Chapter 20
I don't know how I managed to get away from Charlotte. One minute she was holding onto me and begging me to skip classes with her then she all of a sudden shook off her sadness and headed to her first lesson.
I think it probably had something to do with Ryker being in her first lesson. Maybe that thought had suddenly occurred to her. If so she clearly thought that he would provide a better shoulder to cry on than I did. She was probably right, I could be sympathetic but I always seemed to end up saying the wrong thing.
After that she probably followed him around all morning like some sort of lost puppy. He wouldn't be happy about that, I am sure that I will get an earful from him about it later. It will be like the trip to the cottage all over again. Oh well, at least it got her away from me for a while.
I tried to concentrate on my lessons but I found that my mind kept wandering. Something in the back of my head told me that the rogue situation was important. That if it was just a normal rogue attack then the alpha wouldn't have been called away so urgently. Onyx agreed with me, she had been anxious all morning. I needed to find out more about what was happening.
Imanaged to make it as far as morning break before my curiosity got the better of me. At this time of day everyone would be heading for the canteen to pick up a snack. Werewolf metabolism meant that our kind were almost always hungry, it made their behaviour predictable. I headed to one of the quieter exits and out of the building. I made sure not to look around too much and draw unwanted attention to myself.
"Diana, what are you doing out here?" Ryker asked. So much for a clean getaway.
"I could ask you the same thing." I retorted.
"I am trying to avoid Charlotte. Apparently Felix dumped her so she is back to harassing me again." He said, rolling his eyes.
"That sucks." I said.
"Yes, so what are you doing out here?" He asked.
"Nothing." I replied, looking away from him. You would think with all the secrets I had that I would be a better liar.
"You are skipping class aren't you?" He asked.
He grabbed hold of my arm to make me look at him. I shook my head but I knew there was no way that he would believe me. He knew me too well for that. He had seen me lie to others countless times and he knew every single one of my tells.
"You are. Don't worry I won't tell anyone but you are taking me with you. There is no way I am sitting through maths alone." He said.
"I guess there is nothing that I could say to change your mind." I said.
"Nothing at all." He said, smiling at me. I had seen that smile before, it was the cheeky smile that he gave me when he was flirting with me. Maybe he thought that skipping class would be an excuse to flirt with me all day. He was more than welcome to try but he would be highly disappointed, I only have eyes for Elijah now that I am marked and there is nothing he can do about it.
I started walking away from him. I made my way around the building towards the exit with Ryker walking by my side. I took the same route that I did a few times in the past when I wanted to get out of maths or escape from Felix for a few hours.
The route took us through the carpark. It was quiet at this point in the day and only a couple of the classes had windows that looked over this side of the building. It was generally the best route to take if you didn't want to get caught. "Felix just leave me alone." Ava shouted from somewhere behind me.
I turned around to see Ava running out of the building closely followed by Felix. Ava didn't normally let anyone see her cry but right now she had tears falling down her face freely. She saw us and she came running towards us. "Ava, just hear me out please." Felix said following closely behind.
"Where are you two going?" Ava asked me and Ryker, ignoring Felix completely. She rubbed the tears away from her eyes with her sleeve with sharp jerky movements. I had never seen her this angry and upset before. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but it was clear she didn't want to talk about it.
"Nowhere, maybe we should all just go back to our classes." I suggested.
It wasn't as though I could exactly sneak a look at the rogues or look for clues at the border with so many people following me around. I may as well go back to class and try to keep my mind off it. Maybe I could even do some of my homework while the teachers droned on.
"You can't lie to me, I know that look. What are you planning?" Ava asked.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
I looked at each of them in turn. I knew from the look on their faces that there was no way that they would let this drop. I could make up an excuse but Ryker and Ava would see right through it.
"Fine, I heard that there were some rogues at the border earlier and I wanted to see if there were any clues on where they came from." I said.
"No way." Felix said.
"What?" I said.
The alpha in me didn't like hearing the word no. Onyx took it as a challenge coming from him and wanted to take over to answer it.
"I promised Elijah that I would take care of you. I am not going to put you in harm's way." Felix said.
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"There is no danger, the rogues have already gone. Besides, I'd like to see you try to stop me." I said with a slight growl in my voice.
"Ugh, fine. I will drive you but if I say we need to leave then we leave ok?" Felix asked.
He didn't wait for a response, he started walking towards his car. He looked nervous and he was mumbling under his breath about being in big trouble. He unlocked the car and opened the passenger side door. He looked at Ava and smiled. It was clear that he wanted her to sit next to him but she just rolled her eyes and got into the back seat beside Ryker.
I could see what looked like pain in his eyes as I got into the passenger seat. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared but there was definitely more to this than they were telling us. I would have to ask Ava about this when we were alone together.
"Where are we going?" Felix asked.
"The border by the old mill." I said.
I had been using my powers all morning to monitor the pack's movements. I had given myself a huge headache doing it but I had noticed that there were a lot of people near that border earlier this morning. They all left about an hour ago. That must be where the rogues tried to cross our border, it was the only thing that made sense.
"Why there?" Felix asked, raising one eyebrow.
"It is the weakest point of our defences, it always has been." I said, relieved that I had already planned for this question in case I got caught while I was looking for clues.
"Fine, let's get this over with." Felix said before starting the car.