Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Time seemed to slow when the new arrivals got into the building. Katie couldn’t help but notice just how much attention they were attracting. Three guys who could easily have passed for bodybuilders, heavily muscled that it was easily noticeable even through their jackets although that wasn’t what was the most frightening thing about them. The most frightening thing was their eyes. The ones of the two guys on both sides of the one in the middle were searing red. They stood on both sides of a guy whose eyes shook every human in the corridor to the core... bright blue. If it hadn’t been for the bright blue that came from his eyes, they probably would have been ignored, but this colour was a perfect reminder that he was from one of the two Royal families. The students in the hallway that noticed them immediately cleared the hallway for them to pass.

The three walked in, the Royal staying in front of the two alphas, a show of respect that Katie knew all too well. The longer she stared at them, the more she realized she was just wasting time, but then again, that was the same that was happening in the entire hallway. Katie turned away from them and walked up to her locker keeping her senses up as trained by her guardians. “Hey, Katie, wait up,” Sandra called out to her as she opened her locker.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice coming out normal, well as normal as it could be. The feeling of nervousness in front of a werewolf was new to her.

“So that’s Katie Chase,” a deep voice came, tearing straight through her mental defences. Something in her wanted to listen to this person longer... ‘What am I thinking?’ she thought to herself bewildered by the emotions. Something Katie was not used to, for a brief moment, Katie could feel the weakened wolf within her stir although it was not enough to shake her. She got her books and closed the locker before setting her eyes on the new arrivals.

Cole gasped on seeing Katie, “Your eyes,” a reaction that was the same for the other two alphas.

“Hey, Cole, you didn’t tell me you had company,” Sandra said laughing nervously, interrupting the exchange.

“Yeah, my parents were like... if the hunters at this school are really that dangerous, then take these two ‘hoodlums’ for protection,” Cole said, Katie’s mind unconsciously analyzing his voice. ‘It’s got a nice ring to it,’ she thought before mentally face-palming herself and turning to walk away. “Meet Caden and Jason,” he introduced them pointing at the two alphas that flanked him right as she was leaving.

.....

“Just don’t cause trouble and you should be fine,” she said as she walked away, ‘I have to get out of here before I embarrass myself. Werewolves can hear heartbeats and tell emotions using that information. This ability is even stronger in alphas and Royals. If I stay too long, they will soon realise I’m not as composed as I seem to be.’

“Someone’s intimidated,” Cole said behind her, goading her.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” she said waving at them blindly, a smirk on her face. Her biggest worry was that she would have scanned every inch of his face had they continued talking.

“I’ll catch up with you, Cole. Excuse me,” Sandra said to them before jogging up to Katie and matching her pace.

“You guys got close in one afternoon,” Katie voiced her observation.

“I gave him a tour of the school...” Sandra said.

“I see... Lycaon... That’s a name I thought I would only hear in stories,” she said, sighing.

“Does it worry you?” Kyle asked her.

“Not for obvious reasons,” Katie said after carefully thinking through her options. Her reaction to Cole’s presence was new to her. Each time she spent in his presence seemed to rile up something deep inside her. Something that was supposed to remain buried until the day of her birthday.

“That’s a curious answer,” Kyle said, watching Katie rub her temples in thought before she nearly collided with someone. It was rare for someone to bar Katie’s way unless it was Dexter who was trying to pick a fight with her which Sandra would quickly take care of.

Katie opened her eyes to take in whoever was standing in her way and came face to face with a smirking Shaemus. “I was right. The mighty Katie Chase is all talk and no bark. You turned tail and ran from werewolves... all because you were intimidated.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about your little outburst. They told me you want to fight me. I probably heard them wrong, so I want to hear it from you,” Katie said staring him straight in the eye.

“Those eyes... are probably the reason why everyone is so afraid of you, but I’ll tell you this. You don’t scare me one bit. Today evening, I’ll dethrone you, boy wonder.”

This seemed to hit all the wrong buttons within Katie, “I advise you to reconsider. I would hate to lose my cool with you as my punching bag.”

