Phoenix
I was on my way to Headmaster Cortez's office, to discuss the possible repercussions of Atlas' outburst, when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Shit.
That could only mean one thing...or specifically...one person.
"Phoenix my boy!" His dreaded voiced called out from behind me "How wonderful it is to see you!"
The students that lingered in the halls quickly scattered, shooting small but nervous smiles our way as they scurried away.
"Alpha Heir Fenrir" I bowed my head, acknowledging his status "What a lovely surprise."
He reached out to fix my tie, nearly making me flinch at his close presence.
Nothing ever good came from him being this close to me.
"Oh son, you know you can call me Dad now that I've passed my title onto you."
I almost snorted at his words, knowing that while his mouth said one thing, his eyes were saying something completely different.
His words meant absolutely nothing to me considering that this whole conversation was a farce.
Even when I was a young child I was never allowed to call him father or dad or any other paternal term of endearment because, according to him, it was a sign of weakness and disrespect for the male Fenrir Heir to address his father and Alpha Heir in such a way.
"What do I owe the pleasure Alpha?" I asked, barely managing to conceal my surge of annoyance.
Because if he was here, visiting me, that only meant one of two things.
Either another unscheduled Heir meeting was about to occur or he wanted whatever intel I had on Nova, even though it's been less then two weeks since he commanded me to spy on her.
My bet would be the latter option.
And while I would tell him the truth about the Lupine Heir, they would only be small fractions of the truth.
Because as hard as I tried to deny it for not only the sake of my friendship but also my Pack, I couldn't shake the feelings that evoked in me from my best friends spoken words yesterday.
Nova managed somehow to worm her annoyingly beautiful and stubborn self underneath my icy defenses.
I...felt something for her whether it be love or lust, I didn't know, but what I did know was that if the man in front of me caught wind of my newfound feelings for her, he'd use those feelings I had for her to control me.
To regain control of my Pack.
A Pack that was never his to begin with in the first place.
A Pack he never wanted to handover to me by choice but was forced to by council law.
"I just wanted to stop by and see how my son's doing" he said suavely, smoothing out my collar "Let's take a walk."
~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as we were out of earshot from the other students, in a very secluded part of the Academy grounds, my Father whirled on me with venom in his eyes.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Where's the information I asked for?"
"I sent a dossier to your private account this morning."
He said nothing, choosing to instead unlock his phone and scroll through the private account he hid from the other Penta members.
His eyes snapped to mine "Are you serious?"
I remained silent.
"I asked for important intel about the girl, not how many sugars she takes in her fucking coffee."
"You wanted to know everything about her" I shrugged "I'm gathering all the information I can about her."
"I wanted pertinent information about her" he growled "Not this garbage."
"She hasn't done anything remotely interesting for me to mention" I said "She goes to class, comes home and then locks herself in her room. Nothing more and nothing less."
"What does she do in-between classes?" he questioned "Who does she talk to? Does she have friends? Is she friendly with the other Heirs?"
"We don't share the same schedule, remember" I said in a monotone voice "She keeps to herself and I highly doubt she talks to the others. She doesn't trust us."
"I would expect nothing less from a Lupine" My father rolled his eyes "Pretentious asses. Her father didn't trust anyone when he was alive, least of all those ruling at his side."
'Geez, I wonder why' I thought sarcastically, happy that at least someone saw through my father's bullshit lies.
"I'll expect more the next time we meet" My father said over his shoulder, slipping his phone back into his suit pocket as he walked away from me "I would hate to have to pull your sister out of her school so early in the semester, especially when she just received word about the leading role in that play of hers."
I gritted my teeth in pure loathing at his words, surprised at how fast his little source was able to procure information for him.
Sphinx barely called me thirty minutes ago with an excited ear piercing squeal about her involvement in a new play her University was putting on.
I've never heard my sister so excited in her entire life... not even for special events like her birthday or holidays.
I sighed knowing that I had to step up my game if I wanted to keep Tÿr Fenrir off of my back.
~~~~~~~~~
Nova Nyx
As soon I walked inside the noisy classroom, it was like a record scratched with how quickly everyone quieted.
I sighed in annoyance as I took the seat closest to the window, knowing that this was the third time today that this has happened and it probably wouldn't be the last.
And all because of Atlas' fuck up.
I honestly don't even know what really happened, that day a blur as everyone reacted all at once.
The moment the glass shattered, Coach was by my side in an instant, yanking me away from the scene and basically pushing me into Xólo's awaiting arms, who then whisked me away from the Coliseum and locked me in my room for safe keeping.
When I demanded to know what was going on, and if everyone was okay, I was met with deafening silence, the only explanation given to me was that the Lobo Heir was sick with something that allowed his Wolf to momentarily break free.
I called bullshit until I noticed that Atlas never came home that night.
Or the night after.
Or the six nights after that.
And every time I asked tweedle dee and tweedle grumpyass what was wrong with him, they always told me the same thing.
"He's recovering at home."
When I asked them to clarify where exactly Atlas' home was, considering he lived in fucking Mexico when school wasn't in session, they brushed me off by saying he was staying at the Lobo Heir house close by.
And when I asked what the address, so that I could visit him (and ask him what the hell he'd been thinking) Kassian shot me a pitying smile as grumpy Wolf grunted out that it was forbidden for Heirs to trespass on other Heir properties.
I sighed, leaning back in my seat as those sitting closest to me shifted farther away, some even going as far as gathering their things and changing seats.
'At leasts it better than the gawking' I thought, a second before the Professor walked into class with a bright smile on his face.
"Good Afternoon Class" he said cheerily, leaning against the edge of his desk as he received half hearted replies "Today, instead of what I have planned on the syllabus, I decided to switch it up a little."
"Uh oh" One of Saoirse's cronies snickered from in front of me "The last time someone decided to switch something up, she almost got somebody killed."
Side eyes were shot my way and I gave them all one of my best uninterested looks.
Jesus, they're acting like I was the reason Atlas' Wolf went off the deep end.
The Professor cleared his throat, no doubt hearing what the girls said but chose to not comment on their words, as he regained the attention of his class.
"I've decided that instead of having me drone on and on in a lecture about the History of the Packs, I'd make this class more interactive" he stated, holding up what looked to be a thumb drive of some sorts "And to do that, I made up a little scavenger hunt."
Whines filled the room and the Professor's cheery mood tanked into a glare.
"It's either the Scavenger Hunt or a fourteen page detailed essay all about the Packs history and how the Council was created" he said with a shrug "Your choice."
Someone's hand shot up "Will this be a group project?"
"No," The Professor shook his head "You can either work in groups or by yourself so long as this entire list is completed by the end of the class."
"And if it isn't someone else asked?"
"Then I'll dock points and you'll still have to do the essay" he said with a maniacal grin "Your choice."
"Where do we start?" a majority of the class asked at the same time.
"Wise choice" the Professor nodded before rounding his desk "I managed to send each of you an individualized list through your tablets. Be aware that everyone has the same number of questions but they can either be in different orders or asking for a different thing. Your job is to read each question carefully and deduce what it's really asking for in order to find the answer."
Notification pings sounded across the whole classroom as the Professor finished his speech.
"Remember, you'll have until the end of class to send them back to me" his eyes flicked to the clock "I suggest you start right away."