Pureblood: The Badboy's Mate

Chapter II

Nordholt Academy, founded in 1942 by Alpha James R. Nordholt to provide high-level education for werewolves from packs all over northern England, at a time when werewolves were still living in secret among humans - or simply away from them. This elite boarding school would be my new home from now on. I, a girl who was raised all my life by lower-middle-class humans, would now study and live with the children of the richest and most powerful werewolves in the country. Still recovering from the trauma of my first shift and having my parents arrested for illegally adopting me, I had to deal with all the pressure of adapting to a new school - a school very different from any place I have been in my entire life.

A huge stone castle on top of a hill; that was Nordholt Academy. A car with the school's name on it was sent to pick me up at Mrs. Blanchard's house. "You will be fine." she said, smiling and hugging me. "You have my number, anything you need just call me." I didn't know what to say to her; I needed my life back. I wanted my parents, my school ... I wanted to be human. But I'm not young and stupid enough to whine to someone who was just trying to help me. Determined, I put on that private school uniform and swore to myself that I would be strong.

It would be four hours before we reached Nordholt, and, against my common sense, I decided that this would be a good time to take out my cell phone and answer the whirlwind of messages I had been ignoring for a week. Most of them were acquaintances, distant relatives, people from school with whom I barely spoke asking if it was true what they were saying about me. Some people thought that I had attacked a child, some said that I had killed my parents ... What hurt most in these messages were not the lies spread about me, but realizing how lonely I was; no friends genuinely concerned about me, just curious people looking for something to comment on. I deleted most of the messages without replying and allowed myself to cry for everything I wanted - I had four hours to do so.

The school gates were opened and I was immediately overwhelmed by the grandeur of that place, the huge stone walls seemed to swallow me up. The main courtyard was crowded, full of uniformed students like me walking around. Some of them noticed me - I could tell by the way they looked at me that they were smelling me; was it possible to notice that I was raised by humans? Did my smell betray my late shift? Or my social class? Who knows… A tall, red-haired woman in a blue suit seemed to come out of nowhere and approached me.

“Miss Carter, hello. Welcome to Nordholt Academy. ” Said the woman, holding out her hand to me.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said, a little shy, shaking her hand.

“My name is Olivia Pembroke, I am the school’s vice principal. Someone will pick up your bags in the car and take it all to your dorm. Come on, let's go for a walk.”

Olivia Pembroke didn't smell like a wolf, but neither did she smell like a human. She smelled of salt and roses, her blood was a discreet and confused undernote that gave me a strange feeling. I followed her through the castle's wide corridors, trying not to get lost in that immensity of details in reddish oak and amber crystals. As we walked, the vice principal told me a little about the institution's philosophy, what was expected of me as a student and some rules - until then, it seemed like everything I expected from a fancy and conservative school. The dorms were inside the castle walls, but outside the main building; they were a sort of village full of terraced houses, London-style, in which she showed me from afar and said that soon I would have time to get to know the place better. We finally made it to her office and I think I was failing terribly to pretend I wasn't nervous.

"I hope you are feeling well received here, Miss Carter." Said Vice Principal Pembroke, sitting at her desk with impeccable posture and an enigmatic expression of sympathy. “I know you come from an… unusual situation. It will do you good to know that this is not the first case we have here, you know? A wolf raised far from a pack, growing up thinking he or she is human. Here you will receive all the support you need to go through this new phase of your life. If anything happens, my door is always open.”

Under the vice principal's cold and distant smile, I left her office trying to decide whether I liked her or not. My head was so full of new informations and things I needed to do that I didn't see the giant guy walking against me in the hall.

"Excuse me!" I said, still looking down. The truth is I was terrified, the last thing I wanted to do was piss off a werewolf.

"It was my fault, I didn't see you." He said. I suddenly didn't feel scared anymore but it wasn't his words that calmed me down; it was his scent. I raised my head and looked him in the eye - literally in the eye, a scar on his left eyebrow and a grayish iris denounced that he was blind in that eye. His right eye, however, was of a fascinating green. "New student?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Welcome to Hell." He said, smiling in a strangely cool way as he went on his way - which, unfortunately, was contrary to mine.

