Chapter Five

Aria’s POV

I am staring at the tubes when she walks in, her eyes tired but bright. She stops by the desk, leaning over to sign in. Someone tries to get her attention in the front row. The boy from last night. But she ignores him, heading straight for me.

“You are in my seat,” she murmurs, angling her head.

“Oh!” I blink, my brain scrambling all over the place. I didn’t think we were going to be in the same class.  “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she shakes her head, taking the seat next to me. “You can have it. Consider it payment for not walking into the kitchen and thinking you can save me from harm. Nyra would have done it in a heartbeat. It annoys me.”

I narrow my eyes in confusion. “What?”

“I saw you at the party yesterday,” Isla chirps. She doesn’t sound angry. “You know you do a shitty job at hiding, right? Your shoes were out in the open, and your smell….” She purses her lips and turns to look at me.

Her eyes search my face intently before she shakes her head.  “Strange.”

I edge towards her unconsciously. “What is strange?”

“You don’t have a …. Never mind.” Her hands reach for the second tube, pushing it closer to her. “But seriously, you need skills in hiding. I wonder how he didn’t notice, but then again, he has always been such a dumb ass.”

“Who?”

“My boyfriend,” she sighs. “Well, ex-boyfriend, considering the fact that we called off whatever we were last night.”

I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “I’m so sorry, Isla.”

“You remember my name!” Her tone is laced with excitement as she presses her palms together in glee. “Wow! I must have made such an impression on you, right? The girl whose man cheated on her with her best friend.”

My eyes fall wide open, and a pink hue appears on my cheeks. It burns me slightly, as I shake my head. “No! No! That’s not it.”

Isla laughs, her stylish hair bobbing along with her shoulders. “Come on,” she grins. “I was just joking. I mean, everyone around here knows me. It can get really annoying, though. They stay away from me because apparently, my brother is some jack ass who they are all scared of.”

“He is Alpha,” I murmur under my breath, telling myself that the only reason I am defending him is to gain Isla’s trust.

“Yeah,” she sighs dramatically, twisting the cap off one of the tubes. The blue piece lands carelessly on the table.

“And I’m the little sister who he still thinks needs guards to walk around campus. Can you imagine that? In fact, he is the reason why Eli broke up with me, and I can’t even talk to Darius about it because then Eli is only going to get into trouble.”

“Why will he?” I ask casually, twisting the cap off my tube too. I try to make it as random as possible, try to ignore the sudden thrill in me at the prospect of finding something out. Something my father will be proud of.

“Because Eli is the Gamma of the pack, and I have had the longest crush on him. Darius must not find out we were dating.”

I smile softly, more to mask my nerves than to put her at ease. The professor dishes out a series of instructions from the front of the class, and my hands move. Isla doesn’t look like she cares about chemistry.

“He sounds …. Protective.”

“That’s one way to put it,” she murmurs, rolling her eyes. “He doesn’t let people in easily. I think it is the reason he is so focused on me. He acts like he is made of stone. I guess it comes with being Alpha of the Blood Ridge Pack. Reminds me of Dad.”

“I can tell.” The words come out before I can stop myself, and in that moment, time seems to slow down.

Her head turns sharply toward me, and she narrows her eyes. “You’ve met him?”

“Not…I….” My pulse races as I try to think of something fast. “Erm…The party yesterday. He was… super scary when he asked us all to leave.”

“Oh,” she laughs. “Then you’re lucky, trust me. Most people don’t get close enough to breathe the same air as him without him sending their hearts into an overdrive.”

“Yeah,” I breathe, remembering last night, his hand above my head, my heart racing so fast that I was scared he could hear it in the silence of the room. And those eyes…those dark eyes piercing through mine like he could read into my soul.

Isla snaps her fingers suddenly, jerking me out of my thoughts. A mischievous glint appears in her eyes as her lips stretch into a wide grin. “You know what? You should come by for lunch. We are having a small thing at the packhouse. It’s just Nyra, Luca, Eli and Darius. I was supposed to come with my best friend, but… yeah. You get to meet the whole grumpy family, too.”

“Isla…”

“You can’t say no,” she groans, taking my hands in hers. I doubt she has heard anything about personal space, but I can’t even be mad at her. She has such sweet energy that…

No.

This is what my father warned me about. It is what Isla is doing right now. I cannot fall for their false sweetness. It is the reason my mother is dead.

“Lunch at the packhouse,” I repeat, trying to give nothing away. Not the sudden flip of my stomach, or the thrill in my pulse. I am going to see Darius again, and I don’t know how to feel about it.

“Don’t look so terrified,” she jokes, nudging my shoulders playfully. “I promise we don’t bite. Well…not all of us. Just stay away from Darius, and you should be fine.”

I nod, forcing my lips to stretch into a smile. Isla has no idea that it is going to be the other way around.

I am the one who bites.