Academy Of Mates novel Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Apr

Chapter 101

79

Andrew has really changed. Instead of the usual smug and proud manner that he carries himself in, this new Andrew kept his head low and his back hunched over. He tried to make himself look as small as possible and never stared too long at anything, eyes moving from side to side constantly. It’s as if he was scared of something and he looked very uneasy… uncomfortable.

It was quite strange.

This wasn’t the Beta that I met in the School of Love who laughed and enjoyed every single drop of attention. This wasn’t the same boy who paraded himself, gestures and all. Twirling, grinning and basking in the spotlight.

Odette really broke him. Whatever she did, she wrecked him and left nothing.

But this was her Beta.

This was her friend.

How could she do this to him?

Why does he look like he just wants this all to end?

“Come, let’s get out of this stuffy room” He managed, walking towards the door.

My eyes widened in surprise. “I’m allowed to leave?”

“You’re not a prisoner here.” Andrew jokes dully, but takes it back. “Well, you are, but if you’re with me it’ll be okay.”

I didn’t miss how he mumbled a quiet: ‘I hope.’

Again, I’m taken aback by him. The stark contrast between the Andrew I met at the School of Love and the one in front of me now is so different that I’m starting to wonder if they’re the same man.

But it was him.

I remember him so well. He was the first boy that ever gave me the time of day, talking to me and smiling at me, calling me beautiful and making me blush all over. I felt bad for him. This was his home; his life and it seemed that everything was taken away from him.

“You should come with me,” I said, without thinking.

Andrew barely looked up. “Where?”

“Let’s leave together. Find a way out of here.” I urged, wanting the best for him. “This isn’t you.”

“And you think after what I’ve done to Benedict, he and his Alpha will merely accept me with open arms?” The guilt in his eyes tells me so much about his time with Benedict. And I know I should hate him for being Benedict’s pain, his torturer, but all I felt was pity. He didn’t know any better. There was truly nothing else he knew except this life. And he was taught to do this. He didn’t just grow up to be a villain. “There’s no where for me to go, Vareesa. The only place I can be is alone, sent far away from here and have a quiet life which the Alpha promised.”

“Something tells me your Alpha is lying to you.” I don’t bother to sugarcoat things and, from the sullen expression on his face, he knows it’s true. He knows deep down his Alpha is giving empty promises. “They’re going to keep you here forever because they can. Aren’t your parents going to help you? Aren’t they powerful? Why can’t they do something?”

“They’re dead, Vareesa.” Just as he opens the door, he turns to face me, his eyes red rimmed. “It was part of my punishment. He killed them in front of me and took everything they owned for himself. He had their bodies hanging from the ceiling in this room for days until the smell was too much.”

10:46 Mon, Apr 20 JM.

Chapter 101

Monster.

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The city pack Alpha was the real monster that everyone should fear. The one that wore a mask so thick, the one that smiled the widest and spewed nothing but lies.

They all labeled Sebastian as a monster.

But this man, this Alpha that ruled the city pack, is the real monster.

In the School of Love, he was so glamorous, so powerful, standing before all of us with this fabricated image of kindness and humor. It was all lies. He was all lies.

And it seems all our problems, all our sufferings, all pointed to him. He was our common factor. We have all suffered under his reign. Sebastian, Benedict and Andrew, and so many more have been under his mercy.

“I’m sorry.” I found myself saying to him. “I’m sorry you lost them.”

“Consequences.” He merely responds, facing the door once again.

But I could see tears falling down his cheeks, which he quickly wiped away. He was barely holding on, his body shaking without him even realizing it.

I felt bad.

I really did.

He’s just a boy too.

This thought haunts me. For they were all just kids, their lives taken away from them before they even knew what it was. What did they ever know?

