Chapter 3: The summon

the summon

Liam pov

Noah stood there, his storm-gray eyes narrowed and brooding.

Beside him was the leaner one that had the shape of an athlete. He was the quiet one but with a sharp and dangerous air around him.

His Beta, I suspected.

I blinked, my lips parting slightly.

A small, traitorous voice in my head whispered,

“Well damn… maybe this is your type of trouble.”

Shut up, I cursed myself.

And that’s when I heard the growl.

Low, Rumbling, and deep.

Like it came from the chest of a god or an ancient beast.

It rolled through my body like thunder, snapping me out of whatever weird trance I’d just slipped into.

I tried to mask it, but it was too late. He saw it.

The way I flinch, the slight moment of hesitation. The admiration.

His smirk sharpened.

He’d gained a point.

I’d just lost one.

Shit!

My dignity went down the drain. Disgust crawled up my spine like sour bile. Why were werewolves so…damn…hot?

You’re in my seat,” Noah said, his voice low and laced with something dangerous. His eyes glowed faintly, like storm clouds during a lightning strike.

I looked around a little confused until it occurred to me.

Shit.

The table. Of course.

i was a little familiar with how it works. It wasn’t just any table. It was the unspoken marked territory. In the center of the cafeteria, a little too clean, a little too untouched. An invisible throne in a kingdom of beasts.

I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders, ignoring the fact that my heart had skipped way too many beats.

“So what?” I murmured, loud enough for only the closest tables to hear “I didn't see your name on it.”

But of course, in a room filled with werewolves, I could as well have shouted it out loud.

Murmurs broke out in the cafeteria like sparks across wet metal. A few students leaned in, wide-eyed. Someone even gasped.

His Beta’s jaw ticked as if he was suppressing a smirk. But Noah? He didn’t find it funny.

Noah’s nostrils flared. His jaw clenched so tightly that I could practically hear the sound of bone grinding together.

I shouldn’t have said that.

I really shouldn’t have said that.

But something in me…the other side of me, the royal, the ancient instinct. rebelled against the idea of backing down to a challenge. I’d already submitted enough today. To fake teachers, To hormonal girls, To the stench of fur.

I wouldn’t submit to him, not again.

“Did I stutter?” he growled.

There it was again, that sound. Deep. Laced with power. It wasn’t just anger. It was dominance. He was calling for obedience. From me.

I rose slowly from the seat and instantly regretted it.

Because now I was sandwiched between two carved statues of dripping hotness.

The lean beta’s sharp eyes watched every twitch in my body like a hawk waiting for prey to make a mistake.

But Noah… Noah was boiling. His shirt clung to his chest like a second skin, veins pulsing, his muscles tense as if he was barely holding himself back from striking.

And gods help me, I stared again.

Not at his face.

At his chest.

I felt heat color my cheeks.

My inner voice said yet again.

“Yup. That’s your type.”

I shook my head, biting my cheeks so hard to snap out of it.

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to recover. “And so what?” I said louder this time. “You always mark your furniture by scaring people off it? Or is this just your way of flirting?”

The cafeteria gasped.

Did I… just challenge an Alpha?

That did it.

His lips curled up in a snarl, and his fist came down hard and fast before I could react.

CRACK.

The large long table, as if hit by a sled hammer, split into two.

The sound tore through the cafeteria like a gunshot.

Wood splinters flew from the force of impact. plates clattered, shattering as it hit the ground.

Heavy Silence descended in the cafeteria.

I stared at the wrecked table and then slowly, very slowly, looked up.

Right into his eyes that resembled a raging ocean. It was filled with rage, pride, power, and something else...

All of it burned behind that perfectly carved face of his.

Beautiful bastard.

I blinked and then gave the smallest, most nervous chuckle known to mankind.

“Heh… heh. Okay. Wow. You’re, uh… dramatic.”

My voice came out weaker than I wanted.

Damn it.

I’d poked the dog.

Again.

And this time… I might’ve poked a little too hard.

“Shit,” I whispered under my breath, locking eyes with the Alpha who looked like he was about to snap my spine into two next.

I clenched my fist, preparing myself for my first fight for years as I felt the familiar fire rise in my chest.

The kind I hadn’t felt since I fled my world.

That's it, I will have my cover exposed on my first day, just because of some stupid chair.

It all goes down to nothing…

“Noah and Liam, go to my office immediately” the voice of the sweet saving grace that was in the person of the headmistress broke through the tension.

******************************

Noah’s POV

I slipped inside the car, slamming the car door shut so hard I thought the window might crack.

“He’s dead. I swear, Sylva, I’m going to break that little smug-faced human and feed him to the birds of the air.”

Sylva stayed silent, hands on the wheel as we drove out of our school, heading towards the outskirts of Bluecreek Town.

But I wasn’t done. Not even close,

“He thinks just because he has a pretty face and is somehow related to the headmistress, who is part of the founding families, he can come in here and disrespect me? Me? On my own territory ”

Still nothing from Sylva.

I turned to look at him. “for fuck sake say something before I blow.”

He finally glanced at me, one brown slightly raised.

“You almost did. In front of the entire school,” he muttered. “You broke the Alpha’s table, Noah.”

“It was an ugly table anyway,” I snapped. “It deserved it.”

He snorted, smiling calmly in a way that always unerves me. “You’re missing the point.”

I slumped back in my seat, knuckles still sore from the punch that should be termed the punch of the century.

The Oakland tree was one of the hardest materials in my world…

Liam Virell.

Transfer student from the North. An arrogant human, who smells weird. Looks like he walked out of a forbidden romance novel and straight into my life just to piss me off.

And now, thanks to him, we were both slapped with detention.

No, not just us.

Damon, too.

The headmistress’s voice echoed in my skull like a punishment bell:

> “Starting next week Monday, the three of you will serve one hour of supervised detention for your public display of violence and disruption.” <

I’d never had detention in my life.

Until that good for nothing human walked in.

“I’m telling you, Sylva,” I muttered. “I don’t care if he’s human. I’m going to make him submit, no matter what it takes.”

Finally, Sylva turned his full gaze on me. His jaw locked in a serious expression.

“Noah… I don’t think he is human.”

My stomach tightened.

“What?”

He looked back to the road, hands gripping the steering wheel just a little tighter. “There’s something off about him. I could feel it. Like you said, his scent is weird. He is too clean and…perfect. No human can achieve such grace. The only people that could do that are the…”

“…Don't fucking say their cursed name”

Silence came upon us, after my outburst.

I took that opportunity to reflect on what Sylva just said.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” I admitted after a long beat. “My wolf… it's been acting a bit funny today. I don't know whether to bite him or…”

“Mate with him?” Sylva asked casually.

I growled. “Don’t push it.”

He laughed under his breath, but I could still feel the unease between us.

Liam wasn’t just some cocky transfer student. Now that Damon had said it, it clicked to me.

Something about him didn’t sit right. My instincts…those primal, buried senses we Alpha heirs were born with, they were screaming.

But before I could say another word, I felt a slight nudge at the back of my head.

My father was requesting to connect with me through the pack link.

<<< “Come to my office now” >>>

The mind-link came fast and sharp before it ended.

My face turned ashen

I glanced at Sylva, who gave me a knowing look.

“what did it say?”

“We have been summoned!”