Asher This seemed to make sense to them. They looked at each other, passing silent communication back and forth. “Be that as it may,” the drill sergeant began. Her name tag read Dr J.Marshall. Fitting. “The student was almost seriously harmed.” She said, her small eyes furrowing in annoyance. “I didn't harm him. I only wanted to give him a warning.” I argued. “And you didn't think a verbal warning would suffice?” Mr Jameson asked with an eyebrow raised. “The warning was verbal.” I countered. I could feel the atmosphere become charged with annoyance from all parties involved but I didn't care. “Asher,” Mr Firman began, leaving forward and looking at me earnestly, “Whether or not the reason sounds justified to you, the school policy remains fixed.” He sounded kind. Or at least he was trying to. Same way he sounded the previous day. I didn't like it. Didn't trust it. We had never been on friendly terms before now and him taking a sudden interest in my life sparked alarm bells
Dante Mateo was certain Asher wasn't going to come back to the room that night. I'd spent the previous night at Amir's. He'd been more than happy to let me stay, especially after hearing what had happened with Asher. But I hadn't taken any change of clothes or books. Amir was the same height as I was but he was bigger. His jeans were a little too baggy for me and his shirts too big. I could manage them, but I didn't want to. They make me look odd. I looked odd enough with them as it was. Reporting to the school senate was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Majorly because Asher pulled some strings, but I knew it was also because of the attention on Asher Lowell at this time. There were still murmurs about his association with Todd's demise and that made him a person of interest to the school. All I had to do was give his name and everything went by so quickly. I felt bad about it. Everyone said I was doing the right thing and my neck still had the bruises from when he ch
Asher Dean was straining inside of me. I could feel his rage. I began to run. I slammed into someone coming out of their room. Knocked him to the floor but I didn't stop. I ran out of the dormitory and kept running. He was pushing against me. I could feel my spine coming apart and knitting back together. It was fucking painful, but I didn't stop running. I had enough sense not to take the path past the frat house even though it was shorter. There could still be police snooping around and running past them in top speed would encourage them to give chase. I took a longer route. The minute I got past the less populated parts of campus, I ran faster, using Dean's rage to fuel my superhuman speed. I was barely past the treeline of the forest when my hold on him loosened just enough and he burst through. My bones broke apart and rearranged, my limbs elongated and filled out with muscle and fur. It was a part transformation since I had managed to somehow keep hold of him so I wasn'
Dante Mateo was livid. He was more pissed about the fact that I hadn't called him immediately than the fact that my nose looked and felt like a sad little raisin. I listened to him rant about how Asher had no regard for authority or simple human decency and how the disciplinary committee should have been more brutal in their punishment. I couldn't care less about any of that. The throbbing in my nose had reduced to a dull ache and my head was beginning to swim with the buttload of painkillers I'd been given. The clinic attendant had been kind and caring but firm and swift. I had no idea what she intended to do until she did it. Thought she was going to feel around the nose or something which she did initially, but then her fingers moved quickly and I heard a loud crack shortly before I felt the pain. Oh God the pain!I had never felt anything like it. My nose was back into place and she smiled, and gave me a thumbs up, but it hurt like hell. It was a hard toss deciding which w
Asher First day of cleanup duty was terrible. I had no trouble with cleaning. In fact, I did it fairly well. I worked as a janitor in various places over the years trying to make money to survive so it wasn't new to me. What was new was having to do cleanup duty while other students giggled and snorted and whispered over your head. No one was bold enough to say anything to my face. No one was bold enough to even giggle when I was close to them. They did that when my back was turned. Word had gotten round that the school authority finally decided to clamp down on my bad behaviour because I'd almost killed a freshman.Yeah right.The boy was a puny. If I wanted him dead, he would have been. But this was college. The true details of a story weren't enough. Exaggerations were common. I wasn't in the mood to scowl or glower at anyone though. The old man I'd met in the forest occupied my thoughts. He'd said to meet at the barn, but he hadn't given me a time. Obviously it was going to
Asher I jumped onto stacks of wood and lunged for another beam beside him. He was a werewolf. He shouldn't be able to die that easily. I was right. He was still breathing but it was faint and shallow. The wooden beam had gone straight through his heart. He should be dead, but his werewolf abilities were still fighting back. They didn't stand a chance though. I knew that, but I had to help him somehow. I had to try. The beam I was balanced on creaked under my weight as I tried to stretch out to reach him. I thought about pulling him off but I didn't know if that was going to make him bleed to death or if his healing abilities would be fast enough to compensate. “Don't bother.” the words were very faint and if I were only human, I might not have heard them. They came from the old man, teetering on the edge of death. “I need to help. Who did this to you? Was it the rogue wolf hunter?” I asked urgently. He coughed out blood weakly and I heard his breath flutter. He nodded once.
