h4Chapter 141: Bullets/Truth./h4

    "Stales..." Alex tried not to panic. He looked around but there was no staff in sight. The other students had begun staring, whispering among themselves. They must be wondering what was happening. He turned back to Ang, lowering his voice. "Pull yourself together. You’re drawing attention."

    Ang forced herself to breathe in and out, trying to calm the storm inside her chest. But Stales was still the same, no sign of improvement. Her heart dropped. That meant she had done it, not only to him but to Xavier too. Hot tears threatened her eyes as she stared at her friend. "I am so sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling.

    "Sorry for what?" Stales asked suddenly. His friends froze, their eyes wide, as though he had risen from the dead. Then, to their shock, he broke intoughter he could not hold back. "Look at your faces. You actually fell for it."

    Ang stood frozen, staring at him in disbelief. Did he really think this was funny? She had been terrified, ming herself, thinking she had hurt him. Her body was still shaking from the fear.

    "There is nothing funny about this," Alex said sharply, his voice edged with anger. He pped Stales lightly on the shoulder, but his re was hard. "Are you out of your mind?"

    "N-no..." Stales said between bursts ofughter, his voice carrying through the hall. He bent forward, clutching his stomach as if theughter itself would tear him apart. "I can’t believe you didn’t see it. I was trying so hard to keep my face straight."

    Ang arched her brows at him, her heart still heavy. "Don’t you think that was too much?" Her voice softened, not angry but weary. In truth, she was relieved it had only been a joke. If anything had happened to him, she would never have forgiven herself. But Stales, clearly, wasn’t thinking that way.

    "The joke was expensive," Alex muttered, sitting down with a sigh. He was drained and done with the entire scene. "Let’s just go. The meeting is about to start."

    "I’m sorry if I scared the both of you, alright?" Stales finally said, hisughter dying down.

    Ang gave a small nod and picked up her bag. Then something struck her. "Wait—the race. If we leave now, won’t it affect our points?"

    "No," Stales answered at once. "The staff won’t be around anyway. After what happenedst night, they’re all in a meeting. It couldst the whole day, who knows?"

    "Then let’s go," Ang said, walking towards the entrance. Her eyes drifted to the general ranking board, and she spotted her name. She was ranked four hundred and sixty-two. Not great, but at least she was no longer in the red zone.

    Still, it wasn’t enough. She knew she had to work harder before the test began, or else she would slip back to the bottom again. A cold fear gripped her heart as her mind wandered to everything waiting for her outside the Academy walls.

    She didn’t want to leave, not even when the term ended. The Academy was her shield. Out there, beyond its walls, her enemies were waiting. They would find her, and when they did, only the goddess knew what fate would fall upon her.

    "What are your powers?" Stales asked as they walked towards the woods. That area was out of bounds after what had happened the night before, but the riverside was excluded. So it was chosen as the venue for the meeting. Stales kept talking, his eyes on Ang. "Kaito is the god of thunder and lightning, Hiro is the lord of mischief, Renn has the strength and all the muscle, and Taros is the healer. What about you? What powers do you have?"

    Ang only shrugged. She did not know what to say. The question pierced her because she had never thought of it deeply. Sometimes she wondered if the goddess had given her nothing at all.

    "It can’t be nothing. Think," Stales pressed, unwilling to drop it.

    "You should let her be. When the timees, the goddess will reveal her powers," Alex said firmly, pushing Stales back a little.

    Ang shook her head. "I don’t care about that right now. All I want is to find my father. If I find out who he is, then maybe I’ll finally understand myself. I’m tired of not knowing. The mystery is eating me up, it’s exhausting."

    "I understand," Alex said softly. "But why don’t you ask your mother about Marcus? Maybe she knows something about him." He looked at her with pity, but Ang turned her eyes away.

    "I wish I could, but I can’t." She ran her fingers through her hair, her voice tight with frustration. Just the thought of facing Grace again gave her a headache. She had not even been able to raise the money she owed her.

    "Why?" Stales frowned, confused. "I know your mom is wicked, but I don’t think she would refuse to tell you about your father. Isn’t that an easy way for her to finally get rid of you?"

