Chapter 17

Before I knew it I was being pulled into the headmaster's office. The grip on my wrist was like iron, hard and unyielding.

Surely this was a little excessive. There's no need to get physical with me even if I broke the rules.

Also, let's not forget I wasn't going to enter the forest, or well probably not. Someone knocked me out and put me there. That has to help my case a little, right?

Regardless, I do understand that I did break the rules so I'm fine with dealing with punishment. Well, as long as it's reasonable and doesn’t result in me getting kicked out of school, because that had to be the worst thing that could happen.

Also, this would be my first offence, so it’d wouldn’t result in such horrible things right. This school has the typical “three strikes your out” rule, doesn’t it?

A thought occurred to me suddenly, what if this could be used as an excuse to toss me out? Instead of getting a reprimand and a shallower punishment, what if this is used to revoke my scholarship?

It would be the perfect excuse for them to finally get rid of the only poor person dirtying the great halls of Lupine.

Am I bitter, resentful, and paranoid? You bet your sweet cheeks I am.

Overwhelming dread and panic filled me as I thought about it longer. Surely the headmaster wouldn’t be that cruel.

Even though I’ve barely interacted with him before today, I feel like he is an understanding person, who also doesn’t care about social and economical standing.

“I'm really sorry headmaster,” I said, apologizing, maybe my sincerity could save me, “please don’t revoke my scholarship, I'm begging you.”

Lucius leans against his desk, arms crossed his face devoid of any warmth.

“You broke the rules,” the headmaster reiterated again, “you learned of a secret you shouldn't have and for that punishment must be dealt with accordingly.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” I said, insisting that he listens to me, I don't know what secret he meant.

“Those wolves you saw were not regular wolves,” He said, his eyes boring into mine, but werewolves.

Um, is our headmaster crazy? Werewolves? Shapeshifting fantasy world creatures that turn from human to wolfs and back.

What kind of werewolves? Surely the headmaster was joking, those kinds of things don't exist.

I chuckled uneasily, taking a step away from Lucius.

“As a human, knowing our secret is a risk to us all,” Lucius said, straightening as he stepped toward me,”since you know now, then according to our laws, you must be judged.”

“Judged?,” I asked, my mind whirling, this isn’t real it can't be, “ what happens to those who are judged?”

“They were put to death,” Lucius says, a dark smile tugs at his lips, “ only a corpse can keep a secret.”

In an instant he grabbed my wrist, staring up at Lucius in terror and caught what looked like my reflection, my eyes looked golden in color for a moment.

The mounting fear I'd been trying to hold back erupted, I screamed as I struggled to break his hold.

Suddenly, the sound of wood breaking sounded behind me, the growling of two wolves followed.

The door had been busted open, the black wolf from earlier, that actually was a dark chocolate brown color now that I could see it better, entered with the one it had been fighting by the tent.

That wolf was black but when the light hit it, the fur looked like raven wings under the sun, the blueish and purple colors running through it.

The wolves roared at Lucius, their jaws snapping in anger.

I was so shocked and focused on the beasts that I almost missed when the hazel eyes of Lucius turned a glittering gold.

What in the fantastical hell is this? Something in the air shifted, like an immeasurable force was pushing down on the room.

The wolves began to buckle under the pressure until the air around them seemed to morph and then I was face to face with Draven and Adrian, stark freaking naked.

My jaw literally fell open. I was so shocked I felt like one of those goofy people in cartoons. What did I just witness?

Draven my ex boyfriend, and my one night stand, Adrian, my new brothers, are freak werewolves?

I trembled as this information sank in. Surely this wasn't real, some kind of elaborate prank or something.

“This is pretty elaborate,” I said, my voice unsteady as, “even for you guys.”

“It's one hell of a prank you guys managed to pull off.”

This a hundred percent, Must be a prank. Draven was an elite rich kid who switches up how he acts around me on the drop of a dime.

Adrian is a player and a flirt that has some weird feud going on with his brother. They are just rich, narcissistic, selfish college students, not magical fantasy creatures.

Werewolves don't exist.

“You're mistaken,” said Lucius, my gaze drifting back to him, his hold still firm on my arm, “this is no prank, everything is true.”

I didn’t understand how to even begin processing this.

You know in movies where something shocks the main character and it'll sometimes look like the world around them cracks like glass?

If not well then I envy those who don't, because as that happens to me I feel like everything is unraveling.

“Let her go, Wild,” Draven and Adrian demand, not even bothering with politeness anymore.

“You break into the headmaster's office, my office and then make demands,” Lucius said, voice hard and sharp like a blade's edge.

“I’m well within my rights to punish you both severely,” Lucius said, glaring at them, annoyance and darkness filling his tone.

“It would be wise for you both to not provoke me further.” Is Lucius a wolf too? Like the wolf boss or something?

God, I can't believe these are the questions I'm thinking about right now.

I'm about to start spiraling further when the hurried arrival of two more wolves arrived ,breaking through the tension.

Once inside they both shifted to reveal a frantic and worried Cathy and William. They both immediately join Draven and Adrian against Lucius.

My mind is such a mess. I miss what they're saying, too lost in the fact that both Cathy and William are wolves too.

“No one needs to get hurt,” Williams' voice breaks out among the chaos, “ we can figure something out.”

“You guys too?” I asked, finally voicing my thoughts once I could reign in, “seriously, you're both werewolves too.”

“It's a lot I get,” Cathy said, talking to me like I was a moment from breaking. “ but I couldn’t say anything, even though I really wanted to.”

“Why did you come here?” I was confused as to why they'd just show up here, especially William.

“i heard that Draven and Adrian broke into the headmaster's office,” Cathy said, “when I couldn’t reach you, I had a feeling you might be the reason they did it.”

“So, I immediately called our Alpha,” she finishes gesturing to William.

“There's no need to execute Katie, Lucius,” William said, voice overpowering with his authority, “simply erasing her memory would be the best option.”

I'm sorry…what?