Page 153 of A University of Betrayal

I hoped my nail marks would remain, at least to some extent.

“Come on, kill me in front of your pack,” he murmured playfully, pointing behind me with his amused gaze. More rage clenched inside me. “I want to see you break the rules,wolf girl.”

“Emely, leave him!” Harry shouted behind me. “Whatever that bastard provokes you with, it’s not worth it.”

Miles laughed derisively and lifted his angular chin.

“Go on.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “This is your chance.”

“Go to hell!”I yelled at him, and my jaw began to work fiercely as well.

“Finish him!” Noah bellowed, and I moved closer, completely blocking out the sensation-seeking students with their phones pulled out.

“Copeland!” an angry female voice shouted, which could only belong to one person in particular. “DeLoughrey!”

Miles’s smile intensified and we both focused on each other, trying not to let our eyes drift out of control. But someone tugged me back.Hunter.

Before I could give him a grim look, I spotted the redheaded air witch who had just waltzed into Vanderwood like this was her territory.

She slammed the door of her new caramel colored convertible and pointed aggressively up at the distant tower of the west wing, around which a screeching flock of ravens was buzzing.

“Into my office!”

Confrontation

Christopher Tyng

It was a disgrace to be standing next to aRuisangorand having to justify something understandable to aQuatura.

Harlow calmly unpacked the contents of her leather bag – decorated with leopard patterns – but her eyelids twitched.

The ridiculous decorations in her office were at least a little distracting. Until her way-too-high voice warbled through the room.

“Do you have theslightestidea what kind of riots you’re provoking on this campus with your daily outbursts?”

She wasn’t looking at Miles. She was looking at...me?

More anger, more concentrated rage that I would have loved to take out on Miles. With my claws. On the hood of his car.

“He’s being provocative!” I said, pointing at Miles, who was standing next to me with his arms crossed behind his back, smiling with satisfaction. The sight alone was enough to get on my last nerve.

“I already know that, Miss Copeland,” RebeccafuckingHarlow sighed. “And do you know what to do with people who think they could overstep the line? Who think they can dance around your nose?” She paced around her desk, a sharp amber letter opener in her hand. But this time she wasn’t looking at me, but at my rival. “You take something they’re attached to. Something that means a lot to them.”

Harlow stopped in front of him, letting the tip of her letter opener tap against his chest, and I watched his Adam’s apple move, his gaze fixed on the woman in front of him, his smile gone.

“Mr. DeLoughrey. Do you know that I once knew someone like you? He overstepped the mark,too.”She laughed, making a shrill noise. “But anything that runs riot will, sooner or later, be destroyed by nature itself.” She smiled. And she was the only one capable of doing so in that moment. “Your entire species is a disgrace to this city. A mistake of nature.”

She turned to me, took the letter opener from Miles’s chest, and stepped toward me.

I swore to myself that if that thing so much asgrazedmy clothes, I’d take her to court with the proper laws.

“Which brings us back to you, Miss Copeland.” A disdainful look settled on her porcelain face. “One more misstep like that in front of the entire campus, and I’ll erase you from the student records.” I bit my lower lip and thought I saw Miles smirk in the corner of my eye, but when I looked at him, he lowered his smile-adorned gaze to the floor. “And considering your good performances, that would be a pity.”

I looked back at Harlow. Her letter opener hovered over my chest. Harlow smiled.

“And while we’re at it. Neither of you will win the election... I’ll make sure of that.”

The door bursting open made her flinch, and the smile automatically vanished from her face as something fell off the laden dresser behind us and shattered into shards. A vase with a leopard pattern.