5

To get answers, I had to go willy-nilly. I went after the three enemies of my pack like they were my best friends, like they could protect me. Protecting against unknown feelings building up inside me.

We went into the lecture hall, which had already started to fill up. Here and there people looked at us curiously, but on closer inspection, all eyes were on Caspian. How could someone from the Alistair pack draw so much attention?

He had my full attention, like everyone else's. His hood was still pulled low over his face, I walked past him and couldn't take my eyes off him, seeing his blue eyes shining underneath. Dark as the night and bright as the sky in the sunshine, they kept changing color.

But he wasn't my mate. I only saw my mate for a second, before my wolf could even react I ran away.

And my wolf didn't react to Caspian at all. I didn't understand why I was so drawn to him. It was almost painful to look at him and walk past him.

Is it my words that have haunted my dreams every night since and just tormented me? It was definitely guilt, it couldn't be otherwise.

Now, however, everything about him told me that nothing he had claimed back then was real. I did well to reject him.

I watched him staring at my every move and when I was tempted to stop, he looked past me at the students already filling the stands.

"Everyone out of here!" Caspian ordered in a tone that made everyone around me gasp. All except me.

As little as I could take my eyes from him, so could his. They immediately sought mine out again and mine stuck to him like a magnet and it was like a suction, a whirlpool of feelings that held me captive.

I sank deeper and deeper into his eyes, which followed me and stopped. I wanted to go back and see her up close. I felt like I passed him too quickly and I just stopped.

"Go on, Stone," Taylor's voice growled and his hand shoved me roughly. It was like a wake up call and I wondered what had just happened to me. I looked back again, but Taylor's broad chest blocked my view of Caspian.

I felt my head tilt, a lump form in my throat, my feet take on a life of their own. I wanted to go on, but something in me resisted. If I was strong a few weeks ago, I wasn't now.

"What's the matter, Stone?" Grayson pushed Taylor aside, his equally massive frame still blocking Caspian's view, as Taylor was doing. Grayson looked at me thoughtfully, but there was something else in his eyes that I couldn't read.

I could see his upper body breathing heavily, like he was in a quandary like me. Grayson tilted his head and his brown eyes brightened for a moment before darkening again.

"Go, Stone," deep, harsh, and rude, he instructed me. There was something in his voice that made me more giddy and dizzy than the situation with Caspian. He was my enemy, I reminded myself. He was a danger to me and I was acting strange. It was my fear of not knowing what was going on around me that controlled me.

I obeyed Caspian, as did Grayson, even though everything in me struggled. It was like Caspian's presence was breaking me, messing with the feelings I was holding onto so tightly. So Taylor followed, Trevor followed, and Grayson followed me. I ignored the mess in my head and just kept walking.

If Caspian would reach out to me, I would take it. I would flee into his embrace like a little moth looking for the light. He made me weak and I felt ashamed of my feelings because they didn't let me think clearly.

With every step I took backwards into the lecture hall, I saw shocked and frightened faces around us. It was disturbing how they darted past and past as if someone were chasing them. Most didn't even pack their things, they were in such a hurry to leave. The last one even closed the door and I looked at Grayson questioningly.

His gaze was dangerous, like the stance he was in, but it was also protective and harmless. His strong shoulders were tilted slightly forward as if shielding me. He stepped closer to me as if expecting me to take another step back and then stopped abruptly.

I tried to take my eyes off Grayson, who was blocking my view of Caspian. Taking a step to the side would be a good idea right now, but my feet let me down and I just stood there and waited for him to say something.

I was all too aware of the presence behind Grayson, which he was covering with his body.

"What's the matter, Stone? Have you forgotten how to walk?" asked Grayson in his spiteful tone.

"No," he came hesitantly from me. "Step aside!" I then said more demandingly. Grayson did as I told him, but that second of his stepping aside didn't help me collect myself.

I immediately sucked in Caspian's every move as I saw her again. The tension in his muscles beneath his sweatshirt as he pulled the hood off. The midnight black hair that immediately curled around his face more playfully than it was allowed to.

However, as he folded his arms across his chest and his eyes darted dangerously between the Alaister brothers, my awareness of my situation hit me again.

"So what are you doing here?" The question wasn't directed at me. Caspian glared between the three of them and I was surprised that he was angry at their presence.

"Stone needs our help," Grayson tapped my shoulder with his thumb and immediately pulled away when Caspian growled at him.

"What does this mean?" However, there was no reply from the Alaister brothers. Caspian started pacing in front of us impatiently until he stopped in front of me.

He stood so close to me that his warm breath was all I inhaled. He looked down at me and I looked at the small, light blue speckles in his dark blue eyes. They seemed to get brighter the longer I stared at them.

Just count them and distract yourself.

"We're here to protect you," Grayson cleared his throat before I even started counting. Caspian lowered his head a little lower and the bright blue speckles in his eyes were within reach.

As quickly as he came close to me, he was gone again. He turned to Grayson and stepped in front of him, hands clasped in front of his chest.

"Orders from Lord Weston," Taylor said quickly and Caspian jerked his head towards him and gave him an irritated look. I could see his eyes darting back and forth between Taylor and Grayson in irritation, glowing briefly, then darkening.

"Callum?" asked Caspian. He looked visibly shocked when he said the name.

Whoever this Callum or Lord Weston was, seemed to have an influence on him. Caspian was now ruffling his hair as if we weren't there. It had really thrown him off course.

It all happened in a matter of seconds and when he stood in front of me again and looked down at me he was totally composed, cold, unimpressed.

"That doesn't change anything," he growled above me. I just shrugged, not understanding this conversation anyway. I told him everything.

His gaze lingered on me for a moment longer than I wanted as my legs were already giving out and wanting to go to him. And for that small moment his features softened. The blue of his eyes brightened and out of the corner of my eye I saw his hand reach up to my face and the next moment it was gone.

"Then make sure she stays out of my way," he said menacingly to the Alaister brothers, locking my eyes warningly. The longer he stared at me, the more his mask fell. I could suddenly see the pain behind them. The loneliness and helplessness.

"Caspian—"

"Don't say anything, Tara," he immediately cut me off and looked away. "Just get out of my way, Tara," he called as he started to leave.

Caspian left the room without looking back and slammed the door behind him.

Aside from not understanding anything, it was Caspian who hurt me the most, not the Alaisters, who now roused me from my trance.

"It wasn't as bad as I expected," Trevor giggled next to me and I shook my head at him. In earnest?

"Come on, Stone. What are you saying?" Taylor gave me an amused smile and hugged me in turn. The enemy of my family put his arms around me and shook me like we were best friends.

"Why are you here?" I asked. I was completely off track. The only one who hadn't said or done anything was Grayson.

"To take care of you both, Stone. Nobody wants you to do anything stupid," he growled and I just shook my head.

"You were there then, right?"

"We were, Stone, and it wasn't nice what you did. But we'll fix it," Trevor replied, stepping in front of me and lifting my chin. "Our parents were enemies, Stone. We don't have to be. Unless you hate three handsome, strong, and brave friends," he grinned cheekily at me.

"We're quite entertaining, too," Taylor added from behind me, patting my head like a little sister would.

For some reason, I looked at Grayson, who was staring at me with a stony expression. Checking, waiting patiently for what I would say.