After getting lost a few times, I finally found my dorm/home: “Luna Michaela Nordholt” was the name. Everything at that school was ridiculously fancy but I really wasn’t expecting to enter a kind of mansion with Persian rugs and velvet sofas. There were nineteenth-century paintings on the walls, shelves full of books, a stone fireplace with a huge TV on top of it and a huge dining room with a crystal chandelier. There was a sideboard with a teapot being kept warm by the flame of a candle, a set of china cups and a silver tray with sugar, cream and cookies. I spent a lot of time wondering whether or not I should pour myself some tea, but just the thought of drinking someone else's tea or even breaking one of those expensive-looking teacups was making me anxious. I must have stared at that teapot for a long time.

"Good morning, miss." Someone said behind me. I turned around quickly; it was a woman wearing a black dress with a linen apron. “Ms. Pembroke warned me that you would come. Haera Carter, am I correct?”

"Yes this is me." I smiled politely and then we shook hands. "Good morning, I didn't know there was anyone else in the house."

"I didn't mean to scare you." She smiled. "I am Mrs. Barton, the housekeeper, cleaning lady and sometimes the cook."

"I didn't know there was going to be a housekeeper..." I said, a little embarrassed. Mrs. Barton was the first black person I saw since I went through the gates and she was an employee. It made me a little sad.

“Well, it looks like you've already started exploring the place. Can I show you around?”

Mrs. Barton gave me a little tour on the first floor. “Dinner is served in the main dining room, in the castle. I always set the breakfast table at 7AM but as for lunch, I ask the girls to let me know if they will eat here or not.” She said. "I don't want to brag but I don't remember the last time any of them traded my food for those cafes on the patio."

"Well, I would never trade homemade food for an overpriced salad, that's for sure." I said. Mrs. Barton laughed.

"Well, I'm going to show you the bedrooms now." Said Mrs. Barton. I followed her up the stairs. “Each floor has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The girls don't care much about it, so you don't have to worry about using a single bathroom, they are all at your disposal. Boys are allowed in the house until 9PM, but never on the upper floors, let that be clear. The curfew is at 10PM, you do not need to be in your room, but staying outside the house after that is prohibited."

"This place is strangely less restrictive than I thought." I said. "And a lot fancier... Is this my room?" I asked, pointing to door 22.

"Yes, this is your room, the driver brought your things here a little earlier." Said Mrs. Barton. There were two single beds, one that obviously belonged to my roommate, a little messy and full of personal belongings, and the other neatly arranged with my bags next to it. On the other side of the room was a window with a balcony. "Don't they worry that a student might fall or throw themselves?" I thought, but I immediately remembered that a fall from the second or third floor might not kill a human and certainly wouldn’t even scratch a werewolf. “Your roommate, Miss Thanatos is a great girl. The house doesn’t require very strict rules because the girls who live here are well-behaved for my luck.” Said Mrs. Barton as we went down the stairs.

We sat at the table to drink tea. I was feeling a little less anxious, but still far from feeling at home. Mrs. Barton was very kind and comforting to be around. I could tell that she was a wolf by her smell, which was still something very strange to me.

"I don't live here like most employees, my pack is established nearby so I go home most days of the week." She said.

"Which pack are you from?"

"Black Claws."

"Cool... I wonder if the girls here are going to like me."

"You are not the only brown girl in this dorm, if that's what you're worried about."

“But I am the only wolf without a pack, isn’t it? The only one raised by humans...”

"Oh, don't let that discourage you." Said Mrs. Barton.

"The only reason I'm here is because my legal guardian is married to one of the teachers... I don't think I really belong here."

