My word means something

[Luca]

…

The girl trails beside me while we walk down the corridor to speak to the Headmistress. Her screams are still ringing in my ears, and I try to shake the sounds from my thoughts and clear my head, but it is proving difficult to do. I wish I had shown up sooner, and if I hadn't been so annoyed at the thought of seeing that Genevieve, I would have.

I have never seen anything like that before and I hope the Headmistress can tell me what it means so I can help her. I nearly laughed at that thought, that I want to help this girl. She has been good company and good entertainment so far, and I'd rather not lose that.

I glance at her in the corner of my eye. Her straight brown hair is a mess and her full eyebrows drawn down in thought, causing wrinkles on her normally smooth skin. Her pink lips are pursed, showing that she's clearly worried and should be.

She must feel my stare because her big, expressive green eyes look up at me, making me want to tell her that she will be fine. But I don't know if that's the truth, so I hold my tongue and look away from her.

Merda. I feel like a clueless fool, and I don't like this feeling.

The Headmistress had tasked me with training Layla, to help her reach her full potential. But I didn't know that it would be such a mess.

I run my left hand through my hair and the tattoo on my fingers catches my eye.

My two outermost fingers are mostly blocked out with black ink smudges, but what isn't fully colored in along the edge of my smallest finger is a mountain range with a crescent moon and three stars above it on my forefinger. Next to my fingers, along the edge of the back side of my palm it says, "senza l'oscurità, non avremo stelle". Without the darkness, we will have no stars.

I've spent more time than I'd like to admit in those dark corners and living in the black abyss where those with light could never survive. It was necessary to do what needed to be done, so that others could flourish. So my light - my family and my loved ones - could persevere.

In Milan, be it running errands for DeSimone while I was younger or providing security for one of his nightclubs as a teenager - the night was where I thrived. It kept my sister in school and my Mamma out of the hospital. So when I got the chance to become a wolf, I took it. My family doesn't know why I left, but I make enough money on my salary as a professor to buy them their new home and provide for them. I can't regret the past and I don't mind the things I have seen, even though it comes back to haunt me.

I don't feel the darkness as much when I am around her. Like I said, she is a good distraction.

Point is - my word means something. And when I told the Headmistress that I would help Layla, I meant it.

We've made it to the office and her assistant asks Layla to take a seat while I am told I can go inside. So I give Layla one last look before walking into the office and closing the door behind me. Morwenna is already seated behind her desk so I take a seat in the chair before her.

"What happened?" She asks me.

"Layla is just outside the door, why don't we bring her in and ask?" I answer while bringing one foot to rest on the other leg and lean back in my seat. My fingers tap on my thigh while waiting for her to explain.

"I will, but I want to talk to you first." Morwenna leans forward and clasps her hands together on top of her desk. "Now, Luca, let's try this again. What happened?"

"After Layla tried to shift on her own without success, your new Transfiguration professor, that idiota -"

"Spare me the insults about my professor, Luca." She rolls her eyes and interrupts me. "When we both know that it wasn't her fault and that's not the real reason you're mad."

I grunt and continue. "Your professor gave Layla an alpha command to shift into her wolf. Her wolf was unable to break out, causing her tremendous pain and discomfort." While her face shows no emotion, her eyes betray her. One skill I acquired from my dealings in the past is how to read people.

She's worried about Layla, but she's not surprised. "Something I have a feeling you know more about than you have shared with me thus far," I add, voicing my suspicions.

She sighs and leans back, not denying my accusation. Morwenna reaches into her desk and pulls out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. She pours liquor into both of them and hands me one. Not one to deny a good drink, I sniff the contents once before taking a large sip. It smells of honey, cinnamon and dates - a recognizable combination that is confirmed when it goes down my throat smoothly.

"Macallan," I state. "Nice choice." Morwenna raises her glass towards me in acknowledgement and then takes a sip.

"Layla...is a unique case. Not only because of the circumstances that brought her here, but it is more than that."

"Are her and her wolf incompatible? Has this ever happened before?" I voice some of my loudest concerns.

She shakes her head at me, seeming to be just as lost as I am.

"I am working on figuring out what's going on and how to help her, but I need more time. I didn't expect things to escalate this quickly, so I need you to work with me to keep her calm and unsuspecting. Can you do this, Luca?"

I finish the rest of my drink in one go while thinking about my answer. My vow was to help her, and if misleading her is how I need to do it, then I will. But for some reason this makes me uncomfortable. I uncross my legs and place my empty glass on her desk. She doesn't hesitate and refills it for me.

"Tell me what you need me to do," I say.