9

I got up and suddenly had no more worries. I no longer felt intimidated, nor did I expect to hear anything other than being expelled from college. The thought was liberating.

There was something appealing about it that I couldn't deny. I was really looking forward to the upcoming confrontation. The last two days were enough for me and there was no way I could stand it any longer.

I got up and so did the triplets. I gave them a warning look, but they ignored it and I did it to them. Caspian and Eliasane waited, as did every pair of eyes in the lecture hall.

Grayson didn't seem to move. He towered almost a head over me with his powerful body and looked at me gravely. I didn't know what he didn't like about the situation, that I was defying Caspian, my professor, or that I was now walking away without him.

I couldn't ignore the worry in his eyes. I wondered for a moment where that came from. We hadn't even known each other for twenty-four hours.

"We're close, Tara." I saw him raise his hand and for a moment I thought he was going to put it back on my shoulder to push me in front of him like he's been doing all day today.

But he ran his fingers through his hair instead, and I saw his dark brown eyes brighten. I had never seen anything like it on a wolf.

"You don't need that," I choked out, even though I wanted exactly the opposite. I've never been so happy today to have the three with me. Whether their worries were feigned or not, at least someone thought of me.

"We decide that," Trevor tapped my shoulder and I looked over my shoulder. "Let's go," Taylor told me from behind him. Maybe I wasn't as alone as I thought.

I turned around and Grayson was still standing in front of me, his back was to me and I was annoyed that I couldn't see his eyes anymore. I wanted to reach out and turn him around, but something inside of me beckoned me to look at Caspian.

My gaze wandered to the side and showed me that he was watching us closely. I quickly looked away at Grayson's back. He still didn't move an inch, only his back muscles seemed to move.

My gaze slid down to him and rested on his hands, which clenched into fists again and again. Up and down, his fingertips repeatedly rubbing his palms and then stretching wide apart again.

I stared at them like they were the most interesting thing in the world until I reached out my hand for them, but before I could touch them he pulled them away and started moving.

I looked around for Trevor and Taylor, who nodded and followed immediately as I ran after Grayson.

"I said Tara Stone. Who are you?" spat our professor to my three companions as we caught up with them. She hadn't calmed down at all, on the contrary, she seemed even more upset.

Grayson only growled in response and slowly walked down the stairs in front of me. I saw our professor stretch out her claws. These weren't normal claws and I panicked. I grabbed Grayson's hand and he turned around immediately.

"That's enough, Grayson!" I hissed at him. He looked at me for a second, out of his hazel eyes, then at my hand holding his. An unbelievable heat emanated from his hand, it tickled my skin and I couldn't help looking at our hands, which were now interlaced.

"Your decision, Stone," he muttered. I stared at our hands clasped together like it was the way it was supposed to be. An Alaiser held my hand. An Alaister seemed to want to protect me from a danger that didn't exist, and the Alaisters had no reason to do so, except that they didn't already know it.

"It's just a stupid course, Grayson." I pulled my hand back, suddenly feeling ice cold. He didn't seem happy with my answer, but I walked past him, ran down the stairs, not looking at Caspian and my professor, and headed straight for the door.

Only in the hall did I stop and wait for her. I had no idea where her office is. My hand was still tingling. It was as if a fire had lit her and someone had dunked her in ice cold water.

"Either you follow the rules or I'll have you expelled from the university," my professor hissed at me as she closed the door behind her and walked past me. I saw Caspian following her, I took in his scent, but it wasn't as intense as the tingling in my hand.

I shook it off as best I could. That's my goal, I said to myself. Away from here. I wasn't exactly here voluntarily, but she didn't need to know that.

I saw Caspian leisurely strolling behind me and the door of the lecture hall opening. The triplets seemed unstoppable and just followed us.

I turned away from Caspian and took one last look at the three. They were like the day, the evening and the night with their hair colors and also with their minds as far as I can tell. Although this did not match her hair color.

