Chapter 233

Lila’s POV It felt like we were staring at one another for what felt like an eternity. I wasn’t really sure what more to say, so I just stared down at my hands and tugged at my fingers nervously.

“Mates?” Rachel was the first to speak. I looked up at them and saw that Becca stood frozen, her face had gone pale. “You’re mates with Alpha Enzo?”

I nodded my head, feeling a wave of shame crossing my features and making me feel a bit claustrophobic.

“How... what.... When?” Becca stammered through the questions that were surfacing her mind.

“Since my birthday last year,” I admitted, finding my voice again.

“So, you knew since all of last year?” Rachel asked, her eyes wide.

“For most of it,” I told them, feeling more shame.

“So, you’ve been together... even while he was your professor?” Rachel asked, furrowing her brows together.

“No!” I said, standing to my feet. “Nothing happened between us until the summer...”

“The summer?” Becca asked, shaking her head as she tried to process this information. “You were in Monstro...”

“Enzo was with me,” I said, feeling my face growing hot as my lies began to surface.

“I need to sit down,” Becca breathed as she leaned against the couch.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you...” I said softly, feeling tears surfacing in my eyes.

“So, what are you now? Are you together now that he’s not a professor?”

I bit my bottom lip again, which made Rachel’s eyes widen.

“What?” Rachel urged.

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“He’s back,” I said quickly.

They both looked at me, startled.

“What do you mean he’s back?” Rache was the one who asked because Becca was still in shock.

“Professor Xander got fired...” I admitted. “So, Enzo is back for the semester.”

“Fired?!” They both nearly yelled at the same time.

“How?” Becca managed to ask.

“That’s a long story,” brushing my fingers through my hair. This wasn’t something I wanted to talk about with them, and I don’t think they could handle anything more.

“Okay... so things happened with you two during the summer and now he’s back as your professor.

What now?” Rachel asked; she sounded a bit calmer now and I realized it was because the shock was now surpassing her.

“Well, before we found out he’s going to be teaching again... he kind of... marked me.”

The shock was back on Rachel’s face as she gasped.

“He marked you?” She asked, looking at my neck questionably.

I nodded and pointed to my shoulder blade.

“I have it hidden with concealer,” I confessed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen... but it did.”

“So, you two are together?” Becca asked, her voice small.

I nodded, meeting her eyes.

“Yes, we are. He’s my mate and I love him so much, Becca,” I could hear the desperation in my voice as I said that.

She stared at me for a moment longer before taking a deep breath.

“Who else knows about this?” She asked.

“My family and his family,” I told them. “We just told them recently actually. My best friend, Brianna knows as well and—”

“That’s why Alpha Enzo and some of his pack members were here to help with the bakesale?” Rachel asked as realization dawned on her.

I nodded.

“Yes,” I answered. “They’ve all been very kind to me. I spend a lot of time there...”

“And that’s where you were last night,” Becca said, folding her arms across her chest. “Isn’t it?”

My face warmed again as Rachel’s eyes poured into me, but I wasn’t going to lie to her again, so I nodded. I also wasn’t going to tell them the full story about Xander, at least not right now.

“I’m sorry...” I said in a whisper.

“So, you weren’t with Brianna?” Rachel asked, sounding a bit hurt.

I shook my head.

“I should have been though,” I admitted, meeting her eyes. “What I said about her was true. But I wasn’t there when I should have been. I haven’t been a very good friend to any of you. I’ve been so wrapped up in all of this that—”

“You lost sight of your friends,” Becca finished the sentence for me. I looked at her through my unshed tears and I nodded.

She didn’t look angry; she just looked sad.

“I never meant to lie to anyone. But if word got out about this—”

“You think we’d tell?” Rachel asked, sounding offended. “Lila, I thought you trusted us more than that.”

“Of course, I do...” I said, trying desperately to get her to understand. “I was just scared.”

“Well... now that we know we can help you hide it,” Becca said, a fond smile growing on her mouth, utterly surprising me.

“Wait what?” I asked, staring between the two of them curiously.

“You want this thing to be a secret, don’t you?” Becca asked, raising her brows. “I mean if the school board found out about this, they’d transfer him to a different school... or transfer you considering they need him it seems.”

