He truly believed it was a game. But as he passed down the hallway, the residual weight of his suffocating aura didn’t fade.
One by one, the reinforced steel lockers lining the walls began to screech, bending and crumpling inwardly under the pressure of his departure.
The students cowered against the walls, terrified to even draw breath until he turned the corner.
What an absolute asshole, Lena thought, her jaw tightening as she stood against the metal.
Suddenly, a thick uniform jacket was thrown over her shoulders, completely covering her exposed body from the starving stares surrounding her.
Kaelen gripped her arm gently, pulling her away from the lockers. "Let’s get you some fresh clothes."
Lena clutched the jacket tightly around herself, her boots clicking rapidly alongside his as they hurried down the administrative wing, leaving the whispering crowd behind.
Once they reached a quiet, empty corridor, Kaelen finally slowed his pace.
His dark eyes narrowed as he looked down at her. "Why the hell were you wearing Alpha Christopher’s sweatshirt?"
"I found it in the lost and found," Lena muttered, a trace of old exhaustion bleeding into her voice. "My suitcase was sabotaged by some loser from my pack. It was either that or walk the halls naked."
Kaelen didn’t say anything for a long beat. He just stared at her, a deep, unsettling calculation running through his eyes. "How weird. That sweater belongs to Alpha Christopher, but she usually wore it. Even on the last day everyone saw her."
Lena stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. She wrenched her arm out of his grip, her brow furrowing under her damp bangs. "Who is ’she’? Who is everyone talking about?"
"It’s better we don’t talk about her. Let’s just focus on getting you settled into the academy." Kaelen said smoothly, turning to keep walking.
"No," Lena commanded, her voice dropping into that deadly frequency that made him pause. She stepped right into his path, forcing him to look at her.
"I am not just going to pretend like everything is fine. I was just physically harassed in a public hallway by some mad Alpha who keeps screaming at an invisible enemy and calling me Maximus. I need answers. Explain it to me."
Kaelen looked at her for a long, heavy second, realizing she wasn’t the type to just let this go. He let out a low breath, looking down the empty corridor to ensure no one was listening.
"No one is allowed to talk about Maximus. But ’she’ is Gemma. Alpha Christopher’s girl. And she just magically went missing exactly one week before you arrived."
What?
"How is that even possible? Did anyone actually see her leave?"
"They did," Kaelen said, his dark eyes suddenly narrowing as they locked onto her chest with an unsettling sharpness. "And that sweatshirt you had on was the last thing she had on. Where did you say you found it again?"
Lena hit him with a flat, are you serious? look. "The lost and found."
She cut her gaze away, her jaw tightening in frustration. If a student who looked exactly like her had disappeared, why weren’t the authorities searching for her?
As if sensing her incoming question, Kaelen let out a low breath, looking down the empty corridor. "They did search for her, Lena. But it was like she just... vanished."
Lena fell deep into her thoughts, the information swirling around her head like a bad fever dream. A girl who looked just like her.
"Do you have a picture of her?" Lena asked suddenly, looking back up.
If the resemblance was that uncanny, Gemma could just be a sister or a twin she never knew she had.
Checking his pockets, Kaelen sighed. "My phone is in the Head Student’s office. Come on. I’m in charge of making sure you get everything you need as a fresher anyway."
Lena clutched Kaelen’s jacket tightly around her shoulders, her boots clicking rapidly alongside his as they hurried down the administrative wing.
Even as they walked, Lena was still worried about the disturbing information she had just received. The math wasn’t adding up.
Kaelen reached the doors and entered before her.
When Lena stepped inside, she realized the room was actually really comfy-made. It was bright and practically bursting with a bubbly, welcoming energy.
A student body’s office was a stark contrast to a whole Principal Neil’s office back at North Ridge High, which always smelled like old dust and loneliness.
"Sit," Kaelen told her, gesturing to a plush chair.
His phone was resting on the desk. He tried to turn it on, but the screen stayed dead. With a quiet grunt, he plugged it into a charging cable, then disappeared into a storage closet.
When he walked back out, he handed her a hefty welcome basket.
Lena leaned forward, scanning the items. Deodorant. Bath wash. Shampoos. Basically all the essentials she had lost when her suitcase was sabotaged. A wave of genuine relief washed over her. Finally, something was going right.
"And here’s your official uniform," Kaelen added, handing her another heavy bag.
Lena unzipped it, looking at the neatly categorized clothes as Kaelen listed them off.
"Monday wear has its mandatory night class wear," he explained. "Tuesdays is labor day—no night class for Tuesdays. Wednesday is training day. No class, just field training. Thursday has standard wear and night class wear. Friday, like today, there’s no official night class wear, so wear what you like."
Lena nodded, looking at the fabrics. It wasn’t too bad. "And Saturdays?"
"Saturdays are self-learning," Kaelen said. "It works better if you train under the Quad. Though right now, there are only three of them."
"What happened to the fourth?"
Kaelen’s expression turned completely stone-cold. "We don’t talk about Maximus."
Lena rolled her eyes, letting out a dry, frustrated sigh. "Let me guess. The authorities will burst through this door and carry anyone who mentions the name?"
"Worse," Kaelen said deadpan before handing her another bag.