Chapter 9
Fleur had expected Noor to take her somewhere off campus. But to her surprise, she found herself in a small music practice room at the far end of the vast school building. A brown wooden piano in one corner looked like it had already seen its best days. Besides that, a musty green sofa was pushed into the other corner, and a small table was in the center of the room. A stale smell warped around the room and clung to furniture; Fleur was sure that Noor was the only person who had come here in years.
"You've probably noticed that wolves don't like to sit still for very long, so they don't tend to use any of the practice rooms often." Noor had made her way to the sofa and plopped herself down, kicking her feet up on the table.
"Yes, I've noticed," Fleur replied quietly, making her way over to the sofa before sitting down on the floor in front of it and getting her algebra work out of her bag. She had wanted to finish it after coming home last night, but she had been too exhausted. Before she could even run through all the events of the previous evening, she had fallen straight into a dreamless sleep.
Math was by far her least favorite subject. She wasn't necessarily bad at it, but she definitely needed to spend the most time on it.
"So tell me, Fleur – is it okay if I call you Fleur – what do you think of Bennington so far?" Noor's voice filled her ears, and Fleur turned to face her. The girl had now spread to lay on her back and was flicking through what looked like the book they were discussing in English class.
Fleur didn't know how to answer. How did this girl feel about the wolves? Why was a witch even on wolf territory?
She also felt like everyone had been asking her that lately. How she liked Bennington. What they wanted to know was what she thought about the Alpha, but frankly, she had known him for less than 48 hours, so the pack members probably knew a lot more about him at this point in time than she did.
"Actually, don't answer that," Noor cut her off before she could get a reply out. "Anyone with half a brain cell can see that this is overwhelming for you."
Fleur wasn't surprised that she wasn't very good at hiding her emotions and was often told by her old classmates that she was too sensitive. Noor was also a witch, so who knew, maybe she could read her mind? Or was she just perceptive?
"You know the wolves and their mates, they think that's the be-all and end-all." There was almost a scoff in Noor's smoky voice. "They think that the blessing of their moon goddess is the most important thing for a pairing. But they fail to realize that the moon goddess is of the moon, which means that all pairings that are blessed by light and nature are outside of her control. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Fleur wasn't really sure what point Noor was trying to make. She knew that some wolves were profoundly religious and took the blessings of the moon goddess incredibly serious. But she hadn't ever considered how the religious ideologies of different species would affect her view on her mating. But then, she hadn't even seen her mating from a human perspective.
"Yeah, I think I understand.. Uhm, I think I'll just do my homework before the next bell rings." She didn't want to be rude, but she needed to finish this. While she was grateful to Noor for getting her away from the pack for a while, the last thing she needed was to fall behind now.
And so the two girls fell into a comfortable rhythm over the next thirty minutes. Fleur was perched over, trying to understand the numbers swimming on the page in front of her, and Noor was stretched out on the sofa behind her, reading her book for English. Occasionally, she would interrupt Fleurs' focus and start ranting about something in her English book. According to her, it was shocking that they were still forcing them to read 'male-centric archaic narratives.'
Fleur had to smile then and found herself agreeing with Noor. The girls quickly got off track when they realized they shared a love for literature. Fleur was elated! Here was someone who enjoyed the same books she did.
Eagerly, she wrote down the names of the books that Noor had suggested to her. She'd never heard of most of them, and Noor told her that most of them were old human novels from Morocco, which she had inherited from her family, which still lived there.
Homework long forgotten now, the girls were infused in a fit of giggles. Fleur's head was thrown back against the sofa as her belly started to hurt from Noor's snarky comments about the love interest in a book they both read. According to her, 'he was a wet mop who needed to grow a pair.' Noor's passion made Fleur feel like they'd known each other forever.
In ways they had, both of them were part of a pack they didn't really belong to, and nothing bonds quite like seeing yourself in another person who doesn't belong.
"So, how come you ended up in Bennington?" Fleur had now angled herself to look up at Noor, who had long dropped her book next to her and was staring aimlessly at the ceiling.
