Seris's POV
I'd gotten home late last night after my part-time job, and left early again this morning so Mom wouldn't have to interrogate me on how my first day at Blackthorn had gone.
I couldn't tell her that I was almost bullied by some students, saved by some triplets, and then taken into their car and threatened.
I couldn't tell her all that.
Now, walking down the school's corridors this morning, I'd almost convinced myself the car and the rest of yesterday never happened, that it was just a figment of my imagination.
I'd have to get close to the twins to find out about father's death, and to be safe in here, but I'll still need to do it on my own terms, and especially not when they suspect me of being a spy.
Blackthorn moved the way it did on my first day here (yesterday) with polished shoes against marble floors, low murmurs of pack politics disguised as casual conversation, wolves circling wolves. No one looked at me for long, long enough not to count as watching, but enough for me to feel it.
The hair on my nape snapped erect and stayed that way as eyes strayed to me and off me, grunts and whispers followed, hushed and low so I couldn't hear.
I didn't know if they were contemplating attacking me or not, since I wasn't with the triplets now, but I didn't wait to find out.
I quickened my steps. I had to choose my battles carefully if I wanted to survive in the den of predators called Blackthorn.
I kept my head down as I turned into the east corridor—the older wing of the academy where the walls were darker stone and the windows narrower, with thick glass panes that barely reflected the harsh sunlight into the long corridor.
I didn't see them until I almost slammed into them. I braked fast to halt, looking up immediately at the pair of boots two feet ahead.
Two broad-shouldered wolves had stepped onto my path.
I shifted at the creak of boots to find that another had blocked the exit behind me.
My gaze jumped from one wolf to another, to their mean faces and menacing postures.
The triplets didn't walk with henchmen yesterday. So if this wasn't them, then who could it be?
Realization slammed into me when my mind picked up on the next powerful party in Blackthorn, according to father's diary—Alaric Valhall, the only heir to the Valhall pack and the Triplets' biggest rival in Blackthorn.
"Good morning, Seris."
Alaric's voice rose begins me, low, careful, and confident. He sounded like someone who had never once been denied anything he wanted.
I turned slowly, lifting my chin. Father's diary hadn't really hinted at his physical features, but the traits and behavior described in the diary matched his physical appearance.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed as if he were on his way to an office rather than school. Even the blind could tell he was the bossy type.
He leaned against the stone archway like he'd been waiting for me all day. His gold eyes assessed me like I was something out of a can.
"Is this necessary?" I asked evenly.
His lips twitched. He peeled off the wall and moved closer, his steps careful and slow, and calculated like his gaze.
"Necessary?" he drawled, grinning. "I prefer efficient, Seris."
His goons didn't touch me, but they tightened their semicircle just enough to make the message clear—I was cornered.
And for some reason, no one seemed to be coming up the corridor or going down. I looked over his shoulder, and from what I could tell, there was another team handling that.
This was supposed to be a high school, but it seemed to be more like a battleground.
I folded my arms instead of backing up. Perhaps I was crazy standing up to a werewolf who could tear me apart with just a sweep of his claws. But I'll do it again and again. I wasn't letting anyone scare me into submission.
"Who are you, what do you want with me, and how the hell did you know my name?" I demanded.
He brushed his thumb on his lower lip, his grin growing tentatively. "You've attached yourself to the Ludwigvons," he said. "That's… ambitious for a creature like you on your first day at school."
"That still doesn't answer any of my questions."
He paused for a moment, then tilted his head slightly. Studying me like I was a chess piece he hadn't decided where to place.
And as if I hadn't spoken, he just continued. "You think they can protect you?"
My pulse didn't change. "Can't they?" I wasn't choosing sides too early, but I didn't see anything wrong with admitting I was with the triplet. It was perhaps the only thing keeping my head on my neck.
A soft laugh echoed off him.
"Yeah, they can," he admitted. "But to a point." His gaze sharpened, voice some shade more sinister than before. "They can't protect you from me."
I refused to break eye contact. I would never let him think I was afraid, though I was beginning to feel my heart thumping against my chest.
"I think I heard the brothers were the strongest around here."
His gaze narrowed on me. I saw the strain in his eyelids that hinted at suppressed rage. "They are not, I am."
He took one step closer, jaw clenching. I caught a faint scar on the right side of his jaw, where he'd been injured before. He wasn't as immortal as he claims.
"I am the strongest wolf in Blackthorn." He growled gently. "So you'd better know where you should stand, Seris. When it comes down to politics, you are expendable."
The word didn't sting. It only confirmed what I already knew from father's diary—he was without a soul.
"And you?" I asked quietly, realizing where our conversation was headed. "I'm not expendable to you?"
His smile returned, slower, easing the rough lines his earlier rage had made on his face. "No," he muttered. Then he paused for a rather long moment.
"I can protect you better than they ever could," he finally broke the air again. "No one would touch you. No one would whisper your name unless I allowed it. And better, I can do all this behind the scenes, and not have you follow me around before I can protect you."
The arrogance in his voice offended me more than that in his sentence. But he wasn't the kind of wolf I could risk war with.
I pretended to be intrigued by his offer. "So what's the catch?" I asked. "You don't strike me as chivalrous."
"Chivalry," he snorted, lips curled tight, incredulity lifting the amusement in his eyes. "Of course, I don't give a damn about things like that. I want one thing… Information,"
I didn't blink. "About the triplets."
Of course. The sweep of his eyes on me said.
"Routine. Conversations. Tensions between them. Anything unusual, secrets, leverage. I want to know." He said. "Get me that, and no one would touch even a hair on your head."
"And if I say no?"
He held my gaze for a long, measured second.
Then he nodded toward the two wolves blocking my exit.
They shifted slightly. Subtle and threatening. Their mean eyes circled on me, to further drum home the point, in case their posture wasn't enough.
"If you walk away," Alaric said calmly, "you walk away without my protection."
"I didn't ask for it."
"You don't understand the cost of refusing it," he said, his voice lowered, colder. Every syllable echoed that he meant each word. "You would hate to be my enemy, Seris."
My instinct screamed that this was the safer choice. Align with him. Use him. Let one Alpha heir shield me from the rest. Dealing with one was better than dealing with three.
It would be strategic, practical, and smart. But it would also mean surrendering the one thing I still owned—choice.
With the triplets, I could still choose, but he'd made it clear that was nonnegotiable with him. "I don't want protection that comes with strings," I said.
His expression didn't change much, except his eyes got colder. "You're already in the game, Seris," he replied. "You just don't know the rules."
"Then I'll learn them." I retorted.
I stepped forward.
His wolves hesitated, reinforcing their big bodies like a wall on my path.
Alaric didn't move even though I inched closer. For that split second, we stood almost chest to chest. Close enough to feel the heat of his skin.
He could have stopped me, attacked me, or killed me. From father's diary, I'd heard wolves have died for less in Blackthorn, much less I, a human.
Perhaps by divine intervention, he stepped out of my way for me to pass, jaw tightening. I could hear his clenched teeth.
"Refuse me, human," he said softly, "and you become a variable I'll have to manage."
I turned slightly. "Is that a threat?"
His smile returned, sharp this time. "No, Seris, it's a promise."
The wolves stepped aside, and I walked through them. But each step felt deliberate, measured, and controlled, like I was walking on ice, my heartbeat beginning to race.
Somehow, I couldn't shake off the fact that I had just made one of the worst decisions of my life. Still, I didn't turn back. I'd just have to work out a way to stay alive in Blacthorn until I find my answers. It just won't be easy.