"Damn," a male voice whispered from a nearby, not even trying to be quiet. "The forum didn’t do them justice. Nice... assets, fresher."
"Jessica and Elle in the flesh," another muttered, chuckling with his friends.
Lena’s jaw tightened so hard her teeth ached. Her fingers gripped the strap of her bag until her knuckles turned white.
It was one thing to see a digital GIF on a screen; it was an entirely different, incredibly invasive feeling to have a room full of predatory supernatural males staring at your chest like you were a piece of meat on display.
Khloe, meanwhile, looked ready to throw hands, her eyes scanning the others fiercely. "Ignore them, Lena. They’re just peasants who don’t understand you belong to someone else."
From there, it was finally their turn at the front of the line, with Nyx standing just ahead of them. Lena watched carefully as the cafeteria cooks scanned something on Nyx’s phone before handing over her food.
Khloe, standing right in front of Lena, leaned back to whisper an explanation. "It’s just a rank thing. The higher your rank, the better your meal. Primes show silver on the scanner, Tethered show bronze, and Strays show red. But the Quads? Theirs show gold."
When the queue finally moved and it reached Lena’s turn, the kitchen woman was just about to scan her device when another group of wolves rudely cut right in front of her.
"Step aside," one of them barked, entirely unfiltered. "We’re here to carry Q-3’s food."
The cooks didn’t even argue. They scanned all three of the intruders’ phones, and the digital reader flashed a brilliant, gleaming Gold.
One of them turned to Lena with a seductive smile, his gaze dropping shamelessly to her open chest.
Lena watched them closely. Were these arrogant, unnecessary rude wolves the actual members of the Quad?
The cooks immediately nodded, frantically loading massive, high-quality portions onto three separate trays–food that looked entirely different and infinitely better than anything being served on the main floor.
The three wolves snatched up the heavy trays and walked away without a word of thanks.
Lena couldn’t help but turn to track them with her eyes. But she didn’t see Alpha Christopher there, so who were they?
"Next!" the cook yelled, the sharp blast of sound making Lena wince slightly as it rattled her sensitive ears.
She stepped forward and showed the woman her phone. The cook scanned it, and the machine emitted a chime.
The screen showed in a bright, unmistakable Silver.
Lena stared as a premium, heavy portion of breakfast was slid across the counter toward her. Her mind instantly flashed back to Khloe’s words: Tethered show bronze.
Wasn’t she supposed to be bronze?
Lena quickly pulled up her account profile on the screen to check if her rank had changed. It still clearly read: Rank - Tethered. Yet, the scanner had explicitly logged her as a Prime.
Balancing her tray, she caught up with Khloe a few paces ahead, near the stairs and elevators.
"What did you manage to get?" Khloe asked, turning around. She had paused, fully hoping to share some of her own food with Lena, knowing the standard Tethered portions were wickedly small.
But the moment her eyes landed on Lena’s plate, she blinked in utter shock. Lena had the exact same premium meal and portion size as hers.
"Wait... you got the same portion as me?"
"I think it’s a glitch," Lena said flatly, staring at the mouthwatering croissants on her tray. "Three wolves cut the line right in front of me to scan for the Quad. Their phones showed Gold. Maybe their scan broke the system?"
Khloe blinked, completely bewildered. "The Quads came down to the main line?"
"Yeah," Lena nodded, already imagining the taste of the croissants."They were incredibly arrogant and disrespectful."
"Lena, if the Quads actually stepped foot on the ground floor, this entire hall would be in a state of absolute lockdown," Julian cut in, standing next to them. "No one would be eating. Everyone would be on their knees."
"But I literally just watched them scan," Lena defended, her eyes narrowing. "The cook scanned three phones and it showed Gold."
"Oh, those weren’t the Alphas," Khloe clarified, waving a dismissified hand as she realized what happened. "Those were just the Quad’ runners. The Quad never comes down here to mix with the peasants. They make the lower ranks carry their trays all the way up there."
Lena followed Khloe’s manicured finger, looking up for the first time.
She hadn’t even realized the gothic structure was a massive three-story layout. The dining hall stretched upward like a colosseum of privilege.
Each rank had a completely separate section higher up. The chaotic, crowded ground floor was strictly for Strays. Her actual rank, the Tethered, was the floor directly above it.
To go to her own rank, Khloe would have to use the elevator or climb up the stairs to the floors above.
The level right above was Prime, and the highest apex–looking down over the entire colosseum–belonged entirely to the Quad.
Lena looked up toward the high glass balconies. Even from this distance, she could feel a sudden, familiar shift in the air.
She suddenly sneezed.
"Hey, careful," Julian huffed, shifting his tray away. "Don’t sneeze all over my food."
"Lena, you just sneezed while looking up," Khloe said, her eyes widening with a sudden sparkle of gossip. "I used to hear that sneezing like that was a definitive sign someone was talking about you."
Julian let out a dry, dismissive scoff. "Please, Khloe. Like the Quads even know Lena’s name."
...
"Damn. Look at those tits..." Draven said, a slow, appreciative whistle escaping his lips as he zoomed in on the picture Christopher had just tossed onto the table.
"You know that could be Maximus’s illusion, right?" Christopher huffed, his jaw locked tight as he paced the length of the glass balcony.
"Then Maximus’s tits are fire..."
Christopher looked genuinely burdened by his logic, his upper lip curling in disgust as he turned to Zayn for backup.
"Hear me out," Draven clarified, holding up his hands in mock surrender, a lazy, completely unhinged smirk playing on his lips. "Yes, it could be Maximus. But that’s a probability, not a possibility. I put my chips on her being real."