Emma:
After enjoying the delicious meal and tart, we go to the auditorium for orientation. Cole and his “Paradigm Royalty Group” (a nickname Lei came up with for them) are taking their seats in the center as we walk in. He and I have an eye contact when I pass him by, which sends shivers down my spine.
Grrrrrr...
I stop and frown. There’s a restless growl somewhere but I don’t see any animal around. And it seems like nobody notices that except me.
Cole looks away. I start to suspect that I just had an illusion because of his influence on me.
Liz grabs me to sit down. She and Shanny, with the other students from Paradigm University sit in the front row of this aisle; Lei and I with the students from Trinity University sit behind them; the students from Bloomer University, who are sneered at by those Paradigm super models, sit behind us.
I have a feeling that we’re like a buffer strip between those two universities.
“Greetings and welcome! I am Derek Gray, the Head of The Paradigm University. I would like to start by thanking the students from Bloomer and Trinity for joining us for our first winter internship.” A tall blond middle-aged man goes up ahead on the podium and says. He has similar features to the guy in Cole’s group accompanied by the red-haired girl. Father and son, I guess.
“Now let me introduce the schedule of our camp. Your internship from Monday to Friday will generally start at 8 am to 4:30pm. The exact time may differ according to departments’ requests. But no matter how late you’ll be off work, you won’t have a transport issue.”
All of the students receive a personal time table on our phones at the same time. There’s a hospital waiting for Lei because she wants to be a radiologist. Shanny will be in a nurse training as she wishes. Liz will go to The Colton & Forbes for firm business learning. And I, tomorrow, will report my arrival in The Crime Intelligence Department whose provincial head office is in Dustrand.
“On Saturday, from 9am-12pm, we have self-defense classes. Just make sure you put your name on the roster before Thursday if you want to join in. And Sunday is a day of rest. Our students at Paradigm prefer to go home but the campus will remain open. You can do whatever you want, but please note! Any acts of violence or malicious attacks will not be tolerated here.” he says sternly with his gaze especially aimed at the students from Bloomer University.
I notice the guy right behind me wearing a leather jacket nods in agreement, as if the rule was specifically meant for them.
Someone snorts. I turn around and see Cole’s aggressive face towards the jacket guy. He heard that too and smirks. “Same side.” He mouths to Cole.
Grrrrrr!!!
My heart jumps heavily at the growl. Is that Cole?
He lowers his alluring eyes to avoid my pry.
There must be something wrong. The animosity between these two universities is too strong to ignore. But I feel more hatred from Paradigm; as for Bloomer, they seems to be amused or frustrated by the attention they are getting.
“Alright, enjoy your journey in this camp. There is no curfew for lights out because everyone here is an adult. I believe that you know what to do, and also I hope you can get what you expect.”
At the statement we all clap our hands, while I’m lost in deep thought when I turn to see the misty forest through the window. A shiver courses through my body as flashes of the beast appears in my mind.
What do I expect from here now?
---
Next morning, I find a seat for myself on the bus towards Dustrand. There have been several passengers but I know none of them. Silently and warily, I observe the roadside at which the bus is parking and try to remember the landmarks around. Yesterday’s orientation has made this place suspicious.
A creaking noise interrupts me. The jacket guy throws himself beside me, staring at me without a word.
After quite a while, I decide not to wait anymore. “I’m Emma.”
“Gryphon Alonso.”
We nods to each other and then pauses at the same time. Gryphon wants to strike a conversation but he practically looks like a fish out of water with endlessly opening and closing his mouth.
“Why are you so skittish?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“What...” He has an offended look on his face. “You know me so well to judge me?”
“As a future profiler, I read people. And from your typical behaviors, it’s not hard to tell.”
He laughs at ease finally. “The same to you!”
I smile. It’s not bad to have some company when you head to a new, and possible dangerous job.
When the bus reaches the Provincial Building, I see Cole and his gang excluding Skye and Sherry (Liz told me their names) get out of another vehicle.
