Page 295 of A University of Betrayal

“You’ve turned.”

I got up just as she let go of me. Her eyes remained in the glowing state.

“You turned and didn’t tell me anything about it.”

Two full moons had passed. At the first one, Emely had told me that Mia would transform soon, and I had asked Alarik to give her wolfsbane. He had refused, so I had offered Mia some of my own reserves. She had accepted, but apparently not used them. After the November full moon, she had seemed unchanged. But now her irises glowed much more intensely, literally glowing, while veins danced around her eyes.

“You’re not interested in our true nature anyway,” she snarled at me, and veins now appeared on her neck as well.

“Hey, hey, hey. What’s going on here?”

My father appeared and stood between us, alarmed.

Mia stamped her feet on the ground in annoyance and groaned in frustration. Then she gave me one last devastating look and finally walked in the opposite direction to Bayla. Her long, full dark blonde hair blew in the wind, was tousled.

I looked at my father, annoyed. “She turned and youknewit.”

“I’m her father.Of courseI did.”

“And I’m her brother,” I hissed angrily.

Then I started to move, but my father started to walk with me.

“Julian, you didn’t want anything to do with it. I…”

“Just leave it, okay?”

I glared at the treetops, ninety percent of which were now bare. Since it hadn’t snowed yet, everything seemed so bleak, as if the forest were really dying. Only the dry brown leaves reminded me that I still was in Blairville. And that even though we were in the beautiful part of Blairville. There, where there were still more deciduous trees than conifers, and you didn’t have to fear bloodthirsty Ruisangors.

Dad had been dealing with the missing people cases that had suddenly appeared since Halloween, but he hadn’t made much progress.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but I’m worried about her. You know where she is right now.”

“Safe,” he said, sounding even more exhausted than before.

I looked at him critically. “Do you really think the pack is still a safe place?”

“I’m sure, and I also start to believe that I should never have left it in the first place.”

I glared ahead with anger.

How could he say that? That he had gotten out of there had saved me. We had led a peaceful life away from those people.

“Just seeing how Mia is developing there, how she is...”

“They’re brainwashing her!”

My father just shook his head. “Maybe you would be a well integrated part of the pack now, wouldn’t feel such pain at night and could be yourself.”

“What I am isn’tme.Why doesn’t anyone understand that?”

“Because these areyourwords, but not reality,” he began calmly. “You’re more Senseque than I’ll ever be.”

I spun around. “What are you talking about?”

“Julian, you are more suited to the harsh outdoors than you realize. You belong there. You could become a high-ranking member. You could even have become Alpha.”

I stared at my father in horror.

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