CHAPTER 291: 291-OH MY IAN, WHERE ARE YOU?

Clementine:

"Oh, you!" Ian yelled as he started sprinting in my direction. I knew I had to get away from here, to get away from him.

But where could I go? Running back into the dorm would only mean facing the others who made my life miserable.

I had nowhere else to be, no one I could share this news with but I needed to be around people, anywhere I’d be safe from Ian and that lurker.

I started running, and, surprisingly, I was faster than both Ian and the lurker. But they knew the path too well.

Soon, I noticed the lurker cutting across the trail, then disappearing from sight.

He must have taken a different route, likely a shortcut.

I turned right, trying to throw them off, but Ian stayed close, forcing me farther from the main academy grounds.

I groaned as I leaped over a fallen tree. When I looked back, Ian was grunting, his body beginning to shift.

It wasn’t a full werewolf transformation, just a partial one, but he didn’t seem to notice.

I wanted to shift too, to show him what my wolf could do, but I couldn’t risk revealing her on academy grounds.

So, I called for Mint’s help quietly while keeping my human form intact.

I pushed myself to run faster, almost reaching the edge of the academy when the lurker suddenly came out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground.

A hand clamped over my mouth, silencing me.

We rolled across the dirt until I steadied myself, pressing a foot to the ground to stop our momentum.

I managed to pin him beneath me, my fingers gripping his throat, fist ready to strike.

That’s when I saw it, the small mole under his eye. It was the same lurker I’d suspected before.

But before I could hit him, Ian lunged forward, knocking me off.

His arms locked tightly around me.

I swiftly turned around to punch Ian, but he pulled away from me, laughing and cackling, teasing me while sticking his tongue out.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I grunted.

He stopped moving, making no effort to grab me.

"I wasn’t going to hurt you. I was just chasing you for fun," he replied with a smirk.

The lurker stood up, acting as if nothing had happened.

"No, you were attacking me because you were afraid. I’ll tell everyone that I found you talking to the lurker," I warned, my breath catching in my throat.

Ian stared at me for a moment, then started laughing again.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. He wasn’t talking to me, I was talking to him. Just a heart-to-heart. You do that too, don’t you?" he commented, still smirking.

He mentioned that the lurker had told him all about me and what I’d said the other day.

I couldn’t understand why this lurker was so different or how he could speak at all.

"Can you prove it? Can you prove that he was speaking?" Ian continued.

Even though I should have focused on the fact that the lurker spoke, my attention stayed on Ian, his eyes, the way he moved, the way he talked.

I had to do something, if only to calm my nerves.

I lunged forward and grabbed his collar. He made a surprised sound but didn’t react fast enough to stop me.

I leaned in and sniffed his neck, hearing him giggle.

As I held his shirt, I noticed his heartbeat stutter the moment I got too close.

That sudden pause caught my attention, and I jerked back, gasping as I pushed him away.

Even the way his heart missed a beat caught my attention.

I studied him closely, staring at his face while my hands covered my mouth to suppress the shock I felt.

"What? Surprised by how handsome I am?" Ian commented, placing a finger on his chest as he leaned down.

But I had to do one more thing.

"Take off your clothes," I said to him.

He tilted his head, glancing back at the lurker to make sure he’d heard me right, then looked back at me.

"Whoa. I didn’t know I was that sexy. One sniff from me and you’re already demanding so much," he remarked.

"Don’t fucking change the subject. Take off your shirt," I demanded again.

He chuckled loudly, throwing a quick glance at the lurker, who started walking to the side, almost like he wasn’t part of the conversation anymore.

"What if I don’t want to?" Ian replied, the playfulness still in his eyes.

I moved closer to him, staring right into his eyes, then clenched my jaw.

"You’re not Ian."

As soon as I said that, I watched the taunting smile fade from his lips.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused and lost.

"Huh?" Ian asked, pointing at me, but the Lurker had already started to walk away.

So it was just the two of us now.

"Have you lost your mind? What are you talking about? Or is this how you plan to convince yourself that I didn’t cheat on you?" he continued while I shook my head hard, showing him that he couldn’t fool me anymore.

I wasn’t stupid.

I might have been too emotional during the last few days to notice the change in him.

But now that I was back in my own energy and finally doing something right by finding out the truth about the academy, I felt confident and proud of myself.

I had found my spark again, and now I could see the difference in him that I had missed before.

And I was so sure of what I was saying.

"No, you’re not Ian. Who the fuck are you?" I shouted, lunging at him. I grabbed his collar and shoved him until his back hit a tree trunk.

He lifted his hands in the air, pretending to be startled, but his act faded when he noticed the determination in my eyes.

Then, a small crack of a smile appeared on his face.

"Fine, you got me," he whispered with a smirk. His words alone sent a chill down my spine.

"You know what? He told me you’d figure it out. Wow. I wish I hadn’t placed that bet," he added, giving me one more reason to know I was right.

And it gave me goosebumps.