Dante Amir was right. Every student belonged to one club or the other. There were all kinds of sports which I had noticed earlier like soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis and more. The campus was huge so there was more than enough space for all of them. But now that I was looking for it, I also noticed other student activities going on. Amir had asked me to accompany him to the economics club but I didn't think that was my speed. I decided to look for a math club. I stumbled upon a flyer for an event the debate society was hosting later that day. Intrigued, I decided to attend. The debate was held in one of the lecture classes hall, and I was surprised to see it wasn't as filled up as I thought it was going to be. I was surprised even further when the debaters climbed the podium and amongst them stood Slyder. She was dressed in a straight black skirt, white shirt and the college jacket. Her hair was tied into a bun on top of her head with tendrils falling over her face and
Dante.I stuffed half my burger into my mouth the next day, trying to quench the hunger that had somehow taken control of my body.I had not had a single thing to eat all day and it was four p.m. A professor had decided to waste my time, making me her assistant today which meant I had to go with her to all of her classes thanks to Slyder for trying to argue with me in class.“Will you slow down, this is your second burger, man,” Mateo said, his eyes fixed on me.“Sorry, man. I'm just really hungry,”“Yes, it is quite clear that you are. What happened? Did you forget to eat breakfast or what?”“Woke up late, skipped breakfast and lunch because Professor Porter made me her assistant for the day. I had to follow her to all her classes as punishment for talking in her class.”Mateo chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.“Not funny, man. I'm starving.”“Why were you talking in class anyway?” Mateo asked, taking a sip of his coke zero.“Slyder. She argues about everything,”“You two are s
MATEOI knew the library wasn't an ordinary incident. Everyone tried batting an eye, calling it some kind of prank, but with the way I saw it, I could tell it was a creature. A monstrous creature and my mind was on Asher.“Don't you think you're taking this thing a little too far?” Slyder inquired as we approached the surveillance room.I planned on sneaking in while Slyder just watched out for anyone that was coming in. She didn't want to, but I had my ways and by that, I threatened her until she had no choice but to agree.“You want to find out about the library incident? Okay, but do you really think this is the way? What if we don't find anything,” she blabbered on and on.I was already fed up with her constant whining. “Zip it for five minutes. I have to go to work,” I shut her up.She rolled his eyes. “The guards are in the room and we're not allowed there. What's your plan, huh?” she crossed her arms, a smirk on her face.But I had a plan already. I wasn't planning on coming h
DANTE “What the fuck man?” I backed away, making a safe distance between the both of us. “Why were you staring at me like some kind of creep? Were you trying to give me a heart attack or something?”It was dark but I could see his movements through the ray of moonlight that peeked through the window. “You didn't let me sleep, so I figured I had to do something at least,” he replied.I was confused. What does he mean by I didn't let him sleep when I was perfectly sound asleep and he was the one about to give me a heart attack? “You were having nightmares and talking in your sleep. I stayed by your side to watch over you and make sure you were okay,” he explained.My heart felt a warm and tingly feeling. I didn't want to care, but why did he suddenly care about me? It was so insane and touching at the same time.“Um…T...Thank you. But you didn't have to go through all those troubles. I'm fine now,” I assured him, trying to disregard the strange feelings inside me.He scoffed. “Like I
DANTEI sat on the chair, trying to avoid his lingering gaze on me. My breath quickened, getting heavier and heavier by the second. It's been almost two minutes– I was counting. It felt so awkward being in the same room with him. I wanted the ground to open up so bad and swallow me up, but for some odd reasons I liked his gaze on me.I had to caution myself, refrain myself from the thoughts that were starting to envelop me. “So, how are we going to do this?” I broke the silence between us.He looked up at me, I noticed his beautiful gray orbs and then it felt hard to breathe again. My body was becoming hot and my heart raced fast, why was he affecting me in this way?He cleared his throat. “You can take the bed. I'm fine sleeping on the couch?” He gestured to the gray cushion not too far from us.I felt a bit bad. I didn't want him to lay down on the floor, especially since I was going to be here for God knows how long. He was tall and for his body size, the couch would be so uncomfor
