16. An encounter of the third kind
1801 Words
I was happy to be in class.
Particularly if it was history with Mrs Farin: for the simple reason that there was no Koran and even less Barbie!
I was enthusiastically doodling on a punched sheet of paper, transforming the eyelets into pretty little flowers, when the ambient silence called out to me.
So, I looked up from my masterpiece.
All the students had risen to stick themselves against the windows.
The girls started to scream hysterically and the guys were whispering.
Well?
Was there a boy band in the inner courtyard or something?
I imitated them and went to take a look.
A line of black limousines parked, one after the other, in front of the gate. A driver in a suit rushed to open the rear door so that a male or female fashion model could come out.
I counted five: two girls and three boys.
The tallest caught my eye. He had an unusual hair colour: black with blue reflections which I could see from my vantage point, thanks to the rays of the sun.
As if he had felt my eyes on him, he raised his head in my direction.
Being alone at my window, no doubt, it was me he was staring at while his friends moved towards the entrance of the building.
How could a young man of his age be so comfortable in black pleated pants and a white shirt?
Suddenly, I gave a little cry, then stepped back.
I had the impression that my brain was locked in a vice.
He’s trying to get into my mind, was my thought at the time.
By the time I got back to the window, blue-hair was gone.
It only took about ten minutes for a person to knock on the door of our class.
With the luck that characterized me, I was certain that it must be this boy.
The students, including me, were already all seated when Mrs Farin in her olive suit invited the very probable surprise student to enter.
I tapped my pen nervously against the cover of my binder.
The noise annoyed me, but the gesture relieved me... Go figure!
I had won the right to play again. The bluish-black-haired boy made his entrance like a king in his fiefdom.
He scanned the room with a sweeping gaze, stopping for a second too long on my humble person. A friendly smile appeared on his lips... strangely red.
“Please introduce yourself to the rest of the class. Then you can try to find a place,” ordered our teacher in her pinched voice.
This time, he was staring straight ahead.
“Hello, my name is Cahl Leirigh. We start the year later than the others. I hope you’ll not hold that against us.”
Leirigh.
The infamous Leirigh pack.
I bet my savings account that I had before me the future Alpha of this branch.
Besides... why were they separated into three?
Logistically, united, they would only be stronger.
“Hello.”
I jumped in my chair.
Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't heard him approach at all.
“Hi,” I replied automatically.
“Can I sit at the desk next to yours?”
“Make yourself at home,” I mumbled.
Immediately, the scent of oranges tickled my nostrils.
Cahl smelled of oranges.
There was something else mixed in, however, I was having trouble identifying it. In particular, this wasn’t a synthetic fragrance, but his smell.
“You know, it’s rude to sniff that way,” he said, a bit amused.
Shame on me.
My nose was raised in the air like a hunting dog.
I immediately lowered my head to immerse myself in the few notes I had taken during the class.
While praying not to blush super visibly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cahl lean towards me.
“The proper way, towards a dominant male, is to move your head down and then sniff under my ears,” whispered the meta-wolf of the Leirigh pack.
I didn’t know if it was because of the modulation given to his voice, but I suddenly had trouble swallowing my saliva.
“I’ll sleep less stupid tonight,” I said.
Cahl laughed.
“I didn’t know that Koran had chosen his she-wolf.”
This phrase, spoken in a playful tone, froze me from the inside.
“That isn't the case,” I replied, forcing myself to look him straight in the eyes.
Lord!
This guy had golden-brown irises... Amazing!
He watched me for a long time in silence, and it was stronger than me. I looked away first.
The same power as Koran came from Cahl.
The rest of the class went normally. Fortunately, by the way!
When I put my things away, I noticed that Cahl was taking time to leave the room.
From the moment I walked past Mrs Farin’s desk, he followed me casually. The knowledge of him behind my back made me feel like I was being hunted down by a fierce and silent predator.
This boy made me extremely nervous. I looked back and... hit a wall.
Not a real wall... rather rock-hard pectorals.
Bull’s-eye. Koran.
For the second time, in a very short time, I found myself stuck between two males.
The air became suffocating, even compact. I held my breath to avoid swallowing a gulp of air overloaded with power and testosterone.
