Page 22 of The Blairville Legacies

Mia grinned back. “First one to the table!”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

Chapter 4

Emely

How could Julian be such a stubborn ass? It wasn’t like we wanted anything wrong from him. Actually, he also knew that my father would never force him to join the pack. On the contrary. He had given his word to the Bardots, and the word of an Alpha was a rare gesture of generosity.

But he also had to listen, as all Alphas had to, to theCodethat had been created when wild wolves had begun to disregard the rules and show themselves to humans, only to give in to their hunger and bring all the myths about us to life.

I sped up a bit, and the trees almost rushed past me, even though I was just in my human form. Not for one minute longer did I want to be in this part of town. It smelled likethemeverywhere here, and I didn’t know which was worse. That the Quatura wanted to tell us what to do or this disgusting stench.

My legs took me further into the eastern part of the forest, because at no price did I want to run into any witches here.

Slowly, it began to smell of nature and wildlife again, and my body relaxed a bit. And slowly I recognized some trees with their scratch marks from the fights of the guys.

I didn’t think much of these power games, just to show which rank one had within the pack. Maybe that was the reason Juliandidn’t want to join us. Butwhat the hell?Sooner or later, he would come to us. I knew that, even if he resisted so much. There were rules that even he had to submit to.

A soft crackling in the undergrowth tore me from my thoughts, and a familiar smell rose to my nose. It looked like I had arrived home faster than expected.

Cautiously, I looked around, but nothing strange caught my eye.

He had gotten better. But so had I.

I took a quick leap to the side, and a second later, my sixteen-year-old brother landed on the damp forest ground, right where I had been standing a moment ago.

“Ahh, fuck!” it escaped him, and he tried to straighten up but buckled.

“Don’t even try it next time, Finn!”

I had to laugh, and, to be honest, I laughed at him.

At sixteen years old, he was just two years younger than me and still landing with too much speed. No wonder he ended up on the ground where he was at that moment.

“Laugh all you want,” Finn pressed out, finally giving it up.

Grinning, I took a step toward him and was about to hold out my hand, but immediately regretted it because he pulled me to him on the ground with a sweeping motion.

“Hey!”

Luckily, I wasn’t wearing my best jeans, but a pair of khaki cargo pants. Out here, clothes got dirty fast. Especially with the others.

“That’s what you get!” he laughed out loud.

Sometimes, I wondered if I deserved to call this naughty brat my half-brother.

I stayed lying next to him in the dirt. I didn’t care about the grassstains and dust now, either.

A look through the open canopy told me that it was already later than expected. The sun had turned the sky slightly purple, and the massive cloud towers, common for this time of year in Blairville, looked as if they were hiding dark castles.

“Still trying to convince your crush?”

Annoyed, I punched Finn in the side.

“We’re just friends,” I said bitingly, though that sentence really upset me. Were we really still friends? Or was I just still telling myself that?

Julian and I had spent so much time together when we were kids. Together with Nash and Kieran, we had made the forest unsafe and had romped around on our property. Time had flown by. But it had never driven us apart. Then, three years ago, everything had begun to fall apart.

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