THE THREE MOONS PACK

5. You can’t judge a book by its cover

Several days had passed since that episode.

I couldn’t talk to my dad about it. How do you tell your dad that two crazy guys are harassing you? Although the harassment in question has decreased significantly. Erwan had called in sick, not that he was addicted to education under normal circumstances. As for Koran… I had caught him twice staring at me intensely, without any emotion showing on his face.

And both times, I wisely looked away first.

Since his bite, I’ve had a strange tight feeling in my chest. Almost painful. And to my great shame, my lower abdomen tightened as soon as he was nearby. Tomorrow would be the first day of the full moon. I didn’t know why I was so worried about this information.

It’s sports again. The one class I had in common with Koran. My stomach was knotted to the extreme, but deep down... I was delighted. Was I hiding a masochist under this shell of common sense that usually characterized me? The other girls were already outside the locker room, I was dragging my feet. It was while looking at my reflection in one of the washbasin mirrors that I realized that something was wrong. My blushing cheeks and feverish eyes weren't normal.

Am I getting a cold?

A kind of continuous tickling spread through my body. Suddenly, my ponytail, which I usually liked, seemed unbearable, so I quickly removed the elastic. My hair fell over my shoulders, giving me the fleeting impression of having a lighter head.

I wanted a cold shower.

So, I’m in a very bad mood, yet ready to face the other students. Except for Koran, of course. My appearance caused a sensation. The girls gave me anxious and not friendly looks. But the boys, at least some of them, stared at me with barely concealed interest.

The strange thing in me that grew as the minutes went by seemed to attract them. Or maybe my brain was overheating and it was totally my ego. What surprised me the most was discovering who was most receptive to my strange state.

Oh, yes. Koran.

Sitting on a bench chatting with our teacher, he felt me before he even saw me. With a sudden head movement, he turned his chocolate eyes to my humble self. I even thought I saw his nostrils quiver.

If I thought I had hit peak weird, my reaction proved the opposite. From being a little hot, or feverish, every centimetre of my skin began to burn. So much that I could have fried eggs there. This body heat materialized around me and I then felt an emotion never before experienced.

A... Power.

Some students began playing volleyball while some boys seemed to turn into statues of salt. Neither Koran nor I had moved a millimetre. Riveted to each other, I almost felt that a tangible link was connecting us. For a moment, I read a violent desire in his eyes.

Suddenly, Gina appeared in front of me, her look black with fury, then she rushed to the neck of her dear and tender. Her contact seemed to calm him, but I felt such frustration... unimaginable.

My lower belly tensed at regular intervals, each of my muscles was painful, a torment. There’s no way I’m chasing after a ball in this dismal state.

Someone brutally grabbed my elbow. Even though he wore the school’s traditional sports attire, the open book he held in his other hand indicated his activity during the sacrosanct hours of physical exercise. Without sparing me, he led me to the locker room.

I kept spending my class time in this part of the sports hall and always in male company. If that didn’t make my reputation as an easy girl, I’d be lucky.

Without even bothering to warn me, he put me under a showerhead and turned on the cold water. I heaved noisy gasps under the shock of the temperature.

I noticed that the fair-haired boy had very clear, almost translucent blue eyes. And that by keeping me under the freezing water spray, his clothes were soaked.

“Two more minutes, miss. If your smell isn’t controlled, your power may trigger a bloodbath in the Bhrean males.”

I gave him a dazed look. Did he have a decoder so that I could understand what he was saying?

When he heard my teeth chattering, he pulled me out of the shower.

It was with a sigh that he put his book on one of the benches and then went to get a towel.

The blond boy threw it on my head.

“I prefer to avoid any contact, don’t hold it against me. Thanks to you I just realized that my self-control has its limits.”

I furiously dried myself, fed up with not understanding any of this!

“If only I knew what was going on!” I became angry.

“Ovulation on your first moon, yes, you're doing well.”

I interrupted my drying.

