Page 5 of Heartless

I clamped down on the pinch of worry. I’d once considered him an ally, if not a friend, but the night of the Hunter Moon Formal had changed a lot of things for me. “I was just leaving,” I said shortly, and dropped the teacup back on the tray.

“Don’t!” The word came out with an almost alpha-like force, and he winced. “I owe you an apology, Vail.”

A teacher asking me for forgiveness was a first, but I lifted my chin and shook my head. “No need. I shouldn’t have come here.”

“Please. Can we just sit and have some tea? We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but it’s been a while since I had a cup.”

Said with a strange twist to his mouth that made me curious. “I don’t want tea. But I’ll stay, if you give me some answers.”

He nodded slowly, and as he approached the kitchenette, I headed over to the sofa. I didn’t sit, preferring to lean against the empty bookshelf. When he’d filled the kettle and organized the tea things, he turned and matched my pose against the small counter. “What would you like to know?”

“Did you really go home?” He looked surprised, but shook his head mutely. “Then why did you leave? Was it because of what happened the night of the dance? When you helped me?”

“Not initially, but it came up later.”

“With Jasper? He’s the one who… what? Kicked you out?”

His lips quirked a little. “He had some questions, too. I did my best to answer them, but it took me away from my classes for a while. When he discovered my part in your departure on Hunter Moon, he wasn’t pleased.”

“I bet,” I muttered. Scary Alpha would have definitely turned up for that. “So why did you hand me over to Trey? Are you friends? Have you even met Michael Gabriels, or was that message from him just a lie?”

A shadow passed over his face, but he didn’t try to duck my anger. “I’ve met him once. He sought me out and asked me to give you that note. The night of the dance, I believed he sent Trey Barakat in his stead. If I’d fully understood the circumstances, I would have attempted to protect you better.”

I made a rude sound, but I didn’t want to talk about Trey. He had a habit of dragging me down holes I had to fight my way back out of. “Are you really a Marrow? You said we’re related.” At his nod, I tried to think of a way to ask what I wanted without giving myself away. But I was a long way past subtle, and I figured not a lot got past Mr. Wentworth anyway. “Someone told me I have cousins living nearby. Lucas and Elijah.” Sin had called them brutal, but she’d also said they offered refuge to freaks and orphan outcasts. I was pretty sure I ticked both boxes, and while I wasn’t keen on throwing myself on the mercy of the skin kings, I needed to know if they could be a last resort. “Do you know them?”

“By reputation.” The kettle chose that moment to boil, and he poured us both a tea. He left mine on the coffee table, but didn’t sit, cradling the delicate cup in his hands. When he breathed in the minty steam, an almost pained look flickered across his face. “They live apart from the rest of the family. I’ve never met them, but the rumors are… confronting.”

I sagged a little. That sounded a lot like the stories I’d heard about my grandfather. “If you’re in trouble, you should talk to your Clan Alpha. No matter what’s happened between you, he has a responsibility to help you.”

I couldn’t stop a nasty laugh. “Did you know he put me in a containment collar while you two were having your chats? And either he or his mom put a tracker in my head, so I was trapped in every way.” He looked even more contrite, but I wasn’t sure I was buying it. “Did he tell you to come talk to me?”

When his gaze dipped, I had my answer. I was angry at him, but mostly I was just disappointed. I’d expected the alphadouches’ bullshit. I was beneath them. A dud, who might have become a Marrow princess, but would never be their equal. Mr. Wentworth, though, he shared my blood and my rank. I’d thought he was an outsider, too, but clearly he was just another of Jasper’s minions.

“Forget I asked,” I muttered, but when I got to the door, I paused. “That book I borrowed. The one on voids. Do you have more like that?”

His gaze drifted to the empty bookshelf. “You should try the library.” Taking a pen and notebook from his suit jacket, he quickly scribbled something, then handed it to me. “This should help.”

I took the slip of paper, but before I could pocket it, his fingers clutched mine. A jolt went through me, and for a moment I could almost taste his regret. “Vail, I’m sorry I let you down. But I’m not wrong about the Clan Alpha. If there’s anyone who can keep you safe, it’s him.”

I pulled away and shook my head at him. “Been there, and have the tracker scar to prove it.”

Chapter Four – Vail

I spent the next couple of hours lurking in the Dud Dorm breakroom, since I couldn’t think of a single other place on campus where I wouldn’t run into trouble. But when Marnie finally appeared with a takeout sack from the dining hall, I stared at her in shock. Even though we’d made it a daily ritual to eat lunch together, I hadn’t expected her to keep it up now she was an alpha. Which was just proof of how badly the pack rankings messed with my head. She might have been glowing with a new confidence – and her alpha power might have shoved me back into the booth until my spine vibrated – but this was still Marnie.

“You look amazing,” I told her. She’d tied her dark hair back in a sleek ponytail, and her pale skin was almost luminous in the crappy lighting, but it was the sparkle in her large brown eyes that made my heart sing. “You were always a knockout, but now… I think you just literally blew my hair back.”

She laughed as I popped up out of the booth and fell into her hug. God, it felt so good to know she was still the same Marnie. The best person in the whole damn school. But when I pulled back, she was looking at me like I was the one who’d changed beyond recognition. “Callum Sawyer, Vail?”

“Dang, girl,” I muttered as her power zinged across my skin. I rubbed my arms and flopped back in the booth. “Can you flex those alpha muscles a little more?”

“Urgh,” she groaned and crawled into the seat opposite. “I didn’t mean to push. Well, I really want an explanation, but I wasn’t trying to slap it out of you.”

I gave a shaky laugh. “If that’s you not trying, you could probably give the Clan Enforcer a run for his money.”

Before she could reply, there was a clatter in the doorway and Nadia and Jasmine appeared with a huge picnic basket between them. “I told you she’d be here!” Jasmine crowed, swinging the basket onto the table and leaping into the booth to smother me in a hug. “As usual, those witch sticks had it wrong with their nasty rumors.”

An image of waking up tied to Callum flashed through my mind, but before I could think of a way to explain the mess I was in, Jasmine pulled away, her pretty nose screwed up in horror. “Vail, why do you smell like the Dark Lord? Please tell me it’s just this awful jacket you’re wearing, and you’re not seriously with him, with him.”

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