17

Grayson looked at me for a moment. The colors in his eyes shone alternately between light and dark brown. They were angry, angry and then sad again. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't process it.

"Pebble," he murmured and grabbed his bag. His hand briefly brushed my chin before he stormed out of the classroom. I was so taken aback that my first look at Trevor and Taylor was perplexed as worried as I was, but just watched him go, grinning.

"What's wrong with him?" I whispered to them.

Grayson never lost his composure. He always looked at everything that happened around him soberly, spiced with a pinch of arrogant superiority. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. He always seemed calm and I could tell that something was troubling him.

"About time, too," Trevor murmured.

"Way too late I think," Taylor agreed.

"Can any of you enlighten me, because I don't understand."

"You'd best ask Gray. About time you—" Trevor nudged Taylor, and he immediately fell silent.

"We what?" I asked.

"Maybe talk," Trevor mumbled, and now Taylor nudged him in the ribs. The doorbell rang and Esme sauntered over to us.

"Interesting class, isn't it?"

"Couldn't you have warned us?" I asked her.

"I did?!" Esme scolded Taylor, who grinned cheekily at her. "I must have forgotten Esme."

"What am I missing here?" I asked her skeptically.

"Yeah, and what about me?" Esme asked. Taylor and Trevor exchanged a few silent looks.

Esme tapped her chin thoughtfully and uneasiness crept up her chin. She looked at me and then back at the boys. "May I see your blindfolds?" She grabbed the black towels that were lying on the tables in front of us and smelled them.

"Want to know who wore which?" I asked, but she shook her head.

"I see them lying before you."

"Something wrong?" Her behavior struck me as odd now. Actually, Grayson's too, and not just since he stormed off the course.

"I'll take this with me, I have to read something." She put Grayson's handkerchief in her pocket and looked at Taylor. "Will you come with me, Taylor?" When she called his name, his head jerked toward her as if on command.

"Sure. Where are we going?" he asked, putting an arm over her shoulder before they disappeared.

"I'll get my gym gear and then I'll go to the library," I said to Trevor.

"Shall I accompany you?"

"No, I think I know the way." I picked up my things and said goodbye.

I thought about the course for a while. All women resembled each other in figure, height, weight. She was barely distinguishable by ear and if I hadn't heard Jade's hiccups I wouldn't have gone in that direction at all. That didn't explain why Trevor had found them, though, or it was coincidence, as with a few.

I walked down the hallways and looked at the Christmas decorations being put up. Funny that we celebrated it at all, it didn't mean anything to us, but somehow we took it on.

The Winter Ball was coming up. The last night of the year before we all headed home. Maybe I should stay right there. However, it also reminded me that I had to go to the secretary's office to text Colin to pick me up this time.

I stayed here last year and enjoyed the quiet. That's how I met Jade, she did the same thing, although I suspected that she didn't want to go home. If I was honest with myself, it was my reason.

I was afraid to go back into the forest, which was the first thing I did last summer. Which only got me into more trouble. I turned the corner and saw Caspian sitting in the library's entrance hall.

He jumped up as soon as he saw me. It was still early afternoon, most of them still had classes and would come later. Well, I had been wondering why I had seen him so little or not at all in the last few weeks. But it was actually what we both wanted.

He stood in front of me in just a few steps, not least because I walked straight up to him. My mind told me I should go a different way. My feelings, on the other hand, drew me directly to him.

He was the epitome of an attractive man, and he knew it all too well. There was something dangerously attractive about his movements. The power radiating from his body should make anyone run, but mine was just the opposite.

Every movement of his muscles were perfectly coordinated. His face was sin itself. His deep blue eyes flared with every step he took toward me. Even the smile on his face matched them. Everything worked in perfect harmony, mesmerized, I gave in to the attraction he was exerting on me.

All the feelings I had been repressing for the past few weeks came to the surface again. Everything I was denying myself to feel came back in a massive explosion. My body seemed to be heating up as a shiver on my skin activated the last few nerves in my body. Everything in me suddenly yearned for him.

"I wanted to see you Tara," I saw his full lips move. Caspian stopped in front of me and, as a matter of course, brushed some hair out of my face and took my gym bag from me.

"Let's go a little," he shouldered my bag and walked ahead as if he hadn't realized what he was doing to me.

Seeing him go, not being able to see his face, left a little pang in my heart. I stood still for a moment, not sure if I should let that go. He had just shown me what his presence alone was capable of.

The Allaisters were nowhere to be seen and the last conversation I had with Caspian wasn't something I fondly remembered. However, maybe now was just the right time to think about it, not to give in.

