ARTEMIS' POV:
The usual vibrant lunchtime atmosphere around the table has grown dull and cold. Jasper and Ace remain unnaturally silent, not daring to utter a single word. With Kamila's arrival, the tension seems to have heightened even further.
But she behaves herself this time, simply sitting between Seraphina and I, wrapping her arm around mine silently until our food gets delivered to us by lower grade students.
We dig into lunch, but my eyes remain fixated on Sera, passing glances at her from where I am.
She tosses her food around with a fork while a frown remains etched between her eyebrows.
Is she still mad at me from yesterday? All because I told her not to speak to Lucian?
The more she reacts this way toward me, the more it irks me, wondering just what kind of relationship they have for her to be so affected.
I bent over backward to give her the space she needed, and what do I get in return? A cold attitude the moment we cross paths again.
I treat her in ways I wouldn't with anyone else...yet she acts like its nothing. I don't understand her.
I also don't understand why I've been bothered by it all day, waiting for her to come to me and feeling annoyed when she didn't show up on her own.
Seraphina looks up and our eyes meet instantly before hers reduce into annoyed slits, and she looks away from me quickly and back to her food.
"Nice scarf." Kamila speaks suddenly, breaking the spell of silence between us.
Her tone is intensely sarcastic with a tinge of disgust, although she plasters a sweet smile on her face. I roll my eyes at the remark, realizing she's looking for trouble again.
Seraphina silently looks at her from the corner of her eyes, and then at me, before she looks back to her food silently.
She gives no usual clap back...which is nothing like her.
"Finally, someone says something about it." Jasper sighs as though he's been trying to keep it in all day. "What's with the ugly scarf hanging on your neck? You realize its hot, right? Or do humans not feel the heat?"
I growl at him to shut up from where I am, and Ace nudges him to the side with a glance that clearly says 'read the room.'
"I'm wearing a scarf because I want to wear a scarf." Seraphina responds, simply glaring at him as well.
"It must be liberating then, not having to follow the latest trends of fashion and wearing rags just because you want to. Humans really have it easy." Kamila commends, adding more to the bustling tension.
"Kamila." My voice is stern, my glare is sharp.
"Oops?" She only smiles deviously.
Again, Sera makes no response, keeping her comment. But from her expression, she's obviously livid, holding her temper back by a single thread.
Until Jasper opens his mouth again.
"Maybe, is there something you're hiding?"
Sera looks up at him suddenly, wide-eyed in a most suspicious way, suddenly clutching the scarf.
"There is, isn't there?" Ace mumbles from his spot, getting in on teasing her with a slight smile on his face.
"Shut up." She snaps.
Without being told, Jasper stretches his hand out from his position, ripping the scarf off her neck easily.
It slides off, falling to her lap and his jaw drops faster than mine the second the ugly bruise around her neck comes into light.
"Holy fuck." He swears, looking at it, and even I freeze on the spot the moment I see it.
She instinctively moves to cover it up with her hands, hiding her face as well.
Kamila giggles from my side, hiding the glint in her eyes.
"Nice choker you got there." She teases harshly, laughing at her attempt to conceal it.
She finally loses her patience, standing up from the table and stomping off. I try to call out to her but stop myself, turning to everyone else on the table.
"What is wrong with you?"
Kamila's expression turns strained, stretching out to hold my arm again.
"Arty, I-"
"I don't want to hear another word." I say just before getting up as well and going after her.
She hasn't gone off too far after leaving the cafeteria hall, and I find her in under a minute, reaching out to grab at her hand before she can get away.
The moment I do, she struggles against me, prying her hands off, and when our eyes meet, I finally see the tears gathered in her eyes that stare at me angrily.
"Let me go!" She roughly brushes me off, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes. "If you're here to force me to follow you back in there and sit down with your asshole breakfast club, then you're sorely mistake."
Once again, my chest twists and I find myself hating the look in her eyes - I want to take it away, maybe even bleed out the bastards that put her in this position. Said bastards happen to be in my friends in this case.
I have no intention of taking her back there. Not now at least, when Kamila can't seem to hold her tongue and with Jasper being an ass. Maybe a mandatory lesson on table manners should be enforced whenever Seraphina is present.
However, what I am more concerned about is the hand marks around her neck. They're purple and glaring, and the mere sight of them sets off a time bomb within me. My wolf reaches for the edge.
I take a step closer to look at it carefully while she finally calms down. I graze my fingers against it and she flinches away from me.
The thought of someone laying their hands on her ignites a scorching fire in my chest that won't be quenched until someone pays dearly for it.
"Who did this to you?"
She shakes her head.
"No one." She lies to me through her teeth, making me fume even more.
