CHAPTER 8: Evasive

From afar, the longing eyes of Darius kept darting to a particular place where he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off. The place where a certain recessive omega was sitting. 

He could see Bricklynn from his position, and every time he looked at her, it felt like the first time he had seen her. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, just like the very first time he held her hand. 

She was so beautiful, so gorgeous. She's not wearing heavy make-up like others, yet her beauty stands out. His heart still yearned for her, even though their relationship had ended not so long ago. Her beauty really captivated him. 

And when their eyes met for a second, he felt like time stopped at that moment, making him even more drawn to her. His feet itched to go to her, and his hands were longing to hold her. It feels like he was being hypnotized to look that way, and the only thing that hindered the hypnosis from fully working was the girl sitting beside him. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Cara's voice was gentle to Darius' ears, but it was not the same gentleness he used to hear. "You're spacing out," she mumbled. 

"I… uh? Yeah, I just thought I saw someone I knew." He faked a smile and cleared his throat. "So, err—how's the night so far?" 

"It's really good," Cara bestowed him a small smile, yet she's looking from the corner of her eye to where Darius was looking only to find her friend, sitting alone at the table across from them. 

Her throat hurts as if a surge of tears were welling from her heart to her throat that would eventually come out as tears. Yet, despite that discomfort, she swallowed that painful lump. 

Bricklynn was sitting alone at the table as her parents took off to have a little chitchat with someone they knew. She wanted to go and talk to her friends as well, but she thought that they were busy getting to know their partners, so she decided to just have a little drink for herself. 

"H-Hey, Bricklynn," a guy who has his hair neatly combed approached his senior, who was just stirring her drink with a stainless steel straw. 

Bricklynn raised her head only to find someone she knew from her school. "Hey, Joseph, is it?" 

"Yes–" his voice cracked, so he repeated it again, this time a firmer one. "Yes, that's right." 

Bricklynn let out a soft laugh as she saw how her junior tried to look manly and mature in front of her but failed miserably. "So, what can I do for you?" she asked with a friendly smile. 

"Err—" 

She could see that he's trying to say something important, but he couldn't seem to find the right words, so she urged him to sit. "You can take a seat first. We have all night to talk." 

"No, no, thank you, though." Joseph's nervousness seemed to calm down when he saw how friendly Bricklynn was. So, he took a deep breath and proceeded to say what he was planning to say, "I just want to ask if you could dance with me?" 

This caused Bricklynn to let out an apologetic smile, "Uh, I would love to, but I'm not in the mood. My feet kinda hurt 'cause of my heels." She lied. Though, she didn't fully lie because she's really not in the mood, but she needed a little white lie so she wouldn't hurt his feelings. 

The boy's excitement left his eyes from her words, "It's fine. At least I tried though." 

"Yeah, that's what matters." She nodded, and the boy went off. 

She was quite lucky that her parents were not there when she refused Joseph's request, because she's sure her mother would be mad if she learned she just denied a young, promising alpha like him. 

But it's not like she wanted to reject him for being picky; though it's quite true, she's choosy because this time, she's only choosing herself. Nothing's wrong for choosing yourself, isn't it? 

Her mind was so focused on improving herself that she found no time to mingle with others. She indulged herself with a new hobby of being a comic artist, where she could do what she loved at the same time: write and draw. 

Because she knew she wasn't ready to love yet, especially since she just got her heart broken. 

"Bricks?" An oh-so-familiar voice called her name from her trance. The said woman lifted her eyes from her well-stirred drink to find her worried face. 

"Cara," she softly returned the simple gesture. She looked away in order not to make eye contact. "What is it?" 

"Bricks, I…" she trailed off, seemingly unsure of what to say. Her eyes darted down on the table as she took a seat in front of her. 

Bricklynn visibly leaned back in her seat, still looking away. "I told you. It's fine." She folded her arms in a defensive way. "I'm doing good now." 

"No, Bricklynn, I just want to explain." Cara's voice held urgency. "Darius and I—" 

"No," she firmly declared, letting out a huff in the process. She's trying her best to maintain her cold tone, but some hints of emotion reeled itself on the tip of her tongue. "I said yesterday that there's no need to." 

"But I just—" 

"We've already talked about this." She finally got the courage to look her in the eye, and from behind Cara, she could see Darius looking at them. "I don't think there's any more to say. Even if I let you explain, nothing will change, right?" 

Cold and emotionless. Maintain it Bricklynn. 

Cara dejectedly looked down and reluctantly shook her head. "No…" she muttered, the beads of tears from the corner of her eyes glistened under the dim lights of the night. "I really didn't mean to." 

"Let's just focus on moving on. That's what I'm doing," Bricklynn muttered, a slight melancholic tone was evident in her voice. "Your boyfriend is waiting for you." 

Cara gently stood up. She kept looking down. Her eyes remained glistening from the light reflected off of it as she walked away. 

Bricklynn took a deep sigh of relief and closed her eyes. As painful as it was, she can finally focus more on self-love than thinking about the past. 

Now that Cara had left her alone at the table, her cloudy mind began to recall what had happened earlier. She lifted up the tablecloth and gently laid it on top of her thigh. It is obscuring the beanie that he left her with. 

What an evasive man. She thought as she ran her fingertips through the soft fabric of the beanie. Isaac had stirred her curiosity to such a degree that the moment Cara left her vicinity, her own mind immediately annoyed her with an array of questions. 

Questions that she knew the possibility of getting answered were slim. Not unless she met him again, which was also slim. But out of all the questions, a specific one stood out to her. 

"If he's telling the truth about his age, why is he here in the first place then? And if he's not, why won't he come inside?" she quietly whispered under her breath. 