DANTE“What are you doing here?” He smirked, handing me his helmet and I scoffed trying to avoid his gaze that was lingering on me. “Are you stalking me? I could've sworn I saw you following me this morning,” I accused him.He smirked. “Don't get ahead of yourself, Dante. Aren't you a darling? Thinking I'm following you around, like I'm what? Your bodyguard?” He chuckled.I ignored him, still looking around for a cab, but it felt like the road was scanty and it was as if there were no cabs around. I held my breath, in hopes that a cab or something would pass.“You know there's going to be a storm and no cabs are going to be available for the night right?” He told me.I cursed my luck. This was not what I wanted to happen and this was leaving me in a situation, I could already picture him with a smirk on his face thinking he has already won.But I was adamant. “I know about that but I'm still willing to try my luck and if not, then I can take the subway instead,” I said.He chuckled l
DANTEYesterday, I retired to bed with lots of thoughts going on in my mind. I woke up this morning, my breath becoming heavier. I checked the time, it was almost seven a.m, which means I have to wake up early otherwise I'm late for class already.I managed to get my sore body off the bed and started staggering towards the fridge, taking a glass of water to help myself. I gulped down everything in one go,trying to even my breath.“You are already involve. Just act normal.”Asher's word kept going through and fro in my head, making it hard for me to stop thinking about it. I knew that there was something up with him and suspected he was involved in this werewolf stuff, but hearing the confession from him just hits different.That confirms Mateo's suspicions, but what I don't understand is what Matteo is trying to benefit from all this. A part of me felt like I had to do my best, like I had to do whatever it takes to make sure that Asher is safe. Definitely bizarre.It's better to stay
DANTE I didn’t believe him.Or maybe I did, and that was the problem.Asher was sitting there, calm as ever, like we weren’t talking about something that should’ve been impossible. Like I wasn’t sitting across from him, trying to pretend that my whole world wasn’t flipping upside down.I looked down at my tray, at the food I wasn’t eating. I picked up my fork and stabbed at the scrambled eggs, pushing them around like they were the most interesting thing in the world.I could feel Asher watching me. He wasn’t saying anything, but he didn’t have to. He was waiting.I sighed and set the fork down. “You know,” I muttered, “this would be a whole lot easier if you just said something.”Asher tilted his head slightly. “Like what?”I shot him a look. “I don’t know. Something that makes sense.”He smirked, and I hated that it still had that stupid, cocky effect on me. “Everything I’ve said makes sense.”I scoffed. “Right. Sure. Claw marks show up at the library, you claim it wasn’t you, and
DANTE I woke up feeling like my head had been smashed against a brick wall. For a few seconds, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to remember where I was. My dorm. Right. Safe.Sort of.The last thing I remembered was walking out of Asher’s place. My mind had been racing, my body sore, my stomach twisted into knots. Even now, my muscles ached, like I’d run a marathon in my sleep.I turned onto my side, groaning as my shoulder throbbed. My blankets were tangled around me, half on the floor, half wrapped around my legs.I had slept like crap.I reached for my phone on the nightstand and squinted at the screen. 10:12 AM.Great. Missed my morning class.I sighed, rubbing my eyes. Normally, I’d be freaking out about that, but today? I couldn’t bring myself to care. Everything still felt weird. Not just because of last night. Not just because of Asher. It was me. I felt off.Like something wasn’t sitting right in my own skin.I pushed the thought away and forced myself to get
DANTE I blinked my eyes open and the first thing I noticed was the quiet. The room was dim, only a ray of light coming from the window. Everything felt still like the air was holding its breath. My body ached, my head was heavy, and the faint smell of pine and earth filled my nose.I wasn’t in my dorm.That realization hit me all at once, making my pulse pick up. The bed was too big, the sheets softer than the cheap ones in my room, and the smell? It was familiar, but not mine. Panic crept up my spine as I pushed myself up, groaning at the stiffness in my muscles. I barely made it halfway before a voice stopped me.“You shouldn’t be moving.”I froze.That voice. My heart slammed against my ribs as I turned my head. And there he was.Asher.Sitting in a chair near the window, arms crossed, watching me. His expression was unreadable, his blue eyes unreadable. Memories of last night crashed into me all at once.The chase. The shadow in the trees. The monster with black eyes.And Asher,
DANTEThe library was dead silent. It always was at this time of the night. Most students didn’t stick around after dark, but I liked the quiet. No one bumping into me. No distractions. Just me, my books, and the hum of the flickering overhead lights.I stacked my notes into my backpack, stretching as I stood up. My back was stiff from hunching over my laptop for hours, and my eyes burned from staring at the screen for too long. I glanced at my phone, it was 11:47 P.M.Damn. I wasn’t meant to stay this late.I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way toward the exit. The library felt different at night. The long, empty rows of bookshelves cast weird shadows, and the dim emergency lights near the doors gave everything a bluish glow.I shook off the eerie feeling creeping up my spine. It was just my imagination.Pushing the heavy doors open, I stepped out into the cold night air. The campus was practically deserted. A few distant streetlights flickered, casting long, twisting shado