SERAPHINA'S POV
"You okay?" Alice asks first, walking closer to me and taking my hand, worry written all over her face.
By now, I've shaken off whatever jitters I have, and I stare at her more confidently.
"It's alright. I swear, I'm fine." I try to convince them.
Yet both of them stare at me with knowing, sad puppy eyes, almost at the brink of tears like they know something I don't.
"Is there something wrong?" I ask them now.
"We saw everything happen, I mean after everyone left." Juliet explains, and while I stare at her with more confusion, Alice fills in the blanks spots.
"Back at the cafeteria when that psycho, Morgan, crashed in and all. We stayed back after everyone got sent out, hiding under a table in the far back."
"But only because you were there, not because it was juicy gossip we had to witness ourselves." Juliet butts in again.
Though I find it hard to believe it wasn't because of the gossip.
"Morgan is such a meany, and we saw when he grabbed you just before the Alpha prince beat him to a pummel."
"Oh." I say, slumping my shoulders, being reminded again what happened. "Well, I'm fine. You didn't need to come here."
"Of course, we did. We are your campaign team and right now, you're the most important person to every single omega out there. Your body doesn't just belong to you anymore." Juliet explains to me, and I say nothing else.
They have a point. Because of the election, I can't afford to be stubborn about having my way and having to go against my nature, which involves handling things on my own.
The stare between themselves now that I don't respond, and I just faintly see the panic in their eye, probably worried that I'm second-guessing running against Morgan after today
"Another reason why we came here is because we wanted to tell you that the day of the first fundraiser event for your campaign has been picked to be this Saturday. We're selling cookies!" Alice chips in, in a bid to change the conversation into something lighter.
"Because what better way to lift school spirit and draw in customers than yummy gooey treats?" Juliet adds, raising her hands up in the air.
I chuckle at their antics, feeling my own mood unwillingly lift up. I can understand their desperation.
I assume no one's ever taken up the fight against Morgan, and the thought of me backing down terrifies them because it would mean no hope and another year under his thumb.
And if he's anything like Olivia describes, it would mean double hell for them.
"Sounds like fun." I offer a smile to ease their worries.
"It will be fun, trust me. You'll forget all about Morgan in no time." Juliet adds, desperately taking my hand in hers and looking me in the eyes. "I promise, you won't regret this, Sera."
"I know I won't."
***
They leave eventually, heading off to their own classes that they'd skipped, and I finally decide to leave the infirmary as well.
Only when I finally step out through the double doors, I look to the side and find Artemis leaning against the wall in the middle of an empty hall way, most likely waiting for me.
But I'm in no mood to talk to him right now.
The second he sees me, he leans off it, standing still until I walk right past him.
"Hey." He offers, speaking more softly as compared to the last time we were together.
I walk briskly to my locker now.
"What are you doing here?" I ask coldly, pulling open my locker.
The seconds of silence shows his initial confusion with the question before he finally responds to me.
"I came to see if you were okay."
"You mean after escalating things with Morgan and beating up his mate?" I ask with a raised brow, and he doesn't speak again for a few seconds now.
Until I slam my locker and face him finally.
"After butting into my business?"
"C'mon, Sera, what were you expecting me to do with you walking around with a bruise that big on your neck? Pat him on the back for a job well done?" He tries to defend his actions now, and I'm in no mood for it.
"And what good came from you butting into it, huh? What good came from hurting the wrong guy? An innocent guy, Artemis! This is my issue with you - you never consider anyone else's feelings, you just act impulsively with no care!" I snap before I realize it, and his gaze narrows angrily.
"My bad, I'm sorry for being such an asshole for helping you out!"
"That's not what I said, and we both know you only did this for yourself - just so you could have one more thing you can hold over me." I swerve around, walking away, hoping he takes a hint but he still follows closely behind me.
"I was trying to do something for you." He says again but this time, in a lower, softer tone that causes me to stop in my tracks.
I almost give into the urge to just let the whole thing go - after all, even though he fucked up, he kind of stood up for me. Maybe his intentions were good. I almost do give in.
But I don't.
I don't let myself fall for this monster.
"Focus all that energy on your mate, Artemis. Did you even ask her if she was okay?"
"She's Kamila; she's always fine." He says like it's some random fact that should be obvious to anyone. Like his own mate isn't a girl with feelings and emotions too.
