Whenever Copelands were involved, there were unnecessary problems.
First, they had come to Blairville almost 250 years ago, becoming a thorn in the side not only of us, but also of the Quatura, because their kind existed solely to eradicate ours. And now, under the rules of the Quatura, they already owned the largest third of the island, and they still didn’t have enough, trying not to give in to their murderous urge to wipe us out.
Nicolaj had warned us that the Senseque did not want the peace treaty any more than our clan did – if you excluded Bastien, Camille, and Laurent.
I decided to stay away from them, hoping that I would only encounter them in English class. Inwardly, however, I already suspected that it would not stay that way.
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.
