Serene’s POV

His words cut deeper than a sword and before I knew it my eyes swelled with tears which I tried to hold back as I looked at him in disbelief. I knew he wasn’t the kind of person who expressed his feelings but this was a face I had never seen. His eyes were full of hate for me and his face had a look of disgust. I caught the paper he threw at me and was flabbergasted as it was my answer from the night before. As I was looking at the paper Ralph spoke.

" Are you fucking out of your mind right now? How are you talking to Serene? What’s wrong with you? " Ralph spoke rather angrily to him.

"Nothing is wrong with me. She is the one who has a crush on me when I have already found my mate in Lourden. So, I am just telling her to get these fancy ideas out of her little brain because I only belong to Lourden now." Zeph shouted back at Ralph.

His words took us both by surprise. It felt like someone had clenched my heart, while Ralph gasped. "You weren’t feeling so lovey-dovey in the morning, what are you even talking about? What did that evil girl do to you?" Ralph inquired in confusion.

"Nothing, and don’t follow me, Ralph." Then he turned towards me and looked straight into my eyes before speaking: " Stay away from me in future." His threatening looks looked menacing.

"I am sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you with this game and I had no idea Lourden was your mate." I spoke in a trembling apologetic voice. He paid no heed to me and walked past us to head towards his room.

I couldn’t help but look at him with despair. All my efforts to hold my tears in went in vain as they spilt out. Ralph hugged me without saying anything and I cried on his shoulder.

" Ralph, Serene kindly meet me in the Aurorians common room. " Zilver called out while standing in the door looking at us. Ralph let go of me but kept his hand outstretched, afraid that I might fall.

" We will be right there," Ralph called out.

"Are you alright?" He asked me with concern.

"I am fine," I tried to smile.

We made our way to the Aurorians’ common room. We had been using it to strategize against Schlangto. Only Aurorians were permitted to use the room, Zilver, Ziva and Alvene were senior Aurorians so they had full excess to the room as well. As we entered the room Ayrden, Ziva and Alvene were also there.

Judging by the grim looks it seemed like Zilver had already filled them in with the details. Ayrden rushed towards me as we entered:

"Are you ok? " she asked meekly.

"I am good," I tried to reassure her.

"I had no clue that you liked Zeph." She told me quietly.

I wasn’t sure what to say. Everything had come spilling out, I wasn’t even sure of what I felt towards him yet before everything had gone to dust.

"It doesn’t matter, anymore if I liked him or not." I reassured her.

"It does, Serene. And, you have every right to like him. And, the way he annoys you or even goes out of his way to talk to you. I am sure deep down in his heart you have stirred up something as well. " Ralph spoke up looking at me.

"But, he said he has found his mate... " I trailed off.

"He is obviously lying. I have known him since childhood and he is my best friend, so I see through him when he lies. His parents kept a record of his birthday. He is already 18, and no way in hell a vile person like Lourden can be his soulmate. If she was then he would have remembered her in the morning or wouldn’t have let her go with Zilver during the party. Besides, why didn’t she make a move on him when he arrived? She is 19 and would have known when she saw him." Ralph added.

"True, I don’t believe for a second that they are mates. I think she has blackmailed him somehow." Zilver responded.

"Zeph always gets extremely angry when things don’t go his way. The way he acted, trying to push us away. He is somehow trying to protect us. I shouldn’t have left him with that evil woman today. It’s my fault. " Ralph clenched his teeth.

"Don’t blame yourself, we should have been warier of her. We failed to act on time and let things get out of hand." Alvene added.

"What should our course of action be from now on?" Ziva asked. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"We will keep a distance, try to ignore her and Zeph for now. But, we will be watching and we need a spy amidst them, we need to know what they are planning. Can Mikasim be trusted? " Zilver asked us.

" Idon’t think so, he is completely under their thumb. And, I avoid having any conversation with him due to that incident." I replied.

"I will talk to Mikasim. I am sure he will listen to me." Ayrden said quietly.

"Thank you, Ayrden but be very discreet. If he doesn’t agree to help, at least tell him to keep quiet about this and not tell them anything." Ziva explained while Ayrden nodded her head.

"Serene, I know you will be their target. She will try to make you jealous. Your job is hardest now, you have to act like you don’t care. I know it won’t be easy at all but you need to do it. Because not only she is going to make your life miserable but she is also going to wreak havoc on Zeph. Believe me, I have been there where she has taken him now. " Zilver spoke in a very serious tone.

"Uggggh, she is going pay if she hurt him. " Ralph’s anger was at its boiling point.

"We need to keep our emotions in check. The more emotions we show the harder it will be for Zeph. Bare that in mind. " Zilver tried to calm Ralph down.

"This will be our meeting place from now on. We will only discuss this topic here and this will remain between us six. " Alvene announced and we nodded.

"Let’s go, now. Ayrden try to talk to Mikasim but only does it here, so they won’t know. " Zilver told her.

"I know. I have a perfect person in mind to get the message across." Ayrden chuckled.

"Who? " I asked her.

"Arlo," she smiled.

"Oh! Right. " I almost forgot about him.

"Can he be trusted? he is very mysterious." Ziva inquired.

"Yes," Ayrden and I spoke simultaneously.

"Alright, Ayrden and Serene you guys stay here. I will find him and send him here. " Ralph told us before leaving.

Zilver, Ziva and Alvene also left to find any further pieces of evidence.

"I am sorry, Serene I shouldn’t have pushed you to write those answers last night." Ayrden said apologetically.

"It’s not your fault, I was so naive that I didn’t see through their deception. Besides, it’s natural to have crushes at this point." I reassured her.

" Yes,"she smiled. "I wanted to tell you about mine but we never got the chance to discuss the answers we wrote." She said shyly.

"You can tell me now. " I smiled back at her. "It’s Cainos, I think he is very cute and has a cool power. I feel drawn to him. " She hid her face in her hands.

"Aww, he is cute. You should try to talk to him, sometimes. " I replied with a smile.

"I did during the party and he was super cute." She answered slyly.

Just then the door opened and Arlo entered with an angry look on his face.