Page 433

Tension built up in my stomach.

Of the entire Copeland pack, he feared us the most. So what was he doing here?

His gaze wasn't hostile. It was filled with horror, turned as pale as Emely's when he spotted his daughter.

“Emely,” he whispered tonelessly.

Vivienna, Camille, and our professor looked at us.

“Father...” Emely exclaimed, jumping up next to me. I looked up at her, overwhelmed by the panic emanating from her. “I...”

“Get over here. Now,” he pressed out tonelessly.

Emely was frozen beside me.

“Dr. Copeland,” Camille began, and Emely's father looked at her, but quickly back at me, as if he were afraid of what I might do next. “Is everything all right?”

Emely broke out of her paralysis and grabbed her things with trembling hands before rushing around the table toward her father.

He took a step toward her, his gaze fixed on me, then back to Camille, as if we might attack him at any second.

I stood up as Emely reached him and her heartbeat threatened to race out of control.

Something was wrong.

Her father didn't hesitate for long and pushed her out of the court room without taking his eyes off us.

My hands clenched into fists, and I strode around the table toward the door.

“Miles!” Camille called, but I ignored my godmother and, with growing anger in my chest, left the Blairville courtroom as well.

In the hallway, where no one could see me, I shot toward the exit at my Ruisangor speed. There, I caught myself at the door and pushed myself into the shadow of a pillar, because Emely and her father were just arriving at the lower steps.

“I'm sorry,” Emely whispered with a trembling voice.

Too late, I realized it wasn't a whisper, but a sob.

“I'm so sorry.”

Her father turned around and she almost bumped into him.

When she looked up, I saw the tears in her eyes.

My heart clenched.

“What has gotten into you?!” the Alpha snapped at his daughter, staring down at her as if she had committed a crime. His eyes glowed yellow, dark veins bulging at his temples and neck under his shirt collar.

“I can explain...” she whimpered. “Please.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she quickly wiped them away.

“Were you trying to kill yourself?!”

“I'm sorry...” Emely continued to sob.

A pain I didn't recognize settled in my chest, tightening around my heart like a rope. It came directly from Emely.

“I wanted to help you,” she began, pulling strands of hair that clung to her damp cheeks away from her face with trembling hands. “This internship...” She gasped for air as if she were about to hyperventilate. “...could be useful to the whole pack and...”