"I'm here because of you and even if you're thinking about leaving now, I'll find you again." He said it over his shoulder, laughing, as he just kept walking.

"Inevitably, anyone staying in this building can be found here," I grumbled, following him. I was interested in what he had to say and why we were walking to the remote part of the library. He led me to the table where I sat almost every day.

"You didn't study much today did you?" he asked me amused. Threw my bag on the floor and leaned against the table. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for me to approach. He eyed me like the predator he was. We were all, but he was the king among us.

"You haven't been to classes in a long time," I mentioned. What did he want to know about what I had learned today. He just shrugged and now put his hands in his pockets. He looked down at the floor for a moment, as if struggling with telling me something.

"What did I miss today?" If he already mentioned it. Even I had a bad feeling since the course. I hadn't noticed anything. Even Esme was suspicious in the end and she knew that there was this experiment today.

"Soulmates will always find each other, even if you hide your scent, Tara. That's a major disadvantage for you." That wasn't an answer to my question, but maybe that's why he thought he could find me anywhere.

His blue eyes flashed dangerously once more, and the thought of running from him made me balk.

"Is that so?" I gritted my teeth.

"Ja. "

"Wie?"

"You are my Erasthai." I couldn't ignore the feelings that word evoked in me when he said it.

"You said that," I snapped at him, but he didn't seem to mind. He tilted his head slightly as if considering his answer.

"A bond is always stronger, and so is your scent that draws me in. It can't be disguised with a few herbs, Tara. It's stronger for me than for anyone, and even if you hide it, I'll find you ." The hunter in him was clearly speaking, it was obvious how amused he was when he said it.

"You mean to say that I have no chance of winning in the hunt?" I wrinkled my nose. It hurt me that he thought so little of me.

"Don't worry about this stupid game. I'll always take care of you."

"If I'm that important to you, then your engagement was easy to curb."

"Is that what you wanted me to fight for you?"

"No, it wasn't," I answered much too hastily, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"How come everyone knows who you are? How come I didn't know?" It was a question that had bothered me since we first met.

"Because I want them to know."

"I thought you were a simple wolf." I had that. Another Alaiser playing some stupid game with me for leaving my mate behind.

"I know," Caspian pulled through his raven hair and suddenly looked in all possible directions, just not at me. There were only books around us, I didn't believe that even one of them had an explanation for it.

"Why?" I asked.

"I can decide whether I want to make my opponent feel who I am or not. In fact, any Lycan can do that," his answer was more than a whisper. It was a practical explanation.

"You made me think you were an Allaister. Why?" I rephrased my question.

"You were totally scared when you ran away. Why should I intimidate you, there was no need to ask you to submit to me. You are my counterpart. You are free to make all your decisions." I saw disappointment in his blue eyes for a moment, then it was gone as quickly as it came.

He pushed himself off the table and walked around me until he was back in front of me. His warm breath blew over my face and when his hand gently rested on my cheek, a fire spread inside me that made me burn inside.

"Why are you here?" My voice dropped to a whisper, I put my hand on his cheek and I felt my neck starting to burn, it was a request I couldn't control anymore.

The butterflies in my stomach spread to the last fingertips. It was like all my nerves in my body were reacting at once. They only had one goal, that I touch him.

"It's complicated, Tara." Caspian withdrew his hand and an unprecedented chill went through my body. I wrapped my arms around my body as if I could hold what I had just felt.

Caspian turned and leaned on the table. I saw his muscles flex, his shirt tearing at his upper arms. His whole body seemed under a spell. He shook uncontrollably for a few seconds before pushing himself off the table.

He was standing in front of the table and I saw her hands clench into fists over and over again and he struggled to keep his composure. He was so contradictory and by the end we were where we started.

"You knew where I was for two months and you didn't care. You've been here for two months and you still don't care. We haven't seen or spoken in weeks. So what do you want? Don't try to tell me that I mean something to you."

Caspian turned and sat down on the table. He put his hands back in his pockets. So much for ending up where we started.

"You do, Tara, more than you can imagine, more than I'll admit. However, I came to say goodbye to you. I have something I need to do and I won't be around for a while. I want to ask you to stay close to the Alaisters. No trips alone, not even here to the library."

His words stabbed straight into my heart. He could have said he wanted to rip it out, it wouldn't have made any difference.

"You could have just walked away," I whispered, choking back my tears, which was unnecessary as they were already rolling down my cheeks. I was stunned by what he was saying, or myself. It was triggering feelings in me that I wish I had better not felt.

"I wanted to give you something before I go." Caspian pushed himself off the table and just hugged me. He held me tight like it was goodbye forever.