CHAPTER 5

On their way to their next class, Keira and Theo were busy talking when Zane excused himself, telling his friends to go first. He waited for Zeev and Tyr to reach the corner not far from their first classroom and blocked their way.

Zeev casually looked at him while Tyr still had those heavy eyes on him.

“Oh, hi!” Zeev nonchalantly greeted with his hands in his pockets.

“Are you following Keira?” Zane confronted with his serious tone.

“Woah, easy.” Zeev chuckled.

“Then why are you here?” Zane interrogated further.

Tyr just coldly stared at him. Zeev sneered and laced his arm on Zane’s shoulder, guiding him in between them as they started walking again. Zane shrugged the arm at first, but Zeev winged his arm again on his shoulder.

“Our first meeting isn’t nice, I know. We know. But we’re new in this town, okay? We just happened to bump into each other in the forest when we were hunting boars. We were actually as surprised seeing you here.” Zeev said, trying to defuse the situation.

Zane didn’t respond immediately. Though he’s still suspicious of the transferees, what Zeev said might be true. Though Tilbury is a relatively small town, people still move here because of the peaceful and bright life in the place, especially it’s being surrounded by nature.

“Okay,” Zane reluctantly said.

“Shall we be friends, then?” Zeev offered and removed his arm this time.

He looked at the transferee and glanced to his other side. Tyr wasn’t paying attention, but Zane could definitely feel his presence.

“Sure.” he agreed, albeit a little pretentious.

Zeev widely grinned at him as they continued their way to their next class. Tyr intentionally let out his alpha pheromones and Zeev immediately caught it to which he mimicked when they noticed the corridor narrowed and not a lot of students pass by. They usually let out their strong pheromones to induce them to their target and made them submit. It is also used whenever they want to read a human’s mind because their pheromones help them penetrate their subject. Only royal werewolves have such gift.

After waiting for a few seconds for their pheromones to take effect on Zane, Zeev casually hopped in front of their classmate, making him froze on their tracks, and looked at him straight in the eye. This startled the guy and looked at him in surprise, making his eyes locked on him.

“Tell me what you saw in the forest.” This time, Zeev’s tone was deeper and commanding that’s of the alpha he is.

Zane could smell the strong musky and heavy pheromones. Although he couldn’t make out of it because of the strong scent that’s almost hurting his nose, he thought maybe because the transferees are both alpha. This made him froze for a second.

Tyr observed Zane. But they were both surprised when Zane met his eye, breaking from Zeev’s gaze.

“I told you, I think it was a big wild wolf.” he casually told them despite the discreet hypnosis trick they did.

Thanks to his expertise in veiling his expression, Tyr remained stoic despite being confused at how Zane broke with Zeev’s trance. And even if he did, their pheromones are strong enough to even knock a human omega, inducing them to doze off. But Zane was looking at him instead and casually answered Zeev, not even showing a slight intimidation from his cousin’s dominating voice he usually used on trainees.

Tyr subtly glanced at Zeev who was obviously more shocked than him before responding to Zane.

“Hmm… I think so, too.”

“Have you guys caught one again?” the guy asked.

Zeev schooled his expression when Zane turned to him, and he strode beside the guy again so they could continue to walk like nothing out of ordinary happened.

“No. We went home after that. It was scary out there at night.” Zeev played along.

“Maybe that’s why Keira couldn’t remember anything about what happened in the forest back then. She must’ve been horrified.”

Hearing this, the transferees secretly exchanged look and Zeev smiled widely knowing he did his job.

“I bet she was. She even fainted.”

“Please don’t mention what happened to the forest to her. I don’t want to scare her with that.” Zane genuinely requested from them.

Zeev tapped his shoulder gently. “Of course. We won’t mention it ever.”

“You guys go ahead. I’ll make a quick trip to the men’s room.” Zane excused himself and hurried to the nearest restroom.

Tyr immediately halted and seriously looked at Zeev. “Did you see that?”

“I know. Hypnosis didn’t work on him.” his cousin whispered.

“Even the pheromones.” Tyr added.

“Interesting.” Zeev sheepishly smirked. “It’s not going to be easy removing his memory of that night. Good luck!”

Tyr let his cousin rest his arm around his shoulder as they graced the hallway while Zeev enjoyed the attention from other students. His human pheromones were just as attractive as him, while Tyr kept his locked. For some weird reasons, Zane’s scent still lingered in his nose. It was so subtle and almost drowned by mixed scents in the air. But for Tyr who was never been intrigued by any human pheromones for the past two decades, surprisingly remembered someone’s scent. They just met twice, and the pheromones Zane wore all smelled the same for him – sweet, despite it being mostly negative.

