Chapter 225
Clementine:
“Please step out of the phone booth.” I heard a heavy, commanding voice and began to turn around. I feared it was him.
He stood there watching me, his eyes locked beneath his black, round head.
“Mr. Headmaster—” I started to explain, but he silenced me with his own question.
“You missed what?” he demanded, urging me to finish the words still caught in my throat when he found me.
I began to wonder if he had seen me before or overheard anything else.
I stuttered, staring at my hand, the receiver still clutched in it.
“I missed my mate,” I finished, realizing Haiden would hear it. If they asked him the same question, he could just lie.
“Put the receiver back,” the headmaster ordered, and I instantly obeyed, cutting the call.
I felt terrified under his harsh, hidden gaze.
He stepped back, and I understood it as his way of telling me to come out.
There were many lurkers behind him. They had finally gathered, guns raised, as if ordered to shoot someone. That was the scariest part.
I gulped and stepped out of the phone booth, watching a lurker rush behind me and slam the door shut, locking it.
“There will be no need. I think we already know. This one here can open the locks,” the headmaster declared. Yet the lurker went ahead and locked it.
“What were you doing here, Miss Clementine?” the headmaster questioned. His voice was heavy and deep.
His hands were clasped behind his back, and somehow his overcoat always flowed with the wind, even when there was none. It made everything creepier.
“I was missing my mate, so I called him,” I repeated. I already knew everyone in the academy knew Haiden was my mate.
“So you broke the rule?” he pressed.
I looked down, acting ashamed.
“Throw her into the prison, and we will later decide what to do with her,” he told the lurker, and my head snapped up.
“I’m really sorry. I was just lonely—left alone in the academy,” I tried to explain, but he was already done.
He began to walk away, moving to the left side of the road near the phone booth, while the lurkers gathered around me, one of them holding silver handcuffs.
I felt humiliated.
After doing their job in the north, what harm could one single call do? Why were they treating me like a criminal, handcuffing me and putting me behind prison walls?
But he was already long gone for me to question him.
In the next few minutes, I was taken into a car heading to the prison, and I instantly recognized it. It was the same prison where we had first been kept during the transition state.
It was the same big area, the same bars where I was pushed inside, reminding me of my first night waking up after being abducted from my home.
This was the exact place where I had seen and unintentionally betrayed Ian. It brought back memories.
The lurkers, of course, weren’t going to answer anything. They just locked me in and left after uncuffing my hands.
But I was in the cell, and this time there wasn’t a regular lock on it. There was actually a lock code.
I grunted and sighed.
I began tossing stones around. The ground was rough and sandy, not somewhere I could really rest.
I wandered around for a few more minutes before sitting down to think. I literally had nothing else to do but take a break.
Tonight had been a failure. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to go back and tell Haiden and the others about everything. Hopefully, yes. Maybe the headmaster did believe my lie.
As soon as I sat down, I started piecing everything together, everything I knew so far, and then I just fell asleep. I had nothing else to do.
By the time I woke up, it was already morning, and one of the lurkers was opening the door for me.
He snapped his fingers and pointed at himself. I knew I had to follow him, so I silently walked behind him.
I had only spent the night in prison, so I thought I’d possibly be brought in front of the ringleaders, which I didn’t want.
However, instead of taking me back to the hall, the lurker walked in the complete opposite direction.
I looked around, wondering if I should keep following him or if this would end up being something very dangerous for me.
Halfway through, I saw a small black office building. The walls were black. Even the door was black.
The lurker reached the door, knocked, and then opened it for me.
I walked past him and entered the room, only to find the headmaster sitting there, tapping his fingers on the table.
“You were missing your mate a lot, weren’t you?” he asked, and I awkwardly shifted my weight to one leg.
But before I could respond, he spoke again.
“We have planned a car for you. You won’t stay here. Instead, you’ll go and spend these vacations with your mate, where he’s staying with his family,” he finished.
I felt my heart sink. I didn’t want to go anywhere near his family or people who thought my father was the reason their previous Alpha and their Luna had suffered so badly. But now I had no choice.
“What if I don’t want to go? I’m not saying I’m trying to disobey you, but his family—” I started to explain my side, but he grunted and slid an envelope to me. I already knew it contained the location and all the details.
I wondered how angry Haiden would be to see me there, because he clearly didn’t want his vacation ruined.
I sighed and grabbed the envelope, walking out of the office and seeing a car already waiting for me.
“I have to get my clothes,” I told the lurker, but he didn’t respond. Of course, he wouldn’t. He just pointed at the car.
I sat inside awkwardly, opening the letter to find out Haiden was staying at a beautiful retreat with many of his pack members and family there as well.