Page 46 of A University of Betrayal

Now it was Wednesday, and the energy levels of the pack members seemed to skyrocket, even if this was nothing compared to the energy felt around the full moon.

I began to watch the duel intently as I realized who was up against whom. It was Hunter, hurling his older brother Harry into the air. He had always been the strongest of the three Jones brothers, and the only one against whom I had ever lost. That’s why I was happy when he challenged me.

I knew I was strong, only Hunter was damn good, and I doubted I had a chance against him.

I was a female Senseque, which made me stronger than most men. A fact I’d never really understood, because we were a traditional patriarchy. Probably because female Senseque were so rare that some packs didn’t even have any.

Suddenly, Hunter looked up and our eyes met. I took a deep breath and broke my gaze from his as his big brother grabbed him and threw him against the biggest oak tree in our meadow.

I gritted my teeth and heard my uncle next to me make a sound that revealed he must have literally felt Hunter’s pain. And in fact, we had, through the Alpha bond.

I had distracted Hunter.

He quickly got to his feet and gave me a quick glance before returning his full concentration to the game.

It didn’t escape my notice that Caleb was missing, and then I remembered that he had moved to the States with his father a few weeks ago, where he now had to join another Alpha. Dad had taken care of it, had to take his Alpha ban from the two of them, and this morning he had received a message from one of the US-American Alphas that the two of them had arrived at their designated territory.

That’s how it worked for us. Controlled and following the Code to prevent a Senseque from leaving the hierarchy behind and becoming packless or even feral.

Cody roared loudly next to Noah, and I had to smile.

Cody Kaheel had grown on me over the last three years. He had moved here with his father and uncle to join the Canadian pack and at first, everyone had teased him for his size. But in the last two years, he had grown into a handsome young man, becoming one of the best hunters and moving up from Omega to Delta; even though he often jumped against trees because he had a visual weakness in his wolfish form.

I valued him as a loyal friend who I wouldn’t want to miss in the pack.

Just like Noah, next to him, who, together with Hunter, was the strongest, albeit the roughest of them all. If I had to choose one of them to go into battle with against the Ruisangors, I would choose Noah – if you left out the adrenaline-addicted fighting machine calledKieran Wheeler, who was still enjoying his time abroad in the US.

And if I needed a wise counselor, I’d choose Hunter’s big brother, Harry. He was a lot like his father, Maverick Jones, who – as a Beta – was already my father’s second most trusted advisor.

Maverick was a thoughtful man, and I was glad he supported Dad, even though he often spoke out against Alarik’s university policies and Julian’s hardship case. And he was right. Julian was breaking the code, and Alarik wasn’t really trying to protect the pack at all.

Above me and Alarik, two noisy birds chirped as they perched in the nearest oak tree, snapping me out of my thoughts, but before they could return to Father’s political plans, something distracted me. A glimmer.

I jerked my head around and looked at the source of the reflection.

Had something moved on the upper floor? In Alarik’s rooms? Strange, because he was here, next to me.

“I... still have a lot to do for university,” I lied boldly and felt a little bad about it, even worse when Alarik nodded in understanding and leaned a little further over the parapet to watch the guys.

My law studies kept me busy day and night when I wasn’t in the forest with the guys or training with Alarik, but because I was working in advance, I had nothing more to do today.

I looked at Alarik one last time. He seemed to be thinking. Something was bothering him. I would ask him later, because I had no time to waste now. Whoever was lurking through Alarik’s rooms, I would catch him.

Sneaky-Sneaky

Gold-Tiger

This was my favorite part of the house. Here was my room, and everything after that belonged to Alarik. There was something different in his part of the house. I couldn’t describe it. It felt like I was stepping into the past here.

My uncle didn’t change anything about the paintings that hung here. Pictures of family structures from back then. Even though it was almost exclusively men with their many offspring, and only occasionally, a woman could be found in the oil paintings, they all told a story.

I would have loved to know more about the Esadowa tribe and my mother’s ancestors. All Father ever talked about was the number of hunting trophies, how many times they had torn a Ruisangor to shreds, and which Alpha had led the pack when.

Only Alarik seemed to know more. He had told me the stories of the women, what their names were, and who had wooed them. Also, how they had defended the pack in difficult times, that I had almost been jealous of their inner strength and love for these men. It was funny how little I knew about love, and yet I was soon to...

A muffled noise startled me out of my thoughts and I looked to the door at the back of the corridor, which was ajar.

Alarikneverleft his door open.