Meanwhile, Zane rushed his way to the nearest open exit away from his new block mates and immediately breathed a lungful of air to cleanse his smell. He wasn’t expecting such strong pheromones to harass his nose, almost probing beyond his throat. It was a new pungent smell for him. The scent surely made him tremble internally, but thanks to his resistance, he barely held himself together.

Maybe it was innate in him to be so immune of alpha pheromones despite being the omega he is. Back when they were elementary kids, Keira’s pheromones made an omega kid cowered in fear and submission when he angered his best friend. Even those omegas who were surrounding them almost dreaded after her potent pheromones linger around them. It’s not that he wasn’t bothered by alpha scents. Alpha pheromones will always have effects on anyone especially omegas. He just had this weird resistance on them that even during heats, he mysteriously endured it pretty much well without having an alpha beside him. Since then, he was never interested in any of the sub genders because he could just be fine on his own. Either it be for submission or dominance, no one has affected Zane this much except those two transferees and the fact that he couldn’t tell which scent was from whom.

After calming himself from the suffocating scent, he sobered up in the men’s room before proceeding to their next class.

-xx-

Days turned to weeks. With Tyr’s initial plan to get his job done as soon as possible, unexpectedly enough, Zane wasn’t like most humans they’ve encountered. Aside from their gifts strangely not taking effect on him, being a human omega, he’s for sure a special one.

Doing their mission by disguising to befriend their targets, Zeev had never enjoyed blending with humans as much as they have now. For Tyr, it was a bit frustrating unable to remove Zane’s memory although as days passed, the lingering scent from the mysterious guy continued to brew his interest. Keira and Theo must have slowly opened up to them as their block mates, but his target, Zane, still kept a safe distance and limited communication with them which made it even hard to approach.

“I need you people to pair up for the activity,” a young-looking woman in her forties instructed the class after a few discussions.

Visual Arts.

They were on their fourth subject for the day. Visual Arts subject is usually full of practical activities for Architecture students, and just like any other day, here comes another one.

“With your partner, try to interpret one another and visualize them as nature or landscape; something that you can see would best represent them,” the woman continued despite having only half of the class’s attention while the other half being busy in finding their partners already.

“If you have paired up, you can start and by the end of the class, go find me in the faculty.”

Those were the last words from the professor and excused herself from the class.

Everyone asked for their partners, obviously some close friends, and so Keira. Her eyes automatically seek for her best friend and when she was about to approach him, Zeev surprisingly blocked her way with his usual toothy smile.

“Keira – ”

“Let’s be partner.”

Almost at the same time, Theo called out for Keira while Zeev invited her without a second thought.

Keira turned her head to Theo and when her friend smelled the territorial scent obviously coming from Zeev, Theo helplessly exhaled with his friendly smile and said, “Oh, you can pair up with Zeev.”

His new block mate just flashed a bright smile at him before he looked for his own partner.

“You don’t mind, right? Or do you?” Zeev casually inquired.

Keira paid a quick glance at Zane who just watched them before Tyr also blocked her view of her best friend. “Of course not. Come on.”

Meanwhile, despite almost having the same height, Zane felt like Tyr was towering him while meeting his eye level. Although he could only somehow smell Zeev’s subtle scent and barely Tyr’s, Zane could still feel that weird presence around him every time he is with Tyr in close proximity.

“I guess we’re partners then,” he said, albeit timid.

Tyr just hummed in response, and they picked up their own blank canvases with their art materials.

Students sporadically settled down in pairs, occupying the entire room. Tyr sat beside Zane as he set up the easel in front of him. For some weird reason, Zane felt a little conscious sitting just few inches from the new student. He robotically glanced at his partner, only to see him already piercing his eyes on him. Intimidated, Zane looked away and subtly cleared his throat.

‘How am I going to start this?’ Zane asked in his mind. He casually picked up his charcoal pencil and fidget on it a bit before confidently turned to his side once more.

Amber eyes, a touch of golden and russet tint gazed at him. He tried not to blink too much to conceal the pounding of his chest for locking eyes with the alpha guy. These weren’t the colors of Tyr’s eyes under the moonlight when they first met in the forest. But they were still as mesmerizing as they were during the full moon.

They stared at each other for quite a while. The surroundings turned muffled noises, almost blurry and faint in his ears while Tyr’s feature became clearer and clearer by a millisecond. Finally, Zane had a proper look of the guy’s face after knowing each other for more than half a month.

Gallant amber eyes, perfect high nose, chiseled face, and although scabby, Tyr’s lips are undeniably sultry at that. No wonder this guy became the talk of their department ever since they transferred in the university. He’s good-looking and though Zane hasn’t taken any mental notes of Zeev’s facial features in depth like this, he just knew that the other guy is as gorgeous.