“You’re all disturbed in this city, huh. I’m not even sure how effective therapy is at your level...”

Instead of getting upset, the blond boy laughed.

“Tomorrow is the full moon, and your body had the brilliant idea of choosing this timing to signal your fertility... It’s like spraying the fire with oil. Every male in the area will want to sniff your skirt. If I were you, I would wisely stay at home today, if not, you risk something happening to you, miss.”

I stared at him now as if he were the real incarnation of Hannibal.

He judged for a few seconds the sincerity of my stunned expression and ended up being equally astonished.

“Is your father reckless, to the point of letting you come to this city without having first told you of your nature?!” he said in a toneless voice.

A siren howled in my brain.

My nature? My father?

“Hey, Mr Off-His-Rocker. My father is a good man. It’s all of you who are borderline!” I spat.

“My name is Ulrich. Not... “Off-His-Rocker”. Miss, I strongly recommend that you lock yourself up at home until dawn. This night could be epic for your loins if you ignore my generous advice. And talk to your parent urgently if... you’re not in a big rush to wave a piece of prime in the face of hungry wolves.”

His icy voice had the fabulous power to turn me into a stalactite.

My eyes fixed on his, I tried to unravel the disturbing mystery of his little rant. Without succeeding. I had to be either particularly stupid, as Koran claimed, or the truth must be particularly hard to swallow so that my rational brain refuses to give me a clear explanation.

The benefits of the shower were starting to fade. I felt it. The tickling running under my skin, the unbearable heat, it all came back.

Worse... the spasms in my belly, too.

Like Koran, Ulrich’s nostrils quivered. His pupils dilated to almost erase the pale blue of his eyes.

“By hell!” swore the teenager. ”The fertility pheromone is a succulent aroma especially with first-change!”

This guy spoke like a Shakespeare character. What century was he from?

Not that the question was paramount at the time, but it came up repeatedly in my mind, later.

I noticed that his breathing was becoming panting and that he clenched his jaw enough to break his fillings. Far from terrorizing me, his reaction woke up this creeping thing that was sliding inside my body.

His attitude changed radically toward me.

His smile became bewitching and his look caressing, he whispered a few words in German.

No luck, I had Italian as a first language, English as second and Spanish as the third. Latin optional.

As he attempted to approach, a fierce and giant hand grabbed him by the collar and sent him flying. After landing on his rear, looking lost, he gave his saviour a grateful look.

“Get out of here, Lucie will chop off your family jewels if you yield to the call of the...”

Koran didn’t finish his sentence, he just glanced at me.

Ulrich got back on his feet before running away as if I were Lucifer in person waving an enticing contract to steal his damn soul. Once his friend left, Koran took a long breath. A reverberating sound echoed in his chest. Then he turned to face me.

“If I were you, I would quickly get out of here. Come back in three days.”

“That's not possible.”

What? The first exams were coming up and this guy ordered me to skip three days of classes?

He walked over to me, looking threatening.

“You will do what I tell you to do, got it, puppy?”

“I’m not a puppy,” I growled.

Koran stopped dead to stare at me.

“You dare to show me your teeth, little wolf?”

His tone was too caressing, to be honest.

The “Alpha”—and it was he who proclaimed himself this—resumed his slow, even predatory approach. In response, I held my tongue. I still had my last punishment in mind, so I was less smart-ass.

“No. I’ll stay at home for three days.”

Little wolf.

Why did this psychopath call me that?

My proof of submission had the effect of stopping his progress. I was both relieved ... and strangely frustrated.

Koran seemed to hesitate.

I caught a sarcastic laugh in my throat. Would he also be disappointed if I didn’t provide him with an excuse to grope me?

His dark eyes remained unreadable.

We watched each other for a minute, then he nodded.

“You leave immediately. It doesn’t matter how, on a flying carpet if necessary. I don’t care, but you get the hell out of here.”

This guy was just a dirty brute. I hated him so much.