I nodded in agreement; if it came down to me or Enzo, they would pick Enzo. They needed him for this class until they could hire someone new. It would be easier to just transfer me to a different academy and the only other academy in our region was hours away. I’d have to take a plane to visit my family and that wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Also, if the board found out that we knew we had been mates since my birthday last year, then Enzo’s reputation would be ruined and everything he worked so hard for would be destroyed.

Our relationship had to remain a secret until after I graduated and I’m no longer a student.

“Yes,” I finally answered my wide-eyed friends. “We want it to be a secret.”

“Okay, good,” Becca said, wrapping her arm through mine. “Then, we will help you.”

“Yeah; like cover for you and stuff,” Rachel said, taking my other arm.

Now the tears were turning into happy tears as my friends took each of my arms and rested their heads on my shoulders.

“You can count on us to keep your secret. But please don’t lie to us about something this big again. We are your friends, and we have your back,” Rachel said. “And also... I’m happy for you.”

“I’m happy if you’re happy,” Becca said, holding my arm tighter.

“Yeah, if he hurts you... I’ll kick his ass,” Rachel teased.

The idea of Rachel trying to kick Enzo’s ass was funny considering he was a big and strong Alpha and Rachel was a bear. I laughed and so did Becca.

“What?” Rachel pouted, lifting her head from my shoulder. “Just because I’m a bear doesn’t mean I can’t kick some serious ass. We aren’t all weak.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I laughed.

“So, anyone else knows about this that we should know?” Becca asked as we made our way to the door.

I thought about it for a moment and then the memory hit me.

“Uh... yeah...” I said gritting my teeth together. “Brody.”

They both stopped walking.

“What?!” They both exclaimed.

“He kind of just figured it out on his own,” I said, purposely not telling them about everything else. They didn’t need to know Brody’s business about Sarah.

“And didn’t totally freak?” Rachel asked.

“Nope; he was really cool about it,” I said with a shrug.

“Guess he’ll have to get over his crush on you,” Becca chuckled.

“It’s about damn time,” Rachel said making us all laugh as we headed across campus and to the dining hall.

Brody was finishing grabbing his food and coffee when we got there. As soon as we entered the dining hall, I smelled all the amazing goods that were being prepared. Along the back walls, through all the rows of tables and clustering students, was a big buffet of breakfast foods.

There were pancakes, French toast, waffles, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, eggs, hashbrowns and so much more. On the other side of the wall was the coffee station, which was my favorite station. Especially right now, I was with Rachel when it came to her need for coffee.

“Hey Brody,” Becca said, waving at him.

The two of them talked while Rachel and I grabbed our coffees. Afterward, we grabbed plates and piled food on top of them. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until after I got to the dining hall and smelled all the amazing food.

“It’s too crowded in here for my liking,” Rachel muttered once she finished getting our food. “Let’s go to the student lounge.”

We all nodded in agreement and moved as a unit away from the dining hall. The student lounge was only around the corner, it was part of the same building along with the counseling offices and the infirmary.

Just as we were nearing the student lounge doors, I heard a soft whimpering sound, making me freeze.

My friends continued walking, not seeing that I had stopped walking and obviously not hearing what I was hearing. It was Brody who noticed I wasn’t with them anymore.

“Lila? Are you coming?” He asked, staring at me with his worried brown eyes.

“Yeah, go ahead without me,” I said, smiling at them. “I need to check checking. I’ll be there in a second.”

They looked at each other frowning, but they nodded and went into the student lounge. Brody grabbed my plate and stuff.

“I’ll bring this in with me,” he said, giving me a fond smile.

I nodded and watched as he too disappeared in the lounge.

I followed the soft whimpering sound around the corner; it grew louder as I walked down an unlit hallway and then froze outside of what I thought was the janitor’s closet.

Why would someone be in there?

I opened the door slowly and heard her gasp in surprise as the light shined on her face. Blood was coming out of her eyes, and she looked sickly pale; her entire body was trembling fiercely, and her lips trembled.

“Oh, my goddess,” I gasped, running toward her before she fell over. “Sarah!”

“Please...” she whispered almost inaudible. “Don’t tell my father...”