Offered to the Triplet Alphas

[Xanthea]

"Ezra has set up and customized the laptop and phone for you. You know how to use a phone, right?" Raven asked while driving me to Helxton as I scrolled around the phone. I nodded quickly and fumbled with the phone, accidentally turning on the music that boomed through the speaker. Startled, I quickly turned it off, glancing nervously at Raven. He shot me a side-eye and let out a subtle, exasperated sigh.

"You'll have to learn and adapt to things quickly. Others in your batch are already months ahead of you. You need to catch up to them by taking extra classes after your normal classes. You can access and manage your schedule through the Helxton's fast course tracker. My number is already saved on your phone. Call me when necessary," he said.

Pressing my lips together, I glanced at the three contacts saved on my phone: Asher, Ezra, and Raven.

"Don't think you are going to get any special treatment here just because you are soul pacted with the demon lords. Most won't even know you are pacted with us. So, you'll have to work harder than anyone else and I will not settle for anything less than perfect. So don't waste your time on that cat or on making useless friends. Focus on your studies, finishing the fast course and getting the healer's license as soon as possible," Raven said, parking the car near the gate outside the college campus.

I knew my time was limited, but even within its boundaries, I had the chance to live a life way beyond my wildest imagination. A life that I couldn't have ever dreamt about.

Sliding the phone in the pocket of my jeans, I hugged the backpack that had the fit-it-all carry bag, the laptop, and the journal Ezra had bought for me. I could feel my heart pound faster against the bag as we got closer to the university. "I understand! I won't give you a chance to complain," I said in a bit too excited tone, which made Raven furrow his brows.

"We'll see about that... your first lecture starts in fifteen minutes... your course tracker app will take you to the lecture hall. Now, get going."

I nodded once and was about to step down from the car when Raven held my wrist. I looked at him, wincing as he tightened his grip.

"Here, you are the mortal forbidden fruit that will draw a lot of attention..." he whispered in my ear, his breath tingling against my skin. "And there will be many wanting to have a taste. So stay alert. Don't eat, drink or smell anything others give you. Don't go to isolated areas all by yourself. Boy or girl, doesn't matter. Don't trust anyone because consent is not a popular concept among demons. It's in their nature to just take what they want."

His words made me tighten my grip on my backpack. Gathering my courage, I lifted my gaze to meet his unforgiving eyes.

"I know..." I said, holding his gaze. "Perhaps better than anyone else."

I don't know if it was anger or irritation, but something dark flashed across his eyes.

I stifled a yelp when he grabbed my arm and yanked me closer, his face inches away from mine.

"I don't want affairs and scandals. In short, stay away from men. I don't want to hear even fake rumors about you being involved with any other guy... do you understand?"

"Unwilling though it may be, I have sworn my loyalty to you and your brothers, and it's not going to change until the day I die or the day you kill me. And I am not foolish enough to spare a second on men and think it's going to be worth it," I said.

His eyes darkened, danger flickering within them. With a swift, possessive motion, he pulled me closer until my lips almost touched his.

"Aren't we late because of all the seconds we spent fucking this morning because you were too horny to stop? I guess it must have been an utter waste of your time, little omega. But you seemed to have enjoyed every second of it. So I don't know if I should trust your words or not," he whispered in my ear.

I glanced towards the backseat at our companion, Lana, who eyed Helxton with suspicion. Lana was the healing partner Raven had chosen for me.

Making some distance between Raven and me, I averted my gaze.

"Don't look at other men," his voice was low but held a serious depth. "Don't look at them with these challenging eyes. Don't look at them at all. And don't let them look at you the way we do."

His words did something strange to my heart, and it began pounding harder. I knew his words were a warning, but for some insane reason, they didn't feel like a threat.

I could feel the heat in my body rise with unholy thoughts burning slowly into my eyes and then flooding my mind all at once. Controlling the hitch in my breath, I lowered my gaze.

"Good girl," he said before letting go of my arm.

Drawing in my brows, I slung the backpack over my shoulder and stepped out of the car.

"You can't stay for the night classes," Raven said.

"I know," I said, taking a deep breath, my back facing him.

Getting back my composure, I cleared my throat and opened the door of the backseat. Lana gracefully got out of the car.

Lana Leferve, eleven years old, was the princess of a small faerie tribe. She had dual tone greenish black hair that flowed down to her small but exquisite glimmering translucent wings that looked like a beautiful mess of green, yellow, and black galaxies.

She wore a golden diadem around her forehead with a glowing green crystal at its center.

