When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 155

Chapter 155

Luna Demetra.

Bags packed. Luggage’s in the car. The the airport. Then a first–class flight all the way to Rockville, which is in another state entirely. Georgia feels like a different planet now.

I did go home to break the news to the

dad didn’t cry…he’s too tough for that but he

cry. Emris. Slade. Silver. And Eden-

I slept almost the entire flight.

at

The Lion Pride. Let them

that look in his eyes. It’s th

my

to

away for four months. My

other

that looked like they were about to

Lolly taps my hand twice when we’re descending but I already knew. I could feel the altitude change in the way you do when you’ve been half–awake catching the last few minutes before something begins but I let myself have those extra seconds anyway.

Then I open them and see her sitting across from me, making notes.

Oh, and why is Lolly with me?

Because we’re gonna be doing this together.

She’s my assistant, but above that, she’s also an artist. Most of the creative ideas plus the business side of the company come from her. She’s basically my creative director and right hand all rolled into one. Without her, Metra would still be a messy sketchbook and a dream. With her, we’ve got contracts, clients, and a reputation that actually means something.

Every business decision that didn’t make me want to hide under a table was run through her filter before it reached me. We both enrolled at Wolf Arts to learn more. Better techniques. Better networking. Better understanding of the supernatural art world that’s way bigger than I ever realized.

Crazy thing is…she mentioned dorms and made me believe I was gonna get a random roommate. Some stranger I’d have share a bathroom with and make awkward small talk with at 2 a.m. when neither of us can sleep.

When really?

She already applied for the school and chose the same room for us.

Moons, my shock when she dropped by the Black Covenant house this

screamed. We cracked up laughing together on the couch while Emri

minds.

Best surprise ever!

to

with

the doorway like we’d lost our

o application letter. I screamed. She

The shades are across my eyes as the chauffeurs take our bags into the car at the airport parking lot. The doors are open for us to go in. I wait for a second…just a second and look up at the sky in Rockville.

It is literally darkened already.

are flying up around them. A rushing to get to their cars….

Like there’s a storm about to meet us. The clouds are low and gray and churning. People’s loose bag skitters across the tarmac. Some people are yelling in the parking lot of the airport, ru

and anywhere that isn’t out here.

Hair whips across my face but I push it back.

Demetra? Lolly’s voice.

I step off the sidewalk into the car. The leather seats are warm and the windows are tinted.

R3

O

Chapter 155

“First day and there’s a storm.” I say.

“Is that a bad sign?”

I think about it for approximately half a second. “We have storms at home all the time. Plus Lycans who wanted to end us. I genuinely don’t think regular weather can intimidate me anymore.”

I pull my phone out and check…only to see that Emris has already texted. Are you there yet. A statement that is also a question that is also him checking on me without wanting to say he’s checking on me.

“Don’t forget your wig, Luna.”

“Right.”

I grab the compact mirror from my bag and look at the driver’s seat reflection. My real hair that everyone recognizes gets twisted into a messy bun. Then I pull the dark wig out of its bag and settle it over my head. I adjust and tuck a few stray strands underneath.

The transformation is instant.

Then I turn to Lolly.

“Do I look like Demetra or not?”

“Hmm.

“Lolly. That is not an answer.”

“You look-” she considers, “-extra pale.”

I flip the visor back up. Fine. I’ll take extra pale. Extra pale is unrecognizable and unrecognizable is the point.

I take a picture of myself in the wig, making a peace sign and send it to Emris. At the same time, messages pour in from Slade, Silver, Eden, and my dad. All of them asking if I’ve landed, if I’m safe, if I’ve changed my mind and want to come

home.

I send the same picture to all of them at once and chuckle.

The road to the Wolf Arts Academy changes before the buildings do.

