"Bloody Christ " Beth swears even louder than my alarm clock. I groan while my eyes struggle to adjust to daylight. The clock on the wall reads 7:52Am.
Bloody Christ. I have an 8:10 Psychometry class. How on earth could I have overslept.
Beth is still swearing and she's glued to her phone while her eyes are nearly popping out of her sockets.
"Good Morning" She mouths calmly, darting me a quick glance and then plastering her eyes once more to the screen. "Fuck. I can't believe this".
"What is it?" I am halfway flinging off my flimsy nightdress in order to make a quick dash to the bathroom. Beth is nonchalantly perched on her bed , her mouth hanging open in shock.
"Courtney Straus got to be kidding me. What the fuck is this?"
"Hello" I roll my eyes and snap my fingers for emphasis "I'm at a loss here. What on earth is happening. "
"Well you have a phone, silly " Beth smirks . "Look up your news feed. "
"Unfortunately I also have a class I'm late to " I retort, kicking off the nightdress and strutting half naked , half confused on where the fuck I left my towel. "Jeez. Where the heck is this stupid towel."
"Probably beneath the pile of dirty clothes you once more forgot to take to the Laundry House" Beth snorts and adds testilly "Yesterday ".
I groan . Beth and I weekly alternate taking all our dirty stuff to the Laundry House, the school's dry-cleaning house for all students. Beth had filled in last week. This week was my turn. If I wasn't already half smashed by the too tight rigorous lecture schedules this week. God.
I glance at the chair on which our dirty laundry nests. And for sure, there's my pink towel wordlessly cramped into all that dirt.
Looks like I would have to make do without it for today.
I darted to the bathroom, brushing my mouth hurriedly.
"Night, can you believe they are dropping Jordan?" Beth is perched on the bathroom door, still glued to the phone.
"Who's they?" My curiosity is much more than piqued. Because it's after all Jordan Files.
I mean, the same idiot who makes my chest dance on cartwheels.
Against my wish, assuredly.
Since the Blood Moon Ceremony a few days ago, Jordan Files has been getting bad publicity. Skipping classes. And on more than three occasions, only Dammy and Michael Shawn had made their usual starstruck entrance in the cafeteria.
Yes. I was worried. Against my wish.
Is it against dignified etiquette to be this bothered about the really dazzling sleek mordafuhker who had really screwed my brains out on Founder's Fest night.
I mean, it meant nothing if we fucked, right. I was afterall inspired by that god-damned Martinelli and Jordan's rather smooth flowery advances. Relax, Night Carter. You are definitely not falling in love with that arrogant pompous mind reading prick who definitely is fastly sinking into obscurity even as we speak.
Shit.
"Moon Sol management" Beth Camper says and my toothbrush hangs in my shocked mouth .
"Excuse me?" I spit out paste into the sink.
"You didn't hear the results of the Moonathon Conference yesterday?" Beth gapes at me as if I the only one who doesn't know that the Sun always rose from the East.
"Let's just say I am the only clueless idiot in The Academy" I shrug
"Of course you are" Beth smirks "Who else is absolved in enormous volumes instead of getting the latest trendy topics " She hisses for additional emphasis "On social media."
"Point taken " I shrug again "Now can you please tell me what I don't know?"
"There are many things you don't know " Beth smiles. I want to stab my toothbrush at her.
"Like ?"
"Like the fact that Jordan Files is now a Lone Wolf"
Assuredly I am not majoring in Wolf Lore so definitely my curiosity triples. I rinse my mouth with water . Okay, a large part of me knows that I'm running very much late for Viviette Tom's class but another part is making me stare at Beth with desperation as if I want to put my hands in her mouth and wrench out the shit she's not telling me.
"What is a Lone Wolf?" My patience is very much stretched.
"Oh what do you know" Beth says in a sing song voice "Outcast. Social Misfit now. Rejecting a fated mate strips you of all social privileges and gives you that undesirable low rank status. "
"Shit" I fold my arms across my chest .
"Big shit" Beth agrees "The Moonathon Conference was held last night to decide Jordan's fate. Which assuredly is looking quite bleak. And it doesn't help that Courtney Straus is Moon Sol's manager ".
"Who is Courtney Straus?"
"Minata's uncle"
"Oops" I blurt out. "Jordan seems pretty much fried ".
"You don't say" Beth says flatly "Well the band has dropped him. This morning. Its all over several blogs online. And it's only the beginning of his predicaments".
"This means... " I begin,
"This means that Jordan Files is now synonymous with lowlife scum. Courtney Straus is even making things worse. He's replaced Jordan already " Beth swipes across the phone screen with disbelief plastered all over her face.
"With WHO" I am almost yelling.
"With HIM" Beth flaunts her phone straight to my eyes.
I grab it.. And almost drop it.
Call me dazed but definitely it's almost as if I'm staring at the image of a Greek god. A modern Adonis sort of.
