Chapter 4 She's trouble Alpha!

Lucian's pov

My lungs were burning and my thighs screaming as the blade of my right skate tears a trench with every stride and yet I can't out run the restlessness within me.

My wolf is awake.

Not the sluggish dying thing that's been fading inside me for years.

This is hunger and alert

This is a predator lifting it's head after a long cold sleep and realizing something has entered it's territory.

Because of her.

I slam to a stop at the far end of the rink. Ice chips explodes around my blades, my breath fogs the air in ragged bursts, and for a moment, I just stand there; hands on my knees, spine bent, heart hammering against my ribs like something trying to escape.

Cressida.

The way my body reacted when I touched her.

MATE.

I straightened. Roll my shoulders.

She's here, in the dormitory, under my roof and yet I don't know what she is.

I should report her.

That's what an Alpha does.

I have responsibility to this territory and I'm supposed to sound the alarm.

I'm supposed to call the elders.

I'm supposed to chain her in the holding cell until she tells the truth

Instead, I told Morwenna she was under my protection.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

I still remember what Madame Morwenna said when she pulled me aside after the roll calls, her ancient eyes boring into mine like augers.

"She's not a wolf. You know this Alpha. The wards didn't register her and worse I couldn't read her mind. Not a flicker nor a whisper. That hasn't happened in three hundred years.

I gave her nothing.

"She's under my protection," I said. "That's all you need to know "

Morwenna had smiled then. It was a kind smile.

"You're lying to yourself, boy. That girl is not your responsibility. She's your undoing"

With that she left.

"You've been off since the crash."

Kade Vasquez's voice cuts through my thoughts. I didn't hear him approach at all. That's how gone I am.

I turn to see Kade leaning against the boards, arms crossed. His eyes sharp. He has been my Beta for five years. He knows me better than anyone alive and dead and right now he's looking at me like I'm a puzzle.

"I'm fine" I say.

"Bullshit." He pushes off the boards and skates towards me casually, the way wolves move when they've forgotten they're wearing blades.

"You've been out here for almost an hour. It's two in the morning and you've got that look."

"What look?"

"The look you get when you're trying to outrun something you can't name."

I don't answer. I can't, because he's right.

Kade stops a few feet away. His breath fogs between us. "It's the girl, isn't it? The one from the road."

"Cressida"

"You know her name now." It wasn't a question.

"I know the name she gave"

Kade's jaw tightens and he's quite for a long while, the says low and careful, "That's girl....he's trouble."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Something hit as immediate flares in my chest. And my wolf lifts its head.

The lie burns hot in my throat but Kade doesn't call me out. He's smart enough not to push.

"Just be careful,"he says instead. He then turns and skates towards the exit. "Whatever she is....whatever she's running from... it's going to find her and when it does, it'll finds all of us."

The door closes behind him and I'm alone again.

Minutes later, I'm stepping off the ice when I feel her.

Sha Konstantinou.

She was waiting by the equipment rack, wrapped in a coat that costs more than most wolves make in a year.

Her blonde hair pulled back in a severe knot. She was beautiful.

And also my betrothed.

"Alpha," she says.

"Sha."

She doesn't smile. Sha doesn't smile unless she's about to watch something die.

"You brought something into this academy."

It was a warning not a question.

I grab my towel and wipe the ice from my blades.

"I brought a wounded girl from my territory. That's called mercy. You should try it sometime."

Sha's eyes narrow. "Don't play dumb with me, Lucian. She doesn't move or smell like a wolf. Morwenna couldn't read her mind."

"Morwenna talks too much."

"Morwenna is scared. That should scare you."

Sha steps closer. She's taller than most women but it doesn't ruffle me one bit.

"I don't know what games you're playing," she says quietly, "but that girl is a liability and you need to hand her over to the Elders. Let them question her. Let them deal with her."

My wolf snarls.

I feel it ripple through my chest, hot and violent. Sha's eyes wide , just a fraction, because she felt it too. The power and life in it.

My wolf hasn't snarled like that in years.

"She's under my protection," I say. My voice comes out harsher than I intended but I didn't care. "That means she stays. That means no one touches her. Are we clear?"

Sha holds my gaze for a long terrible moment.

"We're clear," she says. But her eyes promise otherwise. "Just for now."

She walks away. Her heels clicking against the stone like a countdown.

Soon enough I find myself at the dorm. Not inside. I'm not foolish enough to cross that threshold at two in the morning, Morwenna would have my head. But I noticed, the window on the fourth floor, had it's lights on.

Her light.

Yep...I know her room.

I kean against a tree at the edge of the courtyard and watch.

Shadows move beging the glass and seconds later the light goes out.

I stay in the courtyard for another hour just watching the stars.

Morning comes too fast.

I don't sleep neither do I eat. I stand in my quarters and stare at the wall and listen to my wolf pacing.

MATE, it growls. MATE, MATE, MATE.

She's not, I tell it. You felt it too. The bond isn't there. It was a trick. A mistake.

But my wolf doesn't believe me.

And neither do I and I quickly prepared to leave.

The training yard was packed to the brim when I arrived.

Wolves spar in pairs. Steel rings against steel.

This is what I control.

But my eyes finds her immediately.

Cressida stands at the edge of the yard, her arm still in that damn sling. Raven is beside her- of course Raven is beside her, they've been inseparable since last night.

Cressida was watching the sparing matches. No, she was studying them.

Her eyes track every movement. Every feint. Every weakness. She definitely wasn't watching for entertainment. She was watching just like a general watches a battle field, cataloging, calculating.

MINE

The words comes from somewhere deep. Somewhere primal and I shoved it down immediately.

Sha is there too. Standing with her arms crossed, her gaze fixed on Cressida like a hawk watching a mouse.

I had seen the list of those that wanted to join the hockey team and I was surprised to see her name there. And only one person was needed.

I made my decision in the space of one heartbeat and the next.

It's reckless and stupid. And would definitely cause problems I don't have the energy to solve.

But my wolf is awake and I need to know what she's made of.

I walk into the center of the training yards and conversations die, sparring stops. Every eye in the yard turns to me- including hers.

Those beautiful dark eyes.

"Listen up," I said, my voice echoing loud and clear.

"We gave a new student. Done of you have already met her, while some has questions about her."

I paused and let the silence stretch.

"Cressida Ashcroft will be trying out for the hockey team"

And instantly the yard erupted.

Shouts, protest. Sha's face goes white with fury, even jade looks startled, and kade never looks startled.

"She's injured" someone yells.

"She's not even a wolf!" Another voice calls out.

"She's nothing!"

I met them shout and when the noice finally fades to murmurs and glared, I speak again.

"She's trying out," I repeat. "And I'll be the one testing her."

Silence.

I look at Cressida and her face is unreadable. But her eyes -gods,her eyes were burning.

She wasn't afraid. She was ready.

I don't know if that makes me admire her or fear her

Maybe both.

Maybe that's the point.

"So tomorrow, at dawn. What do you say?"

I stood there

at the centre like a giddy preschooler asking a girl out for tea date.

She smirked and said, "If you're late, you owe me lunch "

Before everyone erupted I said, "Deal!"

And walked away leaving the angered crowd behind.