Chapter 20

Julian

What the...?

I had thought it couldn't get any worse, but here I was, in front of me, the brood of the DeLoughrey clan. At the latest, the smell that had been in the air for about five minutes had given them away. And it had awakened a memory in me. That of the day I had gone into the woods.

"Not only did they put us in the cabin with the mutts, they put us in a room with one of them," the brown-haired one with the undercut man bun laughed in amusement, crossing the room at a speed that could clearly only be attributed to the Ruisangors. He dropped onto one of the uncovered beds and looked around, visibly unimpressed.

I was still standing there, rooted to the spot, unable to say anything in response.

What were these people doing here? In this house...in this room? Had Nash not wanted to talk to his father?

"Leave us alone, and we'll do the same," the blond guy finally said, darting over to one of the windows and pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as if he were bored. He was walking normally, unlike his friend, since that too was actually part of the rules when you were in another territory. But anyway, there were no normal humans here at the moment.

The silent one with the pitch-black hair still stood in the doorway and eyed me suspiciously with his dark eyes.

Did I look that threatening?

Something inside me wanted to confront him, but I skillfully suppressed this urge. I didn't want to be kicked out of university on day one. Even though I would have liked nothing more than that. After all, it was my father who had sent me to this jail.

"And tell your friend not to get too cocky about his position as the Alpha's son," the brown-haired one added.

"Nash is not my friend," I snorted in disdain. "And I'm not one of them either..."

Now all three of them looked at me with suspicion. They showed little emotion. Something they were known for.

"If you don't belong to them , then who do you belong to?" the black-haired one asked. He sounded distrustful.

"Just to be clear, I'm not part of the pack," I added.

"Hmm, a loner, then. Did you hear that, Adrian?" the brown-haired guy laughed, addressing the black-haired guy, and put his leather shoes on the white sheets, his arms behind his head.

In my opinion, they were all dressed way too classy, which again boldly emphasized their aloofness.

Adrian had to be the black-haired man who eyed me like his next prey. Yet it was a Senseque bite that could kill their kind.

"I have nothing to do with them. And I don't wanna have anything to do with you guys, either."

"You all have a pack. You can't do without one..." the brown-haired man laughed, unknowingly provoking me... or maybe on purpose.

"Let him be, Miles. He said he doesn't want anything to do with us, so he will."

The blond. At least someone who understood. Better for him.

This Miles just gave a disdainful snort and looked over to the bed, which was next to the one I was currently sitting on.

The very idea that they would sleep here made uneasiness rise in me. I knew what they did to survive. And even if I was theoretically safe from them on the ground of the Copelands, no one could know how important the rules were to them .

The black-haired man seemed to tense up. "Then tell the Alpha's son to stay away from us."

Of course... because I was the errand boy on duty here, after all.

"Tell him yourself. That's his room over there."

I pointed to the door of the room, behind which was the hallway and the other bedroom.

"The Copelands live here, too?!" It escaped Miles, but this time he looked not at me but, like the blond, at Adrian.

His jaw visibly tightened, but he said nothing further.

For whatever reason, the DeLoughreys had come here during the founding times and had claimed the town for themselves. The witches, who had lived here the longest, had forced them aside, and the Senseque had engaged in bloody battles with them before anyone had come up with the glorious idea of having treaties drawn up.

I wondered why one kind hadn't just left Blairville. All of them were eager about this town. And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

I turned my attention back to my travel bag.

Actually, I would now be in a large room in the main building. But as lucky as I was, I had found myself in one of the ten newly built houses of the forty residential groups in the woods next to Vanderwood. A Copeland project .

It was the front house and felt like the largest of them all. I wasn't surprised that Nash was housed here with his buddies. Everything was luxurious, and there was a good view overlooking the forest, which I liked.

Admittedly, it was a quiet place. Yet it was clear to me in whose territory I was in and what that – theoretically – meant for me.

My thoughts landed back on the campus lawn, where the Copelands had already hit at least ten people with their football on the first day, including two professors.

Loud laughter, coming from downstairs, snapped me out of my thoughts.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one who had heard Nash, because that Adrian guy who had just been staring out the window next to the blond was now turning around.

If this kept up, something was definitely going to happen soon. Senseque and Ruisangors under one roof were like a lighter at a gas station.

Just then, the door to the room burst open and Nash entered along with his six closest friends.

Hunter Jones, girl crush and best football player after Nash; Harry Jones, his two-year older brother and the embodiment of common sense, just like their father; Cody Kaheel, the dark-haired jokester of the group with the biggest mouth; Noah, the dark-blond thug; Caleb, to whom the same applied; and Marten, the guy with no opinion of his own.

In short, a group of obnoxious pricks.

I noticed that Kieran was missing. In fact, I hadn't seen the most cunning one of them on campus yet. He probably would have hit the ceiling if he'd seen the DeLoughreys here.

The grin on Nash's face slipped out by leaps and bounds.

"You messed with the wrong one!" he growled, glaring suspiciously at the three Ruis. One by one.

Miles, still wearing his black shoes on the uncovered bed, put on his annoying grin.

"How dare you-" Hunter began, but Nash held him back.

The two of them were like the best bros. Hunter had actually always been pretty okay, but ever since he officially joined the pack, he did everything he could to prove his loyalty, doing everything for Nash. You could tell who was soon to become the new Alpha, even though I found this decision extremely questionable.

I remembered that it was really none of my business and looked over at Miles, who was now slowly getting up...walking toward Nash. Arriving in front of him, he stopped and gave another snooty grin. Nash clenched his hands into fists.

You could clearly feel the tension in the room. Only one person had to say something wrong, then this invisible wall would fall and there would be a massacre.

Miles took another step toward Nash. That was the stupidest thing he could do.

He just sneered again. "You guys are much more adorable up close."

"Miles," Adrian pressed out impatiently, but before anything could happen, I jumped up and put myself between Miles and Nash. My gaze was on Nash as I did so.

"What are you doing, Julian?" he pressed out.

His gaze darkened, and I knew what he was trying to do. But since I wasn't part of his pack and wasn't planning to be anytime soon, it wasn't working. Did he really think he could get me out of the way that easily?

"Scum!" he growled, turning away from me and the DeLoughreys.

Miles was no longer standing behind me, but leaning against the desk.

"And my sister still thinks you're one of us!" Nash looked at me grimly, and I wanted to punch him in the face. He could have saved that stupid look on his face for himself. "If she knew you were surrounding yourself with these freaks."

"I didn't choose this," I said snidely and walked past him into the hallway, his friends giving me disapproving looks. But they couldn't do anything against me. Not without Nash saying something.

At least I still had a mind of my own. One would look in vain for that among them.

"You'll be sorry you ever betrayed us like that, Bardot," Nash called after me, but I was already on my way down the stairs and didn't give a damn about his empty words.

I had already received many threats, so this was no longer anything significant.

Nash should run to his father, like every time. It just showed once again how pathetic the Copelands really were. Because without money, they would only be a miserable pile of ashes, far away from this city.