Chapter 56: Secret and desire
Andria’s POV
I opened my eyes to meet the angry faces of the four.
"You are half vampire?" Aven growled, his eyes flashing red, "And you never cared to say it." he was pacing all over the smelly dungeon where I passed out.
There was no vampire in sight, Becca was awake, and Arlo was around, too. They all stared at me with straight, disappointed, judgmental eyes.
I wanted to be buried instantly. I’ve disappointed the only ones who stood out for me.
"I should have told you all, but being a vampire in a wolf school, knowing how the wolves despise the vampire," I defended myself.
"If you told me, believe me, your secrets will be safe with me, but you kept it from me," Becca paused, "From us, I don’t know who you are anymore."
"We don’t know who you are anymore," they chorused, their voices echoing until they vanished.
"She is still passed out?" Tristan’s voice was the first voice I heard as I tried to adjust my eyes to the environment.
I was no longer in the dungeon of the casino; in fact, I was on a sheet. That’s when I realized that it was all a dream.
Aven, Tristan, Damon, Zade, Becca and Arlo all found out that I was the creature they all detested. It was just a nightmare.
I looked around me, my senses adjusting to the environment and was ambushed by the scent of fresh sheets. I wasn’t in my room, nor was I in Becca’s either. I’ve not been to this room before, but it felt like I was in a room in the Alpha successors’ apartment.
I could guess that I’m in their apartment and probably on Aven’s bed, whom I’ve not been to his room before.
I panicked at first, sitting up and scanning my body for any inappropriateness. There were bandages on my arm and plasters on my left eye.
"You done cross-checking yourself?" Damon’s voice came sharp, cutting through my thoughts with his usual sarcasm. "Or do you want a mirror to help?"
His words caused others to look towards my direction. Damon was leaning against the wall closest to me, Tristan was seated on the vanity counter, Aven was on his couch, while Zade paced around.
They looked worried and concerned, and immediately, Damon said those words, and they turned to look at me; the tension in their face faded gradually.
I glared in Damon’s direction. His arms were folded casually, a smirk tugging at his lips.
Aven’s eyes were fixated on me, his voice calm. "Oh, the sleeping beauty is awake. Relax. No one touched you. Not even me. I can’t do anything to you without your consent." He paused, lips curving into something dangerous. "You’d have to crave any one of us first."
"Crave? Please. Don’t flatter yourself," I shot back, but my voice didn’t carry the bite I wanted. "What am I doing here?" I asked, trying to place how I got here, but I couldn’t quite remember.
Last night, I was in the casino and now I’m here. Could it be they saw me in my half-vampire/ werewolf form? I doubt they noticed that form. That was just a nightmare.
"What happened to ’I can take care of myself’? You were nearly killed in that casino last night," Aven growled.
"Well, my friend was taken to that dungeon, and if I wasn’t in my room that night, she could have been killed. That reminds me, where is Becca?" I asked, throwing the duvet aside and reaching for my slippers at the edge of the bed.
Tristan and Zade instantly grabbed my hands, stopping me from standing up.
Becca is safe. She is in Tristan’s room," Aven said firmly, looking into my eyes, "You can get there now, but you need rest; you were passed out for 10 hours."
"So who stays with Becca now?" I asked in a concerned tone, Becca is bearing the brunt of something just because she is my friend.
"Arlo is with her, you have to be calm, everything is under control," Tristan said in a low tone that made my heart flutter.
Heat prickled at the back of my neck, and I hated myself for noticing how low his voice dropped on that last word, and let his words have such an effect on me.
Damon scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes.
My face got heated, and I realized then that my scent was all over the place. I hadn’t applied the witch’s ointment. My wolf was excited, and I couldn’t control it, and now they get to see another vulnerable part of me again.
Too late, because their countenance changed into something more dangerous.
Tristan’s jaw clenched. Zade shifted slightly, and though he didn’t speak, his eyes burned hotter than fire itself. Damon’s smirk faltered, his nostrils flaring. And Aven didn’t move, but the sharpness in his stare, the colour of his eyes already told me how he felt.
A cold silence stretched over the room, creating a heightened sexual tension. I pulled the sheets closer to my chest as though the sheets could serve as a barrier, holding back the way their Alpha, dominant instincts were reacting.
Aven finally exhaled, a sound low and rough. "You don’t make things easy, do you?, I can smell you so well, how your treacherous body betrays you whenever you are with us."
I felt so embarrassed. My heat scent is my curse; it betrays my entire cover. To make it worse, it was as if the words that came out of his mouth drenched me more.
"Just tell us how much you desire us; it won’t take you anything, you naughty little wolf," Damon whispered, causing my core to clench.
I needed to change this topic before I mess myself up. I was already pooling, and my scent was already betraying me; if I didn’t change this topic soon, I might do something I’ll regret.
Despite lusting after them, I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t treat me like Zade had treated me in the past. And I didn’t trust Zade not to repeat history.
"What’s the time?" I asked in an attempt to change the topic.
"That came out of nowhere," Zade remarked, rolling the pen in his hands. "If you must know, it’s past noon."
"What? I missed classes today, and I’m contesting for an election," that would be bad in my reports.
Tristan let out a loud laugh, and the others joined him simultaneously. "You are thinking about this now because you finally woke up You should be grateful, you aren’t dead."
"About that," Zade continued from where Tristan stopped, "We applied for a leave of absence on the basis that you were attacked in school grounds."
"We have our suspects, but the school had insisted on investigating what happened, who did it, and why they did it," Aven explained.
"Wait a minute, you have a suspect?, Who is the suspect?" I asked, my voice faltering a bit.
"The name coming into our minds now is your rival contestant, you know, she would stop at no cost to win. Besides, I overheard my gambling roommates talk to certain vampires about abducting you," Zade explained, while pacing the room.
The air in the room got more tense, this time not out of desire but from an unsolved puzzle of my abduction. Anger pulsed through my veins.
How could Tracy gamble with my life just because of a student council election? She could win it without risking not just my life, but the life of my friend.
"So what now? We leave them to bury the case?" I asked in an agitated tone, turning to face Aven.
"He already tendered his suspicion to the school board," Aven said, gesturing toward Zade. "The suspects have been questioned and are under watch."
"You and Becca are the last pieces in the puzzle of witnesses, pointing out if the students under watch tally with the creatures that abducted you," Tristan added.
"Besides, that case can’t be buried, seeing that we took it up," Damon said, a slow, proud smirk gracing his perfect, arrogant face.
"So what happens to my campaign now?, Who gets to oversee it now?" I asked nervously, the hitch in my words betraying my strong facade
"Well, you have to heal up first; they dealt lethal blows on you," Zade said in a stern and worried tone, his eyes narrowing on me.
Tristan drew closer to examine the injury on my left arm, "You are healing faster than most wolves will, from a vampire attack. Not to talk of the gang attack you received, and that’s strange."
I knew that being part vampire had its pros and cons, and healing quickly was part of the pros. I had to find a way to avoid where this topic was going.
"So does it mean that no one is currently overseeing my campaign?" I asked in an attempt to divert their attention.
"If you must know, the princess is currently in charge of your campaign," Damon replied in a cold tone.
And then a long silence overwhelmed the room. A knock on the door broke the silence spell.