Chapter 48

Adrian

It got colder. Just the way I liked it.

The fresh evening air blew through my hair and messed it up in an unpleasant way.

Bastien had called me and he was never late. I couldn't shake off the feeling that something must be wrong.

I was standing alone on campus, and it was now 11 pm.

At this time of night, only hormone-driven couples or drunken idiots from the Midnights came here.

Everything seemed empty today. It was abnormally quiet. A few hours ago, feral Copelands had been playing with their balls here and that annoying reporter girl had tried to interview Miles.

Her curiosity would eventually get her killed, as it often happened with reporters who stuck their noses too deeply into our family affairs.

I glanced over at the largest oak tree on campus, under which, of course, none of the dogs were hanging out at this hour.

"The Senseque are dangerous," David had warned Miles, who was considering running for election in March just to piss them off. "You shouldn't aggravate them in their territory."

And while Miles, as usual, wouldn't give a shit about David's warning, David's words bothered me, until now.

None of them knew that I was the most dangerous person on this campus.

A very familiar black BMW pulled into the campus parking lot, almost too slow to pass for one of us. But that was Bastien. Adapted to humans, like no one else, and yet one of our strongest.

He got out of the car and his crooked tie immediately caught my eye.

Untypical . Unprofessionalism was not one of his characteristics. Something was up, and I could literally smell it as the scent of cigarettes and rum wafted toward me.

Bastien didn't drink rum. Never . He preferred scotch. And he didn't smoke, either.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Bastien's gray hairline shone in the moonlight. Still, he looked younger than he actually was.

He looked around as if someone was following him. Not a good sign.

"Tristan is here."

The tension in my chest returned.

I hadn't expected this .

I furrowed my forehead.

"He wanted to meet me to tell me something important."

"And?" I asked, trying to sound visibly unimpressed by Tristan's appearance.

Tristan was the traitor of the family. A black sheep , if you wanted to look at it that way.

Shortly after my transformation, he had left the family to join the dark side. And if he was here, the Tenebris Order couldn't be far away.

That filthy gang would ruin Nicolaj's reputation in town. Because the damned Senseque wouldn't see any difference between those fucking outcasts and us. They'd probably be rubbing their hands together, just looking for a weak spot in the contract to get rid of us.

"He didn't show up..."

Bastien sounded annoyed.

He was unable to let him go.

"Be glad. Maybe he used his head and figured out for himself that it wouldn't be smart to show up here."

I looked around. The wind had picked up. A cool breeze brushed the back of my neck, and it was as if I felt something like goose bumps. Unusual .

" Hardly. One of his men was there and said their master had reprimanded Tristan, and we should be careful."

"Did you tell him that he can go to hell?"

I gave Bastien a scrutinizing look.

He really seemed different than usual. Not so calm, but as if Tristan was a threat – or at least what he brought with him.

Bastien was a master of his emotions. And if he reacted like that, then we were all in for something bigger.

"I want you to be careful and report any suspicious activity on this campus to me."

I looked at him in question.

"What would he want here?"

"Not him..."

I couldn't believe my trainer was actually talking about the Tenebris Order.

"Here?"

"Think Adrian. Where would you go to cause chaos when there's only one place in an area full of split territories where all three species clash."

He was right. I'd been a bit brain-locked since the incident yesterday at lunchtime with that girl. She had wanted to put me in my place just like that . And nothing about my aura had frightened her. On the contrary . She seemed to enjoy being played with.

But there were more important things now, and I had to think straight.

Turning women into problems was something only sentimental fools did.

"It could be that someone from the Order is behind the murder. Someone who wants revenge on Tristan and his family."

I pressed my lips together and looked across the campus.

I couldn't allow myself to let anyone see how much I hated this man for what he had done to our family.

And I hoped Bastien didn't feel into me. Then he would have questions. Questions I would never be able to answer.

"Whatever you find out, report back to me. And tell Miles that Laurent and I are increasing your training stakes."

As if I hadn't already spent enough afternoons wielding a dagger, letting Bastien kill me with his fencing training, or spending hours in hand-to-hand combat. The most annoying were the observation lessons and the chemistry lessons, where Miles always mixed up the chemicals so that the windows on the first floor had to be repaired at least once a month.

He was good at fencing. I had to give him credit for that. But he'd never been good at science.

" Every evening."

I nodded.

Bastien's expression relaxed a little.

"Do you think he's here to warn us?" I asked.

Bastien looked at me thoughtfully. His body had been tense the whole time.

That was usual when it came to his favorite brother. He had always tried to keep him out of these dark things. Unsuccessfully . Tristan had become one of them. And at the same time, he had completely crashed. An alcoholic renegade.

"I hope not."

I understood him. He preferred Tristan to be on the wrong track than to do the right thing and die because he was too stupid to get his own life under control.

I nodded.

"I have to go. Laurent is waiting for me."

Whatever mission the two of them were on, he wouldn't let me know anyway. Professional secrecy , as he always called it. Although, he often did things on his own. I never questioned it, because it was none of my business. We all had our private missions, I learned that early on. But with him , I always wondered what was going on in his head, what had made him this quiet yet determined man.

He never talked about his past and even when he seemed closest to me, he kept his secrets to himself.

Each DeLoughrey kept his own dirty little secrets. Secrets that could ruin the whole family if they came to light.

Bastien said goodbye to me before getting back into the car to meet Laurent.

When he was gone, another icy breeze blew in my face. It had become even colder. Almost too rapid a drop in temperature at this time of day. There was something ironic, almost symbolic, about the way the weather changed with Bastien's bad news.

The wind blew through my hair and the dark crowns of the oak trees swaying in the breeze cast huge shadows over the terrain.

Then, for a brief moment, I felt as if a shadow was scurrying past the walls. Too quickly.

I scanned the surroundings, looked more closely at the spot. But there were only the shadows of the trees. Slow and quiet. As if the approaching storm had only just arrived, ready to envelop the town in a thick wall of clouds.