Page 12 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

I went to my classes, half paying attention and half looking for my sister. The idea of her creeping around in the woods at night unsettles me, as well it should. Nadia’s not new here. Why would she do something so stupid? I’m sure there’s some nerdy explanation for whatever she was doing, like some personal environmental project. Nadia knows better than to go traipsing around in a dangerous forest in the middle of the night. If she was there, she must have had a good reason.

My last class is finishing up, and there’s still no Nadia. We’ve got at least three classes together, and she hasn’t been here for any of them. What’s going on with her?

“Okay,” the professor says as the class wraps up, “make sure to read chapters fourteen and fifteen by Monday. And don’t forget we’ve got a quiz next Wednesday.”

I’m barely paying attention as I walk past his desk.

“Mr. Vaultmore?”

I pause and look back at the professor, a slight man with wire-rimmed glasses. “Yes?”

“Just wanted to let you know that the faculty appreciates what your father did for the school during his life. He was truly a giant among men.”

“Thank you,” I say and give him a polite smile. That was random, I think as I walk out. I get about five steps from the classroom before I remember . . . today is the anniversary of Dad’s death.

That’s why I haven’t seen her. I pull out my phone and text her. Hey. You okay?

It takes a few minutes, but she texts back, Yeah. I’m okay. You?

This is the problem with text messages. It’s so easy to hide your real feelings. I should be with her. Where are you right now?

A longer pause this time. I’m all the way outside now, looking down at my phone and waiting for her reply.

Spiral. Top floor balcony. I just need a little time away from all this.

That makes my heart ache a little. Nadia was close to our father. When he passed, she went into a depression so deep that we thought she would stay in her room forever.

I’m on my way , I text her.

The evening air is already starting to settle in around me when I reach Spiral’s top floor. This floor is strictly for studying. They even magically silenced the whole floor just to prevent distractions. I’ve always found it a little unnerving to walk across stone floors without hearing the sound of my shoes or the swish of my clothing. There are long wooden tables in rows with reading lamps on each of them. On all sides are bookshelves as high as the peaked roof above us.

Outside of the lamps, there’s no other lighting here. Whatever light there is comes in from the outside during the day. I can’t imagine what this place is like at night.

On the farthest end of the room is a set of double-doors leading out to the balcony and a reprieve from the room’s oppressive magical silence. I make a beeline for it.

As I step out onto the balcony, the sound of the world comes rushing back. It’s mostly just the wind, but it’s better than what I just left behind. Otherwise, it’s beautiful up here. The sun burns orange as it makes its way toward the horizon, and the blue sky looks like someone’s turned down the dimmer switch.

Nadia is sitting in one of two wrought-iron chairs near the railing and a few steps from the entrance. She’s sitting up straight with her legs crossed, her long blonde hair loose and catching the breeze. She looks like she’s watching a lecture in class, almost. Blue eyes alert, back straight . . . It’s hard to tell that she’s lost in thought.

“Hey,” I call out. She looks up at me and smiles.

“Hey. Grab a chair.” She nods toward the other chair closest to me. I grab it and place it next to her, sitting down.

“Didn’t see you in class today.” She doesn’t respond. “Thinking about Dad, huh?”

She nods. “It’s been a year already. Why does it still feel like it just happened?”

I follow her gaze across the campus below us. We can see as far beyond the front gates from here and into the haze of the school’s illusion magic. I can even see the tops of the trees of the forbidden woods.

And that’s when I notice that she’s looking in that direction. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that whatever’s on her mind lies beyond those trees.

“I miss him so much,” she says. “He wasn’t supposed to die yet. He had so much left to do.”

I should have worn a jacket. It’s starting to get chilly, and we’re sitting up here in our uniforms. She doesn’t seem to be getting cold at all, though. She looks over at me and says, “Did you know that Dad had at least three experiments going on at the same time when he died?”

“No,” I reply. “I didn’t know that.”

She nods, a little spark of pride in her eyes. “He was improving the well water quality in Claymore and was planning on taking it to Alpha King Leon for an expansion throughout Clarion.”

“That’s pretty cool. You were always in the know about what he was working on. Kind of wish I’d had more of an interest.”

