KELANI POV "Guard the house," A yell from Zain made me jerk out of my slumber. With wide eyes, I gazed around the dimly lit room before searching around for the switch of the lamp. Pressing it down, light flares in the room. I shrieked as a hooded figure stood before me. "It's me," Riley said, stepping closer. "Riley!" I exclaimed, eyeing her as she let down the hoodie. "I'm sorry," She winced, pushing a hand through her hair. "I couldn't sleep, and the noise from outside kind of made it worse." "What happened?" I asked her. Climbing down from the bed, I stepped towards the window and peered out. One of the best things about the room I currently was in was the ability to see all that was going on outside without needing to go outside. The fact that Zain had explicitly asked for the room to be cleaned for me even though I wasn't actively speaking to him says a lot. And for some reason, the kind gesture made me want to forgive him. "What's going on?" I asked her. Zain contin
KELANI POV I turned to Riley, who shrugged, and as Vesper twisted the handle continuously, she hissed. "Calm down, lover boy." She said, moving to open the door. As soon as it opened, Vesper stumbled inside, sweat drenched his body. Not worried about the state he was in, I ran into him, jumping into his open arms and wrapping my arms around him. "You're okay," we said in unison. Vesper's arms wrapped tightly around my lower body, and I shuddered. This wasn't the first time he'd be hugging me, but this felt different. It felt as though he poured all his emotions into the embrace. As he let me go, he cupped my face, closing his lips around mine. I gripped his shirt, scrunching it, and stood on tiptoes to access his lips as well. "I'd have said get a room, but then, I don't think I am ready to have a mental image of what both of you could be doing in that room," Riley grimaced, clearing her through, which broke us apart. I flushed, gazing away. "Riley," Vesper grinned, brushing
KELANI POV"You left," Riley said as soon as I stepped in.I nodded, walking to where Vesper was. He was fast asleep, and I turned to Riley."I had to inject him since he didn't want to take any drugs. I tried to ease his pain until I am certain of what attacked him.""And I made sure he isn't going to die; I gave him the right dosage," She added.I turned to Nathan, "I didn't ask what attacked both of you. Can you tell us how to make our work better? It would help if you can describe as well.""Sure." Nathan stood, dug into his pocket, and brought out a sheet of paper with a pen in his hand. "I'll try my best to draw as well. Although I am terrible at art."Riley and I nodded. I didn't care if he drew it well; I only wanted to know what had attacked him so Riley could find spells in her book to cure him.At this rate, I didn't think we could do anything without Vesper. Since it was said teamwork was the only way out for most of the things we engaged in, I believed this wasn't differe
ZAIN POV I never thought seeing Vesper again would bring back the jealousy I felt that night. It was even mightier than the first time. He appearing in my doorway, looking all bloodied and asking for Kelani even though he saw everyone present. It was as if it was only Kelani that existed to him. Well, maybe she was the only one who existed. At that instant, I had just wanted him to stay out and get attacked once again. I knew that attack would kill him. But then, I didn't care. I didn't feel anything at that moment. All my thoughts were borderline evil. Now he was on the fucking bed she had left on, and there she kept checking him out at intervals as if he was the only one she could see. When I stepped into this room again, I smelt Vesper on Kelani. I knew Lance did, too, because I saw him frowning in Vesper's direction. And Kelani's body was bloodied, which confirmed my suspicion, likewise her lips. Had she kissed him? I wondered. It wasn't unlikely, yet I couldn't think of i
KELANI POV "What happened back there?" I asked Zain as I tended to his bruise. Even though it was not really necessary, as it was already fading, I wanted to get him out of there. It felt like if he continued to stay in the same place as Lance, he would be tempted to do something awful. "He tried to kill me," Zain said, wincing as I pressed my hand to the bruise. "Do you have a broken rib?" I asked him. "Seems like it," He gritted his teeth, then sucked in a breath as I prodded him, "I am going to kill that bastard." "You won't do no such thing," I said, letting his shirt fall back down. "Why not? He fucking tried to kill me, Kelani. I am sure if you had been there, you'd have said otherwise." "I did stop that from happening, didn't I? And it's the reason I brought you here. When Lance is done watching, you can resume," I said. Zain grumbled for a brief second, "I wish you came a few minutes late." "I don't believe you could have done anything to him," I said. "You don't eve
KELANI POV Staying a few minutes while waiting for Zain to appear, much to my disappointment, as I caught no sight of him, I turned to Lance once again. Rather than be involved in the search, as everyone was, he wasn't the least perturbed. Rather, he was on his phone, typing nonstop and laughing at whatever he was staring at. Marching towards him, I yanked off the phone from his hand, "Okay, that's enough," I muttered with a glare. "Hey!" Lance exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "What the hell? I do not know where the fuck Zain left off, and give me back my phone." "You should, and I don't believe you one bit," I said. "Why not?" he asked me, his eyes were narrowed. He stepped closer to me, but I didn't flinch despite how intimidating he looked. "Believe it or not, you owe Zain your life. He took you under his roof, and is this how to repay him? Besides, no one fucking asked you to be his keeper. He must have said something to you. Or you must have, by chance, seen him walk off so
