Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 28

Lily POV

A week later....

I stood in front of the mirror in my room, smoothing out the wrinkles in my simple outfit. I had carefully chosen a plain, comfortable outfit – a soft, beige sweater and a pair of jeans. Today was the day I got to enrol at the College in Royal Hunter Pack. Though the occasion was significant, I had no desire to draw attention to myself.

I just wanted to blend in, to be just another face in the crows.

When I arrived at the school, I took a deep breath before making my way to the main building. I had barely walked a hundred steps when my gaze met that of a group of guys hanging out by the entrance. Quickly, I averted my eyes and continued walking but they kept whistling at me. As I passed, I could feel their eyes linger on me in a way that made my skin crawl.

I kept my head down, ignoring them but I could feel their gaze following me, I didn’t need anyone to tell me that they all knew I was new on campus.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath, quickening my pace. “So much for staying low-key,”.

I made my way first to the admission office – this was where I would be enrolling. When I knocked on the door, a gruff voice from inside asked me to come in. The woman behind the desk looked up at me as I entered. She was at least in her 70s or 80s but I could tell she has the brain of a woman in her 30s. She peered at me over the rim of her glasses, making me feel like I was appraised.

“Name?” The woman asked briskly ignoring my pleasantries.

“Lily,” I replied, trying to keep my tone polite. “Lily Stone,”.

The woman’s hands which were hovering over her keyboard suddenly paused and she turned to stare at me. “Stone, you say? Are you related to Gregory Stone?”

I hesitated, unsure of how to respond. “Do you know my family?”

The woman’s expression softened as her eyes became wistful for a few seconds. “I knew your mother,” she said. She was a remarkable woman,”.

“Really?” my eyes lit up with surprise. “Did she use to come here? Was she like me?”

The words were barely out of my mouth when the woman stood up with surprising agility and handed me a stack of papers. “You’ll need to attend your first class. It’s about to start. Go on now, and don’t be late,”.

I blinked taken aback by the abruptness. I barely had time to thank the woman before she ushered me out of her office, closing the door firmly behind her. As I hurried down the hall, clutching the papers to my chest, I couldn’t help but replay what had just happened in my mind.

What had the woman meant by knowing my mother? And why was she so eager to get rid of me when I wanted to get more information?

The classroom was on the other side of campus, so by the time I reached it, I was out of breath. I barely noticed the group of boys lounging near the entrance until it was too late. I bumped into them.

“I’m so sorry,” I said quickly, looking up. “I wasn’t...” the rest of the words tried in my mouth when I saw who they were. They were those warriors who had teased me the other day when I had taken a stroll near the borders of the pack. From the look of it, we were in the same class.

Their eyes lit up with recognition, followed by the same mocking smiles I had seen before.

“Well, look who it is,” one of them drawled, stepping forward to block my path. “The little rat who thinks she can just ignore us,”.

My heart pounded in my chest as I stared at them refusing to say a word. There was no Celeste to save me this time around, so I knew better than to engage with them. But my body tensed in anticipation, ready to defend myself if necessary.

“Are you deaf or dumb?” one of them pushed my shoulders as the three of them crowded me “You were all teeth and tongue the other day. C’mon... show us what you’ve got,”.

I clamped down on my mouth refusing to say anything. Just as one of them reached out to push me again, a voice interrupted them.

“Leave her alone,” a male voice reached my ears. Before I could turn to see who it was, the guy was already in front of me, standing in between me and the warriors.

He wore glasses and looked like a typical nerd. Only he was tall, with a lean athletic build and he was ravishingly handsome. The way he carried himself, I knew he must be super intelligent.

“This is the 21st century, you should pick on someone your own size,” he snapped to the warriors, who looked like they wanted to say something but decided against it. They flashed me a glare, before they walked away, muttering as they did.

Then the guy turned to me, his expression softening into a friendly smile.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice gentle.

I nodded, though still shaken. “Yeah, I think so,”.

He sighed. “Those guys are jerks. They think they own the place. C’mon, it’s almost time for the first class,”.

I managed a small smile and followed him into the classroom. He pointed at an empty seat next to him and said I could sit there. When I settled, I turned to him again with a smile.

“Thank you so much for saving me back then and also reserving a seat for me. I’m super grateful,”.

“Don’t mention it,” she said with a shy shrug and turned away.

But as I turned, from the corner of my eyes, I noticed a girl sitting across the room, shaking her head disapprovingly. I frowned, confused at her actions and wondering what I had done wrong.

The class passed in a blur with my mind still trying to grasp all of the things the lecturers talked about at once. When classes for the morning finally ended, I was packing up my things intending to go find something for lunch when I noticed that the girl who had been shaking her head at me was coming in my direction.

As she reached me, she slowed down, leaning in close to whisper.

“Watch out for the guy next to you,”.

Before I could respond, the girl was gone, disappearing into the throng of students filing out of the classroom.

Confused and unsettled, I made my way to the student café, hoping to clear my head. The café was bustling with activity when I arrived. Each table had a group of friends seated on it, talking and laughing excitedly over cups of coffee and pastries.

I was not too hungry, so I got a bottle of milk and some cookies from the food counter. I scanned the room, searching for a place to sit when a familiar voice called out to me.

“Hey, new girl! Over here!”

It was the guy who had saved me earlier and he was waving me over to his table. For a moment, I hesitated as the warning from the girl in class echoed in my mind but there was something about his smile that put me at ease. He had been kind to me earlier, and I didn’t want to be rude. So, I decided to try my luck.

I made my way over to his table, but as I approached, my steps faltered. Seated next to him was a girl – a strikingly beautiful girl with long, dark hair, laughing at something he had said.

The tray nearly slipped out of my hands as I recognized the girl – she was the woman I’d seen with Kai the other night on the street.