Chapter 36: Chapter 36

“Julie?” I gasp when I see her at the place where I am supposed to meet with Doctor Kusher.

We were on a private property where the witches live. The entirety of the land is enclosed in tall bamboo woods. We stood in front of a massive house. I hesitated to call it a house because it typically looks like a massive witch's home, complete with pointed roofs and square-framed windows. The wooden door at the front looks a little pointed and blends in with the stone material of the entire house because of its dark color.

The area is wide, with a ton of greenery in sight. There's even a huge garden dome full of plants they were raising that I'm not sure what it's called. Then, my eyes moved to a meditation area on the far side of the house out of curiosity. It’s the first time that I have seen one so I was a bit fascinated.

Julie, my old cafeteria buddy, fixes me a blank look. “Why do you sound so surprised? I live here with my uncle.” She states. “By the way, you’re here to have him teach you magic, right?” I nodded. Julie smiles, “Well, I guess that means that we’re classmates then. Well, sort of.”

“Sort of? What do you mean?” Tyrelle, who has been silently standing by my side the entire time, begins to inquire. He picked me up from our house this morning, saying he wanted to take me to see Doctor Kusher. He explained that the recent attacks were for security reasons - not that I was complaining, of course. It’s a no-cost ride.

Julie looks at Tyrelle irritably. “Gabriella has raw magic while I need a medium to magic what little magic I have.”

“So that means Gabriella is special.” I have no idea why Tyrelle sounds so smug about it when I am the one with the magic power and not him. But, since I don’t want to burst his ego, I just let him be.

But I am guessing that I don’t have to because Julie and I were thinking of the same thing. “Gabriella is the one with the magic power, wolf.” I did not miss the spite in her tone.

“And I am Gabriella’s boyfriend,” Tyrelle stated a matter of factly.

“Being her boyfriend doesn’t mean that her magic is your magic.” Julie points out.

Tyrelle looks at me at this point, as if he's asking for my help. To be honest, I don't want to get involved in whatever problems they're having with each other, which is why I'm grateful that Doctor Kusher arrived at that precise moment. With a mug of coffee in his hand, he just walked out the door.

“Lord Tyrelle, Lady Gabriella,” He smiles when his eyes are laid upon us. He starts to head over, “Welcome!” And then he pauses as if sensing that there was a heated argument not too long ago. He looks at Julie with a raised brow like he’s expecting her to explain.

“It’s not my fault!” Julie automatically says.

“Julie, get to class. I am sure that the other witches have started already.”

“Didn’t you ask me to help you with teaching Gabriella since we talk at school?” It’s the first time that I have seen Julie become chatty. Seeing the emo girl at school having a normal conversation with Tyrelle’s family witch doctor seems so odd that I had to look at her twice to see if she’s the same person.

“I’ll call you when I need you. Now, go.” Doctor Kusher deepens his voice to make an emphasis his command.

I did not miss the mocking smile that Tyrelle has on his face while Julie gave him a dirty look before she left and headed for the greenhouse.

I elbowed Tyrelle because of it and give him a disapproving look.

“What?” He protested. I didn’t answer.

Doctor Kusher focuses his attention on Tyrelle next. “Lord Tyrelle, will you be waiting until Lady Gabriella finishes her practice? If you are then we have a designated area for you to wait.”

“No need,” Tyrelle held up a hand to decline his kind offer. “I still need to do my duty to the pack. I’ll come and pick her up around five. Make sure to keep her comfortable until I come back.”

“Yes, we will watch over the lady like she’s Lord Tyrelle himself.” Doctor Kusher promises.

Tyrelle nods in satisfaction before looking back at me with a softened expression. “I’ll be back later. You can text or call me if something is up.”

“I will. Thank you.” All I did was nod, “You take care.”

And I expected those to be my final words before Tyrelle left, but he does something far more unexpected and strange. He makes a thin line with his lips and squares his shoulders back. I didn't realize what he was asking until I looked him in the eyes above his flushed cheeks. He was looking at me and then at Doctor Kusher. When I turned to face the doctor, I noticed that the house's window was full of curious girls looking out at us.

