Page 201 of A University of Betrayal

“So, you want me to question the system of our ancestors?”

I was shocked.

“If you don’t do it, if we women who are most affected by it don’t do it, then who will? Let’s be honest, patriarchy has colored our history darkly, long enough. When people talk about us,we are always just the sisters, the daughters, or the mothers of the Alpha...And is that worth giving up your happiness for?”

Miles had said the same thing. Only in a less pleasant way, because he had wanted to hurt me with that comment. But that certainly wasn’t Tania’s intention. It just made me wonder why she was carrying such thoughts around with her... as the sister of the Russian Alpha.

From the moment she had brought it up, the words felt bad. As if being the Alpha’s mother, sister, or daughter was something inferior. Everything in me fought against it, wanted to explain to Tania that she was wrong.

“But...” I started, but Tania motioned for me to speak more calmly.

“We’re not alone.”

By now we were back on the empty lawn of the old manor house, but the veranda was not empty.

“He’s always been a good observer,” the woman next to me laughed, and I looked at Alarik, who was leaning his arms on the stone railing, watching us. He seemed focused.On us.

“What I actually wanted to say was that Mica invited you to dinner tonight.” She pressed a pretty burgundy invitation card into my hand. “Mica is a well-behaved gentleman.” She looked at me with a serious expression. “Nevertheless, he is a man who would never deviate from the principles of the pack. And he’s a Rolanow. Don’t forget that.”

Why did it sound like a warning?

She squeezed my hands, in which I was holding the envelope, then she waved goodbye with a smile and walked across the meadow, up the stairs, past my uncle, who eyed her.

Tania paid him no further attention.

A stack of questions piled up inside me. And I would never be able to ask her any of them, would I?

Confused, I made my way to Alarik.

Firstly, I had just learned that he and this woman shared a past, and secondly, there wasa lotI needed to get out of him.

He stood there smiling at me as if he hadn’t just overheard us, and I wanted to punch him, but there was no time for that now.

I clutched the envelope a little tighter, which made me even more nervous.

“You weren't eavesdropping on us, were you?” I asked, theatrically indignant, and Alarik sighed.

“I’m your mentor and any conversation with a member of another pack can’t just happen without preparation or supervision,” he replied in my father’s mimicked voice, and I had to grin.

“They’re our guests,” I laughed, amused.

“Any guest could just as easily be an enemy,” he continued, and both our grins widened.

“She’s friendly.” It just slipped out.

Alarik’s carefree expression slipped a little, and he turned away from me to look out over the terrain again.

“One might think she wasn’t a Rolanow, right?”

His snort sounded more than annoyed.

I had touched on a sensitive topic.

Cautiously, I stepped up to him and looked out into the garden too. The guys were back, not in the shape of wolves, but shirtless, because they were training. Testing their strength. The usual.

“You’ve upset their family,” I said with reproach, the Code in the back of my mind.

Alarik looked at me again, thinking, a little contrite. Then he laughed.

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