Queen of Beasts: The Fallen Book One

Life

Oliver walks ahead of the four of us. I'm not sure if he's paying attention to the brothers bantering but he seems to be focused and determined to get to the house without talking. I'm so annoyed! I try to apologize, and he scares me, I nearly die, and he saves me. What gives? As we turn onto the street, I see a black SUV parked out the front of the frat house, and Oliver gestures for us to come up to him. The brothers spot the car, and their banter comes to a halt.

"Take Amelia in through the back and stay in the kitchen." He says to them. They nod, and Hendrik takes my hand. What's going on? They usher me around the side of the house which is pitch black so I trust that these cat shifters can see in the dark, and I hear the unlocking the back door which leads into the still-pristine kitchen. Who was cleaning this place?

"Oliver, thank you for joining us." I hear a voice, but not one I recognize.

"You say that like I knew you were coming." Oliver's voice I can certainly recognize.

"We're just checking in. Making sure everyone is staying in check."

"Of course, sir. Everyone's home before eleven every night, there has been no questioned activity, no parties, all of that." Nolan's voice is soothing, I thought frat's weren't as restricted as sororities but I guess these guys have it tougher than I expected.

"Good. Suffice it to say that I would not be pleased if we had any more incidents like last time."

"That wasn't a planned incident it was an accident-"

"Accidents cannot occur. It was easy to cover up, but I won't be so tolerable next time. You lot got lucky."

"No one was supposed to get hurt-" I heard Echo try but fail to speak.

"Enough. I just came to make sure you all remembered to keep an eye out on each other. Oliver, where were you tonight? Were you out alone?"

"I was with the musketeers, but we were just walking around." He must mean the triplets.

"Is that so?" Richard makes me look him in the eye by touching my chin and having me face him. He presses a finger to his lips and then uses a hand gesture to tell me to stay put. I nod and he releases my chin. The three brothers open and slam close the back door, but much louder this time, and leave the kitchen toward the living room, pushing and arguing with each other about a topic they most certainly weren't just discussing. The sneaky little demons. "You three." The man's voice bellows out and silences them immediately. "Where were you?"

"Well, we were out with Oliver," I think Richard says,

"But then we commented that isn't as fast as he thinks he is." Hendrik continues.

"So of course, before we could blink, he disappeared." Niles scoffs.

The unknown voice hums before asking, "How long ago was this?"

"Like, three minutes ago?"

"Alright. It's late. You should all get some rest. I'll see you all at the end of the month. I'm still looking for a new leading lady to teach you all some manners, so I'll be back when I find her." There's a bit of conversation to follow but a few moments later the front door opens and closes. Do I move? What was all that about? What incident? I jump when Hendrik pop's his head around the corner.

"You can come out now." As I follow him around, I see all the guys together in the living room, sprawled across the walls, couches and windowsills. Nolan and Hugh both walk up to me.

"Sorry about that." Nolan comments, "Though I'm glad you weren't home if I'm being honest."

"Who was that?" I question. Nolan looks over his shoulder and glances at Seth, who nods his head.