Ah, now I get what he wants me to do.

We've discussed this before, especially when there are other people present. And he signaled it by spreading his hands out. Still, it was humiliating, but considering how he goes out of his way to keep me and my family safe, I should do the same.

I swallowed hard and dashed toward him for an awkward hug. Imagine two stiff people standing in close proximity to one another. Instead of wrapping his arms around me, Tyrelle gave me a head pat while I patted him on the back. We were screwed by our silly affection play, but the girls peering in the window seemed to think it was cute. I can even hear them giggling and squealing.

“This is awkward,” I whispered.

“I know. Do you think this is enough?”

“They’re screaming their heads off so I think that it is.”

With our mutual agreement, we parted. Tyrelle gives me a smile for the last time before heading out of the front gate.

Ah, shit. I forgot something. That crazy bastard. Now, I have to deal with the crowd who saw our play by myself.

Stupid, Tyrelle. No wonder he was leaving in a hurry.

“You miss him already?” I was glaring at the gate where Tyrelle disappeared when doctor Kusher just happen to appear behind me and startled me in the process. He chuckled and followed me to where I was looking a while ago. “It seems like Lord Tyrelle really treasures you a lot.”

I stared at him because I was too flabbergasted on how to respond to that. “Yeah. Apparently, I am his prized treasure or whatever.” I feel like I am repeating something from a script that I once read somewhere.

“You two are making a lot of young girls jealous.” He sighed. “Well? How about it? Are you ready for our class?”

Now that Tyrelle is out of the picture, I guess all I can focus on is training for a while. “Yes, I would love-”

Our attention was drawn to the far side of the parking lot by a shriek. The girls were screaming and appeared to rush towards us from the back gate. As head of the witch department, Doctor Kusher stood in front of me, attempting to address the three young and terrified witches who had just arrived. They don't appear to have been put in danger, despite their unusually shaken demeanor.

“Lesley, what happened?” The doctor addressed the girl, who seem to be the oldest of the three.

I get closer to the doctor so I can hear what they're saying. In case there is a true emergency, I already have my phone in my hand and am ready to dial Tyrelle's number.

“T-There’s a black wolf in the shed!” The girl, Lesley, said.

A wolf? Now that is definitely a reason to call Tyrelle.

I was just about to press the call button when Lesley added something that made me hesitate.

“It’s a black alpha wolf.”

I paused. What did she say? An alpha wolf?

As far as I can remember from the wolf lore that Tyrelle told me, Alpha wolves are bigger because of their breed. If it’s not Tyrelle then who is it?

There was one person in particular who glistened in my mind. I'm not sure if his wolf is an alpha breed because he is a very mysterious and secretive individual. But, given his ability to defy Alpha Torian and Tyrelle, I can only assume he is one.

“Were any of you hurt or injured?” Doctor Kusher asked.

“No. The wolf seem too injured to move, which is fortunate.” The other girl said.

“Its eyes.” I don’t know what has gotten over me that I would think about intervening, but here I am, asking questions in curiosity about this black alpha wolf. There was a nagging feeling in my chest that seems to be telling me what to do. To ask certain questions just to be sure.

The three young girls exchanged a look like they were asking each other for the answer. It seem like they were conflicted with their memory of the alpha wolf. I can’t blame them. If I see a life-threatening creature before me, I wouldn’t study its features and simply bolt out of the room.

“I think it was green.” One of them said.

“No, I think that it was blue.”

“Sea green?”

The three of them have opposing viewpoints on eye color, which only adds to my suspicion. Aelfric is the only person with indistinguishable eyes that appear to change with his every movement.

“It’s him,” I whispered.

“Lady? Lady Gabriella!” Doctor Kusher calls out to me, which made me feel a little bad because it’s supposed to be our first training today and yet I am already defying his orders.

Without even thinking, I ran in the direction where I last saw the girls come from, hoping that I would see my hybrid stalker once more.