Page 141 of A University of Betrayal

I should text her, not let her go, but I didn’t want to push her.

And so, I lost myself in my work as a professor, in my private research project on Umbra, in the genetics experiment at the DLSC, and in the secret project that was actually the main goal my boss was pursuing.

I had had to sign a contract with Agent DeLoughrey to keep my identity under wraps. He had nothing to do with my boss and the project, but because his department was monitoring the supernatural experiments at DLSC, I had been forced to reveal my identity to him. He was the only one, besides my boss, who knew what I was, and if he didn’t stick to the contract, I would have to turn to the magic that had already gotten me far in life.

My thoughts started to revolve around all the projects I was a part of.

It was interesting that this genetics experiment had started twenty years ago. Diana Adams, my research partner, had been trying to understand the inheritance rules of supernatural genetics, together with a goddamn member of the Westcode family. I was aware that she was an Air Quatura and part of the Circle, but my boss meant that we could trust her, even if she was only unknowingly part of a larger plan.

Why she was researching the species in the first place – against the rules of the treaty that governed Blairville – was unclear to me. She had come to Blairville two months ago and had started working with me, without asking any questions. She hadn’t even approached me about the fact that I was working on this project as ahuman.

Anyway, that was what I pretended to be; what I made them all think. Otherwise, I wouldn’t stand a chance in this Quatura-infested town. Besides, that way, it was easier to do research unnoticed.

I was missing important samples that I could only get as a Vanderwood professor. And that’s where David and Kelly became important.

“Aren’t you the prof from the football team?”

I turned my head to the side, trying to hide my surprise.

One of the DeLoughreys took a seat on the bar stool next to me and gestured to the bartender, pointing to the bourbon bottle in front of me.

I eyed him suspiciously. He was wearing a man bun with undercut and a black coat that reached down to his knees.

“And coincidentally, you can keep up with the Copeland guys,” he laughed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied, looking back down at the glass in front of me.

I decided that I wasn’t going to let him make me leave, even if I didn’t particularly like the idea that he might have chosen me as asnack.To him, I was an unsuspecting human, a sitting duck...

“Me neither,” he laughed with a grin and nodded, accepting the drink from the bartender while the music in the bar changed to another song fromTwo Feet.“Never, actually.”

Darling, I’m on Your Side

Two Feet

Now I turned my head toward him.

“What does someone like you want from me?”

He smirked, as if he found this situation amusing.

“You seem to be the only reasonable guy here.” He turned the glass in his hand and the orange liquid sloshed back and forth. “The others are either running after me because they want to get into my bed, or they’re throwing apples at my car.”

It sounded like he was making fun of being hated by the Senseque. I could well imagine that he was one of the more provocative Ruisangors.

“I wonder why that is,” I sighed and took another sip.

“It’s probably my charisma.” He raised his glass too. “What attracts the girls puts the men off.”

The guy raised his glass and because I didn’t want to be a spoilsport, I raised mine too.

“Miles,” he said, the right corner of his mouth barely noticeably raised.

“Quentin,” I introduced myself as well.

That name was the only real thing I possessed, along with the photo of my family and my father’s ring.

“Are you married?”

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