#Chapter 30: Party Crasher
Enzo
I was right in the middle of finally having hot, drunken sex with Nina when I smelled another shifter. It was definitely close to the party; I'd have to get out there and deal with it before anyone saw it or got attacked. With the recent influx of shifters in the area, there was no doubt in my mind that one had been drawn to the party by Nina's scent.
“Fuck,” I whispered, pulling out of Nina and zipping my pants back up. She sat up on the bed, swaying a bit from the alcohol as she looked up at me with confusion in her eyes.
“I have to go,” I said solemnly, standing..
“You're leaving me here?”
I sighed and quickly pulled my shirt on. “I'll explain later,” I said, not having much time. “Just go home.” I used telepathy then to tell Luke to watch her, then ran out of the cabin.
Surely enough, there it was a little ways out into the woods: a rogue werewolf. I cursed, because it also had someone by the ankle: Lisa. It was dragging her unconscious body through the woods; I could sense her heartbeat, but it was weak. Had it already dragged her all this way? I cringed at the thought of this beast being right outside the party while Nina and I were getting hot and heavy. I knew I should've stayed sober tonight. How could I protect Nina if I was too drunk to pay attention to my surroundings?
"Hey!" I shouted to get the rogue’s attention. The rogue glanced up at me, Lisa's bloody ankle still in its mouth. It dropped Lisa's ankle when it saw me and stood on its hind legs, preparing to attack as it hissed and bared its long, sharp fangs.
“You're one ugly son of a bitch, you know that?” I said as I curled my fists and began to circle around the rogue.
The rogue werewolf snarled and charged at me, but I was too quick and jumped up several feet in the air, causing the beast to run straight underneath me and look around, confused, while I quietly landed on the ground behind it. I took this moment of confusion as a chance to ambush the rogue and ran at it from behind, using the sharp claws that had grown from my knuckles to slash the back of its neck.
It yelped and fell to the ground, whimpering. I took my chance while it was laying on the ground and thrust my claws into the back of its neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, and with a final yelp, the rogue fell limp.
I yanked my claws out of its furry throat and sighed as I looked down at the corpse. I'd have to send someone from my father's pack to come and clean this up before anyone found it, so I used my Mindlink with Lewis to tell him what happened and order him to get here ASAP.
Lisa was still unconscious on the ground. I ran over to her and scooped her up, swearing under my breath. She started to heal just from my touch, but I couldn't let her stay here; I didn’t know how much she remembered about the attack, and she was starting to wake up, so I did the only thing I could think of. I teleported directly to Edward's office.
He was sitting behind his desk and jumped up when I teleported into his office suddenly.
“What the hell happened?” he said as Lisa started to groan.
"Rogue attack in the woods,” I said, setting her down on the couch. “She was unconscious when I found her, but I don't know how much she remembers.”
“Move out of the way,” Edward said hastily as he ran around his desk and crouched in front of her. He placed his hands on her head as I stood nearby and watched him work.
Edward was a werewolf, just like me. Only the dean knew this; I didn't even tell Nina. He was my father's age, mature and elegant, with a particular expertise in the practice of mind control. With just one look, he could make anyone forget things, change the narrative of stories, and heal emotional trauma. He pretended to be a hypnotherapist in the human world, leaving everyone who used his services blind to the fact that he would employ werewolf abilities to hypnotize them.
I wasn't sure exactly how long Edward had been working at this school, but it was a lot longer than I had been here. In fact, the history of werewolves working at and attending this school ran deep. Since the school was located right near a prime location for portals, it was relatively easy for any evolved shifter to enter the human realm. That didn't explain the influx of less evolved shifters on campus, though, because as far as I was aware, they weren't capable of creating or using portals. Not on their own, at least.
Was someone helping these rogues pass through? And if so, who was helping them?
Lisa's eyes started to open.
“Wh... Where am I...?" she mumbled.
Edward ignored her question and immediately began to work his magic. I watched closely as he started whispering incantations that made her pupils start to swirl, indicating that she was now susceptible to his hypnosis.
Seeing hypnosis always fascinated me, so I watched intently while Edward worked. Soon, he had Lisa lulled into his spell, and quickly convinced her mind to erase all memories of the attack. He put her to sleep with his abilities when he was done and stood.
“Take her to her room,” he said. “She'll wake up in the morning and remember nothing about the attack, thinking that she just got too drunk and stumbled home. Did anyone else see the rogue?”
“I don't think so,” I replied. “I contacted my father's beta. We'll clean up the body before anyone notices.”
“Good,” Edward said, then stepped out of the way so I could pick up Lisa and teleport her back to her dorm. With an appreciative nod at Edward, I teleported Lisa and I to her dorm, where I laid her sleeping body down on her bed.
Now that Lisa was alive and oblivious to what really happened, I teleported back to the spot in the forest where I killed the rogue. Lewis was already there, looking down at the rogue with his hands on his hips.
"How did a rogue get out here?" he asked, to which I shrugged.
“I don’t know,” I replied as I helped him hoist the corpse onto his shoulders. “Someone must be helping them get here. I don’t know why, but I think it might have something to do with Nina. I think someone wants her gone.”
“By the way,” Lewis said as he opened a portal, “I've been looking into her like you asked. She was adopted when she was two, but that's all I've found so far. I'll keep looking.”
I furrowed my brow as I watched Lewis step into the portal to the werewolf realm, where he would likely dispose of the rogue’s body.
Nina was adopted?
I wanted to talk to her, but my body was exhausted from all of the teleportation and I knew I wouldn't be able to teleport again tonight; I'd have to figure out a way to get everyone to leave the party too, just in case more rogues showed up.
I would have to find her in the morning and explain everything.