~~

Trinity

~~

"Luna?" The guard from earlier came into the room. It took me a moment to respond, not used to answering to the title.

"Yes?" I asked hesitantly.

"If you are ready, I will be driving you to class now." He answered politely. He would be a welcome change to the way Reece was treating me.

"Thank you." I said, nodding my head. As I went to stand up, he hurried over and pulled my chair out for me.

"Allow me." He offered. It wasn't a heavy chair, and I could move it easily, but it was clear he was trying to be a gentleman.

"Thank you." I said again. It seemed to be basically all I was saying to him.

We were walking through the back door to the garage that I had come in through the other night. I hadn't looked around before but there were about half a dozen cars at least. Some might belong to staff, but I am guessing that more than one belonged to Reece. It's funny, I can't even bring myself to just call him the Alpha anymore. I thought.

"How many vehicles does Reece own?" I wondered out loud, I didn't expect an answer, so I was surprised when my guard responded.

"Five in total." He said. "But I believe one is being used by someone else at the moment to run an errand."

"Excessive." I mumbled.

He walked to the sedan and opened the passenger door for me.

"After you Luna." He indicated that I should be gracious and just sit down. He then walked around the car and slid in behind the steering wheel. "Now shall we be off."

"Um, can you stop calling me Luna? Especially considering that people are not supposed to know about that yet." I asked him, feeling uncomfortable.

"Not to worry, the title is currently reserved only for use at the estate. I will be calling you by your name when we get to town, Trinity." He smiled at me as he spoke.

"That reminds me, I do not know your name." I told him.

"Ahh, you are right, we have yet to be introduced. My name is Vincent, it is a pleasure." He introduced himself, inclining his head again.

"It's nice to meet you Vincent." I started to smile, then I remembered something. He had ratted me out when I vented to myself the other night. I glared at him sharply.

"Is there a problem?"

"Sort of."

"What is it?" He asked.

"You're a snitch." I told him. He looked at me with his brows raised, confusion on his face. "You ratted me out after I vented to myself. You told Reece I called him an overgrown dog." To my shock Vincent laughed.

"I'm sorry Trinity. He could tell I was keeping something from him, I had no choice but to tell him. I had intended to keep that a secret for you." His laugh and smile were infectious, I couldn't help but join him.

I was feeling at ease with Vincent, he had a likeable personality. And unlike Reece, he didn't tower over me as much, so I didn't feel like a dwarf. Vincent was a more comfortable six feet tall. He had sandy blond hair and yellow-green eyes. He had the sort of good guy friend vibe. Not that I had had many guy friends until I met Cedar and Paul, but Vincent just seemed like he was a pretty nice guy overall.

It felt nice driving into the city. I used to be able to see the skyline, the cityscape, the lights and buildings of Colorado Springs just over the horizon when I looked out the window back in my old room. Now all I saw were trees.

We chatted the whole way to campus. Noah did tell me to get to know my guard, so that I wasn't uncomfortable. I learned a lot about Vincent. He was twenty-eight years old and had been mated for eight years. They were happily married, according to him anyway, and had two kids, a six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. He had been working in the Alpha house his entire adult life and he loved his job.

He really did seem like a nice guy. But I was certain that anything I said to him he would report it right back to Reece. I had to be careful what I said to him or in front of him.

We got to school a little earlier than I usually did, so I didn't have to rush at all. When I went to take my messenger bag out of the backseat, Vincent took it and put it on his shoulder before I had the chance. I looked at him confused.

"Allow me to carry this for you, Trinity." Either he was trying to be really polite or he was truly a gentleman.

"Reece should take lessons from you." I told him jokingly as we walked into the building together. Vincent laughed.

"It's nothing special." He told me looking embarrassed.

As we were nearing my Intro to Criminology class, I saw Juniper and the others waiting outside the room. She was clearly waiting for me. She started to run to me but then spotted Vincent walking beside me carrying my bag. She stopped immediately and just stared in confusion. I continued walking until I had joined them.

"Hey guys." I greeted them, trying for cheery but failing. I was nervous talking to them with Vincent here, as nice as he was.

"Hey Trin." Cedar called out looking at Vincent.

"Hey Astro." Paul said, confused by the newcomer's presence but still trying to act normal.

"What happened yesterday?" Juniper asked me. "Why did you have to miss class?"

"It's a long story, I'd rather not get into it right now." I told her. I wish I didn't have to hide things from her. She looked at Vincent again, she clearly knew something was up, and she could clearly tell that he was a wolf as well.

"I don't think we've met." She told him. "I'm Juniper." She held out her hand introducing herself.

"Vincent." He said, shaking her hand gently. "It's a pleasure Juniper."

"Hey, I'm Paul." They shook hands as well. Cedar eyed him suspiciously for a moment, clearly unsure of him before he eventually held his hand out as well.

"I'm Cedar, Juniper's twin brother. We're all friends of Trinity's but we've never heard of you before." He hissed, rather rudely. Vincent laughed before responding.

"We only met recently. I was asked to keep an eye on her after an incident the other day." He informed him, smiling.

"What incident?" Cedar looked at me skeptically.

"After we all had lunch and I was heading home, I was attacked by a rogue wolf." I told them.

"Oh my Goddess, Trin, are you ok?" Juniper asked.

"Are you serious Astro? Did he hurt you?" Paul asked, just as concerned as Juniper. Cedar continued to look at Vincent for a moment, trying to detect a lie, but what I had said was true, so he couldn't sense anything off.

"I knew we shouldn't have let you walk." Cedar exclaimed, sounding angry with himself.

"No Cedar, it's not your fault, none of your guys' fault. I wanted to walk home to clear my head. I was to blame more than anyone."

"I believe the rogue is the one to blame." Vincent interjected.

"Yes, he was primarily to blame." I agreed. "But I'm fine. I defended myself pretty well until help arrived. I only got a few scrapes and bruises. Your clothes didn't even get ruined Juniper, though I do still need to wash them." I told her.

"I don't care about the damn clothes." She snapped, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. "Let me know these things in advance next time."

"I will." I told her, hugging her back.

It was nearly time for class to start, so we had to hurry inside the lecture hall. Usually Juniper sat with Paul, at the back of the room. But today, all three of my friends sat around me, like they were trying to protect me.

Vincent was not part of the class, so I didn't know how to explain his presence if the professor asked, but he seemed to go unnoticed.

Sometime, in the middle of the lecture, Juniper leaned over and asked me something that I had hoped to avoid.

"Have you heard anything about the gathering this weekend?" I shrugged my shoulders noncommittally, trying to brush the subject off.

"What do you know?" Cedar pounced on me sensing that I knew more than they did.