Chapter 41
Chapter 41
*Jisclie
“Still don’t wish you had listened to me and stayed home?” Ethan asked, his voice hushed but laced with amusement.
I shot him a glare. “Not a chance.”
Regret wasn’t in my vocabulary–not when I was this close to finding something. Not when the answers I had been searching for were buried somewhere in this godforsaken library.
But right now, I had a much bigger problem.
Hadelyn stood in front of us, his arms folded, his expression unreadable as he watched Ethan and me like we were nothing more than insects he could crush beneath his boot.
The dim library lights cast sharp shadows across his face, making him look even more menacing.
What was he even doing up at this hour? Let alone in the library? How did he find us?
Did someone see us and snitch? Did we somehow trigger some kind of alarm?
Suddenly, Nate’s words from our first assignment together came back to me. They know.
Hell, they always know. How do people get away with anything around here?
“What exactly,” he drawled, “are you two doing here?”
Ethan straightened, his entire demeanor shifting.
“We were looking for a book for class,” he said smoothly. “Jiselle needed some clarification for- “Bullshit”
Hadelyn’s voice was as sharp as a blade, slicing through Ethan’s lie without hesitation.
My pulse pounded violently, I need to get us out of this.
Hadelyn wasn’t buying it. Not for a second. And the way his cold, calculating gaze swept over us told me exactly where this was going.
I swallowed. If we didn’t convince him, we were dead.
And if he found the book tucked away in my hoodie, he’d know I saw what Max did that day, and we’d be dead. Max would have been tortured for nothing.
Ethan, ever the perfect son of an Alpha, held his ground. “Sir, I know the situation looks odd, but I assure you. My sister has an assignment due in the morning and she had forgotten to get the book before-
“I don’t give a damn what excuse you think you’ve got,” Hadelyn cut him off. The library is off–limits after hours. So tell me -what the hell were you really doing here?”
My breath caught in my throat.
“We got permission from the librarian,” he lied smoothly. “She’s quite easy to convince when given the right payment.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie. Miss Rudding would let you do anything once she was getting something in return. It was common knowledge around here.
Hadelyn knew this too, based on the way his jaw ticked. That led me to believe that we were searching in vain for something useful. Everyone knew Miss Rudding couldn’t be trusted and definitely wouldn’t leave confidential information in her care. No wonder the one book I found that seemed useful was torn up
Why didn’t I think about that before I risked my life and Ethan’s?
“If we should just wait until morning when she is awake, I’m sure you will find that our story matches hers.”
“I’m sure.” Hadelyn narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to see through us.
Ethan was doing a damn good job of sticking up for us, but I could already see it–the way Hadelyn’s expression darkened, the way he tilted his head slightly as if already deciding our fate.
He wasn’t going to let this go
Regardless of what Ethan said, he was going tr
I clenched my fists at my sides as unimaginab *Sir ML-
Successfully unlocked!
brother has already said it.”
id it.”
“I don’t want to hear anything from you. What you could say, I’m sure your b Right. Because he would listen to Ethan but he won’t listen to me.
Chapter 41
Sexist ass school.
“What was that?” Hadelyn’s sharp voice yanked me from my thoughts.
Shit. Did I say that out loud?
“Nothing, sir,” I mumbled quickly
Hadelyn’s eyes narrowed,
And then, just like that, his posture shifted, his expression smoothing into something colder, more deliberate “Both of you,” he said, voice eerily calm, “follow me.”
My stomach dropped.
No. No, no, no
I darted a quick glance at Ethan, whose jaw was tight, his fingers twitching at his sides. He knew.
I knew.
Hadelyn wasn’t taking us anywhere safe
I had to do something
I reached for my mind–link, focusing everything on Ethan.
‘Run, I told him. The second we get a chance, you need to get out of here. Find a way out of the academy. I’ll distract him.” Ethan stiffened slightly, his brows pulling together. ‘Are you insane? I’m not leaving you to die. I’ll die and you run. “Ethan, we both know only one of us is fast and strong enough to escape. The rogues had a rout in. You must find it and use it to get out.”
‘No.‘ His voice was sharp in my head. I’m not leaving you, Jiselle. If you die, I die. It’s that simple. But if you live, I’ll gladly die so you can live!
I sighed, knowing it was futile. I should’ve known better than to ask Ethan to leave me. Not Ethan Johal.
A shadow moving in my peripheral vision snapped me back to reality just as Instructor Hadelyn opened a door that evidently led to the forest.
I shivered instantly, and it wasn’t because of the cold.
“Nathaniel,” Hadelyn acknowledged, his voice shifting ever so slightly.
My stomach twisted.
I turned my head just in time to see Nate step into view.
The air changed.
Something dark and heavy settled over the room, thick with unspoken power.
And Hadelyn–an instructor, an authority figure, a man who held the power to end lives in this academy without question- visibly stiffened.
It was subtle. Almost imperceptible. But I saw it.
He was wary of Nate.
Not just wary. Afraid.
A slow, curling realization settled in my gut
It wasn’t just the students who feared Nate and Max.
The instructors did too.
“Is there a problem?” Nate said smoothly, his voice carrying that calm, deadly edge that always sent chills down Hadelyn’s jaw Lightened. “I would assume so. They were breaking a strict rule which cannot go unpunished.” Nate lifted a brow, stepping closer with a tsk and a subtle shake of his head.
my
spine
“I hardly think they did anything in the five minutes I stepped away that is deemed punishable,” he said and Hadelyn
stiffened
“You you were here, with them?”
“Why else would I be up at this hour?” Nate tilted his head in such a way that made even me step back a little.
If it was daytime and the halls were packed with both students and other instructors, I doubt Hadelyn would have taken lightly to Nate’s tone
But he was here alone in the middle of the night, and something told me Nate would be the wiser.
could end him in an instant and no one
Chapter
And Hadelyn knew
“1 was with them. I stepped away to get something and then I come back to this.” His gaze flickered to me for half a second before locking back onto Hadelyn. “They weren’t breaking any rules. Just following my lead to get what they needed, I’m sure they already explained to you.”
I realized that he was vague with his response, since I knew he had no idea what we were doing, but he wouldn’t let Hadelyn know that.
But there was something about the way he took full responsibility that sent another message entirely.
“Yes, we told him we just needed a book for something urgent I have in my first class tomorrow. Miss Rudding approved,” I said, discreetly filling him in.
If you didn’t know him, you would have missed the evident shock and irritation in his eyes. But he did a wonderful job at hiding it
“Yes. You know Miss Rudding and her tendency to bend the rules if properly… awarded.”
Hadelyn simply grunted
“But if you still think there is a need for them to be punished, by all means, let’s take a step outside,” Nate added, his voice dropping to a deadly low.
Hadelyn knew exactly what it meant.
So did we
I didn’t dare breathe.
Hadelyn stared at Nate for a long moment. His fists clenched at his sides, his nostrils flaring slightly.
Then he looked away first.
A silent retreat.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Morningstar,” Hadelyn muttered.
“And you’re wasting my time,” Nate shot back,
Hadelyn exhaled sharply through his nose, his glare shifting between Ethan and me one final time before turning on his heel and storming off
I knew this wasn’t over. I knew now more than ever, we were being watched. But I also knew that Hadelyn didn’t just give in like that. He knew Nate was serious about his threat. He knew Nate wasn’t just protecting a friend and his sister.
He knew I was his mate, didn’t he?
I felt the weight of that warning settle into my bones.
I barely had time to process it before Nate turned to us, his face thunderous.
His eyes locked onto me
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
D
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