“And yet, here you are. Don't diminish yourself, Miss. Carter, be proud of who you are.” She said. I smiled at their kind words. Suddenly, an unknown voice came from behind us:

"The saddest day of my life was when they told me I would need to separate the beds." I turned around and saw that there was a girl at the entrance to the dining room with her arms crossed. Tanned skin, wavy dark brown hair and a beautiful pair of green eyes. She reminded me of the boy I ran into earlier. "Good morning, Mrs. Barton, is the tea still hot?"

“Good morning to you too, Miss Thanatos. Yes, the tea is still hot.” Said Mrs. Barton. "May I know why you are not in class right now?"

“Physical training has been canceled, the yard is still slippery because of the snow. So I came here to meet the usurper… I think you are my new roommate.” She said, pointing at me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." I said, a little sarcastically.

“I knew my reign would eventually come to an end. Anyway, I'm kidding.” She smiled in a friendly manner. "It is a pleasure to meet you, I’m Olympia Thanatos, Midnight Hounds." She said, holding out her hand to me.

"Haera Carter." I said, shaking her hand, a little embarrassed that I didn't have a pack to introduce.

"I don't want to be rude or invasive but... I heard that you ..."

"Which part? Raised by humans or Didn't Know She Was a Wolf?”

"Both..." said Olympia, a little embarrassed, pouring herself some tea.

"Both are true." I said, appealing for honesty. “Are people talking about this? Like, how are they talking?”

“Just the usual, gossip… You are fresh meat with a crazy backstory. Look, if you're worried that people don't like you... Wolves have a much stronger sense of togetherness and companionship than humans, this isn't like an American high school movie. You have a supermodel look, people talk about that too.”

"Thanks." I said, laughing. It was the first time that I heard something like that. "I'm sorry but I have to ask... Do you know the guy with... The super tall guy with a scar on his eye?"

"Super tall with a scar on his eye?" She laughed. "Sounds like Alex."

"Alex?"

“Alexios, my little brother. We’re twins, but I came out first so…”

"Right." I laughed. "It's just that I ran into him in the hall earlier today and I thought he was too…"

“If you say ‘hot’ I’ll literally suffocate you with your pillow while you sleep.” She said, very seriously.

"Olympia!" Mrs. Barton scolded her. I just widened my eyes, a little shocked.

"It's a joke!" She said, laughing. "No, it's not." She whispered to me then.

"Familiar... I was going to say familiar." I clarified. Thinking about it now, he was indeed hot but I'm not saying that out loud yet.

"I was messing with you!" She said, laughing. “But seriously, you can do a lot better. My brother isn’t worth his left eye... Do you have a boyfriend? Girlfriend? Both?"

"Neither. You?"

"It is complicated. Anyway, I'm late for a study group at the library right now. But I liked you, Haera. I hope we can continue this way because otherwise I will have to keep with that thing about killing you while you sleep.”

“I liked you too, Olympia. I will keep that in mind.”

"Welcome to Nordholt!" Olympia said, with a wide smile, leaving the room.

I left Mrs. Barton and went to my room. I started to unpack my bags and put my clothes in the wardrobe while my mind wandered elsewhere. As embarrassing as it was to admit, I was thinking about Olympia's brother. I wasn't lying when I said that he looked familiar; his scent evoked a strange sense of nostalgia in me - a delicious mixture of fresh mulberries and rum. But nowhere in my head could I find the memories associated with that smell. There was a mulberry tree near my late grandmother's house where I used to play with some children in her neighborhood. I knew the smell of rum because my mom used it in the kitchen to prepare some desserts. But never, at any point in my life, these two smells intersected to create a scent as striking as that one - or at least that was not available to my memory at that moment. This nostalgic feeling took me directly to a place where I didn't want to be ... I started thinking about my parents, about our wonderfully boring lives and how I ruined everything. I am not to blame for being a werewolf, but maybe if I hadn’t killed that deer and mobilized the environmental guard they wouldn’t be in jail, I wouldn’t be in this boarding school under the tutelage of the State and perhaps everything would be a matter of hiding a little secret for a while. I promised myself that I would be strong, that I wouldn’t cry anymore… But those were promises I had to break.