CHAPTER 153: UNDER HIS INFLUENCE

Andria’s POV

Liara started clapping her hands as soon as Allison was done talking, "You have succeeded in blaming your bad attitude on others and ignorance. But ignorance doesn’t make you insight confrontations if that isn’t who you actually are."

Then she turned to Khalil, "I’ve forgiven this outburst and the fact you laid your hands on me. Let’s say you were just protecting your mate or fighting for your mate. But the next time you lay your hands on me, you would answer to my father."

"You think I can’t stand to your father, and give him a solid reason for the slap with evidence? Do you think I’m dumb or have you forgotten that I’m Khalil of Westbrook?"

"Doesn’t ring a bell to me except that you are just another Alpha in my father’s kingdom."

"Well first of Liara," Allison spoke up, "The fact that you dealt so violently with me will be taken to the school’s tribunal. You tampered with a student council member.

Secondly, you used a spell on a student which you know is illegal especially since after Tracy’s. And you Jackson from what I’m noticing here, you are the orchestrator.

How could you? How could you throw away all the years we spent together down the drain so easily? You know," Allison burst into tears,

"When my whole family turned their backs against you, I still found my way to you, trying to make your family still feel like they belonged to our pack. I went to the extent of falling for proposal, a fake mate bond.

Little did I know your false tongue will turn it against me. You hated Aria because you found out that she was Aven’s mate, you wanted so bad to destroy their bond. You never liked Liara, or any other friend close to Aria either until that fateful day at the field.

But becoming Liara’s fated mate doesn’t make you try to kill me, I’ve never done anything wrong to you. Therefore you too will have to face the school’s tribunal," Allison finished and signaled Khalil her new mate and they turned to leave, before she paused on her steps as if she had remembered something.

"I’m glad you are safe Aria, for a while, I thought something bad had happened to you. Goodnight," she hugged me and they walked out.

I turned towards Liara. "Honestly, I’m disappointed that you could toll the same route as Tracy. You not only beat up Allison, you made sure to chain her under the table with a spell laced chain, making it hard for her to even be rescued. You know it’s forbidden and Lia you know this is not you, the you I know is generous, understanding and logical.

This new you isn’t you at all, it’s a manipulated..."

"I don’t want to hear any of this," she yelled, and my eyes caught Jackson smiling, and I wanted to wipe the smirk off his face.

As if Aven noticed the direction of my gaze, he turned to look at Jackson and just in one swift movement, he had him by the neck. "I haven’t spoken to you yet, motherfucker, you had the audacity to handle my sister in such a manner."

Jackson was caught off balance, and he could fight back so easily, Aven’s eyes were blazing red. Liara rushed to help Jackson out but I tackled her to the ground, but she stood up immediately.

And soon it turned into a fight. Jackson’s back hit against the door to his room, and it burst open and he fell to the floor.

Aven gradually dragged him up. And soon, we were fighting in his sitting room.

"What is going on here?" the commanding voice of Sir Kaelric made us stop.

He stepped into the apartment slowly observing the mess we had made of it, and then looked from Liara to me to Aven and then to Jackson, and then his gaze zeroed in on me.

"Aria," he called out my name, clicking his teeth. "Why do you involve yourself in this sort of a mess all the time. You organized an event and while others are at the event, you are here throwing punches at each other.

You are the student council president, you have the authority and you are the representative of this school, what would warrant a fight when it can be handled in the school council room?"

My heart hammered against my chest, I never knew it would escalate to this.

We just followed Jackson’s track because he seemed like a suspect to the awful thing that had happened to Allison tonight, which he is of course one of the perpetrators, and I don’t know what else they had done this night apart from the harm they did to Allison, that had brought her to this place reporting ’done’.

Sir Kaelric turned to Liara, narrowing his eyes on her. "I never expected this of you, this is not what I teach combat lessons for. It’s to foster packs unity against intruders and evil forces.

The lessons are useless if you use it against each other."

"Well good thing I don’t belong to any pack, I and my fellow rogues," he let out a loud sad laugh. "Isn’t that what you call us ’rogues’," he said, raising his index finger and his middle finger to signify quote.

"Silence Jackson, your father brought a curse upon you, and yet you still walk in his footsteps. You shouldn’t be in Ashwood if all you care about is disunity and chaos," Sir Kaelric sternly warned.

"Well I wasn’t here for a while, or didn’t they tell you? I fell victim to a one-time bully who has decided to act like a saint now that he has got a mate.

There’s just no difference between his sister and himself, they show kindness to a selective few, while the others deserve hurt.

Constantly that family have humiliated my family, and I have watched other packs reject I and my father too. It’s my pain, you shouldn’t tell me how to handle it, you haven’t been there before," Jackson burst out and there was silence in the whole room.

Even I felt a sudden wave of pity for him, until I caught myself. Everyone, wolves and humans alike have the power of choice.

You choose what you do in your grief, some choose to change the world to a better place where they could live in by changing their pattern of living.

I’ve known grief, being rejected and maltreated by my own family for years, being betrayed by my boyfriend. I also had a choice.

I didn’t get away from the family of the Falcons to become a menace to the kingdom, I chose to make it right and return back their bad deeds.

But here is Jackson, lashing out on both the innocent and the guilty all in the name of hurt.

"Grief is not an excuse for misdemeanor, grief exposes your true and unfiltered nature. You are vulnerable, so you seem to act most times according to how you feel," Sir Kaelric replied coldly.

"Liara, you were caught on the security surveillance camera today, and to my greatest surprise, you were engaging in a provocative violent act.

I was shocked that you could do that. Would you also blame that on grief?"

Liara hung her head low. "Answer me Liara, you weren’t even careful when carrying out the act. And now the laboratory which was spoilt by Aria just so she could save Allison, would be repaired by you."

"She deserves everything that I ever did to her, besides I was coming to release her after the kissing booth was over," Liara replied.

"Why is that? Why do you have to tie her up until the kissing booth was over?" Sir Kaelric asked with furrowed eyebrows.

I noticed Jackson gesturing towards Liara not to say too much.

"You would say the truth," Sir Kaelric said for the first time, using his compelling ability. Most times I forget I’m half-vampire maybe because I never liked the idea at all.

Just like the vampires, the Dravaris had the ability to compel anyone or anything.

"Jackson gave me reasons to. I didn’t want Jackson around her, that’s the major reason amongst others."

At first, Jackson seemed relieved when Liara started to speak, but as soon as she said the words ’amongst others’ his face looked tensed up.

I’m well aware that he doesn’t know that Sir Kaelric is a Dravari, otherwise he would have been horrified right from the time he issued out the command for her to tell the truth.

"What are the others?, spill," Sir Kaelric urged her.

"Jackson didn’t want her at the kissing booth, I don’t know the reason why he didn’t want her at the kissing booth but my mind told me he isn’t over her yet, so I decide not to keep her in any of the classroom as we had planned, I took her to the lab, hoping a distraction would steal his minds off looking for her."

"Then why is Becca also chained?" Sir Kaelric asked.