"I was born in Morocco; my mom is an incredibly powerful witch who did a lot of work putting up parameter spells for European packs. You might have heard that the Alpha's family is related to some European packs, so they heard about mom from them." Fleur was touched by the loving smile that grazed Noor's lips when she spoke so highly of her mother.
"The Deverauxs were having problems with their borders, so the Alpha flew over to Morocco to talk my mom into moving," Noor scoffed slightly. "I still remember him. He was younger then but already so deadly. He pulled up in front of our house with all his security and fleet of blacked-out cars, but it was clear from the moment he stepped into our house that he was the most deadly predator we would ever encounter."
Fleur couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine at Noor's description. Although the Alpha had till now made sure not to expose her to his primal side, she could see the wolfish glint in his eyes whenever he thought she wasn't looking.
"Anyway, he offered Mom a lot of money and access to the Citadel, and Bennington is known to be incredibly safe. She had just had me a couple of years before, so I guess it made sense for us to move."
"And you're happy here?" Fleur looked up at Noor expectedly. What she really wanted to know but couldn't ask was – will I be happy here? Can I belong to this community? Or will I always be stared at like a fish out of water?
Noor felt sorry for the girl sitting in front of her. Her light eyes were looking up at her so hopeful that even though Noor had felt like she didn't belong for most of her life, she didn't have it in her to say that to Fleur.
Luna or not, Noor decided that she was going to stick with Fleur. Call it witchy intuition, but she had a strange feeling that they both needed each other more than they knew.
Noor was about to give Fleur a placating reply when the door crashed against the wall with a deafening bang. Fleur was sure that there was now a hole in the wall.
An angrily seething body filled up the doorframe. The guy in front of them wasn't Oliver. No, this was extremely pissed off Alpha male.
"Fleur." His voice came out dark and guttural. The tone made her instantly sit up straighter and anxiously clench her hands.
"Wow, okay, no need to take that tone with her." Noor had bolted up from her seat on the sofa and was not standing over Fleur, facing off directly with the heaving animal in front of them.
"Where were you?" He took heavy steps to where Fleur was sitting upright on the ground. Her eyes widened as she took in the wolfman in front of her. Hair grew from his hands, and his eyes shone a violent yellow.
Fleur's breathing grew more constricted. Sure, she had seen wolves fully transformed, but witnessing a half-form like this was downright terrifying. In their interactions, Oliver, who had been the least threatening of the Deveraux clan, now stood over her with heaving shoulders and violently clenched fangs.
"I-I-"Fleur tried to formulate thoughts, but nothing came out her mouth to devastated by the monster in front of her.
"Hey! What the hell is your problem? You need to calm down. Can't you see you're scaring her" Noor had seen plenty of pissed of werewolves in a half shift. Having gone to school with a bunch of wolves during puberty led to her witnessing more than her fair share of hormonally charged half shifts.
But now they were older, and they were supposed to have themselves under control. Especially a Deveraux. Noor couldn't remember Oliver ever losing his temper. He was calm and reasonable. The opposite of his older brother, who had been quite the devious hothead during his time at school.
The Alpha wolf snarled at the witch in front of him. Foolishly, this little witch thought she could stop him from getting to his Luna. The Luna, who he had sworn a blood oath on protecting, and then she had slipped from his fingers within the first couple of hours on the job.
"Get out of my way, witch; don't make me ask again," The beast hissed through clenched teeth. "Pretty Luna, come here."
Fleur trembled at his voice; gone was Oliver's familiar drawl, and instead, it had been replaced by a guttural growl.
"Oliver – I- "Fleur started to slowly rise from where she was. She had been huddled on the Fleur, thinking that she would be safer standing. She didn't want to risk being trampled to death by an angry wolf.
"She's not going anywhere until you get a grip." Noor's voice was lethal, and Fleur admired her in that moment, staring down at the angry wolf. Fleur decided at that moment that Noor was either the bravest person she had ever met or the most suicidal.