She figured that it may be a long time before she sees him again, and even if she does, she can't be sure he'll answer her, so she just stuffed the beanie inside her purse. 

Out of sight. Out of mind. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the crowd applaud. As some of the cheers were heard, she scanned her surroundings to see what's the source of the ovation was, and she found herself looking at a man on the stage. 

The man smiled at them, but even with the friendly gesture, Bricklynn reluctantly smiled. 

"Ladies and gentlemen," the man started. "The mayor of this town wanted to convey his intense desire to meet you for this special night, the Banquet of Conjugation. But unfortunately, he was sick at the moment. But he had prepared a message to you and to the future of Woodland Valley, our young werewolves turning into mighty ones. 

"Now, I shall read you the short message he had prepared." He cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Good evening, my dear Woodland Valley fellow, as tonight I would not be there to celebrate this fine evening with you. But rest assured that my heart will always be with you. As for the young ones, taking the higher step, I am so proud of you. Please, enjoy the night my dear guardians, and keep up the good work, my young werewolves." 

All the people there applauded as the representative speaker folded the paper he had, and put it in his pocket before leaving the podium with a big smile. This time, Bricklynn didn't even lift a single finger to clap. 

Once the representative speaker had walked down the podium, he was replaced by the MC of the night and said, "The night will finally begin by doing the purification ritual, known as The Purge." 

Murmurs began as the younger generation of werewolves asked their guardians about it but soon quieted down as the MC spoke again. "Don't fret, my children; it would not affect any of you, he said softly, but soon his voice turned sinister, "but only those Lycans who snuck in here." 

Their whispers of worries diminished when they heard a searing noise and smoke started to emerge on the ground. The smoke stopped at knee level. 

"What's this?" Bricklynn asked as she looked at the thick smoke pooling under her knee level. The smoke almost glistened as the dim light hit it. 

"It's fine," her dad said, giving her a reassuring smile that comforted her. But her solace was immediately torn down when she heard the bloodcurdling scream of a woman. 

The unknown woman's scream echoed in the walls of the hall. But what threw Bricklynn into a panicked mess was that it was just a few feet away from her. The hair on her nape stood up from how gruesome the scream was. 

The scream was so agonizing. 

And what made it worse was the fact that she could see the woman with burning legs. That image slowly instilling itself in the back of her mind. 

When the woman's knees couldn't handle her own weight, she dropped to the floor, and her whole body began to burn as if a coal were being ignited. Cracks appeared on her skin like lava-filled trenches. 

"Help!" she repeatedly screamed at the top of her lungs as she reached on the non-existent hand. "Help me, please!" 

Bricklynn felt the chill run down her spine; fear rendered her motionless, to the point that she forgot to blink, and the only time she realized that her eyes were hurting was when she's already crying. She immediately wiped it before her parents noticed. 

Others began to cheer, chanting, "Let them burn!" Her fellow students didn't really get it but still joined, and the chanting grew louder, drowning the perishing woman's cry into the abyss. 

"That's how an impurity will vanish with just a sprinkle of the star vapor." The MC spoke menacingly to the masses, who were still chanting. 

"Star vapor?" Bricklynn mumbled to no one in particular as she watched the woman's voice die down and her body being slowly engulfed by the thick smoke. She remembered what her professor told them about the weakness of the lycan. 

A sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes widened as she finally connected the dots in her mind. That's not just ordinary smoke; that's vaporized silver! 

"These creatures are nothing but demons from hell. Nothing but bloodthirsty beasts, longing for nothing but to embed their fangs and claws to any breathing creature." Everyone felt uneasy when they heard how aggressive lycans could be. Even the person who was just beside the Lycan woman felt scared. 

 "But don't be afraid of them, for as the devils are lower than humans, worms are under the claws of ravens, and lycans are beneath the werewolves. We have power over them and the younger generation who are here." The MC spoke as if hyping the crowd even more to chant louder to which they did. 

"Beasts will not reign over their masters!" At this point, the crowd was cheering so loudly as if they were howling. Bricklynn's parents joined the hype, and as she looked around, she found herself the only one not howling with them. 

The night grew deeper and the moon hit its peak, and it seemed like they all forgot about the fact that a woman just died tonight. The speaker once again said, "The courting ceremony will begin any second now. I am inviting all the candidates to rise." 

All the candidates lined up in front of their chosen potential matemate, and pairs will reach into each other's hands and hold it up before walking in circles. This ritual was a sign that one of the pair was courting the other one. 

But despite the cheerful and excited atmosphere of the crowd, Bricklynn remained seated, watching her friends and colleagues find their potential mate. 

"Why didn't you try to find one for yourself, dear?" Halber spoke so dearly. "I'm sure they wouldn't resist if it were you." 

"Thank you, dad, but I'm not ready yet. There would be a lot of time where I could meet my mate, right? It's not just a one-time thing, and besides, don't you think my mate is not here?" 

"You can find a mate here, Bricklynn, only if you want." Her mother spoke; she didn't even try to hide her disappointment as she drank another glass of wine. 

The night had ended, and I didn't feel any thrill at all. Everything began slowly and ended so quickly, with not a hint of passion at all. That's what Darius was feeling as he stood by the fountain while the caretakers did their job, cleaning the venue. 

He was there, sitting alone, as he let his parents, Cara, and her guardian go home before him. Now that the noise had gone from his surroundings, he could finally hear what his heart really wanted, which made him laugh at the thought. 

"What the hell are you grinning at?" The monotonous yet high-pitched voice of a woman cut his smile off. 

"Kelsi…" he only mumbled. "What are you doing here?" 

"I just want to see what's up, is that bad?" she rolled her eyes. "So, has it happened yet?" 

"You bet." He let out a wicked grin, showing his wolf fangs.