Chapter 31

KATHERINE.

I wished I could say I was surprised by the Dean’s choice of words, but listening to her call an attempt on my life a trivial matter and her wanting to dismiss it with just an apology from Poppy stung… A lot. Dean Bryman moved her attention to Poppy after speaking like she expected me to just stay down and accept this and I smoldered with resentment.

“Sorry,” Poppy muttered dismissively while inspecting the nails on her right hand. She sounded bored, like she had better things to do, and the Dean returned her attention to me, obviously expecting me to say ‘Thank you’.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I bit out instead and a small, confused frown appeared on her face.

“Do you want to escalate it and make it a pack issue?”

I froze. ‘A pack issue?’ Dean Bryman kept her gaze pinned on me, a hard look on her face as she waited for my answer.

Making it a pack issue meant our guardians from our packs would come here to try to settle it and that meant Poppy’s father would be coming here. Apart from the fact that I was scared of Poppy’s father, I hadn’t seen him since my parents died and I didn’t want to meet him under this circumstance – a circumstance in which I’d most likely lose.

“Is that what you want?” the Dean pressed and I tightened my grip on the arm of my chair. I might not be experienced in handling matters like this but I knew a thinly veiled threat when I heard one and right now, I ‘despised’ the Dean.

“I accept your apology,” I gritted out to Poppy and once again, the Dean plastered a smile on her face.

“Very good. Going forward, I hope you can handle ‘trivial matters’ like this,” she said while staring at me pointedly. “Now that that’s over, you can take your leave. I’m sure you have classes to get to.”

I got to my feet in a rush, not wanting to be around them any longer, and walked out of the office as fast as I could while vibrating with anger. I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit something… or someone.

My gaze drifted to Poppy as she walked past me in a hurry, shouldering me as she did so, before she said, “Serves you right, bitch. This isn’t over.”

Would I get expelled if I broke her arms right now? I knew I was strong enough to – I’d only had two sessions with the combat training club – and I’d most likely get my ass handed to me before I could hurt her, but I was seriously considering it.

I made my way out of the building and after I began to head to the Science Faculty, my phone buzzed in my pocket so I pulled it out.

[Helena: Dudeeee]

[Me: What’s up?]

I’d talked to her and some of my other friends from my pack yesterday but now I remembered that when I’d talked to her and Tiffany on Tuesday night, she’d told me she’d try to find out my school fees from her father who was a member of the council so I wondered if she’d done that already. Before I could ask, she sent another message.

[Helena; I just found out what you paid for the session in Blackwood.]

Blackwood was elite and since no article online mentioned the school’s fees, I couldn’t exactly guess the range, but right now, I hoped it wasn’t the amounts I’d guessed because that would be ‘horrible’.

[Me: How much?]

She replied almost immediately and I paused when I read the amount she said it was. ‘...That can’t be right…’ I reread the message, like that would change its contents, and sucked in a breath. ‘No way… no fucking way.’ I quickly marched over to a secluded place close to the building I was next to and dialed my uncle’s number. I wanted to confirm if what Helena had said was actually what I’d paid because it was ‘insane’.

“Morning, Katherine. Is there a problem?” my uncle asked immediately after answering the call and I unleashed my anger at the fees and the one I’d held back in the dean’s office on him.

“What the fuck do you mean is there a problem? Of course, there’s a problem. A huge one. I just found out how much we paid to get me into Blackwood.”

He let out a harsh breath like he was getting ready to deal with a petulant child and that annoyed me even more. “Katherine–”

“What the fuck is ‘your’ problem?”

“Katherine–”

“You didn’t run it by me. None of you ran this by me. It was the pack’s funds!”

“Look–”

“I’m sick of you guys doing things behind my back in my pack. It is my pack! I should be involved in whatever fucking decisions that are to be made regarding the pack. Decisions like this! It is my–”

“Shut the fuck up, Katherine!” he suddenly burst out, startling me. “This is not your pack! It’s not anyone’s pack right now and if you don’t get your shit together, there won’t be a River Ash pack anymore! You think we were happy to pay that ridiculous amount to send you to that fucking school?! You think we were happy to have no choice but to dip into the pack’s funds?! You won’t have a fucking pack to run if you don’t find your mate. You won’t find your mate if you’re not a student of that fucking school, so stop acting like a damn child and focus on what you were sent there to do! No one wants an Alpha that whines every single fucking time.” With that, he ended the call, leaving me stunned.

“I…” I began even though there was no one on the other end anymore and as I processed everything he just said to me, my heart tightened in my chest.

Again, I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit something or someone. But more importantly, I wanted to cry.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and headed towards the forest where the scavenger hunt club’s tryouts were held last week. I wasn’t interested in going to class in this mood so I needed some alone time to clear my head but even after walking through the forest for several minutes, my uncle’s words still echoed in my head.

I sucked in a breath as tears began to gather in my eyes and rapidly blinked them away even though no one was here to see them fall.

…That was right. No one was here… It was just me.

I missed my parents.

At that, the dam burst and a shuddering sob racked my body. I brushed them away only to find more in their wake and it was like trying to fix a leak with duct tape. Nothing worked to stop the tears from breaking free so I just let them flow.

I missed my parents so much. None of this would be happening if they were alive. I wouldn’t be in this fucking school and if I was, they would never let someone treat my life as ‘trivial’.

I hated that they were gone.

I hated it so badly.