"Little Luna, come here now, and I won't have to hurt the witch you choose to hide behind." The wolf was intently focused on the mass of golden curls he could make out behind the tall, slender figure standing before him.
"No!" Fleur's voice was filled with alarm. She didn't understand why Oliver was so upset and would threaten to hurt Noor over something as silly as her spending time in the music room. Before Noor could stop her, Fleur had pushed past her and stood before Oliver, or whoever this deranged wolf creature was.
He towered over her more than he already did in his human form. His eyes took her in with animalistic elation. After checking her over several times, the only injury he found was her already hurt hand.
"Sweet Luna, you've been bad. I've had to tell the Alpha," The creature crooned out as he reached forward and threaded his enormous claw gently through her hair. A tremble traveled through Fleur's body at the mention of the Alpha. Would he be mad? Surely, he would understand that she hadn't run off somewhere in the wild but just wanted to spend some time alone.
"Great, so you've gone to tattle on her to her boyfriend." Noor let out an annoyed huff as Oliver's sharp eyes landed on her.
"She's the Luna," Was all the beast replied as if that was enough to warrant informing the Alpha, and to a werewolf, it would be. When Fleur hadn't come to the library 10 minutes after he had left her in the toilet. His instinct went haywire, and the first order of business was to contact Theo.
Theo had been enraged, already imagining the worst possible scenarios. Fleur stolen in the back of a lorry. Frightened, shackled, and hurt. Oliver could talk Theo into letting him canvas the school first before sending out a whole search squad.
It took the fine nose of the Deveraux wolf minutes to locate his Luna in an obscure and unused part of the school. He heard her melodic giggle echo through the air, so he immediately knew she wasn't in any serious danger. Just a naughty runaway Luna. He would leave her to her mate to sort out. But his wolf had been too riled up, and Oliver needed to pace up and down the corridor for a good fifteen before he could face Fleur.
"You're sticking with me now, Luna," the wolf rasped out, his eyes unflinching, not leaving the precious gift in front of him for one second.
Fleur hadn't anticipated how literally Oliver would take that statement. Throughout all the afternoon periods, the two were practically glued together after he had whisked her away from Noor to their next class.
In chemistry, he had forced the boy with whom she had previously been lab partners to switch. He hovered over her the whole experiment, and when she wanted to add some acids to their test tube, he efficiently pulled them from her grasp and told her off for putting herself in danger.
When she tried to use the bathroom between chemistry and math, Oliver had entered with her. She had to push him out of the door with her one good hand because he refused. When she was done with her business, he was standing right outside, and she had to awkwardly shuffle around him to step into the hallway. She understood that he was upset, but she didn't like being infantilized.
So when the last bell of the class rang, Fleur was elated to leave the day behind. She had work in the library this afternoon, and currently, nothing sounded better to her than to her than to drink tea, clean off some books, and read in peace and quiet.
Once she had finished dumping all the textbooks she didn't need in her locker, she turned to an awaiting Oliver.
"Well -uhm- Sorry again about today." She nervously played with a loose strand of her hair, curling and uncurling it with her finger. All Oliver gave her in response was a huff of acknowledgment.
"Do you have your scarf? Hat?" Concern was etched onto Oliver's face as he took in how she was dressed. Oliver reached forward to secure the thick wool scarf around her neck, covering half her face with it.
"Yes, I'll be fine. The walk isn't long." Fleur had gotten used to walking to the library, and although she was reluctant to admit it, she thought the snow was kind of romantic.
Side by side, they made their way outside into the cold parking lot, and as she made her way left toward the exit, she felt a grip come down on her shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh! I-uhm, I- I have work in the library today." Fleur nervously peered up at him.
"Not today – the Alpha wants to see you." As delicately as he could, he steered the Luna toward his car. "We should hurry. He hates waiting".
A/N
HEYYY!!
Hope you enjoy this chapter and that you all had lovely holidays whatever you celebrate and a happy new year!
Promise more action soon just trying to set the scene and really get everyone to understand how massive this adjustment will be for our girl!
Let me know your thoughts & feelings!
xxx