Just great, we’ll be face to face every day. I don’t even know what I should feel.
A lady from reception comes over and leads us to go up through this fabulous circular tower till the 7th floor. We enter the office. A strong man with hair gray just above his ears stands there with his hand behind his back.
“I am Detective Jason Bates, the one in charge.”
He walks ahead, scanning all of us.
“Welcome to Crime Intelligence. But frankly speaking, not many of you will stick it out. We take our job seriously and never keep weak-minded people in this department. Please try your best not to puke your guts out. ”
I see the light of excitement in Cole’s eyes just like mine.
“For the first day, I need to know how to divide you into efficient groups. Now please sign the confidential documents. If you spill anything out, we will put you behind bars. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.” Cole and I reply with one voice. We exchange a quick look.
“Good.” Detective Bates sweep both of us. I try to pretend this is nothing. “All signed? Then next, we will be working with an ongoing case. Come to the table. Take a pen and a folder. Read your files and write down what you find.”
We do as he said. Gryphon sits next to me. Cole, the twins and Sam sits across from us. A girl named Rachel wearing a short uniform skirt and a tight blouse sits between Cole and Avery, just opposite me. I flick her a glance. And we begin to work.
Twenty minutes later, everyone but me was done. Rachel sighs at me with curiosity and scorn. I mentally shrug and continue reading through all the details. Detective Bates didn’t give a time limit, did he?
When I finally drop my pen and raise my head, I catch up Cole’s glare. He turns immediately as if nothing happens. Oh yeah, he officially thinks I am a weirdo. My face heats up at that thought.
“Now tell me, how many of you think it is a murder?” Detective Bates speaks up.
The other guys raise their hands with hesitating faces. “I’m Rachel and how can it not be a murder, sir?” Rachel says listless, leaning to Cole. But Cole impatiently pushes her away to Avery, the smiling guy who seems never refusing girls.
“And you have a different opinion?” Detective Bates turns to me.
I collects myself from Cole and Avery. “Yes, sir. It’s suicide and I know I’m right.”
I see from the corner of my eye that Cole fix his fiery eyes on me.
“OK, ladies, explain it to us. Rachel first. And you are...?”
“Emma Thompsons.”
Cole frowns suddenly.
Cole: Emma. I think deeply, trying to figure out why her name sounds so familiar to me. But Rachel’s stagy voice is so annoying. “...We have the glass broken on the door, the dishes broken on the floor, and the blood splattered on the counter. There is a note that makes it like a suicide but the hand writing is rushed with a bit of blood droplets on it. And if we take a look at the body hanging from the fan, there is no chair anywhere around. So how could the dead hang himself? Besides, there’s hair on his clothes that does not belong to him. All of these mean he was murdered by someone.” I don’t like the superior and scornful way Rachel looks at Emma. Both of them are humans, weak and mediocre. She’s no better than Emma. “Well then Emma, what’s your deduction?” Dete
Emma: Sam is a nice, well-trained pair, even though she’s one of those snobs. We went blow for blow, really having fun until the beast growl started to haunt me. I ask Sam to stop and take a water break. My mouth is dry, not only because of the training, but also for catching a glimpse of Cole’s muscular arms. His t-shirt, which has become semitransparent, practically sticks to his sculpted body. I can almost feel the droplets of sweat carrying heat running over his skin. The beast keeps growling, sometimes excitedly, sometimes irritably. I’m not sure it’s from Cole or Avery because this pair are too close. They are good fighters with graceful movements. But I find myself hard to focus on both of them because my attention is always drawn back to Cole.
