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Clovio
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We had spent some time coming up with a plausible story to tell the others when we got back to the campus, but that didn't take away the nerves that I was feeling. I was just really glad that I was good at hiding my emotions. If it wasn't for my acting skills, I might be found out right away. And Warrick was like a fucking brick wall most of the time. It was hard to get anything out of him and he was always so stony faced and unemotional.
I was pretty sure that we didn't have anything to worry about at the current moment, everyone would believe us when we walked back onto campus and told them that Princess Rika's dad had us hauled in only because we had been with his daughter. Which, honestly, was the truth. They didn't know who we were until we got there. And truth be told, it was that bodyguard of Rika's that had dragged us in. He did not like the idea of his princess being with a man like me. I don't know why he hated me from the get go, but he was the one that seemed to have the biggest problem with me and Warrick. Not that we had won over the dads at all.
“We will leave you here.” The guard, Westin, snapped at me as he put the car into park about a mile from the campus. “I don't think it would be good if your friends saw you getting out of our car.”
“Yeah, you're probably right.” I tried not to take his tone personal, even if it was.
.....
“Just stay away from Rika. Don't ever go near her again, do you understand me?”
“I doubt that she will ever speak to me again.” I didn't give him the answer he wanted, but I thought that it was just as good of one.
“That isn't what I said. You are not to make an effort to ever speak to her again. If I ever see you near her again, I will not be held responsible for what happens to you.” He was threatening me. What the hell was the matter with him? Was he told to do this by King Reece? No, I didn't think so. He just really didn't like me.
“Yeah, I hear you. I will never talk to her again.” I tried to keep the annoyance and fear off of my face, but I am not sure that I succeeded, not based on the look that he gave me just then.
“Get out of my sight, you little shit.” He was already pulled away from the curb before I fully shut the door. Damn, he was definitely an asshole.
Ignoring what had just happened, I decided to just turn toward the campus and walk back. It wasn't going to take us too long, and the walk might clear my head. I needed to calm the thoughts that were racing through my head before I saw the others. I didn't want to let anything slip later.
“That was interesting.” Warrick said as we walked along the sidewalk. “If it makes you feel any better, I am sure that Lyssa will never speak to me again as well. We are in the same boat, bruder.”
“Yes, I know.” We had both just lost the girls that we were seeing. I wasn't really in love with Rika, but I did care about her. And I wanted her to be safe. Warrick, though, was head over heels in love with Allysa. And I was the only one that he had told.
It only took us about fifteen minutes. We weren't walking slow, but we weren't moving all that fast either. I think we were worried about what was going to happen when we got there. There was no stopping it though, so we just went into our dorm and up to our room. It was a good thing that Warrick and I shared a room, we didn't need to see the others right away. And this set up in the dorm was slightly reminiscent of the days spent at Saint Alaric's. It has made the transition here a lot easier for us all.
The moment that I flopped onto my bed, with Warrick about to flop onto his, there was a knock on the door to the room. The vultures were already here to pick us clean.
“Let them in.” I told Warrick since he was still standing. He wasn't happy about it, but he walked over to the door and opened it. Gunnar, Aloisius, Lovisa, Armina, Hede and Hedi all came in as soon as the door was open. Warrick barely had the time to get back to his bed and sit down before they were all starting to swarm us on our beds. Three of the girls were crowding me so bad that I was forced to sit up.
“Hahh. We've had a long day, what do you want?” I was the one that was supposed to be in charge here, but they were acting like I was just some worthless piece of shit.
“What happened?” Gunnar growled at me, his eyes darkening even more than they already were.
“We heard from Claud. You were taken by the wolves.” Lovisa sneered at me.
“Did they hurt you?” Armina, the only other one of our group that thought the way that Warrick and I did, asked me in a worried tone.
“No, they didn't hurt us. I think they wanted to, but they didn't. And it had nothing to do with the organization.” I started to explain things in the way that we had talked about earlier.
“What do you mean?” Gunnar snapped at me. “They know you are a Jaegan, do they not?”
“No, they don't know about it at all. They were just mad that we were dating King Reece's precious daughter and niece. He threatened us with great bodily harm and told us to leave Rika and Lyssa alone forever, but that was about it.” I continued with the explanation, paraphrasing where I needed to.
“Where did they take you?” Hede was being curious like the others, but it was like she was forcing herself to make an effort. That girl didn't care about anyone but herself. She didn't even care about the administration. She just wanted to serve her time and move on so that she could do what she wanted. Although, I knew that if push came to shove, she would side with them and not me.
“They took us to King Reece's office.” Warrick slid to the top of his bed, away from the others. “It is in a high rise building in the city. There were countless humans around, so he wasn't able to shift or anything like that. And he didn't do a lot of probing with us. He was just trying to intimidate us to leave the girls alone. It seems to have worked though.” He hung his head. “Both of them said they would never talk to us again. I don't know if they were serious though. I will need to text Lyssa later, to see if I can get a hold of her.”
“It's for the best.” Gunnar glared at him as he spoke angrily. “You two were getting way too close to those girls. If you keep that up, then you would forget about the mission.”
“The mission? I happen to remember that our mission was to report on Rika and Reagan. What do you think that I was trying to do? By getting close to her, I would have been able to gain access to her home. I would have been able to give all sorts of intel back to the administration. Now though, I've blown my chance. How am I supposed to report on her movements when she won't come anywhere near me?”
“Oh well.” Gunnar shrugged. “It's not like the mission is going to last much longer anyway. It will be over soon enough. Once we kill the queen, the rest of her people will all die. You know what they said, if you kill the leader, the others will fall.”
“Yeah, I know.” I didn't believe a word of that though, no matter what the others said. “And what do you mean it will be over soon?” I was confused.
“Ahh, that was another thing that Claud told us about. They are going to lure the others out with their next kill, and then they are going to kill the king and queen. We will eliminate all of those monsters in one go.” My blood froze at Lovisa's words. I had to work to keep my face from giving away my fear that they sent through me. I knew that what they were saying was impossible, but I was worried about Queen Trinity and King Reece. Not to mention, Rika. I didn't want any of them to get hurt at all.
“Claud wants to see us all tonight. We are supposed to see him just after dark in the same park that you were at earlier.” Gunnar was telling me how things were supposed to be. He was definitely not treating me like I was the leader here.
“Alright. We will go there in a bit. For now though, I am hungry and want to get some lunch.” I needed to get away from them. I needed time to think. And I needed time to tell the others back at the castle what had happened. This was so not good.
