ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (249 page)

“I don’t think that’s likely,” Principle Cole said. Of course he wouldn’t believe me.

“Won’t you just go check to see if anything’s out of order?” I asked, but a knock on the door distracted Cole. Ms. Donovan popped her head in the office.

“Mr. Kirilov has arrived,” she said, and I was forgotten.

“We’ll talk about this again on Monday, Miss Frost.”

I huffed.

There was no choice but for me to join my classmates.

“Trouble in paradise?” Christian spoke low behind me. I frowned at him. What would he know?

“Beth told me you were with the principle. I hear that’s a normal routine for you.”

Of course. If a figure of authority cornered me, it was usually because I’d done something. I shrugged and put on a cheeky smile.

“Just the daily update,” I said. The one corner of his mouth tugged up in a smile that was as unbalanced as it made me feel. He reached his hand towards my face. A strange flow accompanied it and I jerked back, but he hooked my hair behind my ear. The suspicion in me changed to something sensual straight away, replaced by a different heat. Our surroundings fell away. His eyes flashed something unreadable, and I felt hot under my own collar. Adelaide Frost? Blush?

Normally boys didn’t unsettle me. There was a reason I had a nickname. Frost, the ice queen.

“We have to get going,” Beth said next to us, breaking the spell. We were suddenly back in class, the bubble that had isolated us bursting, and Beth looked at me with a question in her eye.

“I’m not going to comment on that right now,” I said to her when we linked arms and walked towards the assembly Hall.

The Hall was festive, with decorations we’d been working on for five weeks looking much more professional with the addition of colored lights. We started filing into the rows of chairs, as far to the front as we could get. We all wanted a glimpse of the famous Kirilov. I silently hoped he would request a personal audience with me later. He was as close to a father as I had, and I missed him. I reached for my phone, but my pocket was flat and empty.

Shit.

I couldn’t lose another phone. That would be the third one this week. Tardy, cheeky, scatter-brained, the list just kept on growing.

“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to Beth.

“Where are you going?”

“I dropped my phone. I won’t be a second. Keep a seat for me.”

I moved back up against the current, ignoring the dirty looks the other students gave me. When I was free from the line I flattened myself against the wall as much as I could, and moved towards the stage. My guess was I’d dropped it when I’d run down the stage steps to alert the teachers.

The microphone squealed over the speakers, and everyone winced. Vampires may not have had super-hearing as the myths states, but a shrill scream like that would hurt anyone’s ears. Mr. Cole stepped up to the microphone and started his address to the students just as my phone lit up and I spotted it on the last step.

Thank the deities.

“…And now, Mr. Boris Kirilov!” Mr. Cole wasted no time wrapping up his introduction and handing over the microphone. I wouldn’t be able to move back to my seat now. I stepped to the wall and leaned against it. I would watch him from the side.

Boris stepped up to the podium with his charming please-the-masses smile, and the students actually cheered.

“Ladies and gentleman, what an honor to be back!” He was like a celebrity.

“First of all, may I say what an outstanding job you kids did with the production last year.” The academy put on a play every couple of years, and we’d given it our all. I felt warmth radiating from the students. Affection. Trust. Respect. This was what made Kirilov such an outstanding leader. His followers loved him because he loved them.

The warmth was encompassing, but a trickle of horror snaked through. It was so feint I didn’t notice it at first, but it grew stronger and I started paying attention. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I breathed deeply – nothing smelled off, and still I had the stench of death in my nostrils. I frowned, and looked up.

A small man crouched on one of the beams above Kirilov. His eyes glowed red when he turned his head my way, and an icy finger dragged down the back of my neck and spine. My skin broke out in goose bumps. He moved, his arm lifting, and the light reflected off a blade.

My body was in fight mode straight away. There was no time to think.

“Boris, get down!” I shouted, lunging onto the stairs, taking two of them at a time. I saw a metal beam break free, tumbling down in a free-fall. It happened in slow motion. The beam was closer to Kirilov than I was. My body moved too slowly. Kirilov’s face was painted with horror.

Out of nowhere, someone tackled Kirilov and they both fell off the stage in a wild tussle of arms and legs. I skidded to a stop and scrambled back again so I wouldn’t be under the beam myself. I ended up on my haunches, and the beam crashed down right in front of me, splintering the stage’s floor boards with a deafening crack. The impact of metal against wood echoed through my bones.

The hall was quiet. I could hear my own heart hammering in my chest. Every student was frozen in horror.

I leaned over the edge of the stage. Kirilov was lying on the floor, blood pooling around his head. Mr. Harris lay on the floor next to him, panting.

The least-liked teacher in school had saved the most loved man in the country.

I deflated, and my body caved in on itself, adrenaline suddenly stepping aside for fatigue and shock.

3

Campus was chaos afterwards. Ambulances arrived, the red flashing lights and wailing sirens moaning messages of despair over the buildings. Kirilov had been stabilized, and word was spreading. He would be alright. A mild concussion. A few stitches. He’d connected with a chair in the dive to avoid death.

“Are you okay?” Christian asked, suddenly next to me. His habit of just appearing was unnerving, especially now, and I felt like my calm was slowly unraveling.

“It’s just a shock. I’m sure the students are all a little shell-shocked,” I answered.

“But none of them were heroic, like you.”

“Stupid, more like,” I said, remembering again how close that beam had been to my feet. I shuddered.

“Come on, some hot tea and a warm blanket should help,” he said, taking my elbow gently. I gave in. I could do with someone else taking care of me for a change. It was taxing to be strong.

