Chapter 5

ELVIRA'S POV

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After lunch was Philosophy and Mythology. I arrived early and got seated on the far left. I doodled in the margin of my notebook while the room filled up around me.

A girl slides into the desk beside me, leaning across the aisle to introduce herself before I've even got my pen down.

"Lyssa," she says, holding out her palm for a handshake. "I’m the student President. You can come find me if you need anything at all."

"I’m Elvira," I reply, shaking her hand. She's got Patty-Simcox energy radiating off her in waves… she was perky and impossibly bubbly. I bet she's terrifyingly good at her job.

The teacher starts us off where we left off last week: the myth of the Lamia, which was vampires. They’re notorious as our storied enemy in every human paranormal story. These human tales were entirely fictional as far as we werewolves can testify, and endlessly fascinating to human teenagers who hear the story for the first time.

I'm mid-note when the door swings open.

Every head turns.

The man who walks in can't really be called a boy, even with his student uniform or not. His blazer was slung over one shoulder, held by a single finger. His shirt crumpled, untucked, straining faintly at muscles it clearly wasn't tailored for. His black hair, tousled, cut in a deliberately careless way that falls into eyes the exact colour of Mediterranean water…it was pale, glowing, cyan-bright.

The teacher looks him up and down, purses his lips, and turns back to the classroom’s whiteboard. The boy scans the room like he's grading it, glare landing on person after person, until it catches on the empty seat next to me.

Then on me went his stares.

I could feel his stare land like a physical thing. Everyone else in the room has gone very carefully back to their notes, the way you avoid eye contact with a dog that might or might not bite you. I didn't have the local knowledge to know I was supposed to do the same; I just sit there, caught, until he starts walking.

He crosses the room, drops into the chair, throws his blazer over the back of it with a sigh like the whole class personally inconveniences him. I catch his scent… it was sea breeze, sandalwood, something clean and dangerous underneath it.

He rolls his sleeve back to grab a pen, and I catch his tattoo before he can hide it. Same shape as mine. Except his started with cobalt blue and shifts, halfway up, into blood red.

Half Elemental and half Amores.

He's one of The Three.

I tear my gaze away before he catches me staring…  he radiates a very specific do not test me energy, the kind that makes you believe he could genuinely end your week without breaking a sweat.

"Does anyone remember the three recognized ways to kill a vampire?" the teacher asks the room. "Anyone? Perhaps you, Rafael."

Rafael.

That was him beside me… he lifts his eyes to the teacher with a look that could make you freeze.

"Silver-coated gunpowder, decapitation, or removal of the heart," he answers. He was bold, like the question personally offended him.

"That’s a correct answer. Thank you, Rafael."

The teacher moved on to the next question, but I didn’t move on with him. I got stuck on the sound of his voice… it was deep, husky, gravel wrapped in velvet. I wished I'd heard more words from him.

I was so focused on his voice that I got nothing done for the rest of the class. When the bell finally rang, he was up and gone before anyone else. He moves with a grace that shouldn't be possible on a body that size. I stumble along with the crowd toward Skills, the one class with no information listed on my timetable at all.

——∆♣§§♣∆——

I knew it was mandatory for everyone; it was a hand-to-hand combat, self-defense, emergency wound care, and hunting technique class. We were taken to the gymnasium, where two other classes were already gathering. I spotted Anika and Lexa across the room.

We're told to partner up. There were three of us, with no clean pairing… until a familiar voice saved me.

"Wanna be partners with me?"

It was Eliano. Relief flooded me like sweat. I nodded to the girls and followed him to an open patch of mat.

"Face your partner, one step forward, hands like this," the teacher barks, demonstrating all the actions while we replayed his moves. We copy him. Eliano meets my eyes, and we both crack up at the same second, drawing a few looks.

"Now… Partner One, back to Partner Two. Partner Two, headlock position."

I turn my back to him. He steps in close with his chest on my spine. His warmth bleeds through my shirt. He smells like ginger and cinnamon.

"Enjoying yourself, Elvira?" he teases.

"Not as much as you, clearly."

"Your red cheeks are a flaming giveaway." He chipped in immediately.

"Shut up."

We ran through offence and defense techniques a dozen times each; half of the session we laughed our way through them. During the break, Eliano fetched us both water, and I decided to fish for information from him.

"Have you heard of The Three?"

He snorts. "Have I been living under a rock, Elvi? Of course I have. Why do you ask?"

"I have no reason at all. My girls were talking about them at lunch. I've met Xavier and Rafael in some classes too."

"Was Rafael glaring? That's his entire personality." Eliano says dryly. "Xavier doesn't talk much, does he? He is the quiet type."

"I haven't noticed that yet. The teacher was weirdly soft on Rafael for being late, though."

Eliano's expression shutters. "Their parents sit on the Governors' board. Founded the school alongside my great-grandfather. They’re Wolford royalty, just as I am. We don't get in trouble here at Wolford’s academy."

"Even it has its perks for being Wolford royalty." A muscle jumps in his jaw. "Also sucks having a name you're supposed to live up to and never quite do that when you can’t get a mate."

I open my mouth to say something comforting to him, but he's already moving on.

"They're set to inherit their parents' titles… They’re out of school this week learning the ropes and preparing for their future duties."

"Were they meant to be in Skills class today?" I ask harmlessly.

"Yeah, they are meant to be. But I guess they figured they could skip the class. They're all trained already… they used to be on every school team until people kept getting hurt during combat classes. Nobody could keep up with their combat training."

"Wow. They sound..." I searched for the right word to complete my words. Eliano waits, smirking. "Like a bunch of overachievers."

My words get a real laugh out of him… it was loud enough that people glanced at us. I catch Anika and Lexa watching us with open curiosity from where they were.

"That's exactly what they are," he says once he's recovered from his laughter. "People either love them or hate them. You're obsessed with them, or you're jealous of them. You can’t sit on the fence."

"Which one are you?"

He gives me a look like I've asked something painfully obvious.

"Why would you even be jealous of? You're Wolford royalty too, just like them."

His smirk drops. Just like that, his smiling face was gone, replaced by something flatter and colder underneath.

"They will have destined mates, Elvira." His voice has lost every trace of humor in it at this point. "I don't get to have anyone. Not today or tomorrow. Tell me exactly what there is here to envy for me."