"When I ask you a question, I expect you to tell me the truth, Seraphina. Who did this?" I say more firmly, jaw clenched hard.
She doesn't respond right away but finally, hesitantly, she tells me.
"Some guy from nowhere. I really don't know his name, but he wanted me to sign a document and drop out of the election."
The election? This is about the election?
My jaw ticks.
I ponder on her description, though very vague, but I put the clues together immediately, guessing the most likely candidate.
There's no other bastard bold enough to touch something of mine over some stupid election if not Morgan Riessmoon.
The moment Seraphina had told me she was running for the omega representatives, I knew he wouldn't make it easy. But putting his slimy, rotten fingers on her? That was asking for a death-wish with a cherry on top.
The asshole is his most ruthless when his position is threatened. And I'd never concerned myself with his little sadistic games till now. He keeps to his territory in school, and I keep to mine; those are the unspoken rules. I don't interfere in how he runs the omegas, as long as he doesn't interfere in my bullshit.
Clearly, things are about to change.
I make a move to leave and she stops me - this time being the one to hold me back.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Doing something about it, of course. You don't expect me to stand still while someone else damages my possession."
She sneers at the title given to her but ignores it, focusing on the topic.
"I didn't tell you so you could meddle in my business."
"Too bad, your business also became mine the second you did. And don't think you're off the hook either." I pull my wrist out of her clutches, turning to her fully again. "We had a deal; you'd avoid getting hurt yet here you are. You'll know your punishment soon enough."
I walk away before she can say anything else.
***
Looking for a delinquent like Morgan isn't the hardest thing - you just need to follow the repulsive stench of idiocy and find the nearest abandoned construction on school grounds. These buildings are found further into the school woods, and abandoned without use or completion for years.
I never thought there would ever be a need to have to face him and his band of idiots. I'd believed that he'd be wise enough not to cross me - yet here I am, walking to his playground.
The walk here hasn't done anything to conceal my anger. Instead, with every step, the rage of her bruise only fastens itself to my memory. Nailing the ugly scar right there, never to be forgotten.
I kick the door open without knocking, dislodging it from its hinges and walking in the next second, meeting three guys only - none of them being the bastard I'm looking for.
They stiffen the second their eyes fall on me, recognizing me instantly.
"Where's Morgan?" I ask.
They look between themselves silently, saying nothing, and nothing isn't the answer I'm looking for.
I progress forward, and the first two lunge at me instantly, thinking they have a small chance at defending themselves.
But it only takes seconds to take them down.
Snapping one's arm without much effort and throwing the other outside through the window while he's mid-shift.
Leaving the third person cowering in the corner, trying to shield himself from me with both hands.
I recognize the shivering fish the second I see his slender cowering form. He's the shy guy that's always glued to Morgan's side for most of the day.
Essentially, his best friend.
From a glance, anyone would notice that the two have no business being close. Someone as shy and soft spoken as Trevor shouldn't have anything in common with the loud and chaotic Morgan.
But what do I care?
"I don't have all day, so let's make this easy for the both of us. Where is Morgan?"
He shivers erratically, but shakes his head slowly, denying me the answer I need from him.
I sigh now.
I pick him up to his feet with both hands, securing him carefully before shooting my fist into his face. He falls back down, yelling in pain and clutching the side of his face with tears already pouring from his eyes.
I don't want to have to beat up a weakling like him, but someone has to take the anger pouring out of me since Morgan isn't here.
"I don't want to have to beat it out of a guy like you, so just tell me where the asshole is, and I won't hurt you." I bargain again.
He's looks up at me with eyes that plead with me not to hit him again, yet he doesn't speak. Shaking his head once more and choosing not to tell me.
Fine, if I can't reach the bastard, I might as well pass a message through his friend.
An eye for an eye.
Blood for blood.
I kick him in the side, next throwing him hard against the wall form the impact before picking him up again and throwing him across the room. His body slams into a bunch of old equipment, breaking through a few of them before landing on the floor, half limp.
He yells in pain, crawling desperately to get away from me, but barely able to get on his feet again.
"This is nothing compared to the tears he gave her." I comment, watching him slide away like a snail but not being able to get very far from me - the very image of his nightmares.
My wolf is unsatiated. Bloodthirsty. Enraged. It's not enough. None of this is enough.
But it will do - at least for now.
I pick him off the floor again and he struggles to break from me, but his nonexistent muscles and bruised body are no match for me. I toss him on a chair, dusting his shirt off and leaning closer to whisper.
"Tell Morgan that if he touches her one more time, or so much as grazes the hair on her head, or even breathes too close, I'll give him a taste of hell, courtesy of the devil in me."