“Cahl...” growled the blond giant.
“Koran! How are you, my friend?”
“Better, as soon as you leave.”
“I expected a more sympathetic welcome. Especially after several months of absence...” said the future Alpha of the Leirigh pack, amused.
“Try coming back in two centuries. I may have learned good manners by then.”
Then, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to him in a very possessive manner.
My heart raced. I felt a certain joy that he had shown his rival pack leader that I belonged to him. At least part of me... And maybe not the most human.
Not to mention the fact that our bodies were touching. This detail made my hormones ecstatic. And maybe not those on my human side, too.
Out of pure provocation, Cahl also came close to me.
So, I was almost suffocating and my living space amounted to three tiny millimetres.
“Let go of this charming young lady, Koran. The people of the Bhrean pack are in danger of gossiping...” the dark one behind my back whispered in a honeyed tone.
I looked up to see Koran’s face.
He was burning with rage that he had trouble containing.
“Let them gossip, I don’t care. A word of advice. You put an end to the twisted idea which must be germinating in your sick mind.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, my dear,” replied Cahl.
Even I could hear the hypocritical smile in his voice.
“If you ever look at Beth, I'll happily skin you like a rabbit,” threatened Koran, leaning slightly forward.
“Really? You have always had a high opinion of your strength. This has always been your problem, Koran. It could be that in the end, I might peel you like a common orange.”
“I don’t know if this is the ideal place to promise each other dismemberments,” I said.
I felt the two males competing against each other with their eyes, in the very stupid game of who will lower his first.
“Get out, all three of you! You are preventing my students from taking their places!” said the teacher indignantly from her chair.
Koran pushed himself to the side, not without having taken me with him in the movement.
“After you, discarded scrap of toxic waste,” mocked the blond giant.
“Too kind, brainless, illiterate Canis Lupus,” Cahl replied, all smiles.
However, the Leirigh meta-wolf was the first to leave with his fluid, relaxed gait. There emanated from him that kind of assurance that only kings have.
“It's the madness of love between you two, I think...”
“Yes. We even thought of getting together in a civil union.”
For a minute, I stared in amazement at his serious expression, and then I laughed. He replied with a half-smile.
As incredible as it may seem, we had just shared a kind of complicity.
Koran let me go, reluctantly, and closely followed me down the hall.
There was a certain agitation there. A group of students formed a circle and then, like the Red Sea, moved away: a boy slid on his back almost to our feet.
And the boy in question was Erwan. An Erwan with a split, bloody lip.
With a furious gesture, he wiped his mouth under my shocked look.
Without even glancing at me, he stood up in a supple movement.
The rest was even more unreal: he was leaping like an animal, his hands on the tiled floor of the corridor.
His target?
Cahl, of course.
I took a step forward, and my protective instinct towards this thug suddenly awakened. Koran barred my way with his arm.
“Don’t get involved, puppy, they...”
Without letting him finish his sentence, I nastily pushed his hand away and barely heard him swear.
I was boiling with fury.
As I approached the two fighters who were enthusiastically exchanging uppercuts, an inhuman groan rose in the air... and it came from me.
The students had the same reflex when I came near them. They parted as one.
I wasn’t aware of rolling up my upper lip, however, I did.
“DO NOT TOUCH HIM!”
Cahl backed away from Erwan in a great leap, so Erwan struck at the empty space.
My breathing became faster and faster. My muscles were trembling. Was I having seizures?
Only astonishment appeared on the swollen face of the meta of the Leirigh pack. He was staring at me with unmistakable surprise.
The three of us were stiff and motionless.
Then Erwan stood in front of me, glaring at me in anger.
“Mich’ fik samp orinesse!” [Don’t try to protect me anymore!] he growled.
This sentence was magical.
Even if I didn’t understand the meaning, I lowered my head, sheepishly.
“Siam’ vaune... siam’ vaune...” [I’m sorry] I murmured in a tiny voice.
Oh no!
I had just said these words without even knowing what they meant!
I was going to end up schizophrenic at this rate!
In response, Erwan hugged me.
It took me a good five minutes to remember where we were exactly.
And I stepped away from Erwan, confused, troubled but above all embarrassed to have made a spectacle of myself!
- Writer