Unknown to him, Tyr was also taking advantage of him being entranced by his beauty to learn of his features – symmetrical eyes that are almost luminescent, nice nose structure, and pink plump lips. Despite being omega, Zane has a relatively built body. Not that it’s uncommon, but if not for his omega pheromone, people might have mistaken him as an alpha because his features scream his kind.

Sniff!

There’s Zane’s sweet scent again. It’s not worry or any negative emotions anymore. It’s almost like a scent of an omega trying to lure an alpha. Albeit subtle, the delicate smell somehow caused Tyr to forcibly look away which startled his partner a bit. He didn’t want to lean closer for another sniff!

Tyr cleared his throat and stared at his blank canvas. When Zane realized that there is so much time passed and they haven’t started anything yet, he initiated the activity.

“Do you like something in particular? Like, streams or mountains?” he voiced out.

“Are we supposed to ask each other?” genuinely confused, Tyr asked.

However, this made Zane sigh and looked at him again. “How am I supposed to interpret you then? I… I don’t know anything about you.”

“You can stare at me again just like what you did earlier.” His words came out of nowhere and Tyr just kept his cool despite his mind being surprised at his own words.

Zane discreetly gulped at the proposition. But for the sake of the activity, even though he felt like Tyr’s eyes are putting him on a trance, he bravely locked eyes with him again and started imagining nature in him.

Seeing the uncomfortable set up they had sitting beside each other, Tyr quietly rose from his seat and arranged the easel opposite on Zane’s, then sat in front of him. With the afternoon sunrays bathing Tyr’s entire face, Zane secretly admired the now almost golden eyes of his classmate. As they exchanged looks, that’s when Zane thought of something and started sketching.

It took them a good minute to brush off some tension between them and comfortably start their activity. Zane still didn’t know how to interpret his partner, but the image of an enthralling place flashed inside his head when he stared at Tyr’s golden eyes came in his mind.

After some touch up when he heard the bell rings, Zane paid a quick glance at his partner who already looked like he finished his sketch a little earlier than him.

“Wow. I didn’t know you are this good in arts, Tyr.” Keira lauded. They also finished their works ten minutes before the bell rang. She was holding her canvas as she peeked on her friends’ works.

Tyr’s lips subtly curled up at the praise before looking at Zane, waiting for his class partner to reveal his own work.

“Zane, look! Even Zeev is good in drawing. He drew me as an enchanted forest.” Keira chuckled.

“You can pass as a fairy, to be fair.” Zeev proudly stated.

The lady jokingly hissed at his remark before excitedly stood beside Zane to see his.

“Woah…” At her reaction, the guys looked at her expectantly.

“Look!” Keira showed her work which Zeev didn’t see earlier because she said she wants to keep it a secret. But seeing Zane’s work, she placed the two canvas side by side.

“We had the exact same place in mind for those two,” she added.

Keira finally revealed Zane’s and her work to their curious partners. Tyr and Zeev immediately recognized the landscape. It was too familiar to miss. The new students subtly exchanged looks and they had the same thought in mind – it’s the Moon Valley.

“Woah, how did you guys think of the same landscape?” Zeev played pretense.

“Right?! It’s the first thing that came to my mind when I looked at Zeev’s eyes!” Keira even squinted her eyes on them and gestures big.

“Oh, right. It just suddenly flashed in my head, too.” Zane agreed.

In the midst of Tyr’s and Zeev’s worry, Theo came to join the small group and shared his own work, too. While Zeev naturally shrugged the anxiety off to mingle with others, Tyr caught Zane’s eyes on him again.

‘There’s no way they reached Moon Valley,’ he disputed in his head, gaze still fixated on his partner.

“Come on!” Theo invited for the group to submit their arts to the faculty as the students slowly emptied their room.

“Let me bring that.” Zane softly said to Keira, getting the canvas from her.

Tyr and Zeev purposely dragged on to have some safe distance. “They’ve been there.” Tyr whispered.

“Hmm,” Zeev hummed in affirmation. “I didn’t know they’ve gone there. I would’ve erased her memory of that, too. She was too scared that night, her memory was just filled of the forest encounter. I didn’t see Moon Valley,” the guy detailed out.

His cousin remained silent and stoic. But this surely alarmed them.

“Do you guys want to come in the tavern, too?” Theo offered, almost yelling because of the distance.

Zeev beamed. “Oh, we would love to! But we have other plans. I’ll treat you drinks next time!”

“Alright! Sounds cool, too!”

When the attention spared from them, the two immediately exchanged signals. They definitely need to go home early!