Cole: The yoga pants gluing to her body perfectly shows her body shape. She’s not skinny but more curvaceous. I see a tattoo on her lower back when her t-shirt rolled up as she raised her hands to coil her black hair into a bun. Every time she moves, the tattoo ripples on her silky skin. My wolf growls. I feel dizzy again. She suddenly turns around with her fear blowing to me. I become alert and tense my body. “You shouldn’t be here now.” It’s my shift to patrol around. I realized by scent that someone was in the gym. I thought it was because of the distance that the scent was ambiguous. She must have walked along the path near the forest to the gym. And dawn is dangerous for a human girl, especially here. We have wolves everywhere; besides, God knows what those witc
Emma: "What kind of monster are you? How are you even real? And who the hell are you calling a witch? Do I look like a fucking witch to you" I try to shove his hands off my neck. He looks like a maniac. Cole looks at me with his brow furrowed. I know I am not going crazy, everything about him points to something supernatural that I have come across in books. He adds more pressure to my neck making it a bit difficult to breathe properly. "Don't play innocent here" "Maybe we should take a few steps back" Gryphon interrupts. "What the hell is going on?" some guy screams and Cole's hands on my neck relaxes and I use all my strength to shove him off me. "She is a witch Ty" Cole points towards me. "No I am not and you are a monster" I try to get as far as I can away from him but he catches me by the back of my shirt. "I can solve this" Gryphon pipes in and we all turn towa
Emma: I am running again in the forest and the beast is just behind me. The exit of the woods seems so close and just as I turn out I come across a field full of wolves fighting with other wolves. There is different colors in the air and I can see people standing there. I turn looking for someone but I can't remember who. I run to the middle and something slams into me from behind. Then I see Lei and she is on fire. I can't control the pain that radiates through me and I fall. I awake with a splitting headache. I look towards the clock and it is after 6, well I have to admit that is first time. For the past two years my nightmare always woke me at 4. Rubbing my eyes I turn towards Lei and she is sitting there staring at me. “What?” “Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?” I look at her with confusion “Huh?” “You are late for work” “Oh shit” I run into the bath room and see that I have my sport
Cole:I was having such a relaxing evening and then trouble came in the form of Emma. I tried my best to keep my eyes off her when she was on the dance floor but once Malcom put his hands on her my wolf took over. Avery just agitates him more by flirting with Emma. I keep reminding my wolf that we belong to Silver.“What the hell is your problem?” Emma asks and I turn towards her and get a proper look of her up close and her scent fills my senses and my wolf starts fighting for control again. Wanting to show everyone that she belongs to us. I manage to shove him back and notice that Emma was not talking to Malcom but to me.“Come again” I say.“I could have handled that myself” she shoves me.“No doubt, trouble” I smirk at her because I know that pisses her off.“Huh?” she looks at me in confusion. Memory can be such a fickle thing.“Well what do expect to happen to you
Emma:Of course having a shitty night and tons of alcohol does not even stop the dreams from flooding in and here I am up at 4am. I have a quick shower and head out of the silent dorm because who would be up this early.I head to the gym and see that it is closed, I can’t take it I need to let out all this excess energy so ignore the rules and put my air pods on and strap my phone to my thighs and start to run. I know the route in the back of my head so I close my eyes and continue a head. The only good thing is that the running trail does not go into the forest.A sense of peace settles in me and I let my body do all the work.So caught up running I stumble on something, opening my eyes I see piece of a bloody arm on the ground and I let out a scream into the dead silence thinking that I am in my dream and that the monster is going to come for me next. I shut my eyes in the hopes that I am just imagining things.Someone grabs me and I scream
Cole: There was no way someone can fake their fear like that so that what makes me curious as in what the hell is she? And how did she end up exactly where the body part was when it was so far from the running track and it was obvious what she was doing, I noticed that she ran every day in the mornings. I head back to Ty and Skye and I see Uncle Aiden and some enforcers scanning the area. “Is she okay?” Skye asks and I just nod my head in agreement and bend down to take a look at the arm and the weirdest thing is that the arm has no scent at all, I look towards the ground and look for the leaves that Emma said that she saw the blood on it hoping that maybe we can’t pick up a scent because the limb might be spelled. So I stay low to the ground until I found the leaf with a tiny speck of blood. I bring it to my nose and there is a faint scent on it. “I have a slight scent here” I say and everyone rushes towards me but I stop Skye from grabbing i