~YULIA
“Yulia, didn’t think I’d run into you here.” Jamal Khan smiled at me.
Before I could answer, Issa stepped forward and spoke. “Are you following me, Detective Khan? Is that how you conduct your investigation?”
“Issa,” I whispered, looking around and hoping we were not attracting attention. “Not here.”
“There is no need to be hostile, Issa,” Jamal said. “We are on the same side now.”
“And which side is that?” Issa asked.
“The side where we keep Yulia safe,” He replied.
“Thank you but I am doing that already,” Issa replied. “Why are you really here?”
“I lecture here when I have no cases to work on,” Jamal replied.
I widened my eyes at him in disbelief. “Wait! You lecture here?”
I did not know why I was feeling excited by the news.
“Since when?” Issa asked, his voice demanding.
“Since I moved into this territory,” Jamal said. He looked at his watch. “I am almost late for a class, see you around, Yulia, I look forward to seeing you in my class.”
“What do you teach?” I asked.
“Lycan combat and self defense techniques,” He replied and turned to walk away.
“Prick,” Issa muttered under his breath as he watched Jamal.
“I could learn a lot from him, you know,” I teased.
Issa scoffed in response. “I wonder how he got the job anyway.”
“He is really good with knives,” I said as I recalled how he saved me the first time we met.
“I am good with knives too, but you don’t see me trying to teach it to teenagers and nerds,” He said.
I laughed.
“What’s funny?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You. Being jealous,” I said. “It’s such a good look on you.”
It felt good getting back at him for calling me jealous this morning.
“I am not jealous,” He stated firmly.
“Okay, then why are you so pissed off that he works here?” I wiggled my brows at him just to further irritate him. “Maybe you can not stand the fact that I am going to be taking one of his classes.”
“You are taking his class?” His demeanour suddenly got more agitated. “Show me!”
I raised the sheet of paper to his eyes and he snatched it roughly out of my hand before he scanned the letters in with his Lycan eyes.
“Unbelievable,” He muttered and returned the paper back to me. “Why did Davina give him the job?”
It was fun seeing him this way. So many mischievous ideas formed in my head as we walked.
“I can not wait to see what I can learn from him,” I continued..
“You are trying to piss me off,” Issa said as he watched me closely.
“Yep,” I said. There was no point in denying it.
He shook his head and sighed. “Is this because of Andrea?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I replied with a shrug.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Yulia, I know that you are trying to make me jealous and it’s not working,” Issa said.
“Okay,” I said. “If you say so.” I was enjoying myself.
“Let’s go,” Issa said and I caught a glimpse of him rolling his eyes. I smiled.
He showed me the important places on the campus. We visited the cafeteria first.
“Countless food fights have happened here,” He said almost proudly.
“Like in high school?” I asked in disbelief.
“Trust me it was never the usual high school food fights where only food was involved,” He replied.
“What else is involved in a food fight apart from the food?”
“Strength and magic,” He replied.
I looked at him with a questioning gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I mean students enchanted the food,” He said. “I remember someone throwing chicken wings at me and it turned into a live chicken.”
“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief.
“Sometimes it was pork chops and”
“A pig landed on you?” I said, trying not to burst into laughter at how ridiculous it sounded.
“You got that right,” He said. “As unbelievable as it sounds.”
I shook my head as he led me to the sports grounds.
“And this is where the action takes place,” He said as I took in the massive field.
“You played football?” I asked, trying to imagine him in sports wear.
“I was team captain,” He said with pride.
“And the cheerleaders always swooned at your presence,” I lightly mocked him.
“Now who sounds jealous?” He asked and I scoffed.
“Where is the library?” I asked.
Canis Academy library was the second largest building on the campus and it was sparsely filled with students sitting on the stairs talking and laughing amongst themselves.
“Alpha Issa!” A voice exclaimed and soon a group of girls surrounded us excitedly. I guess he still had some celebrity status in the Academy.
“Hello Ladies,” Issa said and showed them his best smile. They all giggled excitedly. “Hope you are all taking your studies seriously?”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. It was so typical of him. I wanted to gag at the way he was just eating up all the attention.
“What brings you here?” A girl my age asked and I could see the seductive ways she was looking at Issa.
I was suddenly pissed. Wait. Why was I pissed? It’s not like I had any feelings for him.
‘Liar,’ Yara sniffed in my head.
‘Shut up, Yara!’
Yara stirred and chuckled in response.
“I came to enrol my niece,” Issa said and pointed at me. “I am also showing her around the campus and the library was our next stop.”
What was he doing? I do not want to be the object of anyone’s curiosity. Especially dumb groupie girls who wanted to get close to Issa.
“Sup,” I said with an uninterested demeanour. I was not down for making new friends and I wanted to leave here. “Can we go?” I said impatiently.
I did not care if I seemed rude.
I heard some scoffs here and there and I suppressed a mischievous smile.