She had been quiet ever since Raven introduced us. All I knew about her was she was a prodigy as a healing faerie.

Raven drove out of sight as Lana walked into the campus. I followed her shortly.

"He was lying," Lana said in a bored tone.

"Sorry?" I looked at her, confused.

"Alpha lied when he said you weren't going to get a special treatment here," she stopped walking and looked up into my eyes.

There was a sudden shift in her demeanor, her standing posture and expressions mirroring that of Raven's.

"While she is here, make sure she doesn't even get a scratch or I will personally scrap your entire career," Lana said, mimicking Raven's tone.

Tilting my head, I blinked at her, flabbergasted and perplexed.

"That's what Alpha Raven threatened the head of this university with. Here, you are under special surveillance, you will not encounter any external problems at the uni or during classes. Getting through the exams and collecting passing points is the only thing you should be concerned about. Everything else will be taken care of for you," she said before walking ahead.

I peered at her wings blankly, trying to get a hold of what she said.

All the courses in Helxton were designed on a point system. As soon as someone reached the passing points, they were eligible to graduate. The eligible student then had to apply for the last test, the exam that they had to pass to ultimately get their degree and license.

The system was designed in such a way that unless the students covered everything the course had to offer in its entirety, from theoretical to practical, they would never reach the passing points.

And that was why a healing partner was a must in the Healer's fast course. The student alongside their partner could gather the passing points faster.

Students got points for attending lectures, completing assignments, covering up their practicals. They could also get grace points from the professors, which, according to Raven, wasn't easy. Students received the most points when they cleared an exam, so he told me to concentrate on my exams.

Exams happen every day. To participate in an exam, students had to register themselves for it at least two days prior and to be eligible for the exams they had to collect MPPS (Minimum Participation Points) by attending lectures and completing assignments.

The system was designed like a game, and maybe that was the most exciting part of it.

I looked at my phone screen that showed a big 'O' in the points section of the course tracker app. The app even suggested the lectures and assignments I could complete to take the exams quickly.

I needed 100 points to take my first exam. The points varied lecture to lecture and the same for assignments and other activities. But overall, I had to at least attend 10 lectures to be eligible for the exam.

And since I enrolled late in the course, I had to complete all the backlog lectures along with the regular ones. Backlog lectures start after the regular classes and run from evening throughout the night until dawn. These lectures are for the student who missed the regular lectures or who failed the exams and need to retake it.

This might seem too much, but with a strategic approach, I can reach the passing points within a year. I just need to get my basics clear so that I can quickly catch up to my regular lectures.

Excitement coursed through me, making my heart swell with happiness.

"Control your heart. Its badum badum might kaboom!" Lana's remark brought me out of my phone right before I bumped into a pair of huge bat wings.

"I'm sorry-" I said, but the boy with the bat wings was peering at the window of the building in the hospital wing.

Not just him, but there were several students looking in the same direction.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I followed their gaze.

"Please mom! Don't leave me here! Mom!" a boy, probably five years old, cried, hugging the shin of a woman.

The woman wrenched away a kid from her leg and hurled him on the ground.

I gasped, widened my eyes.

"Mom!" The kid's cries turned even more agonizing as the hospital staff grabbed the kid and dragged him away from his mother.

"Don't call me mom! You can't be my son. You can't have my blood. I don't accept this; I will never accept it! My son can never be a weak blood!" The mother yelled at the kid.

00000

The boy's sobs sent a cold shudder down my body.

"I did everything! Spent money like water, but you couldn't even activate your immortality genes and you are six already. You are just hopeless," the kid's mother looked at the hospital staff. "Discard him. I don't want him any longer. Make sure no one hears a word about him after today. Silence this disgrace before it reaches the society."

A cold numbness spread through my body, and for a few seconds, I froze.

"No! Mom! I am sorry-"

The boy with bat wings let out a sigh. "Pity, he turned out to be a gone case as well."

"Shut up, Claude. How could you say something - umm? What was I saying? Why am I here again?" said the boy standing beside Claude, looking confused. He was surrounded by levitating books like rings of a Saturn.

"Don't be so ignorantly heartless, Vincent. That poor kid. Even his mother gave up on him today. Are they really going to mercy kill him?" The girl standing beside Vincent blew her nose in a handkerchief, weeping slowly.

I had seen her before. Twice. Her name was Karima. She was the girl whose patients were always suffering because of her mistakes.

I had seen her with Zosha in the Healer Bazaar. I looked around for Zosha when my eyes went on Vish, the serpent girl I met with Zosha on my previous visit.

