Page 133 of A University of Betrayal

“The puppy bonus,” Miles just sighed and drained the second glass.

He wasn’t restraining himself at all, but it occurred to me that perhaps he hadn’t had a drink for longer than anyone else present. To be precise, since the incident with the girl we’d had to take home.

I stood up. “Excuse me, I have something to do.”

“As long as it has nothing to do with leaving or packing your bags, go ahead,” Miles laughed jokingly, and I looked at him, unimpressed.

“I wish.”

Camille looked at me and I thought I saw pity in her eyes.

I quickly nodded to the others and then headed off. I didn’t know which way to go, but I would find him. Bastien couldn’t be far away.

However, I wandered through the estate and got lost in the dimly lit corridors. There was no Bastien here. Bastien had disappeared.

Chapter 26

Emely

Impromptu No. 1 in C Minor for Piano

Nicholas Britell

Sitting at this table and eating with guests had never been as strange as it was today. Maybe it was because we rarely had guests or because I was already used to Hunter, his brothers and their father, Maverick, occasionally coming over for dinner. But it wasn’t these four people we were having dinner with this time. No, it was the Rolanows. They were sitting at the other end of the table. To be precise, theirAlphawas sitting there.

Dimitrio Rolanow,a tall, dark-blond man about my father’s age, his eyes light blue and cool. His short beard made him look older than he actually was.

Next to him, to his right, sat a beautiful woman. She was younger than him, perhaps in her mid-thirties? She had beautiful blonde curls and freckles that emphasized her blue eyes, as did her thick eyelashes. She was Dimitrio’s sister.Tania Rolanow,if I wasn’t mistaken.

To the other side of the Russian Alpha sat a handsome tall blond man, with striking facial features that emphasized his masculinity, and I would be lying if I said he wasn’t attractive. He had the same blue eyes as the rest of the family. And he had introduced himself asMikhail Rolanow,son of the Russian alpha.

Father had made a statement, even publicly – though he hated that sort of thing – to let the DeLoughreys know that we weren’t going to let their indirect threats through the murders at our forest borders get through to us. Even if Jenny Bexley was already chasing after me again for that, trying to squeeze more details out of me.

I had put on a loose-fitting dark green evening dress, wore my hair down and was already regretting having put earrings in because, as always, my earlobes were burning like hell. But what didn’t you do to look your best at such an important dinner?

“Word is spreading fast that you have taken the supremacy in Canada.” The Russian alpha smiled at my father as we all ate together. There was the best food,allkinds of food in fact. And my uncle had cooked, which meant it tasted extra good. He had a talent for seasoning meat. “And let’s get straight to the point. I realize you want to extend this power to all of North America.”

My father smiled, but I could feel him tense up.

Dimitrio seemed to know his plans. It wasn’t that hard to guess when you knew why this dinner was happening. And the fact thatIwas the reason didn’t make it any more pleasant.

“And you want to strengthen your business influences in America as well, as far as I know,” Father replied calmly, although tensely, when Dimitrio cleared his throat and now his tension seemed to be rising as well.

I couldn’t help but conceal my nervousness by once again putting something on my plate. Hopefully it wouldn’t be noticeable that I had already eaten my fifth chicken leg. That’s when I spotted Mikhail looking at me.

Heat shot through my cheeks. I was embarrassed to be eating in front of the son of the Russian Alpha. Alone, the reason why he was here... And now I saw him and he saw me.Oh, God.The nervousness almost threatened to eat me up from the inside.

Nash next to me didn’t seem nervous at all, but strangely tense. Because whenever he was tense, he ate very slowly and observed everything, just like he did with Dimitrio’s son all the time. I would have liked to kick him under the table, but I restrained myself, especially now that Mikhail’s eyes were upon me.

“Webothhave our interests, otherwise we wouldn’t be here,” my father said, easing the tension considerably by smiling at the Russian Alpha, who smiled back.

“The food tastes very good, Nickolas. Thank you for your hospitality,” the Alpha’s sister said in a warm voice and smiled, looking more genuine than her father and Dimitrio.

“You have to give the compliment to my uncle. He cooked all this,” I replied quickly, earning a serious look from my father, which triggered the familiar confusion inside me.

Tania looked a little flustered, but then she nodded with an insecure smile and continued eating.

“Alarik is here?”