“Big talk from a hotshot whose time is coming to an end. Change is coming Chase and I will be the one who brings it,” Shaemus said before walking away from Katie. Katie closed her eyes and went through the breathing practices that they used in the Chase family to soothe anger. Sandra held her shaking hand to cool her down and as expected, she soon stopped seething. Katie walked on without another word of what had happened and made it to her next class. Kyle bid them farewell as he did not share the same period as they did.

“Sandra, a favour,” she said, taking his seat at the back of the class.

“What is it?”

“If I lose control in the fight against Shaemus, I want you to stop me.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best... though you have more control than anyone I know. Dexter hasn’t managed to piss you off and he has been doing it for years,” she said even though she did not leave like she thought she would, “Hey, Katie. About...”

“Yesterday...” she interrupted her, staring out the window, her mind soaring into thought. “Walls have ears.” This was what she said every time she was warning her that the information she was asking for her confidential and she would tell if and only if she was sure no one was listening in on their conversation.

“I wanted to apologise for...” Panic leaked into Sandra’s voice.

“All is forgiven, Sandra. I don’t think I would have handled that situation if I was in your shoes either,” she said before the bell went signalling the start of the lesson.

...........

Cole stood in the spot Katie and Sandra had left them, frozen from the brief moment he had gotten the chance to see her face. Katie was not what he had expected, her eyes had captured his attention and even now that she was gone, the image refused to leave his mind. A reaction that he was not used to, “Hey, Cole, shouldn’t we get going?” one of the two beside him said, chuckling.

“Oh, yeah, let’s get going,” his rushed footsteps only proved that he had been affected by the brief encounter.

“Someone is falling for a bad girl hunter,” one of the alphas said, the two of them chuckled.

“Shut up, Jason. You saw nothing... She was just...” the Royal couldn’t shake the fact that he was more interested in the girl than he was the day before.

“Perfect, pristine, amazing, wonderful, you want to eat her up,” Jason said quickly providing all the options she did not want to hear.

“Unbelievable,” he groaned, hitting Jason’s shoulder playfully, “Ugh, you are such a pain.” Caden and Jason continued to laugh at his reaction which he just ignored. His mind was too focused on trying to wipe the images that plagued his imagination to care about their childishness.

“I have watched you reject so many girls back at the palace. Many of them were even alphas. What’s different about this one? Her name though... brings back memories,” Caden spoke when they started walking towards the examination block.

“I know what you mean. Her name was the reason I was so curious to know what she looked like. Those eyes... it was like she was mocking me,” he said, agitation clear in his voice, finally stabilizing his pace and leading them to administrative offices to pick their schedules.

“Then what was that? I know it was too subtle to be something of a reaction to meeting one’s mate, so...” Cole looked at both of them as they eagerly waited for an answer. ‘Just how many people are watching out for who I get to pick as my partner,’ he thought to himself even though that did not get her out of trouble with these two.

“How may I help you?” a lady interrupted them, freezing up when Cole looked her in the eye, recognition as well as shock evident in her expression, “Oh, you must be Cole Lycaon. How may I help you?”

“Never time for proper introductions!!!” the statement came out rhetorical, “we just need our class schedules.”

“Oh, okay, follow me,” the teacher said, leading them on through the necessary procedures before getting them their schedules and bidding them farewell. Cole walked ahead of the others, leading them to the room. Having missed orientation, the two alpha bodyguards were completely at a loss. Despite the lack of interest, she had towards knowing what class was what on the day before during her tour with Sandra, Cole had actually been paying attention and was in a position to lead them to the room they had been assigned for their first period without having to ask for directions.

They got to the classroom, the teacher already inside and far into the lesson topic of discussion. A knock at the door was enough to throw him off his rhythm. At first, the teacher seemed to be reluctant to attend to the new arrivals as he was in the middle of an explanation... that was until he took the time to at least see the faces of the intruders. The lesson came to a stop at that point, attracting the attention of the students who had also lost track of the lesson. This gesture attracted all the students in the class... all except for one who remained staring out of the class.

Cole could not forget the features of the absentminded student at the back of the class. After all, even the very clothes she was dressed in were burned deep into his memory... the memory of Katie Chase.