Alliance of Shadows, Book 4: DRESON

Colliding Perspectives

A month passed in still quiet with only my teachers and Leif. I avoided the others who arrived from the Sacred Heart coven shortly after I got to the towers. I was here to learn, not to entertain them.

I needed answers, and the only one here willing to help me was Leif. I really hoped he wasn't playing with my head and heart. If he was my Mate, then my father and mother would willingly take him into our home. They would protect him for me.

Someone knocked on my room door, and I rose to open it. An older man stood on the other side, dressed in a mailman’s uniform that looked like it belonged to another time. His presence felt oddly out of place amid the tower’s quiet.

"Hi… Can I help you?"

"Right, I’m Sean," the man in the hall said cheerfully. "Got any mail ta send off, lad?"

"Actually, yes. You’ve got perfect timing," I told him.

He nodded, lifting the sealed letters into the air. "Just the one?"

"Yeah, it’s got separate letters in one big envelope for my parents and my brother," I replied.

"Ah, safe bet they both arrive on time, then. Good on ya," he said, giving me a friendly wave before moving to the next door a little further down the hall.

Moments later, a shuffle in the shadows drew my attention to the hottest guy I’d ever been introduced to. I mean, how can I not drool over him when everything in me was screaming he was the one. My fated match.

My Mate.

"Yer thinkin’ hard today," Leif's gentle voice sent shivers up and down my spine.

My breath hitched when I turned to look at him. There was a small gash on his cheek, and his left eye was starting to swell shut.

Gasping, I pulled him into my room and shut the door. "What the hell happened, Leif? I thought you were going to the library today?"

He pushed me back. "Stop it. Stop worryin’ so much about me, aye? I’m not a femina, Dreson."

Confused, I stared at him. "I don't understand. What's going on with you, Leif?"

"Just leave it, alright? It’s not all about ye," he snapped. "I only came by to tell ye I can’t be around ye anymore. I’m not leavin’, I just don’t want ta be near ye. I’ve been through enough as it is, I don’t need yer nonsense pilin’ on top o’ it."

It had only been a month, and he was already sick of me? No, I didn’t believe it.

I didn't want to believe that he didn't care. There was too much chemistry between us for him to reject me.

"You're lying, Leif. You said we were Mates," I said calmly.

He scoffed, anger making his words a little harder to understand. "Ye’re gullible, Dreson. I said that ta win yer trust, and ye believed me. I’m not goin’ ta take beatings for ye when I’ve taken enough in my life."

Beatings? For me?

"Leif, what are you talking about? I've been doing what I was told this whole time. I don't talk to anyone else to make enemies. Make me understand, please," I begged.

There was a flash of sadness in his eyes, and I knew he was trying hard to lie to me. He could try all he wanted to, I wasn’t going to let him.

Grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving, I shoved him against the wall. "Stop lying to yourself, Leif. You're never going to heal if you don't let me in!"

He snarled, pushing me back. "I don't want ta let ye in! I got my arse handed ta me today because o’ ye. All because ye’re the son of a High-Councillor, the Gods-damned King o’ feckin’ Druids, ye think ye’re untouchable?"

I couldn’t remember telling him who or what my father was. Confusion twisted through me as I glared at him. The pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. The one person who was supposed to love me no matter what had been hurt because someone in the tower couldn't resist turning my life upside down.

I ran through the list of names of people who had been chosen from my coven, sighing as I reached the inevitable answer. There weren’t many, and all of them were friends with Leroy Evans.

My answer gave itself to me, and I grimaced. "Leif, did Leroy tell you about me?"

He snapped his bright green eyes in my direction and narrowed his gaze. "What does it matter who told me, eh? Ya didn't, an’ it makes me wonder what else ye be hidin’."

"I'm not hiding anything from you, Leif. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to see me as a Councillor's kid or as a stupid title. I wanted you to see me for me before I told you. I just want to be like everyone else. If you're going to listen to Leroy Evans and his group of bully friends, then I have nothing more to say to you." I said, grabbing my jacket.

Homesick and hurting, I ran out of the tower without another look back.

I could hear him yelling for me to go back to my room, but I didn't care. I'd put my trust in him.

I praised him to my parents!

Knowing that Leroy and the others made it past the initial trials, I wondered how they managed it. The only good thing about them being here was the fact that Kaden was safe from their abuse. As long as they were here, I didn't need to worry about my baby brother.

Rounding a corner, I spotted Leroy and his friends.

I turned on my heel to go in a different direction when I bumped into Camden.

"Hey, pretty boy," Camden smirked as he shoved me to the ground. I landed with a gasp as lightning streaked across the eastern sky. The flash illuminated their sneering faces, a stark contrast against the looming dark clouds overhead. "This time, daddy's not here to save you."

I scoffed, pushing myself up. "I don't need my father to save me. Haven't you done enough damage for once? I mean, I know you guys hate me because I wouldn't let you pick on my brother, but this is going a little too far."

Leroy snapped, grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back. "My father beat my ass because you got in the way of us teaching that little hybrid a lesson. We would have left you alone, Dreson. All you had to do was hand him over, and all of this bullshit could have been avoided. You had to play the hero, didn't you?"

Not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing me in pain, I laughed noiselessly, forcing my breath to steady.

"I would have failed at being a big brother if I had, Leroy. I don't know why you like hurting me like this, but it's not going to make anything any better. If the Sage's find out that you're bullying, you're going home without your powers. There are rules in place for a reason, Evans, and it's not for any of us to have a free pass."

The first drops of rain hit the ground as the clouds opened up. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance as another streak of lightning highlighted something the other boys around me didn't see.

Sage Markus, Sage Rayna, Sage Harper, and a visibly agitated Leif were watching from the shadows. Their expressions were unreadable, but Leif’s tense posture stood out the most.

Beyond the tower walls, the storm churned over the rugged coastline. Waves crashed violently against jagged cliffs, sending sprays of seawater into the cold air. The narrow, twisting paths leading to the rocky shore were slick with rain, the scent of salt and damp earth thick in the air. Dense forests edged the island, their ancient trees bending and groaning under the weight of the wind, branches whipping against one another like restless spirits.

Whatever. I didn't need someone to save me when I had the strength to do it on my own.

Getting to my feet, I closed my eyes and imagined that I was up against Colt in a sparring match. A smirk flitted across my face as my mind sifted through various moves I could use, each designed to serve both defense and offense. Settling on one that would serve its purpose, I exhaled slowly.

They were the ones who needed to keep their cool, not me.