Chapter 315. Trouble

Chapter 315: 315. Trouble

Maisie

"Do you think that perhaps, the reason you have reservations towards the bond is not because you want to protect them, but because you have, deep down, convinced yourself that you do not deserve a happy ending, because Lyon Park will never have one?"

"Maisie."

"Have you tried speaking to him?"

"Lyon? He’s dead, Gwen."

"Have you tried visiting his grave to speak to him?"

"I wasn’t sure I would be welcome there. I only just got out of the first trial," I said, but it was only half the truth and Gwen knew it.

She waited patiently, until I whispered the words, afraid of hearing them myself. "I-I can’t. Going there with the people who did that to him still out there, going about their normal lives like he wasn’t a brother, a son, a friend, a person with dreams and aspirations, it would mean he died for nothing. I’m not... worthy."

Gwen tilted her head. "He died so you could live. Do you consider your life, every breath you take, worth nothing?"

"Maisie."

I glanced up from pushing my food around my plate, meeting Regina’s gaze. Our table had gone quiet, and I realized they were waiting on my response. "What?"

Her hazel eyes narrowed at me, but it was Jenny who spoke. "How is therapy going?" she asked, toying with the ends of her hair, as she often did when she felt uncomfortable.

I peered into my plate, unable to hold her brown stare. "Fine. Um, Gwen. She’s, um, nice," I stammered.

The elephant in the room was growing a lot heavier.

"At the trial," Jenny started, but I blurted, not ready to talk about it yet, "How are things with Brody going? I haven’t seen him around."

Jenny flushed a bright red. "He’s working his transfer from Hellsgrave, but it’s taking a lot of time. Dad offered to assist by using his connections, but Brody refused. He called it taking the easy way out." She bit her bottom lip, shyly. "I think he’s trying to impress Dad. Because he’s from a humble background, he thinks he needs to work extra hard to earn this. I told him Dad doesn’t care about shit like that, but he’s hellbent on it."

"I thought he was an Alpha heir," I said, remembering the heavy aura he’d been throwing off when we met. There was no mistaking that as anything else.

Jenny’s fingers clenched tight around her fork. "His mom was the help. His dad, Alpha Jonathan, had a few too many drinks. Apparently, she seduced him in that state and Brody was born as a result of the affair. At least, those were Alpha Jonathan’s explanations for betraying his mate. Brody won’t talk about it but a few people think Alpha Jonathan was in love with his mom from Dad’s findings."

Her nostrils flared with sudden anger. "Alpha Jonathan’s Luna threw them both out. For obvious reasons, refusing Brody a right to his heritage. Not that he wants a part of it. He’d much rather work himself to the ground than being associated with a man so ashamed of him, he would tell a lie so great, even now, his mom can’t seem to find a single pack to take them in."

"That sounds horrible," I whispered, and Juliette nodded, reaching up to hide her mark as she shifted.

Making a mental note to ask her later, more privately, if she was still dreaming about the idiot demon, I glanced back at Jenny. "You like him."

She bit her lip again, before her lips spread wide into a happy grin. "I do."

Regina snorted, carving into her meat. "More like obsessed with him. She’s been over the moon, talking my ear off about how hot he is. I’m glad you’re here, so she stops reminding me about how fucking lonely I am, and how desperate she is to get shagged by him."

"Ginny!" Jenny exclaimed, whacking Regina in the back of the head.

"You haven’t... yet?" Juliette gasped.

Jenny turned the colour of tomatoes again.

"Get this," Regina said around a mouthful, swatting off Jenny’s attempt to shut her up. "Mr. Brooody-as-hell wants to wait till their mating ceremony. The other night--"

"Shut up!"

"He snuck into our dorm room. Jenny was moaning like a dying horse--"

Juliette’s laughter grew into racking coughs and Jenny ducked her head under the table, hiding her face.

"--and then she told him they could get married then and there, so long as he didn’t stop--"

The table banged so loud, everyone in the cafeteria glanced in our direction. Jenny had popped back up from under the table, pointing her salad fork directly at Regina’s jugular.

"Shut your rotten, gossip-mongering mouth, Ginny, or I’ll do something bad to you."

Regina made a funny face and chewed. "Don’t blame me. I don’t have a love life. So I need yours to entertain myself."

"Not seeing Tucker anymore?" I asked, laughing.

Regina scowled. "Well, it was on and off for a bit, until he got into an accident. Broke his kneecap so severely he got kicked off the varsity lacrosse team. He’s been ghosting my texts ever since. Pretty sure he thinks I’m a cursed bad luck charm."

Juliette licked the mayonnaise off the back of her spoon. "Yes, well, every guy you’ve had sex with in the last seven months have mysteriously ended up on the E.R the next morning. Maybe you should consider exorcism. Maybe you’ve got a possessive spirit-husband attached to you, sending away all of your suitors. My brother knows a few feng shui specialists back in France. They do aura and energy cleansings."

I looked at her, puzzled. "Why would Quinlan know feng shui specialists?"

She froze and grimaced, like she’d spilled something else I wasn’t supposed to know. "Er... well... his business ventures revolve around pleasing people... and hurting people? Bad energy means bad profit margins?"

"Hurting people?" I echoed, apprehensive.

She went pale then laughed nervously. "Er... Maybe you should talk to Quinlan..." She tracked off, her eyes lifting over my head. "Oh great. Speak of the devil."

I hadn’t noticed the silence that fell over the busy cafeteria until then, and Regina had that drooling, wistful expression on her face as she whispered, "Never thought I’d say this but fuck me, I need me a man in a suit."

I looked back.

It wasn’t Quinlan causing the shockwave passing over the hall.

Soren strode in, hands dipped in his pockets as he moved past row after row of table, sticking out like a sore thumb in the cafeteria, looking like he belonged on a CEO’s boardroom, looking down at the world from those absurd skyscrapers.

His tie was pinched around his throat and his jacket was unbuttoned, showing off his trim torso in a waist coat. His black cap toe boots were silent across the marble floor, but his presence was even larger than him, forcing attention, even if I knew it wasn’t intentional.

His hair was tousled, giving his cold, professional appearance an edge of bad boy, coupled with the silver earring dangling off his right ear.

Relaxed as he appeared to be, a tightness lined his eyes and his head was cocked at a predatory angle.

I knew that expression too well.

He was pissed.

I wasn’t in trouble, was I?