"We'll be late for the lecture. Letsss go. There'sss nothing we can do... about it. Itsss their family matter..." Vish said.

"That's right. Let's go," Claude stretched his arms and then his wings.

I took a few steps away from him to give him enough space.

"Hey Vish, want a ride to the lecture hall. You can wrap your body around mine," Claude winked at Vish, unbuttoning his shirt that revealed his ripped body. "In this form or in your serpent form. I don't have a problem with any. Be it your breasts or your scales, both are equally tempting."

"How about I ssstrangle you inssstead..." she hissed before she turned into her python form and slithered into the university building.

Claude grunted, buttoning his shirt again.

"Women do all kinds of black magic to get my attention. And here she rejectsss me every day." He took a determined breath. "But I am me and I will make her mine one day for sure!"

"You can fly me to the lecture hall instead," Vincent said, peeping over his books.

Claude scrunched his face in disgust. "Fuck off!" And with that, he shot towards the third floor.

Vincent peered at the window that Claude flew into with blank eyes. "Who was he again?" He mumbled.

Woof! Woof!

A flat-coated retriever ran to Vincent and bit the hem of his knee-length overcoat.

Woof! Woof!

"Oh. That's right. I had a lecture today. Let's go, Cosmo."Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Cosmo wagged his tail happily as Vincent patted him, and they entered the building.

With a bit of hesitation, I approached Karima.

"E-excuse me..." I said. "What's going on with that kid and his mother? What are they going to do to him and-"

Karima stiffened and kept peering at the boy in the hospital building as though she hadn't heard a word I said.

I stepped closer to her, and she timidly stepped away from me.

"Don't waste your time on them. Most here won't even dare look in your direction," Lana said, standing beside me. "As for that kid. His mother just abandoned him because he failed to activate his immortality genes. In short, he is a weak blood and he'll be thrown far away from our society or, in the best-case scenario, killed. Sights like these are common here."

I couldn't believe I was hearing those words from an eleven-year-old.

"W-what? Killed? When? Why? He is a completely healthy child."

"There's no greater shame to immortals than being parents of weak bloods. There's nothing you can do to help him. If you want to be a healer in the Infernal realm, you better get used to it. Let's go. You are already late for your first class..." Lana wrapped her small palm around my fingers, pulling me towards the university.

I kept peering at the hospital as I trudged after Lana.

"Close your heart," Lana said. "You can't save everyone here."

My mind raced in all directions. I was torn apart. I couldn't decide what to do or if I should do anything at all.

What if I mess up?

What if I make it worse for the kid? But then again, what would be worse than dying?

Raven. What would he do in this-

As the staff dragged the boy inside, I saw a fleeting red image enter after them.

I gasped.

"Was that..." I mumbled, coming to an abrupt halt. Lana almost fell, but I pulled her to her feet in time.

"... a cat," Lana said, looking up at me to meet my gaze. "A red cat."

"Zosha-"

"Hmm. She must be the were-cat Alpha warned me about," Lana said, her demeanor changing back to that of Raven's as she continued.

"There's a red cat you need to be careful of. I have warned Xanthea to not get involved with that cat, but I am sure she will find a loophole in my rules and try to get near her and help her. Look after them. They are a dangerous combination," Lana said, mimicking Raven's tone.

Then she looked at me again.

"That's what he said about the two of you."

"Oh, devil!" Karima hurriedly called someone from her phone. "Hello bro. I think our baby cat is bringing another injured squirrel. This time it's a big one. Please take care of them until I get there with the band-aid."

She was definitely communicating in code words.

She glanced towards an ancient-looking room and ran into the building.

"That looks like Azum's library," I mumbled before I ran into the foyer and while I hurried towards the elevator, my eyes went to the blue flame boy who had abandoned Zosha as his healing partner, Kieth.

He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, his gaze fixed on the hospital wing where Zosha had disappeared.

Sliding his phone into his pocket, he turned around and our eyes met from across the bustling foyer.

Was he recording?

Oh, no.

I had a bad feeling about this.

I entered the elevator and headed towards Azum's library.

"The lecture hall isn't this way," Lana said.

"I know. I am sorry, Lana. I promise I'll make it up to you for missing the first lecture. But Kieth might try putting Zosha in some kind of trouble for helping that kid," I said impatiently.

"I was warned to expect the unexpected from you. But if you try to help that cat, wouldn't you get into trouble as well? It's your first day, the first lecture. Alpha Raven will not be happy about this at all." "I know. And I also know... that no matter the consequences, I will not regret making this decision."