He paused a second. "Thanks, bye."
"It's like he's gone off his rocker." Bree bit her bottom lip. "Is he on to us?"
"No, I think he's trying to find out what Mia is using against us." Liam rolled his eyes.
"But I'm not..."
"I know that, but it doesn't make sense to them why the four of us are changing. He thinks there has to be a reason other than the goodness of our hearts." Liam shook his head. "It's kind of sad."
"Thank God he didn't find anything." Bree took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. "We're going to have to be more careful. I had to go run and hide the burner phone in case he came into my room. That was a close call."
Anger raged through me. "He thinks he can come in here and search my things without my permission?" This was the problem with the council. They were all entitled ass wipes.
"He was the one who paid for your first year here." Bree winced and shook her head. "This isn't right though. He was like another person."
I wondered if they felt entitled when they had killed my dad. With each passing day, I was more confident that they were the ones who did it. "Even if he paid for me to get here, he doesn't own me or my stuff."
"Oh, I agree. But they're getting desperate. They can't figure out who is on their side or not. And he wants you to get pissed and react. We can't do that." Liam shook his head with a frown. "What they don't realize is that it's most of the shifters they're supposed to be helping. But this is a good thing."
"How so?" None of this made any sense. A violation of my privacy shouldn’t be considered a good thing.
"Because he knows we caught him losing control." Liam waved his hand around the room. "He's going to be embarrassed, and they are going to think twice about doing something like this again."
"Yeah, Dad doesn't like looking stupid." Bree nodded her head. "I could see that." Her forehead lined for a second, and she pursed her lips. "What are you two doing here?"
"We actually came by to tell you something." I cleared my throat and glanced at Liam. Right now, we had more important things to discuss than their father’s control issues. Besides, not a damn thing was going to happen for this violation of my property. Though, one day, I'd even the score.
"Okay, what?" She examined me and pursed her lips. "Something’s going on."
"Mia learned something the other day in her shifter history class." Liam started and cleared his throat.
"And..." She arched an eyebrow and bit her bottom lip.
"Long story short, you're the actual heir to the council." Liam threw the words out there so fast it was as if he thought it might make the news better.
Bree burst out laughing. "Stop messing with me. I never thought you'd joke about something like that."
"He's not joking." I touched her arm. "There is a rule that if one of the council members is the mate of the Overseer, they can't be part of the council because of that bond."
Her face dropped, and she blinked a few times. "Are you being serious?"
"Yes, I am." Liam took a deep breath as if he was preparing for the worst.
"Shit." A hand ran down her face. "No ... I can't do this."
"Yes, you can." I stepped closer to her and leaned down so I captured her attention. "You're strong. You fought for me to get here, and despite everything, you weren't willing to give up on Nate."
"Remember that one time you won against me in a fight when we were younger?" Liam winced as if it was hard for him to say. "I didn't let you win."
"What?" Bree's eyes flicked up to his. "But you told me..."
"I know what I told you, but damn, I was embarrassed." He took a deep breath. "I never fought you again after that because I didn't want it to happen again."
She ran a hand through her dark hair as she paced in front of us. "I... I wasn't trained for it."
"You were too." Liam stepped in front of her, cutting off the circle she was making. "Maybe not as hard as me, but Dad trained you, too, just in case something happened to me. You’ve got this."
"I guess I don't have a choice now, do I?" Her face was tight, and her body was rigid. "Then, I better up my game."
There was the strong friend I'd always known was inside her.
The next few weeks passed quickly. Liam was right that due to their dads' overreaction, the council was staying below the radar. They were trying to make us feel safe again, hoping I'd mess up somehow.
Mr. Hale never showed his face at Liam's dorm that day, and the heirs took news of Bree being part of the council very well... even Simon. It was surprising. However, Liam did point out that it wasn’t as huge of a deal to them as it was to Bree. If something were to happen, it had always been known that she would step into his place.
Evan snuck out every night to train Bree, Sherry, and the rebels. Liam and I joined them about half the time. Liam helped train others while Bree and I were part of Evan’s training group. I needed to be in the best shape possible when everything went to hell.