    Ang let out a long sigh. "I have been asking her for years. The only thing she ever told me about him was that he was a dead man. And then recently, she gave me a name—Maverick. No surname, nothing else. You see howplicated Grace can make everything?"

    "Maybe if you press her more, she’ll give you the surname too," Alex suggested with a small smile, trying to lighten the moment. Ang only shook her head sadly. They had no idea who Grace truly was.

    "I can’t. I owe her money and I don’t have it yet," Ang admitted quietly. Both of them stared at her in surprise. She swallowed and continued, her voice breaking. "It was the day I got my admission letter. I had to buy her silence. I had to pay her three times the amount my uncle was going to give her. That was the only way she let mee here."

    Her chest tightened as the memory reyed in her mind. That day had cost her more than money. It had cost her peace.

    "Oh mine, what a mother," Stale said, still surprised. He searched his pocket and pulled out seventy dors, the little he had left from the money his parents gave him during theirst visit. He pressed it into her hand. "Here, pay her back so that we can fix things."

    "I have one hundred dors with me in the dormitory. I’ll give it to you when we get back," Alex added.

    Ang felt the tears press at her eyes, and she knew it would be foolish to try and stop them. Shaking her head, she pushed their hands back. She didn’t want their money. They had already done more than enough for her. "What I need is a job, maybe something online. I can raise money that way," she said softly.

    "Isn’t this money enough?" Stale asked.

    "No, but that’s not the only reason why I can’t take it," Ang replied with a faint smile. "I want to raise it on my own. Besides, I already owe my mom over six hundred dors."

    "What?" Alex’s eyes widened. He stuttered in disbelief. The thought that a mother could demand such a huge amount from her daughter just to keep her safe stunned him. There were people who would give their very lives for those they loved, yet Ang’s own mother put a price on her. "I am so sorry."

    "No lies, your mom is selfish," Stale said, anger shing across his face. To him, she did not even deserve to be called a mother. He wondered what kind of man Ang’s father was to have married her. Or maybe he was no different. "How do we help? We can’t just sit back and watch you face this alone."

    They reached the riverbank before Ang could answer. On the bridge ahead stood the four Alphas, deep in discussion. Someone else was with them. A girl.

    Ang’s heart skipped as her eyes caught her face. Hailey. The same girl she had seen with Taros the other day. They were together again, standing far too close. Ang’s pulse quickened at the sight.

    i"We may have to do away with her if she dares to stand in our mate’s path... but I doubt that is the case," Mighty Storm muttered./i

    Ang nodded faintly as she walked toward them. Hiro was the first to notice. "Were you three nning to take forever?"

    "We are here now, does it matter?" Ang asked as she walked to where Kaito stood.

    She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. When everyone thought she was done, she moved to each of her mates, hugging them warmly and kissing their cheeks, making sure they felt her love.

    She returned to stand between Kaito and Taros. It was not about making Hailey jealous, it was her way of showing her ce, her way of telling the other girl that the Alphas were hers, that they belonged with her and no one else.

    "Who is him?" Hailey asked, her brows drawn in confusion as her eyes shifted from Taros to Hiro.

    "Our mate," Renn answered, moving closer to Ang. "And it is not a him, it is a her."

    Hailey was stunned, even though Taros had told her before. She had doubted him, but now the truth was right in front of her. She had already promised not to speak of anything that was said in this meeting, no matter how shocking it was.

    "Nice to meet you," Ang said, stretching out her hand with a calm smile. Hailey took it and smiled back.

    "Nice to meet you too."

    "That’s enough," Renn said, pulling their hands apart. "Can we get to the real matter now?"

    "Of course. I did some research," Hailey replied, shifting her gaze to everyone. She took out a bullet sealed in a polythene bag, the same one that had been pulled out of Hiro the night he was shot. She noticed the sudden sharpness in Hiro’s eyes, his interest stirred. "This bullet belonged to the Malynsters, the founders of Mistvale. They are dangerous, but they usually keep to themselves. What I do not understand is why they woulde after Hiro. Why would they want him dead? Did you cross into their territory?"

    "That is a good question. Where was he that he got shot?" Stales blurted out, and the moment the words left his mouth, regret filled his face. All eyes turned to Hiro, waiting. He could no longer escape an answer.