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Did he have to do that? Couldn't he just stay with Bayla and Larissa, who were standing further ahead in the room, looking at the notebook on the table?

Suddenly, I heard a cabinet being opened a few feet away from me, and panic spread through me.

I saw Julie look at my cabinet with alarm, and for the first time in my life I began to pray earnestly.

“How about this: let's discuss how to proceed first,” Julie began.

I heard the cabinet close again and... Shit... the cabinet right next to me open.

“Miles,” Julie said firmly. “You can rummage through bookcases later.”

Larissa turned to Miles and started laughing. “What on earth are you doing? Come here!”

And I didn't know if it was divine providence or just luck, but Miles closed the cabinet and actually turned to the others.

With my chest heaving, I exhaled the pent-up air as quietly as possible.

With his back to me, Miles strode across the room, and for the first time, I noticed how straight his posture was. His shoulders were broader than the rest of his upper body. The tailor-made black coat flattered his build incredibly well.

Couldn't he just be ugly and unattractive?

“We have to find a way to find out more about Alice and Alaister,” Julie began, pacing back and forth in front of the old blackboard. “Someone must know something.”

“We’ve already talked about this,” Miles sighed, and Larissa looked at him blankly.

“No. We haven’t. We've only ever thought about Alarik. But Alice seemed to have had several friends. Maybe let’s start with the Ruisangor,” Bayla said.

“Bastien,” Larissa blurted out.

Of course, Miles couldn't help but argue.

“We don't know that for sure.” He walked past the others to the windows, his hands in his coat pockets. “Besides, our last plan backfired.”

Our plan? Did he feel like he was part of whatever it was they had there?

“That shouldn't stop us from continuing to look for answers,” Bayla insisted, echoing the girls' point of view.

Miles turned to her and raised an eyebrow, the way he was so outrageously good at doing. “What do you suggest?”

He was so different with Bayla, even though she was supposed to be one of us. Or did he just prefer Quatura?

“Alarik is our only solution,” Larissa stated, throwing her arms up in the air, before she pulled herself up onto a table and put her legs up on the chair in front of her, crossing them, resting her hands on the table behind her, and leaning back casually.

“It sounds like you want to march into his office and confront him,” Miles laughed and looked out the window again.

When no one said anything, he turned and looked between the three girls.

“No,” he laughed. “That's out of the question. Especially not now. Our families are on high alert.”

Larissa groaned in annoyance, Julie started pacing back and forth again, and Bayla looked down at her notebook with a contrite expression.

Something seemed to be bothering her.

“Have you forgotten that I'm one of the wolves now?” She eventually laughed dryly, and I had to struggle to suppress a snort.

If she was one of us, I was a flying glitter unicorn.

“That's ridiculous. You don't smell like wolf, and you probably never transformed in your life,” Miles argued, and I watched him in surprise.