She chuckles. “He was always working on something.”

“Maybe you could continue one of those experiments,” I say softly. “You know, carry on his legacy?”

She opens her mouth to speak, then chuckles and says, “Dad’s legacy is your job, not mine. Besides, I only know the details of one experiment. The others he kept locked away. I only know they exist because I stumbled on some of his notes once.”

I tilt my head a little. The wrinkle in her nose as she speaks, the way she looks down at her hands . . . Nadia’s lying.

“You were pretty close to Dad,” I press. “He never bothered to tell you everything he was working on?”

She looks at me, her eyes reading my face for a moment. Then she smiles warmly and says, “No, he didn’t. Sometimes he’d start telling me things. Then, stop and say, ‘Oh, you don’t have time to listen to your old man rattle on. Go back to your studying.’ He said it like he thought he was bothering me. I wish I told him I wanted to hear more. Now, I’ll never have the chance.”

That part sounds genuine and that kind of makes me doubt the knot in my stomach. I remember what Saffron said about her. I know they don’t like each other, but Saffron randomly lying about Nadia doesn’t track either.

“So, what were you doing in the woods last night?”

Her head whips around to me, and her eyes widen. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I saw you.” That lie’s on me. No sense in bringing Saffron into this. “I had to study late at the library, and I saw you walking into the woods on my way back to the dorm.” She looks away from me with a slight wince, her expression giving her away. “Nadia, you know that place is off limits.”

“I know,” she admits. “I was hoping nobody saw me. I was just trying to get away for a little. Away from the school, from all this . . . responsibility, I guess. This has been a hard year for us, you know? I needed a break.”

I frown. “In the middle of the night? Nadia, you could have just texted me. Those woods are dangerous.”

“I didn’t think about it,” she says with a shrug. “Dad and I . . . we used to love walking in the woods at night. I guess I wanted to be a little closer to him.”

It makes sense . . . no. No, it doesn’t. But why would she lie to me, of all people, about wanting to be nearer to Dad?

“Nadia,” I start, putting my hand on her knee. “If there’s something going on that I should know about, you’d tell me, right?”

She throws me a disarming smile, then chuckles. “Aydan, come on. There’s nothing going on, okay?”

“Would you tell me if there were?”

She pauses, and the faltering of her smile shows that she realizes I’m not going to let this go. She sighs and says, “You’re going to think it’s stupid . . . maybe a little crazy.”

“Try me.”

She takes a deep breath. “Fine. I’m working on an extra credit assignment, okay?”

“In the woods? Which professor is letting you work out there in the middle of the night?”

“None of them. Look, I’m struggling a little in biochemistry, okay? I figured if I did a little project on my own and presented it in class at the end of the semester, it would bring my grade up. I don’t want anybody else to know about it, though. It’s so competitive in that class and the woods are off-limits. If anyone finds out, they’re bound to snitch on me to make sure I don’t get credit.”

“So . . . you’re just doing a science project in the woods?” A wave of relief washes over me. I knew it had to be about some nerdy project of hers. Nadia is competitive and dead serious about her grades. It’s what her life revolves around. “Look, just be more careful, okay? If I spotted you, somebody else could have, too. And I don’t want to see you get kicked out of Moonhelm for doing extra credit.”

She laughs, and that makes me laugh with her. “If I was going to get kicked out, that would be how it would happen.”

We sit and talk for a little longer as the sky turns from orange and blue and darkens to night, and for a little while, we’re not thinking about all the other bullshit in our lives.

On my way back to my room, a sense of vindication hits me. I should know better than to be suspicious of my sister. Still, I’m glad Saffron told me so I know what Nadia is up to and make sure she’s more careful in the future.

I turn the corner down the hallway to my room and see Yarra standing at my door. She turns to me, her eyes large and panicked.

“Oh, thank God,” she said. She rushes up and takes me by my hand. “Come on.”

“Whoa.” I pull away from her. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Saffron,” she says. “Something’s really wrong with her.”

“What?” A cold panic seizes me. “What happened? Is it another vision?”

“I don’t know what this is. Come on, she’s at my place. Chad’s with her now.”

We run out of the hallway, bound for Chad and Yarra’s private quarters.