Page 23 of Rising Luna
"Yes. Dylan is special. The Shadowborn power she carries in her veins is something many would want if they understood what she could do with it. Dylan will one day become something no one expects. I know your family hates our kind, but I could see Dylan ruling us all if she chose that path for herself."
To me, Dylan didn't seem like the type to want something like ruling us all. Her strength was evident in her leadership and the support of her other two, hopefully someday three, mates. But the entire race? No. She wouldn't want that. That would be too many people for her to oversee.
"Dylan wouldn't want that kind of power. So, why bring that up to me?"
Lupe smiled. "I think you need some more lessons about your mate. We still have some time. Let me explain everything that has happened while you two were apart."
This would be interesting. I doubted I wanted to hear any of this. Dylan walked away, and I needed to find her to talk about why she was angry with me right now. When the sparring started, I thought it would be better for her to get her anger out on me. My fighting capabilities surpassed many, and I could easily have her incapacitated if I wanted. The only mate of hers I think could beat me in a fight would be Hunter, and that was due to his training being much more complicated than mine. That man could kill a crowd of people with his two bare hands and probably a bigger crowd with his wolf. He was lethal in every sense of the word and could probably kill someone with a pencil if he wanted.
Yeah, that's why I plan to stay away from him until things with Dylan are better.
The spar with Dylan didn't go as expected. I didn't account for her rage toward me to be that much. I understood she hated me for rejecting her. When I rejected her, it was because I believed my father about Shadowborns. They were evil andcould kill us all with the unique power the Goddess had given them. The knowledge that I was destined to be with someone I was raised to hate and kill on sight scared me to death. Dylan was different, though. I fell so hard, so fast, after the bond showed up. It took everything in me not to mark her right then and there. Then she shifted.
And my father's voice took over.
When I came to the academy and Dylan rejected me in return, I knew I needed to fix everything. The time I had spent in the library asking every question I could think of to the professors about Shadowborns, I thought I had learned enough to at least flirt with her again. This sparring match was to let her anger out by beating me.
Yet I couldn't seem to let her land any of her punches.
It was stupid of me to evade so many of her advances. They drilled into me that I should still fight, even if I didn’t want the person to get hurt. My father said it was a tactic I needed to learn in case we needed answers during the fight. Sometimes people were more chatty when fighting than they were sitting at a table together. Sparring was our way of interrogating someone without them realizing they were being interrogated. That's how I could evade so much of her fighting style. Though, there were moments I didn't think I would keep up with her. The way she could disappear and attack me had been amazing to watch. I loved watching her move around the mats and get the upper hand on me during those moments. I understood my father’s terror of the Shadowborns. They could win any fight they wanted with those methods.
Which is why he hated them so much.
But there was more to this than he understood, and if I wanted to know Dylan more, and get past the wall she had built around her heart, maybe it would be a good idea to have Lupe tell me some things that had happened here. Maybe it wouldhelp her trust me more if I knew enough to help her through it from afar. I could be the person in the shadows helping her and then reveal how I helped her later, making her see, I would always be on her side.
"Okay. What can you tell me that I don't already know?"
"Let's go to my office."
I followed the teacher to her office and watched how every student was beginning their weekend plans, overhearing the conversations as we passed. I wondered what my mate would be up to this weekend. Would I have time to do anything with her at all? I hoped so, but I wasn't holding my breath. Once inside the office, I sat in the uncomfortable chair again. Lupe sat across from me and folded her arms on the desk.
"This has been a tough six weeks for your mate, Silas. Seven now that this week has passed."
"How so?"
She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "When she first arrived here, I could tell she was more of a loner. She may come from a pack, but she stuck to mostly herself. Perhaps a friend or two at home, but she didn't trust many. It was the same when she came here. The red-head, Serafine, has been her only friend outside of her mates. There is always a bully in this kind of place. Whether that is the mates bullying each other because they don't get along or bullying from someone who wants what someone has; it always happens. It's a school. It's inevitable. Dylan was no different there either."
Boy, does she like the sound of her own voice.
I agree, but shut up. She is telling us about our mate.
"Dylan had the unfortunate mess of having someone want a mate of hers. She met Jackson first. He has been a person who many of the females wanted when he came here. Jackson caught the eye of a female who thought fate would give her asecond chance, and it would be with Jackson. Little did she know, Jackson's second chance was with Dylan, not with her, so she thought killing Dylan would give her the opportunity to claim Jackson for herself. The madness someone can go through to get their mate is overwhelming. I see it far too often because of this school. There's nothing I can do to stop it. All I can try to do is allow for fate to take over. Dylan took matters in her own hands during a full moon run. Camille attacked Dylan, and Dylan had no choice other than to defend herself."
"Dylan killed someone while at this school? Why wasn't she returning home after that?" I demanded to know.
Surely, if someone attacked another for wanting a mate, the attacked person wouldn’t want this to continue. Shouldn't there be a rule against that kind of thing happening?
"She didn't finish her lessons. Dylan could have been brought in front of the board for what she had done. I covered for her and explained to them what happened."
"Challenging another over a mate is normal. It's happened between males for centuries. Just because it happened between females means nothing, so why would she receive any kind of discipline over that?"
None of this made sense. If Dylan defended her bond with Jackson, that wouldn't be something she would need to be sent to trial over.
"Killing another student is still frowned upon, Mr. Lynch. A trial could have happened if it wasn't for me stepping in and explaining how she defended her bond with Jackson-"
"Which would have been clear with Jackson bearing her mark on his neck."
"Yes and no. Have you witnessed a trial by our people?"