That’s the first thing I notice….the roads get narrower, darker, lined on both sides with old trees that have been growing there long enough to arch overhead and block whatever weak light the storm clouds are leaving us. Every few feet there are small yellow lights strung through the vines along the tree line, and in the grey of the almost–storm they glow amber

“Whoa.” Lolly presses her face to the window. “Demetra, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“It’s giving me clear inspiration.” I giggle, pulling out my phone and start filming because this is exactly the kind of thing that makes my fingers itch to draw something. The yellow lights make the woods look magical.

“Oh my-” Lolly grabs my arm. “What is that!?”

The gates. We’re passing through them now and there, standing on top of the stone pillar where the W of Wolf Arts is carved, is a statue of a black wolf the size of a small car. Eyes cut from red stone, head raised, mouth open just enough to show the fangs. It doesn’t move. Of course it doesn’t move. I tell myself it doesn’t move as we drive slowly past it and I keep the camera on it until we’re through the gates.

A few more minutes driving in and the dorm building comes into view.

“Looks like we’re here.” The chauffeur says.

23

C

10

111

O

Ividy

UM

Chapter 155

We come out and the first drops of rain hit my shoulders immediately. I look up at the building. Old stone, tall windows, Ivy climbing the east wall in a way that would be charming in different weather. The chauffeur starts pulling our luggage from the boot-

Oh, and there’s a woman…appearing at the top of the entrance steps.

Blonde hair, cut close. Suit and trousers, pressed, not a crease out of place despite the wind. Her back is straight with that precision that comes from years of Delta training…so she’s what..gamma or beta? It’s giving military.

Is she here to greet us? That’s strange….

She comes down the steps toward us and in the better light I can see her eyes. Strict.

“Demetra Pride. Lolly Steward.”

My stomach drops.

She knows our names. She knows our names?

“Uh…yes.” I say carefully.

She reaches the bottom step and looks at me with those strict eyes.

“Mr. Emris Covenant told us you would be arriving today.”

I close my eyes for exactly one second.

Of course he did.

I open them.

“Of course Emris told you.”

Of course. Of course. I packed a wig. I planned a whole identity. I spent two weeks constructing a version of this arrival where I was just a regular student, just a girl with a passion for art and a desire to learn, nobody’s Luna, nobody’s mate, just Demetra…and he called ahead. He called the school ahead!?

I look at Lolly.

She is pressing her lips together very hard like she wants to laugh.

“Um, ma’am…whatever he told you-”

“Listen up, student! There won’t be any preferential treatment just because you are a Luna of the Black Covenant Pack. The only thing I can do for you is keep my mouth shut about who you are. That’s it. That’s the full extent of what I’m offering.”

“That’s perfect.” I mean it completely. “That’s genuinely all I want. I’m here to be a student. Whatever Emris told you…. however many phone calls he made, none of that is necessary. I don’t want anyone finding out who I am.”

“The students here aren’t dumb but they’re also not particularly interested. They come from top packs across the world… bloodlines just as old and just as powerful as the Black Covenant. Nobody here is going to spend their semester sniffing around trying to identify a new arrival. I’m Vanessa.”

She says it after all of that!

“Nice to meet you?” I squint.

“Nice? Or you mean horrid.” Lolly murmurs.

11:37 Sat, May 23 M.

Chapter 155

Vanessa turns to her sharply and the look she delivers is so flat that Lolly clears her throat and finds something interesting to look at on the middle distance.

“The chauffeur can go!”

“Oh… but we need to get our luggage upstairs-

“Then you should start by taking them up.” Vanessa looks at me once more. “This is the she–wolves dormitory. Male wolves are not permitted inside the building. Plus, you did ask for no preferential treatment.”

I did.

I absolutely did say that. The chauffeur, apparently deciding that his role in this situation has reached its natural end, deposits the last of our bags on the pavement, gets back in the car, and is gone.

Lolly looks at the bags.

I do the same for mine. Lolly has six bags. I have eight-

I stare at them lined up on the pavement in the rain which is now graduating from beginning of rain to committing to rain.

“Welcome to Wolf Arts, ladies.”