Professor Copeland, despite the recognizable anger in his voice, sounded very collected for the fact that his brother’s pack had just gotten into a fight in a public place he was responsible for.

“So, you’re not going to tell Father about this?”

Suspiciously, Nash looked at his uncle, and turned away from my phone again.

“I’ll leave it at this, Nash, on the condition that you get your shit together!”

“You should have seen the witches provo...”

“Then they provoked you!” For a very brief moment, the professor looked at us. “However, it is your duty, and most importantly your duty as a future Alpha, to know the limits and control your anger. If you ever want to take responsibility for a damn pack, then you should slowly start thinking about the consequences of your actions!”

Nash looked intently at my phone again, as if he needed it to calm himself down inside.

The professor’s words had silenced the normally loud young man. But you could tell it was working inside him.

“And you...” The professor turned to us and ran his hands through his disheveled hair, messing up his slightly curly hairstyle even more. “Please take care of that girl.”

Everyone immediately looked at Grace.

She and Amara were the only ones in our Circle with the strongest command of the most common element, earth. The power to change chemical substances in their action and form, which allowed them to intervene in natural environmental processes.

Although there were many Earth Quatura, their powers were very difficult to train and required a very high level of concentration, years of practice, and a certain bond with nature. Grace's achievements since her Quatura maturity were impressive. She was a natural talent among all of us, had climbed from a Novice to a Servus faster than Vivienna, and it was rumored that she could be the future mother of the chosen one from the prophecy.

No one knew exactly who it came from, only that it had shown up at the doors of the founding families of Blairville one morning a few decades ago, in the 80s, which in my opinion made it untrustworthy, if not null and void. Still, the Quatura sanctified it, while the Ruisangors and the Senseque feared her.

“She must forget what she has just seen as quickly as possible,” Professor Copeland sighed, with a very insistent look directed at Grace. To my surprise, she nodded in obedience and then looked at me.

The young university director gestured with a hand gesture to the guys, who followed him just as obediently – though not without hesitation – out through the outside portico and into the inside of the building.

That was it for today with the English course.

I went to check my cell phone, but to my despair, it was no longer where it had been.

Instead, I bumped into a strong upper body and when I looked up in confusion, it was the deep blue eyes of Nash Copeland that I was exposed to without mercy.

My heart slipped out of its grip.

He was still the strongest of all present here and the one with the most hatred for the Quatura...for my kind.

I certainly looked scared, but he just eyed me briefly, insistently, and wordlessly held out my cell phone to me.

Just as I was about to take it hesitantly, the sound of a notification rang out again and the display lit up.

Larissa.

But it wasn’t her messages that kept my eyes on the display.

It was Erik’s.

Curiosity rose in me, and I was about to pull the phone out of Nash’s hands, but he didn’t let go of it. Startled, I looked up at him.

He was still staring at me and didn’t seem to be distracted by the sounds of my phone.

“Make sure your friends know to stay away from me and the pack, and especially to keep my sister out of their shit.”

I couldn’t say anything. As always, when he addressed me. Because, as always, he threatened me. “Understood?”

“Leave her alone, Copeland!” Grace hissed.

And then she pulled me away from him.

Chapter 33

Mady

The cake in my hands was still warm, which was because I had taken it out of the oven half an hour ago and then driven straight here.

Maybe it really was a bit too cheesy, but it was exactly the kind of thing I’d want when I’d been lying in bed for days.

Larissa had told me after Bayla hadn’t shown up on campus for days. At first, I had thought she was avoiding me, like all the girls who were friends with Grace, but Larissa had brought me back down to earth. Bayla was sick and needed people to take care of her.

I took a deep breath before pushing down the handle to her room. It was just as open as the front door downstairs.

I put on my best smile, which didn’t disappear when I saw Grace in the middle of the room floor and Julie leaning next to her at the long desk.

The latter looked at me insecurely, then at the cake and finally back at her phone.

I bit my tongue. The fact that we weren’t talking anymore still hurt my heart.

Grace looked at me and jumped up. Only now did I discover the bowl of flowers in front of her, with little colorful gemstones around them.

I knew the Blairs were a little crazy, that they didn’t let anyone in their home except for their closest family, and I also knew they all wore these strange crystals around their necks that they called lucky charm.

“What are you doing?” it blurted out curiously, which I immediately regretted as Grace’s expression darkened.

“Nothing that’s any of your business, Campbell.”

I bit my lower lip, used to Grace avoiding me, showing me her suspicion as soon as we met, but with Campbell we had reached a new level in our co-existence.

“Larissa’s not here,” it escaped Julie, almost hesitant.

“I’m here for Bayla.” Smiling, I lifted the cake. “This is for her.”

Grace frowned at the cake. “Are you still sucking up to others until they realize you’re a false snake?”

My smile disappeared for good.

After all this time, Grace still saw me in the same light as she did then, and that despite the fact that I was really doing my best to prove that Nash hadn’t made me a worse person.