KELANI POV"The spirit of discord?" Vesper scoffed. "How would you know that? Are you a witch that can sense powers now?""I don't know how I felt it, I just do, and if we don't eradicate that, I don't think any of us can live peacefully if we don't," I said."How do we do that? Do you have witchery powers?" Vesper asked."I don't need to have it. And I can always ask Riley to help me with one." I said."She's mad at you," Vesper pointed out."Yeah, about that..." I grimaced, shaking my head.It was common sense not to approach Riley when she was furious because she could be mean and even do far more dangerous things.But then, our lives were at stake, and waiting for Riley's anger to quell might even be more harmful than whatever she would do to me if I decided to approach her now."I am sorry. I don't mean for that to happen, and I thought defending you would make...""You don't need to apologize," I cut him off. Stepping towards him, I gripped his hand, locking eyes with him, "Just
KELANI POVRiley arrived as I had presumed, and she walked past me, not asking me any questions.She walked around the room briefly, ransacking through the shelves and checking some of the books.Her brows were creased as she continued to search. Without even saying anything to me, I knew she was searching for the Talisman.But I couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't asking if I had seen it. Perhaps she was trying to keep it a secret from me.Riley hissed, and she turned to me abruptly. She gazed at me longer than intended. Even though I wasn't looking at her directly, I felt her gaze on me, drilling holes in my back."Kelani," Riley said eventually, and I turned.I raised a brow at her, "What's up? Thought you were giving me the silent treatment.""This is not the time for jokes," She said, almost snapping at me."Then when is the time for it?" I asked her."I am too busy for that, but I need a response to what I am about to ask you," Riley stated."You are too busy to joke with me
KELANI POVOh goodness, what does he want now? I mused, straightening as I saw Vesper coming towards me.I had woken early to come to the ice cream shop in search of my phone before leaving for school. At least, if it were going to be here, I'd be the first person to see it since not many students were here after the event of yesterday.I was here because Riley had put a call through to Zain, and he said he hadn't seen any phone. He even said he didn't notice any with me but promised to help me search.I didn't want to let him go through all that trouble for my phone. Hence, I had come here before he would.I turned away as soon as Vesper reached me. He stayed for a while without saying a word to me, but I could feel his eyes on me."Kelani," he eventually said.I ignored him and continued looking under the seat, which I had been doing since I arrived. The phone wasn't even microscopic and could be seen easily, even from afar.Also, it would really stand out if it was here since the b
KELANI POV"What happened, and who's she?" I asked as soon as Zain returned. Vesper had left with the girl immediately. The ambulance came, and the activity that was taking place continued as if nothing had happened.I tried not to think about who the girl was with Vesper, but I couldn't help it. As far as I was concerned, he had no relatives from here.Riley, who was a big mouth herself, hadn't mentioned that Vesper had any relatives. Riley would have said one or two things about the Vesper family. Now, it left me confused."Are you worried that he's seeing someone else?" Zain asked me.I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Why should I be?"Zain narrowed his eyes at me, "Do you love Vesper?""That's not the point. I am just worried about the girl. I haven't seen her from around here before. You know this is the start of the session; what if we are getting attacked again?" I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Mary.What if there was an enemy lurking around the school area, targ
KELANI POVI stared at Jake for a long time before shaking my head."You don't have to give me answers right away; I can wait," He said."I can't... You know what? I need to speak with Chase, and I'll give you a response soon," I said."Great," Jake grinned. "I should leave this with you." he handed me the book and began to walk away."Um..." I trailed off, grimacing as I stared at his retreating form. "I guess you're stuck with me." I stared at the book again before stuffing it inside my bag.I walked to the fountain near the huge gate, then back to the gym's entrance.Now that I thought of it, I didn't have anything else to do besides practice, but I had blown that by going to meet Vesper.I thought it was a reasonable thing to do. Now, I believe I was stupid to have thought that.I could return to practice and ignore the scorn looks and snide remarks from Lia, but I was too prideful to do so. I had told her off and admitted I wasn't interested in the practice, so it was best to st