I try to distract myself from going into despair and eventually tunneling out of control, focusing instead on everything but Andrew and our terrible situation. We were outside his room now, in this long hallway of alabaster walls and golden embellishments. Following the light at the end of the hall, the sight took my breath away. The walls were all glass, from floor to ceiling, the view of the city glowing. I’ve never seen anything so… alive.

As terrible as the city pack is, their land, this place was so beautiful.

Andrew’s house. Well, it’s not a house, we were obviously in a building, so I don’t know what this is called. His home overlooked the city pack’s breath taking metropolis, the lights ever bright, the buildings taller and surrounding us in this jungle of concrete.

His home itself is gorgeous, the alabaster walls turning into alabaster pillars with gold plating. Andrew had paintings on the walls, the size bigger than my house in the farm pack. His lights were dimly lit, allowing the lights of the city to stream in instead.

An opened glass door leads to a wide expanse of balcony with a long wide pool that had its own gold trimmings, reflecting the lights around it.

Everything here screamed wealth, screamed power and this excess of riches and luxury that I can only stare at. His home alone is so spectacular that I just know this was worth countless of packs and taking into account that he’s merely a throwaway Beta now.

Andrew goes down a flight of stairs to the side, the railings yet again gold and it wasn’t just painted gold, it was actually gold, the metal gleaming. I held it, feeling the smooth yet hard material. It was cold to touch as I blinked, unable to believe that this was all real.

They were truly filthy rich and comparing this to my home in the farm pack before Sebastian came along, the difference is almost disgusting. I was sick to my stomach because this was even better than the mansion at the School of Love, which took

10:46 Mon, Apr 20 M

Chapter 101

generations and generations of wealth to build.

We could barely feed ourselves.

Yet the city pack were drowning in their own fortunes.

It makes me wonder how they got all this, but I didn’t have to think hard as I remember Sebastian’s story, how they were burned away from existence, all their things taken and their resources drained.

This wasn’t wealth from hard work.

This was wealth built from the backs of the poor.

The helpless.

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I can hardly bare staring at this now. For how many were killed for these gold railings? These long expensive couches? This magnificent piano made of exotic wood shoved to the side that I know Andrew doesn’t use? The chandelier hanging from the ceiling that sparkled with real gem stones?

Andrew took me to the balcony, hanging over yet another railing made of gold, his body to the edge of the building. The air was crisp, the smell of pollution and literally every scent of the world blowing against my face. He spread his arms wide and his expression lightens as if, despite everything, he knows this is his home and, in some way, he loves it just like any of us loving our homes. “Welcome to the city pack.”

Purely for my pride, I don’t allow myself to enjoy any of it. “I’m not here on holiday, Andrew.”

“A shame, because if you look past the fact that millions died for this one part of my balcony, our lands- not the riches- but the land itself is actually beautiful.” He sucks in a breath, eyes fluttering close. “You can see the ocean on that side and the woods on the other. They’ve built these long bridges connecting us to the world. We have our own airports, businesses and a life much like the humans do. On good days, I can reach the clouds from here. On rainy days, we’re nearly too high for the rain to touch us. And when there’s a storm, I can see the lightning strike the ground.”

I looked down from the railing of the balcony to find us so high up from the ground that I could barely see the roads, the thousand and thousand of cars that drove past, the countless people that walked on the streets.

“But I can see that you’re judging it,” Andrew says with a small frown. “It’s true. Only one fourth of the total population is actually from the city pack- the only ones to truly enjoy this place. Everyone else are prisoners, slaves taken from their packs and forced to work here. Everything you see was built by the blood, sweat and tears of the people the city pack have taken from their homes, from the pack they have pillaged.”

From people like Sebastian.

“We are terrible people. I know that.” He says in a voice so low that I barely heard it. “The things that have been done- the things that are still being done to achieve all of this is… is something else.”

“Let’s go back inside please.” I nearly begged, stepping back.

He was right.

Everything was beautiful and magnificent.

But they were all done by terrible means and it taints the beauty

10:46 Mon, Apr 20 M.