For the first time, I feel a bit of pity for her, being paired with someone like Artemis that can't read anything besides his own ego; can't even fathom anything besides his own needs and selfish desires.
And even after she stood up to someone as scary as Morgan for him - Alpha or not - he still doesn't care.
"Exactly my point." I mutter loud enough for him to hear before I resume walking away from him.
This time, I'm grateful when I don't hear his footsteps following me closely behind.
I walk to class even though half the class has already gone by, anything to get my mind off the frustrating chain of events that just keep happening, and thanks to the nurse's note Jasper had handed to me previously, I can enter class without being penalized.
I sit right in the middle before the lecture commences again.
At first, my thoughts shift in and out of history class while they talk about ancient tribes of creatures that lived alongside with wolves in the past.
I'm caught up in a world of worry, not being able to get Artemis out of my mind. He's an enigma that even plagues me in moments like this.
It goes on for minutes until a trigger word manages to filter into my thoughts and immediately brings me back into the present, and right on the board, the teacher scribbles down the words.
Astria tribe.
For some reason, my heart begins to pulse faster than usual, and I almost feel as though the entire class is looking at me.
Somehow, they've caught on with my lie and that I've been hiding a mysterious book with magically changing words from everyone.
But in reality, everyone's minding their own business, and it's just my paranoia acting up.
"Who can give me a run down on the basic knowledge surrounding the Astria tribe?" He asks the class and almost immediately, a hand shoots up.
He points at the student, and he stands up, ready to answer.
"A cult of dangerously hot witches." He speaks, and the class erupts with laughter at the stupid joke which I don't find funny.
The teacher doesn't as well, rolling his eyes and telling him to sit down.
"In correction to that 'summary', they were neither witches nor a cult made of solely women. The Astria tribe was a small village of possibly humans with enhanced physical characteristics, similar to that of wolf's. It was said that they offered up barbaric sacrifices to demons in exchange for their strength."
I muse at the word sacrifices. I did not see that in the book I read.
My desire for more information overwhelms me, and I raise my hand up now, to ask a question.
"When you say sacrifices, what does that mean?"
He looks at me for a second, slightly peeved, especially with the fact that I came in late but he still responds to my question.
"Well, it's believed that the sacrifices were the hearts of young wolves, taken from the packs they invaded occasionally. They were essentially a natural enemy of wolves, and possibly the worst."
I freeze at the new information.
Taking, ripping out hearts, and sacrificing them to demons sounded like the least cool thing ever.
My recent obsession with this Astria tribe has pushed me to crave more understanding and knowing, especially since there's this faint feeling that something about it calls out to me.
But hearing this now, I'm mixed with a different set of emotions. A subtle foreboding feeling that, maybe, I shouldn't dig further into any of this, especially if they were so 'evil'.
"So, they were witches." Another student speaks up.
The teacher sighs now, seeing as they don't seem to be getting his explanation.
"Contrary to the definition that witches worship demons, the people of this tribe wielded minimal magic. Majority of them were only physically stronger, though there was a bit of witchcraft practiced by them."
"Do any of them exist now?" I ask, this time out of more curiosity.
"Well, they went extinct after the first Alpha King rounded up different wolf packs and burned down their villages, leaving not a single child alive. It was the birth of our kingdom; the night our enemies perished at our hands." He says it with a look of triumph in his eyes, like nothing else could have been more amazing than it - but it doesn't sit well with me.
Even if they really killed pups for power, burning innocent children that hadn't done anything yet was just as barbaric.
"Don't you think that was cruel, burning a whole village, not considering that maybe not all of them were bad?" I speak now, running my mouth without thinking.
The whole class grows silent, and all eyes move to me immediately. There's suddenly so much pressure directed at me because of my question that comes from an angle none of them are even bothered to consider.
And none of them like it.
The teacher steps closer to my desk, looking more annoyed than ever.
"Miss Hawthrone, are you daring to question the choices of our ancestors that have given us the land and power we enjoy in the present?" He asks but I don't answer, something about his eyes warn me not to.
"The Astrias were nothing but evil pagans that stained the earth with their existence, and purging them was the best we could do to preserve the lives of our people. I don't expect a common human to understand that." He spits venomously before walking back to the front of the class.