KELANI POVLia blew the whistle around her neck, signaling the start of practice. We gathered in the newly renovated gymnasium. Gone were the peeling paints I remembered from the last session. Fresh coats of white paint and Mystic's signature navy blue accents now adorned the walls, revitalizing the space. The polished hardwood court shimmered, the school's logo emblazoned at center court. Once a pale blue, the bleachers now boasted a deeper hue, sectioned off with crisp white railings.Despite the renovations, the gym still felt cozy and familiar. It still felt like the first time I was here, where I was whacked in the head."Alright, Fawns! Let's get warmed up," Lia called, her voice echoing off the gym's walls."Thirty minutes," Lia announced.Although I didn't know what I would be doing the whole thirty minutes, I was sure it wasn't warm-up alone.My thoughts wandered back to what happened at the cafeteria. After the announcement was made, Vesper had excused himself. Headmaster Ke
KELANI POVIt was recess, which I was grateful for. The lecture was annoyingly long, and Chase didn't even make it easy. I didn't understand why he was hellbent on trying to make us bring out our wolves.If one had a wolf they could communicate with, it was fine, right? But he had tried to make me switch to Kelly, which I had been unable to.I had gotten my ass whooped three times today, and I was glad to be in the cafeteria to mull over my inability to bring out my wolf rather than do so in the classroom where he could watch me."All I see is back, sexy, well-accentuated backside in that leather pant, and oh, how perfect his legs look," Riley groaned.I thought all that she was saying was from the book she was reading as it was on the table, but from the hushed silence in the room, I didn't think it was.I turned to where students were lined in front of the food table to see Jake. He stood in the room's center, and all eyes were on him. When I said all eyes, I meant all the eyes in t
KELANI POV A MONTH AFTER "And it's called black magic, black magic, yeah!" I groaned, grasping the pillow and using it to cover my ears, but it was barely doing its work. Riley's voice could pierce through even the hardest stone; sometimes, I wonder how she did it. It wasn't because she was singing while I was trying my best to sleep, it was due to the fact that the song had been on repeat for about three hours now. I wondered if she had just come across Little Mix. Hence, she decided to stream all the musics they had, or maybe she was just doing it to annoy me. "You sound like a broken record, Riley. I am trying to sleep," my voice was muffled by the pillow. "Wake up, Lani! It's a new session, the start of a beautiful morning, and I can see the sun peaking out from the sky. Oh, do you know we are going to know who gets shortlisted today in the battle of the strongest? I can't wait to find out who the alpha of the academy will be!" Well, I wasn't looking forward to it. I had ha
KELANI POVRiley and I stayed in the position much longer before Zain cleared his throat, breaking us apart.He was standing by the door with his hands tucked inside his pocket."I'm genuinely surprised at your quick recovery," He said, nodding towards Riley. "Now, I presumed help isn't much needed, is it?"Riley shrugged, "I'm a witch, and just like you werewolves heal after an injury, we do too.""Never knew that," It was Zain's turn to shrug.He probably knew but didn't care for much details."Now you do," Riley said, then added, "When you said help, who is coming? The police or staff from the infirmary?" She asked.Now, thinking about it, I hadn't asked him who the 'Helps' exactly were.I doubted it was any of the staff from the infirmary. It was possibly the police he had called. And to be honest, there wasn't much any of them would have done in this situation."Mrs Periwinkle and Coach Jensen," Zain said, "They should be arriving anytime soon.""They responded?!" Riley question.
KELANI POVOh, My Goodness."Somebody, anybody, help me!" I cried again, for the second time, my eyes moving around the room to see no one had made a move."I did this, I did this," I chanted over again, my hands trembling as I held her closer. I hurt Riley. I had hurt the only person who cared about me.But then again, I was only trying to defend myself. I wondered if that counted.Biting my lower lip as it trembled, I sniffled and then blinked back, the tears brewing in my eyes away. But the more I blinked, the more tears that gathered."Kelani," I felt a pull on my shoulder, but I didn't let Riley go. I couldn't let her go.She was bleeding, and by the look of things, if no one came to save her soon, she was going to die."Kelani," I heard Vesper's voice again.I turned to stare at him and saw his brows were creased with worries. Shaking my head, I let out a throaty sob."I need help!" I snapped, swiping at the tears pouring down my cheeks. "Why are you people doing nothing? Riley
KELANI POV My wolf. Kelly. I had a wolf, just like everyone else. I had a freaking wolf. Excitement unfurled inside of me at the thought. I had thought I was wolfless. A werewolf wouldn't be one without its werewolf identity. I had assumed I was different because I could barely channel any real powers within me. Now, I felt it. With Kelly prowling inside of me, I felt her energy surging inside of me as well. "I'll help you defeat her," Kelly said. "No," I whispered, shaking my head as I approached Riley. She had slammed Lia into a box several times, almost making her go unconscious. But then Lia was as resilient as Riley. They both had strength and great stamina. They could endure a lot of things that many werewolves wouldn't be able to endure. Well, the weaker werewolves, though. Riley tossed her head back and cackled, the air cackling with energy as she did. The wind drifted into the room from nowhere. I couldn't see any windows in sight nor cracks in the wall to indicate