Chapter 58: Chapter 58

HUNTER ABRAHAM

“Wow, Alpha, it seems like fate is on your side. You’re even in the same group as Jonea for this assignment. You can gain her trust and bring her to our nest without causing any problems,” a friend commented.

“Watch your words!” I replied flatly.

Just then, Jonea turned to me as if she could hear our conversation. I just nodded my head slightly at her.

After the lecturer left, I immediately went out with my men. They were none other than the special forces sent by Luke Draken to monitor me.

“Hunter, wait!” Jonea called as I left the classroom with my men.

I stopped walking and looked back. The friends walking beside me started whispering.

“Hi, Jonea Rawling, the best student in the fine arts department. Are you impatient to finish your assignment with Hunter?”

“Stop it,” I whispered. I don’t like them messing around and meddling in my business.

Jonea looked at my friends and observed them one by one. She looked uncomfortable.

“Can you leave us for a moment?” I asked. Then I whispered to them, “Or are you trying to hinder my task?”

With annoyed looks, the three left Jonea and me to talk alone.

“What’s wrong, Jonea?” I asked patiently.

“Well, it’s about ‘how we become teammates to complete the task.’ If you’re too busy, you don’t need to do the survey with me and go around to several museums. We can write the essay. I already know quite a lot about the museums we’ll visit to complete this task--”

“I’m always free!” I answered quickly to cut Jonea off. “By the way, how about we set a date?”

She looked surprised at first that she didn’t have time to answer.

“How about this Saturday? The sooner, the better, right?” I continued.

Jonea hesitated. “Y-yeah, of course. I don’t have any schedules that day either.”

“I’ll let you know when and where we can meet. I’ll text you between lunch and dinner. When it’s not too early or too late. So, please don’t ignore my messages anymore.”

After saying that, I immediately left her. I didn’t want to give her any chance to make excuses to reject me.

***

JONEA

After Hunter left, I could only stare blankly. He always controlled the situation, and I was so annoyed. I didn’t even know why my life was never separated from him. Even though we studied in different majors, why did we have the same combined class?

“Oh, where’s my phone? I have to report this incident to Daran. If I don’t, he might find out from someone else first. If that happens, he will definitely think badly of me again.”

I started typing a message on my phone. After reading the message several times before sending it, I finally decided not to send it to him.

“I’d better talk about it in person when I get home. I’m afraid he might misunderstand this message.”

***

HUNTER ABRAHAM

I was still worried about the mission the dragon king gave me. I really felt a dilemma. I agreed to carry out the mission in exchange for the freedom of my people in Pack Abraham and other Blue Sapphire citizens. However, I never thought that the mission would be related to Jonea. And I couldn’t back down.

While I was near Jonea, I couldn’t talk to her freely because Luke Draken had sent so many people to monitor my movements.

“Hey, have you seen that exchange student? Isn’t she wonderful and sexy?” commented Rafael, one of the dragon king’s troops.

We were sitting in the parking lot before leaving campus.

“I don’t know,” said Ethan. “I haven’t seen a beautiful girl since I came here. I’m a little disappointed. I thought Blue Sapphire was more interesting than the Black Crater country, the land of the dragons.”

After hearing their conversation, I became cynical. I was about to open my mouth to speak, but someone commented first.

“The tastes of dragon warriors are indeed different. It seems like you guys are pretty racist and don’t really like werewolf girls,” Ressa, a beta from Pack Abraham who had wholly defected to the dragon king, muttered. So, there was no one around me I could trust. I was utterly alone.

“I think Jonea is quite pretty if you pay attention to her. Despite her slightly tomboyish dress style, she’s a type-A girl. Right, Hunter?” Rafael asked.

I didn’t like it when they talked about Jonea. I knew they were trying to provoke me and wanted to see my loyalty to the dragon king.

They probably didn’t know about Jonea and me’s past relationship. And I hope they never find out. For them, right now, I’m just a slave to the dragon king. They only know that I’m on a mission from the dragon king to bring Jonea to the dragon palace. And that mission isn’t an easy one. It’s been proven that they failed to bring Jonea with every means they could think of. Violence is certainly not the solution.

“Enough!” I said with duty.

But Ethan didn’t seem to want to stop yet. “How can you guys judge Jonea Rawling as an attractive girl? Forget about her looks. What about her personality? She’s insulting and cold. I wouldn’t want to make her my girlfriend, even if you gave her to me for free! Unless I could eat her alive—”

“Hey, what are you guys doing?” I was about to lose my patience.

“I am not an object, let alone prey!” said someone who suddenly appeared behind me. I recognized the voice but was still shocked when I realized it was Jonea. She shouldn’t be here.

“What are you guys talking about how I’m free? Aren’t you going to apologize?” Jonea demanded.

“For what?” Ethan replied arrogantly. “You’re just a new student while I’m your senior. It’s our right to treat and talk about our juniors.”

The atmosphere became so awkward. I was about to speak up, but Rafael said we were joking.

“Don’t be so serious, Jonea,” Rafael said.

“This is so absurd that the situation has become a joke,” Jonea said firmly. “Is it that you judge someone just by their appearance in your home country? Do you even judge someone just by their race? No matter if they’re werewolves, lycans, dragons, or even humans, you have no right to insult and belittle them. I’m not surprised that you don’t understand basic things like that. Because basically, you are animals who are actually animals who do not have the mind to think properly.”

We were all made silent by Jonea’s words.

Then Ethan looked offended. He put out his claws silently. “What about yourself, Jonea? What kind of creature are you really? You’re not even human—”

I knew this would not end well for us. We were still on campus, and we should not attract attention.

“If you don’t know what to apologize for, you don’t need to. I will assume that no one taught you manners in the land of dragons and that you are indeed mindless!” Jonea replied fearlessly.

Then Jonea just walked away. I held Ethan’s hand, who was ready to launch his claws towards Jonea.

Jonea just passed me and glanced at me sharply. While I could not do anything. No, I had to do something. I ran and caught up with her.

“Jonea, wait!”

She stopped and turned to me.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, you really ‘don’t say anything’; you even kept quiet when your dragon friends were talking nonsense,” Jonea said in a high tone.

“Are you mad?”

Jonea didn’t answer. She ignored me and left me. I chased after her and blocked her steps.

“Jonea, I’m talking to you. You can’t leave like this.”

Once again, she ignored me and walked away, but I remained stubborn in following and chasing her.

“Just hit me until you feel better. I’ll take it.”

“Then, come here!” Jonea replied.

“What?” I was confused.

“Give me your face so I can hit you, you jerk!” Jonea shouted.

I thought she wouldn’t really do it. Jonea was a gentle and forgiving girl. I’m sure she was just upset.

Before I even finished thinking, a punch flew right towards my face. The pain was incredible.

I fell down and was shocked while holding my bleeding nose. I turned to Jonea in confusion.

Is she really the girl I’ve known all this time? Is she really the Jonea I’ve loved all this time?