Grayson scowled from beneath his blond curls. Trevor, with his jet black hair, was always cheerful and unfazed by what was going on around him. Taylor didn't suspect anything, nor did anything bother him. He was the calm one, the balance between the two. I smiled involuntarily and Trevor winked at me while Grayson looked away in annoyance and Taylor jostled him for his behavior.

As irritating as the three were, I've never been happier to have an Alaiser close by and I've had three. I looked at the three, whom I suddenly took to my heart as I wanted to turn away from them.

This is not possible. I looked at her again, confused. Nothing about them bothered me and I wondered how that was possible. Trevor and Taylor's smiles couldn't be more innocent than Grayson's distrust, which I deserved.

"Well, that's how it will be then," I called after my professor, which only earned me another dangerous look from her. Nevertheless, I didn't miss the one second in which she looked at me with irritation.

I trotted obediently after her, listening to the four pairs of feet that followed me. Whatever the reason, Caspian said nothing to the triplets. Since this morning I've been more than aware that they knew each other, although I don't know why.

But I shouldn't care anymore, I was so close to a referral and I wouldn't jeopardize that now.

"Miss Stone, you have my full interest and I regret that you don't want to be caught by me." Caspian slammed the door behind him and I suddenly found myself alone with him and my professor in her office.

"Well, I don't," I replied coolly. I looked at the closed door behind which the Alaisters were, and I wanted nothing more than to go to them. The more I wanted to, something in that office was pulling me away from them gone. Not something. Someone.

"Enough Tara, you're obviously unaware of who you're talking to," my professor snapped, but I didn't even turn to look at her.

Caspian had my full attention again without my will and the small office didn't help me pull away from him. His scent grew stronger and stronger and I felt my mind snapping, my nostrils starting to flare and my body unable to inhale his scent fast enough.

"That's unfair," I murmured. But it wasn't the situation I was in. It was what Caspian was doing to me that made me say that.

"You can explain that to the Council, to whom I will report you, Miss Stone," my professor snapped, but I didn't care.

"Do whatever that means," I heard her gasp and watched Caspian leaning against the table in amusement. I would love to shake him until that grin falls from his lips.

I hadn't thought my last word yet when it got even bigger.

"Miss Stone, if you manage to elude me," he approached me, speaking so softly that I could barely hear him, "I will take that as your victory. If I catch you, I'll take you with me. How does that sound?"

Was he just pretending to see me for the first time? Miss Stone? Was he serious?

"You're what?" my professor gasped, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her blush.

"So I can go if YOU don't catch me?" I asked, emphasizing you extra loud. I looked at him expectantly, but he just seemed to be waiting for my answer. I didn't get distracted. His stunningly beautiful blue eyes, nor the smell that made me want to fly to a flower like a silly bee could catch me. That was too easy.

"Tara?" Caspian asked, but I still waited for his answer.

"Miss Stone!" my professor snapped at me, but Caspian completely ignored her, as did I. It was like we were both trapped in a bubble and I didn't have the needle to pierce it.

"You'll leave me alone if I win this game?" I finally asked. His blue eyes closed. Minutes passed and I grew hotter and hotter when he didn't answer me.

"That's the way it should be," he finally said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You've already lost," I threw at his head as I walked past him without hesitation and grabbed the doorknob. I yanked the door open and saw three pairs of eyes looking at me with a mix of my own emotions.

"Don't say anything!" I hissed in their direction and quickly ran past them. I had not achieved my goal of being expelled from school. Who was to blame? I myself. What did I want to prove to myself?

I had only made things worse now. I've foxed myself, committed myself to this school rather than escaping it with all the emotional baggage that arrived with me here yesterday.

Baggage I hadn't packed. Or is it? Did I unknowingly pack it months ago and it just got delivered later? I looked at my luggage in front of me and was never more grateful to see an Alaiser. I had told myself that before today and would probably repeat it many times until I regretted it.