Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 35

"Figured I'd find you here," Austin said, stepping inside Camden's classroom. A few students were gathered around Camden's desk, but they lost all interest in their teacher when they saw their beta come in. Austin motioned with his head towards the door and they all trickled out, looking at Ryleigh over their shoulders. She was leaning against her desk, pretending not to have noticed his entrance.

She was talking to Carry, who was standing in front of her, her history book clasped against her chest as though it was something precious rather than one of the most despised objects in her life. Carry hadn't taken Ryleigh's betrayal – because belonging to Golden Dawn certainly counted as treason of the highest order – very well, though still better than Austin had expected. It would be an exaggeration to say she had already forgiven Ryleigh for being the enemy, but after a few days she had cooled down enough to stop blaming Ryleigh for all the transgressions of her pack. It helped that Ryleigh was the only exciting thing to have happened since forever.

"Hiya there," Carry said, taking note of Austin and beaming at him the way she always did.

Ryleigh didn't greet him with the same kind of enthusiasm, but she smiled at him when his eyes met hers. It could have been his imagination, but lately that smile had even seemed genuine.

"Good afternoon, Beta," Camden said, gathering his notes in a stack and tapping them against his desk to align them. "I haven't seen you in my classroom this much in years."

"I did always like it in here," he said.

"I remember." He glimpsed at Ryleigh. "He always used to hide out here, pouring over books and avoiding his responsibilities."

A smirk tugged at one corner of Ryleigh's mouth and her eyes flitted over him, coming to rest on his face. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I didn't hide from my responsibilities," Austin said, progressing further into the room.

"If you say so." Camden picked up his books and clasped them under an arm. "Well, I have a meeting with Ellis in a few minutes. Stay as long as you like."

"I'll walk with you," Carry said, sending Austin a wink before dashing out of the room. She gave the guards in the hallway a chipper greeting in passing.

Austin turned and nodded at the guards. They quietly retreated, leaving Austin and Ryleigh alone in the room and quite possibly the building.

"So, what did you need me for?" Ryleigh asked.

"Nothing. How was class?"

"It was good. He talked about Crimson Claw and all their failed rebellions. I like them."

He swallowed a chuckle. "Of course you do. They're sworn enemies of King Alder."

Ryleigh flashed him a grin and his heart fluttered, then sank. She sat down on top of the desk, kicking her feet. Sitting there, in the classroom, on that school desk, fidgeting like a teen, it was hard to remember the half-feral she-wolf he'd met in the Royal Prison. Surely this wasn't that woman.

"Any enemy of Alder has my respect," she said.

Alright, so maybe she was.

She raised her hands above her head and stretched, shaking her hair out of her face. Her scent enveloped him and he swallowed.

"You shouldn't speak like that about your king."

Her relaxed expression turned stern, her eyes burning with her wolf's passion. "He is not my king. I will never bow to him."

Austin glanced around him. He knew they were alone, but if she was going to talk like that, he'd better double check. If Ellis overheard her, he might turn her in to Alder again. Not that Austin would care, of course. But still.