“Miss Frost, can I speak with you?” Mr. Cole walked towards me. He was two shades whiter than usual, and with his pale hair he looked almost deathly himself. I glanced at Christian, and then nodded.

“I have to talk to him. I’ll be right back.”

Christian frowned, but he let me go.

In Cole’s office, he pointed to a chair, and I sank into it. My knees felt like Jell-o and I couldn’t feel my fingers or my toes.

“Your warning before the ceremony was accurate,” he said. “I want to commend you for your bravery and vigilance.”

Bravery? Vigilance? It sounded like he wanted to give me a medal.

“Mr. Harris was amazing,” I said. The man had more spring in him than I’d imagined.

“Mr. Harris saved the future of this school and country.” Ever dramatic.

“Did you get him?” I asked.

“The attacker?”

I nodded. I hadn’t noticed what had happened after the beam had fallen. All my attention had been on Kirilov and if he was alright.

Mr. Cole walked to his window and stared into the night. A thin line of silver laced the horizon. Dawn was on its way.

“He got away,” he said, his back to me.

“What!?” I jumped up, but my legs wouldn’t hold me and I sat down again. “We have to go after him!”

“It’s almost daylight. We can’t do anything now.”

“But if the killer’s still out there—“

“No one died, Adelaide.” Cole’s voice was soft, his eyes gunmetal-gray and serious.  “This is a strange situation. We have reason to believe it’s a walker, like you said, but they’re animals more than people. I doubt he’ll be back. They don’t have motives. They’re predators.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in. It was like I had a sieved filter in my head, making it hard for the words to get through. It sounded a lot like he was saying nothing had to be done.

“You don’t know that!”

“We really appreciate your help, Adelaide, but we have this under control,” Cole said.

“That’s what you said the last time. And look what’s happened! Walkers are people too, they have minds of their own, And if they can think, they can plan.”

“We have a team on it, and we’ve doubled guards on the premises. I’ve taken precautions. Now you…” he walked over to the door and held it open for me – a dismissal.”…need to get back to your room and take care of yourself. We’re all rattled and you’re in shock, as we all are.”

I stood up. My mood was dark and a spark of fury energized me. I shot Cole a look of fire, and stomped out of his office. Why were the people with power always so hesitant to take charge?

“Well, you’re in a good mood,” Christian said. He was leaning against the far wall when I’d walked out, and he followed me at a half-jog. “Everything okay?”

“Cole doesn’t believe the attack will go further than this. He believes it’s once off thing. What if something else happens? What if they come back?” My body trembled lightly, and I wasn’t sure if it came from Christian or from inside myself. It was disorienting and addictive to be around him, all at the same time.

“Why did Cole talk to you about it?” he asked.

“Because I saw the walker up there before it all started.”

Christian looked troubled. I didn’t realize he cared about the school that much.

“A walker?” he asked, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

I nodded. “It wasn’t a shifter. I know shifters.”

Christian snorted, and I looked at him. I shook my head, feeling miserable and useless. Having this information, this hunch, was like having a blunt knife. It looked like it could be useful, but it was pointless.

“Sometimes I think vampires should be allowed to stand up for themselves. Democracy states that we all have a say in our own freedom, but who makes the choices about our safety? How free are we really, if you think about it? I want to be able to save myself. Everyone should be.”

“You sound like you’d rather be the one taking the risks on this.”

“I would if I could. Kirilov is an important man. I don’t think he’s safe.”

Christian was silent for a moment.

“Look, if you’re that serious about this, then why don’t you do something about it?”

I stopped in my tracks, and Christian stopped two steps further, registering my change in attitude when he was past already.

“Me?” I sounded absurd. I would go against Cole. “I don’t know…” I started, but a flame was already igniting in my chest. What it I was wrong? I looked at Christian. His blue eyes stood out under his dark hair, and they were strong and defiant.

“I’ll help you,” he said, not knowing he’d already convinced me. Two students? Taking on the ‘bad guys’? Behind the board of directors’ backs? It sounded like something Adelaide Frost would do.

“We could get in a lot of trouble for this,” I warned.

Christian took my hand and interlinked our fingers. I looked down at our hands and up at his face, but he kept looking straight ahead.

The flame in my chest flared into a raging furnace, powered by something teetering on the edge of danger as we walked on. This was going to be fun.

4

The thrill of playing hero drained away pretty quickly. On Monday morning the news was still fresh and everyone had something to say about it, but school carried on as usual and we fell back into our normal routines.

Christian joined as at lunch more often, and every time he did Beth gave me a pointed look.

“Will you cut that out?” I said when her looks had gotten annoying. Christian had just left.

“Come on, you like him,” she said.

“I don’t,” I countered. “He’s just nice to hang around. It’s cool not to be the only odd one out anymore.” I hadn’t told her about our plan to try take matters into our own hands. Of course, at firs it had been because I hadn’t wanted her to tell me what a bad idea it was, and try talk me out of it. Later on it was because I started realizing how stupid we’d been.

We were just two high school students, and I lived on campus. Where were we going to find anything useful, and use it? Of course Beth had misinterpreted my involvement with him as the beginnings of a relationship.

She couldn’t be more wrong, but let her think that. With his dark eyes and strong features he was definitely a pleasure to look at, and his attitude made him attractive. And I enjoyed talking to him. He was funny and thoughtful.

“He talks about politics a lot,” Beth interrupted my train of thought.

“He does,” I admitted.

“His views are weird. All that talk about how the entire system is really an autocracy, camouflaged as democracy to keep the masses happy. Since when has Kirilov ever been the kind to want control over others? The whole point is that we all have a voice.”