Fucking pig.
Camelia had spent the rest of the day pale and staring at her phone after their conversation after breakfast, and something deep inside of James ached at the sight. He wanted to fix it for her, to make the anxiety that he knew was swelling inside of her go away.
But this was beyond his control. All he could do was sit with her and hold her hand, and hope that she knew that he and Evan would doanythingto keep her safe from a world that was seeming increasingly hostile. He couldn't bring himself to actuallysaythose words, but Camelia didn't budge from his side, and James had to hope that she knew.
When Monday morning rolled around, the three of them made their way to campus and walked into a silent, tense shit show. The normally casual atmosphere of campus was gone, the fear and anxiety palpable as their fellow students walked around in pairs or small groups.
Camelia clung to Evan's hand with a grip that whited her knuckles, her eyes wary under the dark knitted cap that she had jammed on over her head before they left the house. The snow that had started the day before had continued to fall throughout the day and night, and the crunch of people's feet in the newly fallen snow was enough to make James grit his teeth.
They were out in the open. Too exposed. Too many points of ingress, of opportunity for a bad actor to make their way onto campus and take what they wanted...
James didn't like leaving Camelia when it was time for his first class, but Evan's fingers brushing against his reassured him. They were both invested in keeping their girl safe, especially in the wake of the news. Nothing was going to happen to her.
That didn't stop James from spending most of his class time with his mind torn, half on Camelia and obsessing over how she was, and half thinking about the rapidly-changing state of the country. The balance between Alphas and Omegas had been so careful, so thin for so long...it wasn't a surprise that it had taken so little for things to get so far out of control, but James had to admit – privately, of course – that he was surprised that there were so many who seemed willing to cause social bedlam.
It wasn't until James was heading to the student center to get some lunch – that he probably wouldn't eat, if he was being honest with himself – that he got news that turned his day upside down even more than it already was.
The telltale notification sound from his student email was something that James would normally ignore, but something low in his gut tugged, an intuition left over from his father's brutal and rigorous training. It wasn't rational, it didn't makesense, but James dug his phone out of his pocket and stepped out of the flow of foot traffic to check the email anyway.
The blood drained out of his face as he read it.
Dear Mr. Devin,
We're writing to inform you that due to an interruption in funding, your attendance at Ridgeview Academy has been terminated, effective immediately. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the accounting office and your student counselor.
There was no sign off, no information about who James needed to reach out to in order to find out what thefuckwas going on.
But he didn't need to call anyone, he didn't need to rage at some underpaid university admin who was simply doing their job.
He knew where this came from.
James' heart pounded hard and fast in his chest as he opened his contacts and dialed, holding the phone up to his ear with a shaking hand. He was sure that to the students who passed and glanced at him curiously, he looked like he was about to be sick. Or pass out.
Either of those were a possibility as he waited for his father to pick up the phone. Each passing ring made his heart squeeze harder in his chest, panic creeping in on the edges of his vision and making him feel hollow.
"James. Nice to hear from you." His father's voice was smooth and unassuming, and James had to swallow down the rage that boiled up in his chest at the mere sound.
He couldn't lose his temper. Not now, not when so much was at stake.
"Dad." He tried his best to control his voice, to sound like this was a perfectly normal call between a father and son, but it still shook a little. "I just received an email from the school administration that my attendance is terminated, effective immediately."
Drake hummed, and James could imagine the smug fucking smile stretching across his face as he replied, "They do work quickly over at that school, I'll give them that."
James' stomach dropped out from underneath him. He wasn't even going to try and deny it. "Why?" James clutched the phone a little tighter to his face, his chest tight. "The semester is almost over. Why pull me out now, right before finals? That wasn't the deal that we had, Dad."
"The deal that we had was that you would stay in line and finish your degree," Drake said sharply, anger bleeding into his voice even through the phone. "You didn't finish in the time I originally allotted you, and this semester has been one thing after the other. This last week of you fucking off to do God knows what was the last goddamned straw."
James reeled back, gritting his teeth as the harshness of his dad's words hit him. "There were circumstances, Dad, which I could have explained if you had called me first instead of --"
"I'm not interested in any more of your excuses, James," Drake interrupted, cutting James off. "I'm done with yourbullshit. You're done at that school. I will not pay for it anymore, and there is nothing that you can say to change my mind."
The diatribe that James wanted to spew out at his father, years of anger at his coldness and his harsh parenting and the fact that he simply didn't care about James beyond an asset that he could personally provide for his company...all that faded away. James swallowed, dread and resignation making him cold. "So what is it, then, Dad?" he asked bitterly. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Get your affairs in order. Say goodbye to Evan, and I have arranged for you to take a flight out to begin your training as soon as you're ready. I'll be waiting for your call."
Drake hung up without another word, and James felt a terrifying numbness spreading through him, starting in the center of his chest. He was vaguely aware of the other students walking past him, everyone that was probably looking at him and wondering what had happened to make him look like his puppy had died, but he didn't care.
Evan. Camelia. They were gone. There was nothing that he could do to stick around for them, to protect them, not without his father's blessing and funding...
