Kingston Academy

THIRTY-FIVE

   He went by the name of Grim. Niven learned that after gushing over the fact the Royal was a beastman.

A sheep, in fact. Which was a major shock to the blond.

Niven didn't see Grim as the sort of person who'd be violent, but he didn't forget about Levi's subtle warning about the Royal and kept that in mind. He shouldn't be too surprised anyways considering how powerful and arrogant his own pack mates were—excluding Agustine, of course.

But he felt Grim was a different case. Although his large and floppy ears gave away the fact he was a sheep, he somehow felt a little more anxious than normal around the male since he had scars and red stitches littered across his face. Of course, even if Niven thought he seemed fine, others would be ghastly appalled by Grim's appearance.

But of course, Niven didn't dwell too much about the scars and happily ran his thumbs over the soft ears since Grim was kind enough to let the boy touch them. It was obvious how delighted Niven was to see him take his mask off, and the blond could hardly sit still without glancing over at the floppy ears.

Niven would've love to spend more time with Grim, but the boy received a call from Simeon, urging him to hurry up and come back to the dorms. Of course, Niven thought about ignoring it and planned to stay with Grim, but the beastman vanished as soon as Niven returned from his call.

He guessed the male was too timid to continue on their one-sided conversation.

And as much as Niven would've liked to look for Grim, he spent several weeks trying his best to keep up with the copious amount of assignments piling up in his bag, along with working by his alpha and having to endure his overbearing brothers. Niven was simply exhausted by that point, especially with Silas amping up their training sessions since the blond was currently stuck.

Although his magic improved a little, that didn't mean his skill did. In fact, Niven figured it might've regressed a little. He simply couldn't get a grip on his ability no matter how much he tried to focus. Silas could immediately tell, noticing the boy struggle to control several cracks of magic bursting out of his hand. Niven was able to stop it in a matter of seconds, but Silas knew it would happen again. He just needed to find a way to help the blond... of course he didn't know how exactly since this was his first time putting effort into training someone.

Niven appreciated Silas helping him considering Ludos was coming in just a few days. He shouldn't need to worry about it since he knew he'll be just fine, but Niven was mainly worried about his brothers acting out and crippling someone. The blond simply wouldn't be able to stand it and beat the Kingston Brothers up himself.

But while Niven's stress slightly grew from day to day, Gabriel and King provided some sort of comfort for the boy. Even Mirren came by Niven's dorm once in a while, always ready to be groomed and kept a small bag full of brushes and combs just for Niven. The student had found a relaxing way to get rid of his anxiety, and that was mostly because of spending his time incessantly grooming Mirren's hair and tail. The brunet never seemed to mind and even encouraged Niven to play with his brown locks.

Mirren already knew just how exhausted Niven was, having to cope with his brothers while working along with Arien. Of course after that small incident in the alpha's office, he grew to hate the wolf beastman even more before eventually settling himself down. He knew Arien all too well and doubted their alpha lasted a day before wallowing up in guilt and possibly some regret. No one else would be able to notice since Arien hardly ever expressed any emotion, but Mirren wasn't as stupid and spent more than enough time with the male.

Mirren had to grumble lowly. His alpha was really something. Sure, he understood a little bit of why Arien did that, considering the need to show his dominant side since his authority was slightly being threatened—but that didn't mean Mirren wasn't going to be petty. The brunet still wanted to kill him.