Chapter 10: Enigma

Yezekael was already awake at 4 AM.

He was stretching on the track at East River Park, jogging a few laps around to warm up, and stretching by the bleachers. They have a semifinal match later today for the NYC Rugby Cup, a tournament for rugby teams all over New York. They made it to the semifinals and Kael had no plans to stop there. For the four consecutive years he’d been captain, they always came home with a trophy.

By 8 AM, he did a roll call on their reserved field, and they were practicing in no time.

The NYU Rugby team used to be a forgotten team. He had been a rugby player before entering NYU, so he was dead set on joining the rugby team. His performance shone through and with his friends, they rebuilt the rugby team. And with his departure in a few years coming fast, he must train his juniors to ensure their team’s longevity.

After the practice match, he huddled the team together. They were all drowning in sweat, heaving, and obviously tired, but they were all ears for what the captain gotta say.

“Renner, your drop goal still needs work. But it was a lot better than last week. Marcus, Ty, and Grahn, your maul earlier was almost a penalty. Be careful next time. The first ruck was good. The second, not so much. The scrum was messy, and you lot-” He points to the four skinniest players of the team, “need to work on your leg muscles. I was so far away but I still saw them shaking. The opposing team will see them too and will target you even more because of that. Your tackles also still need work. Mark, I’m gonna need you to focus on that this week.” His close friend and vice-captain, Mark, nods at his order. He’s the one responsible for training the less experienced ones, being the most skilled player (second to Kael).

“Work hard, team. Those sweats now are nothing if you bleed in the real game.”

They did one last cheer before dispersing, leaving only his friends.

Jonathan, his tight-head prop, asks, “When are we leaving for that research again?”

Kael checks the time in his phone. 12 noon.

“Now, actually. Let’s shower.”

—

They agreed to meet up at 1 pm inside the building of Law. The East River Park was barely a 20-minute drive to the place, which was why Kael chose to end practice at 12. He and the boys had enough time to shower, eat, and change. After that, they had a semifinal match at 4 PM.

He shouldn’t have agreed to this. He should’ve used his remaining free time to practice or prepare for the match instead, but for some reason, he couldn’t say no to her.

He didn’t even know the woman before this. He just found her so interesting… and beautiful—which his friends thought was the only reason why he agreed. No. She had a unique scent that he was so attracted to. But that was weird and freaky, so he could only keep it to himself.

“Kael,” Mark called out to him while they were on the way to the campus. “Have you talked to Fergie yet?”

Kael looks out the window, coolly ignoring his question. Mark sighed in the driver's seat.

“You should just talk it out, man. Unless you’re planning on tackling the old guy into submission?”

“Ridiculous,” he scoffs.

“I do plan on talking to him eventually. After the Cup.”

Finally, Mark drops the subject with a satisfied hum. Kael stopped the urge to roll his eyes, seeing Mark once again live up to his moniker, the peacemaker. Fergie, an elder of the pack, and he haven’t been on speaking terms lately after a rather big argument. He doesn’t agree with Kael, and so Kael gives him cold shoulders while he busies himself with preparations for the Cup, law school, and a mysterious lady who smells absurdly good.

As soon as they got to the reserved group discussion room, he was once again slapped in the face by her scent. He had to close his eyes and breathe in the heavenly scent, before keeping himself in check in case he looked weird in front of her.

Kael found her sitting in the middle of the U-shaped table, typing on her keyboard before her eyes went to them—him.

“Oh!” she quietly gasps and stands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I am Divina Anastasia, but you can just call me Anna.”

A low whistle came from somewhere behind him, followed by a barely audible whisper. “Pretty face, pretty name, pretty everything. I get why Kael couldn’t say no to her.”

Some horribly disguised snickers followed before Mark shushed them.

“We’re three minutes late. Hope that didn’t mess up your schedule?” Kael smoothly says, flashing her his most boyish smirk.

Just like their last meeting, she does not react to it. Or maybe she does, she’s just good at hiding it.

Anna glances at her wristwatch on her delicate wrist, where Kael’s gaze lingers. “Not really. Please, take a seat,” she motions for the others.

“I apologize on behalf of my partner. He had an emergency last night so he couldn’t attend today. But no matter, we will proceed.”

Kael takes the seat on her right. He places his right elbow on the desk and swirls the chair to fully face her, resting his jaw on his fisted right hand. His burning stare was disregarded, however, as Anna continued on with explaining their study.

Mark and the others were actively talking to her, asking the necessary questions and what they needed to do, but it was obvious to everyone in the room that one man was not paying attention to the study—but rather, the researcher.

Jonathan and Mark exchanged meaningful looks.

“Well then, effective research does not end at interviewing. We need to conduct tests and intervene with your daily academic life for a few weeks. I’ll give out written consent forms later, but if there’s anyone who’s not in favor of this setup, please raise your hand.”

There was no hand in the air for a few seconds. Anna was about to move on when a person to her right raised their hand.

Kael asks, with his right hand still in the air, “Just how involved are you going to be with my daily life?”

Another round of poorly disguised chuckles and snorts filled the room.

Anna slightly tilted her head in confusion, which he found cute.

“Not quite. Only when you’re memorizing, as is the scope of the study. I won’t be involved with anything else.”

“Ah… how unfortunate. And are you starting today?”

“Well, yes. Technically.”

“Then you should start by coming to our semifinal match today, at 4 PM. I’ll give you free tickets.”

Tension bubbled in the air as everyone waited for her answer. She looks down at her papers and mutters a small, “We’ll see,” before dropping the subject.

Kael pouts, slightly, but quietly obliges with everything she told them to do. For another hour or so, they filled out forms and questionnaires and coordinated with Anna their studying schedule for the week.

Kael was already briefed on this experiment, so he ordered all of them to make schedules to study together, so as not to make her job harder. She must’ve noticed this after collecting their timetables.

“Since when have you been studying as a group?”

They all looked at each other, waiting for someone else to answer.

“Since we all entered law school around the same time, we found it best to study together. You know, that’s how we all got so close,” Jonathan explained nervously, even slinging his arm around the one next to him.

Of course, it would be weird to say they’re werewolves and come from the same pack, and their Alpha just ordered them a few days ago to start studying together, thought Jonathan and probably every other guy in the room.

Anna nods understandingly, but without glancing at Kael still filling out his form on her right. While Kael had his head down, presumptively focused on answering, a small smile danced on his lips.

This is very interesting. She’s capable, smart, and beautiful. But she still had that air of mystery around her. An enigma, indeed.