Chapter 218

Audrey

The bar was packed, even for a Friday night, the air thick with the scent of beer and the sound of laughter. My friends and I had chosen our usual haunt for our last hurrah-one last toast before the end. And it seemed as though every other senior at Grayspring had shown up as well.

Graduation was tomorrow, after all. And while I was terribly excited for it, it was also so, so bittersweet.

“To us!” I toasted as I raised my glass of beer, the amber liquid catching the light. “Who would have thought we’d all make it here together?”

Tina clinked her glass against mine and smirked over at Avis. “Well… Almost all of us.”

Avis’s face reddened, but Gavin nudged Tina in the ribs before Avis could say anything.

“That’s rich coming from the girl who’s only graduating tomorrow by the skin of her teeth,” he teased. Tina responded with a playful shove that almost sent him tumbling off his barstool, his drink spilling onto the already sticky floor.

Avis giggled, her blonde curls bouncing as she shook her head. “I just can’t believe it’s almost over. Where will you all go now? Hopefully not too far…”

“Goddess, don’t remind me I have to spend the summer with my parents,” Betty groaned, taking a long swig of her beer. Her usually impeccable appearance was slightly disheveled, a sign of how much we had all been celebrating tonight. “Just come home for one last summer, honey! You can save up for a nice apartment!’ Bleh.”

“Hey, I’ll take your place if you don’t want to go back,” Tina chuckled. “I’m not ready to start being an adult just yet.”

As my friends chatted, I leaned back in my chair, glancing around the bar. Edwin had stayed true to his word; if there was a bodyguard nearby, which there certainly was, then I had no idea where he or she was hiding.

Looking around, I spotted a burly older man with a leather jacket at the bar, drinking whiskey by himself; a tough-looking young woman in skinny jeans and a tank top watching a sports game on the TV; a pair of blonde twins solemnly playing a game of cards in a corner. It could have been any of them, or maybe even all of them.

Either way, it was going to take some getting used to-knowing that someone was watching me. But it was better than being hunted down by Coldclaw rogues, and besides… It made my mate happy. And it was a compromise.

I recognized that dark hair: Linda. The sight of

she was

fell silent and followed my gaze.

the haughty expression she usually wore, replaced by something that looked almost like… remorse? Her dark

cause trouble,” she said, stopping a

None of us knew what to do-whether we

to get away from her, or maybe even prepare for a

my surprise, Linda pulled her shoulders back as if steeling

“I’m here to apologize.”

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Mon, Oct 7

Chapter 218

ཎྛས371%u

off guard. The noise of the bar suddenly seemed to fade away. “You… What?” I blurted out, hating how stupid I sounded

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looked… smaller somehow, less intimidating than I remembered. “I know it’s unexpected. But I’ve been through a lot since…” She glanced at me, and the tips of her ears reddened ever so

we heard, your parents shipped you off to boot

I couldn’t quite read crossing her face. “Yeah. Boot camp. It… It

although

her fingers twisting together nervously. “During boot camp, I was finally punished-for the first time, really-for how I

so different from the Linda I remembered. I found my eyebrows shooting up, my beer glass suddenly

I think I just wanted to feel powerful, so I took it out on others.

was surprising. I’d never seen Linda

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