Page 62

They had been watching us all morning, especially Bayla.

Nash and I had tried to make it clear to her that she had to stay away from them, because Mica had already asked questions.

Bayla had mostly remained silent, and the fact that I could sense her unease at irregular intervals didn't make things any better. It reminded me that she very much belonged to those girls and not to us. That her curse was on me.

“Oh my God... Is that... Olivia McConnell?” she stammered, her words scattered.

I followed her gaze and spotted a girl with auburn curls who looked like she had been cut out of VOGUE magazine. Her eyes were so bright that their light-bluish color was visible even from here, and her body, from her long legs to her wasp waist to her high cheekbones, reminded me of that of a model.

“How do you know her?” Nash asked, alarmed.

“From Sacramento...” Bayla whispered in a hoarse voice, and I thought I saw her gaze meet Larissa’s, but my own slipped involuntarily back to the man I would have to avoid from now on.

“You had contact with other Ruisangors?”

Nash sounded dissatisfied.

He knew Bayla was friends with Larissa and had decided to put a stop to it to keep the pack safe from further danger.

I felt like a traitor because, in this one case, my brother was more ambitious than I was.

How was I supposed to stay away from Miles when he was everywhere I was? Out here on the campus lawn, in the hallways, even in the same damn law school building.

Bayla answered my brother without taking her eyes off the girl. “No... She was actually human... and the epitome of a bitch.”

The girl strutted like a predator well aware of her superiority, swaying her hips as she moved with a smooth gait. Her dark red coat accentuated her hairstyle, matching her deep red lipstick.

She walked straight toward... Miles.

In disbelief, I watched as she first gave him a radiant smile that could have been from a dentist's advertisement, and... as he returned it.

His smile triggered an unexpected twinge in my chest.

The girl put her hand on his shoulder and said something, whereupon he smiled at her again.

And another twinge.

Did they know each other? They seemed so familiar… What if they...

“Oh God, she doesn't seem to have changed,” Bayla sighed through clenched teeth, apparently having snapped out of her state of shock. It sounded like she hated this Ruisangor girl. “Still that fake, hypocritical snake smile.”

She said it so loudly that the girl immediately turned toward us. The moment she caught sight of Bayla, the corners of her mouth slid back into place, and her gaze darkened. Her stare intensified, and it looked as if she was considering coming over to us and snapping Bayla's neck.

“She heard you,” Nash snorted morosely, apparently suffering from a nervous breakdown while running his fingers through his tousled dark-blond hair with an unnatural smile.

I looked back at the pretty girl, not expecting Miles to stare at me again. Not at Bayla, not at Nash, at me.

The girl continued talking to him, this time more seriously, and only slowly did he take his intense gaze off me to look back at her.

She pointed in our direction until he looked back at us.

I would have loved to know what they were talking about, but they spoke so quietly that not even we Senseque could hear them.

“The way they look at us... As if we were scum.” Mica sounded angry, almost aggressive. “You should go to your lectures and avoid their glances. That's what they want. For us to stare at them.” There was rage in his expression. But something else too... Fear? No, impossible. “These creatures love to bask in attention.”

Mica looked at his men, then at me.

“He's right. Let's go,” growled one of his Russian men, whom I didn't know yet because he was one of those who had only arrived here a few days ago. A measure to protect our pack, thanks to Dimitrio Rolanow. And me.