The guy on the phone screen is tall . Like tall tall. He's putting on a cashmere sweater but even that does little to hide the athletic chiseled frame. His black hair had being packed into a very tight bun hinting at their admirable length and his beautiful face had non of the grating wisps of arrogance that Jordan radiated. Looking at him, one perceived serenity, an alluring gentle radiance. I was not a newbie to the flawless physical perfections of some supernaturals I had in one way come across. Jordan Files. Alex Camper. Dammy Brentwood. Michael Shawn.
This guy with this heavenly radiance was definitely not human.
"Who's this hottie" I ask, warning my senses to stay unmoved. A warning they are ignoring because I am swiping through to find even more breathtaking versions of this flawlessness. "A supernatural, I guess".
"Derrick Vale. A.K.A the Devil's Eyre . He's a hybrid."
"Like a half human half wolf?" I ask .
Beth looks as me as if I have gone nuts. Then she takes a deep breath. And places both hands on my shoulders.
"Night Carter" Her voice is serious. Dead serious. "There is no half human half wolf in The White Colony. Werewolf and human relationships are practically a taboo. Forbidden by the Moon herself since the damned days of Furla, a couple of centuries ago. "
"Does this involve sex too?" Feeling sick already.
"Oh please don't tell me you have already fucked a werewolf " Beth has a worrying sense of panic stretched all over her face.
"Of course not" I lie, my chest tight .
"Good. " Beth exhales with relief "Because no werewolf in his right sense would make sexual advances on a human. Even the sick ones wouldn't dare. "
I swallow. Jordan Files was really a very very sick psycho then. A sweet psycho. What on earth am I thinking.
"What time is it, Beth?"
"8:15AM. Why?" Beth wants to know.
"Because it's Monday morning and if you stand there yapping, I will have no other option than to strip in your front cos I definitely need my bath . Like right now" I spit out.
Beth makes a face "A pleasurable sight I'm sure , but no thanks. " Then she adds with a grin "Asher's nakedness is definitely all I want to see." She bows dramatically.
"Good for you" I smirk closing the bathroom door with a bang while my mind dances between worried thoughts of Jordan, and a very hot hybrid nicknamed Devil's Eyre.
______________________
I was late for Psychometry Class. By late, I meant a full forty minutes late. After my bath, I had dressed into a short plaid skirt and a flowery top. Beth had whined loudly once more about the dirty laundry and I had grumpily folded them into a bag and marched first to the Laundry House.
Heading back, I was forty minutes late already. Fuck. I could as well skip this class .
And do what with my time. Against my better judgement my mind drifted once more to Jordan. Today was the seventh day of his absence in school.
My mind was already processing different thoughts. Non of them good. What if Jordan was somewhere drinking himself to death because of the depression of his fall in the social ladder. What if he had hanged himself in a locked room this early morning and no one has discovered his body yet.
Jordan was proud and pompous. What if he couldn't handle rejection. What if he couldn't handle a bad press. Now that he had nothing to show off except his idiotic good looks, what if the thought alone was killing him.
If he knew he would go through all this, why on earth had he rejected his fated mate. And why on Earth am I obsessively worrying about him .
It means nothing, I snort. As a concerned fellow student I had to do this. I needed to find Jordan Files.
I fish frantically in my bag. Moira Files had given me her card once. I had flung it into my bag and never taken it out since.
Mercifully it was still there. I punch in the number in my phone.
Please pick up I pray silently.
"Hello" Moira's voice is crisp.
"Good morning, Ms. Files" I say quietly, praying my voice has non of my grating tension "It's Night Carter".
"I remember that name " She coos lightly "You are Jordan's human friend, aren't you?".
"Yes I am" My voice is dry "I'm calling to ask about Jordan. Is he uhm.....okay. Its been some days now and he's not been seen in class "
"What can I say " Moira scoffs "Instead of focusing solely on school now that his social life has fizzled out, thanks to his trademark irksome nonchalance , my son is off waltzing in the Organelles "
"The Organelles?"
"A tiny strip of exotic islands " Moira says brusquely "I always forget you are not from these parts. Well my disgrace is complete. Last night I couldn't show my face at The Moonathon Conference. Me. And is he remorseful?" Her voice has raised a pitch.
"U hmmm...I " I start to say .
"Trust the idiot to be anything but remorseful" Moira continues, her voice is two pitch louder this time "His ego won't let him bend to the Elders and retract his rejection. Instead he's on a self imposed vacation in the Organelles, absolutely unbothered. " She sniffles, her voice softens "I have to resign myself to the realization that this boy will be the death of me. And I love him." She sniffles again and I imagine her dabbing at her teary eyes.
"I am glad to hear that he's safe" I mutter gratingly. So much for my concern.
"Very much safe" She assures me.
"Do have a good day, Mrs. Files" I end the call.
Bloody bastard, I snort. Well better to be alive in somewhere called the Organelles than in a dark cellar contemplating death.
"Bloody hell" I swear , shocked to find a figure perched lazily on the wall behind me.
Jordan Files.
Arms folded. Eyes glinting with that insufferable wolf_born arrogance.
"Miss me already, My Dark Magian?"