Micah and Simon had tried to leave with Evan once, and they almost got caught. Needless to say, Micah and Simon's missions were to be on call if we needed help distracting our fathers. Luckily, the two of them knew how to fight, so they weren't missing out on much.
Every night, our entire group had dinner together. Our group of seven had finally started to become true friends.
"Tonight, we need to focus on hand to hand combat." Evan grabbed another slice of pizza from the cardboard box that sat on the coffee table in Liam and Evan's apartment. "My wolf is on edge. The fight will be coming soon." He then leaned back in the recliner.
Their living room was set up exactly like the one in Bree’s dorm room. One couch against the wall with two recliners across from one another.
"Hopefully, Micah and Simon won't need to sneak into the battle." Liam chuckled, causing his body to shake.
It tickled my right side as I took a bite sitting between him and Bree as usual.
"Oh, shut up," Simon growled as he leaned over Sherry, who was sitting on the floor in front of the other recliner, and took another slice of pizza. "It was Micah's fault that we were almost caught. He fell down at my feet."
"Whatever." Micah rolled his eyes as he sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table, facing me. "You tripped me with your big feet."
I glanced at the clock and stood up. "We need to get ready to go. They're going to be here at eleven to get us." That was only thirty minutes from now.
"I'll go get the spray." Evan jumped to his feet and ran off to his room.
Bree stood and stretched her arms over her head. "I'm so sore. I'm not sure how I'm going to move tonight."
"You better toughen up, buttercup." Simon tilted his head in her direction. "It's only going to get rougher from here."
"Thanks, Simon, for the confidence boost." Bree narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yeah, we're working on filtering." Sherry glanced over her shoulder at her mate. "Remember, positive affirmations work best when trying to encourage someone."
"What?" His brows furrowed, and he lifted both hands. "I called her buttercup."
Micah laughed. "Calling someone a nice nickname doesn't make the rest of the sentence okay."
"Oh, leave him alone." That was the one thing I admired most about Simon even though it took me a while to realize it. He was very transparent; I knew exactly what he thought and where he stood. "He was trying to help."
"See." His eyebrows arched, and he pointed to me. "She gets me."
"Never, in a million years, did I ever think I'd hear him say that." Liam chuckled and stood, wrapping his arms around me.
"All right, spray up, everyone." Evan came out with the spray bottle.
Within minutes, we were soaked and ready to go out.
"All right, call if you need us." Sherr
y stood and waved Micah and Simon on. "Let's go home."
Sherry had been staying with Simon more lately as their bond solidified.
We waited a few minutes after they left and listened through the door to make sure no one was out and about. There was a party on campus, but it was in the girls' dorm, so we should be able to get to the woods without a problem from here.
"It sounds clear." Evan opened the door, and the four of us hurried to the stairwell, moving slowly to cover our noise. When we reached the back door, we ran as fast as possible to the woods that were only about twenty feet away, staying hidden there to make sure no one saw us.
Once we were confident that we hadn’t drawn any attention, we began running through the woods. Evan was the leader with Bree right behind him. Liam insisted on taking up the rear.
The woods were thick, but we’d made our own trail to follow. It wasn't long before we were rushing past the girls' dorm when a guard appeared only fifty feet away from us. Evan turned around to warn us which caused Bree to stop too fast, catching her foot on a twig.
The guard’s body tensed as his eyes swept in our direction.
The four of us ducked immediately, staying close to the ground.
I could only pray that he hadn’t seen us in the split second it took for us to react.
We stayed perfectly still as the guard surveyed the area around him. I was able to see through a break in some leaves, and he was focused in our direction.
After about five minutes, he headed toward the guys’ dorm, his eyes remaining on the woods.
Evan slowed his pace but continued on, staying close to the ground. Once we were a good hundred yards away, we stood but moved more slowly and carefully through the woods.
After what felt like hours, we finally reached the spot of highway that we agreed to meet on. We changed our location each time in case someone noticed us one night. We were doing everything possible to keep from getting caught.
A black navigator pulled up to us, and the passenger window rolled down. Max grinned at us as he waggled his eyebrows. "Do you need a ride?"
