Page 15 of Ava: Part Two

The dean turned to him the moment he stepped out.

“You need to tell me what you and that Omega are doing,” the dean growled. “We are hardly prepared to have the Council visit for the evaluations, but you have led them here even earlier than planned. You need to tell me what you know, Mr Michelson, or I will tell them you are the culprit.”

He had never seen the dean look so unsettled. Then again, the Council had never visited for anything other than the end-of-term evaluations to judge the students’ progress themselves.

“Are they still here?” he asked.

“They’re still investigating the matter.”

Shit. How long was he supposed to watch his and Ava’s back?

“You do what you need to do, Alpha,” he said as he started walking out of the building.

Until the Council left, he would have to watch Ava closely. Especially now that he was sure she had done something to Claire.

Chapter 10

MrPatrickturnedinhis seat to watch Ava the moment she opened the detention room door.

She looked him square in the eye and thought of sheep jumping over rainbows.

Mr Patrick rolled his eyes and turned back to watch the room. So what exactly was he, to be able to read her mind? Seers couldn’t do this, but there were so many different species here at the academy that she didn’t know much about. This was nothing like her pack at home, where everyone knew everyone, even if they didn’t all live close together.

“Take your seat, Miss Morgan.”

Where had he been that night when the horrible teacher had taken his place? She had been so confused and had needed his help. Maybe he could help her now.

“Must I repeat myself? You’re disturbing everyone.”

And that was when she saw that, for a change, another student was in the room. He looked at her from his seat right at the back without smiling. He didn’t like her very much, she could tell. Maybe he didn’t like her at all, like all the other students at the academy. The blond one she now lived with. She really needed to ask his name; she couldn’t keep calling him the Blond One.

How had he even ended up in detention?

“For the love of all that is sparkly... Miss Morgan, sit down and get your homework out.”

“Oh, great. You can help me figure out if the woven or quilted cotton is best for the imaginary wolves I will one day serve a fancy dinner to after I graduate,” she said sarcastically as she walked to her usual seat.

“Quilted cotton. You can double-side it,” Mr Patrick deadpanned. “Now, just read or something. Be quiet.”

It sounded like he was trying to make sure she didn’t talk about what he could do in front of the Blond One. She just had to sit quietly and stew while he accessed all her thoughts. Had he heard everything she had thought of before, or was it a selective process?

Her cheeks coloured as she tried to remember if she had thought anything inappropriate here over the past few weeks. Because she’d had many inappropriate thoughts. Like the ones she was trying not to think of now, actually. And if she remembered correctly, her first detention had been after a close encounter with a certain Alpha.

Private thoughts that he had no right to.

Right, okay, so she would read and bore him with thoughts about textiles. What was it with these people thinking it was okay to just invade someone’s privacy like this? She could still feel the Council trying to get in her head that afternoon. Their magic was intrusive, not at all like Mr Patrick’s. She would never have known Mr Patrick was listening in if he hadn’t given himself away. Maybe they needed him on the Council to do all their dirty work.

She looked up at Mr Patrick and saw him staring at her. His glasses still sat on the bridge of his long nose, but his gaze was so sharp that she doubted he needed them. This was like a disguise, like some superhero stuff, only Mr Patrick would suck as a superhero. He seemed very interested in what she had been thinking about. The Council. He wanted to know more. Or maybe he was one of them already. But she wasn’t going to give him anything, not until he stopped being so mysterious.

So she pulled out her tablet, opened the reading material provided from her Textiles class, and then gave him a pointed look that might as well have been a middle finger before she started reading.

It was hard to keep herself engaged in anything she read but she was finding it was necessary. Was there anyone else at this school who could do this? Was she projecting her secret thoughts everywhere for anybody to read?

By the time the hour came, she had slowly started to spiral again. This place was too much for her. She needed to watch what she said and thought.

“Miss Morgan, a word before you go,” Mr Patrick said.

“Alpha Ezekiel is waiting for us, sir,” Blond One said as he put his books in his bag and walked to stand next to her table.

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