Chapter 630

"What the fuck man," Ben murmurs, running a hand through his hair and looking anxiously towards the empty half of the room. "Cadets, at war? Has this...ever happened before?"

"It hasn't," Rafe answers, raising his head, the set of his mouth grim. "In the twenty years that the school has been open, Moon Valley has never called up its Cadets, its least-trained warriors."

"This is bad," Luca whispers, and I raise my eyes to look into his worried brown ones. "Really bad."

I squeeze his hand, agreeing with him, and then cast my eyes around at all of my friends. "Are...are they going to call us up to?"

"No way to know," Jackson says, staring down at the table, his mind clearly working as he sits down in his spot next to me. "If they do it means that it's.....dire. That the war is going very badly and that they're getting desperate."

"Shit," Tony whispers, crossing his arms and looking down at the floor.

Rafe and Jesse sit too, but silence reigns around our table, just as it does all of the others.

Because even if I did spend the morning chasing my brother and my cousin around with a paintball gun...it's never been more obvious than it is right now that we're not playing games. Not at all.

That this is very, very real.noveldrama

"Whoa," Tony says, causing each of us to raise our heads and look at him. But he's looking over my shoulder at the door, one eyebrow raised in significant Alpha interest. "Who the hell is that?"

As one, we all turn in the direction of his gaze and I sigh when I see that the person who's caught his interest?

She's here for me.

Faiza's mouth quirks into a smirk as she strides confidently over to our table, dressed as usual in her form-hugging black leather-and-spandex outfit, her silky dark hair swinging moodily into her face. "Well," she says, her smirk deepening as she crosses her arms and looks each of the boys over in turn. "Good to know I still command attention when I enter a room."

"Hey, Faiza," I sigh, turning in my chair and staring worriedly up at her.

"Give me a minute," she murmurs, taking her turn running her eyes over each of the boys in turn. "I'm not done here."

“Faiza!” I scold, jumping to my feet. “You're a professor!"

"I'm your professor," she says, laughing, grinning and finally turning her eyes to me. "Not theirs. Who's your new boy?" She points her thumb over at Tony.

"Hi, I'm Anton Davis," Tony says, moving smoothly around our table and looking Faiza slowly over from head to foot. "And where have you been all my lif-"

"Oh, cut it, Tony," I growl, moving fast and stepping in front of Faiza - holding out a hand to block him. Tony stops in his tracks but otherwise ignores me, giving Faiza a vicious grin over my head.

"Hey, Tony," Faiza says, her voice low and sultry. I spin with a gasp to see her wrinkling her nose at him, clearly enjoying this. "You look like fun. Like someone I could toss around."

“Listen, you can toss me around any time you want –“

"Ew, ew!" I shout, slapping my hands over my ears and glaring between them. "This is done! Over! Faiza!" I turn to her now with a glare. "Did you need me for something!?"

"Sure did, cream puff," she says, turning her eyes cheerfully to me. "Class is starting early today. Let's go."

"Why?"

"Because I said so," she returns, giving me a too-sweet smile, violence lurking beneath it as she silently dares me to defy her.

“But –“ I gasp, risking life and limb as I turn desperately back to the table, my eyes flicking over the pastries in the basket. There are even donuts today -

"Oh, just take it with you," Faiza says, reaching out and grabbing a whole carafe of coffee off the table, which makes the majority of the boys gasp in protest. "Quiet, minions," she sighs, rolling her eyes at them.

"They'll bring you another."

"Here, let me carry that for you," Tony murmurs, moving closer to us, "it's very heavy -"

"Away," I snarl, giving Tony a sharp

push on the chest before reaching for the pastry basket that Jackson pulls closer to me, handing me a wide white napkin in which to wrap my choices. I send Jacks a warm pulse of thanks down the bond and his wolf responds with a snarly little growl of love that makes me beam down at him for a spare moment. It's very difficult to resist dropping a kiss to his cheek as well, but somehow I manage it.

"All right, let's go," Faiza says when I straighten up my pastries secured. "See you boys later," she says, glancing back at the table of Alphas, her voice dropping a sultry octave as she again lets her eyes slip over each of them in turn.

"Don't torture them," I sigh, shaking my head at my professor as we head for the door.

"Aw,” she says, giving me a sneaky wink, "don't take away my fun. I have so few pleasures in this dank little castle, Ari."

I just roll my eyes at my professor and follow her down the stairwell to her office, wondering what the hell she's got in store for me next.