The tiger raised his paw, claws out, ready to rip Brayden's face off. Then a wind whooshed over Luka’s head. He looked up and found a red wolf jumped at the tiger before they both rolled on the ground. 

So that's what Brayden's wolf looked like. He was outstanding, in every sense of the word. The tiger might be buffer, but that wolf was taller, with wide, muscular chest, slim waist and thick tail. His fur was long and puffy with hellfire red coat. 

Some students ran away, some others stood by and watched. A girl just fainted, a guy recorded the fight, another girl pursued a security guy in Nyx Hall. 

Sanzhar ran into the fight to break them up. The weretiger brutally brushed Sanzhar aside and attacked the werewolf once again. The two scratched, bit and threw each other like wild animals. 

Two hands grabbed Luka by the shoulder. He snatched the hand, ready to throw him to the ground, but it's actually Noe. He pulled him up to get him away from the fighting werebeasts. 

"Come on, get up," he said. 

"Can't you break them up?" asked Luka. 

"It's best not to." 

"Can't you try?" 

Noe pursed his lips. His eyes frantically searched for a way to stop the fight. Lake Pavlopetri, the residential complex for merfolks, was quite near there. Too late. A buff man in a suit with visible neck tattoo galloped into the scene. Shark Bite Sean.

If there's any human who had the nerve to break up a werecat's fight, that would be him. Yes, Shark Bite Sean was a human, employed by Erebus University for many years now. He got his nickname after he, exactly, got a shark bite on his leg. He had somehow scared the shark away that he still had his leg attached to his body. Severely wounded, but still working. Noe, as a merman, respected him for that.

"Brayden!" Noe shouted. 

The werewolf turned to him. The weretiger's fist was in the air, directing right at the werewolf's face. The werewolf caught the weretiger’s fist without even seeing. 

"We need to go now!" continued Noe. 

The werewolf pushed the weretiger away at the same time Sanzhar came back again. He clutched the weretiger as the werewolf comfortably transformed back to a half-naked Brayden.

Noe let Luka go and ran toward the man in the shifting suit. While running in reverse, Brayden shouted at Luka, "You're also invited to our event. And I expect to see you tonight." 

Luka stammered, "What event?" 

"Ask Matthew." 

Noe caught Brayden and they jumped into Lake Pavlopetri, three seconds before some campus security caught up with Shark Bite Sean. Sanzhar managed to pull the tiger away as he transformed back into human step by step. They disappeared just before Shark Bite Sean reached the last steps of the building.

Luka still couldn't get a hold of what was going on. Brayden's important persona, Mohan's charismatic air, it all vanished as soon as they met each other. What had he gotten himself into? 

Luka finally noticed Matthew who somehow was kneeling next to the girl who fainted. He joined him and held the girl's wrist. "Is she okay?" 

"Yeah, yeah, she must've had too much excitement seeing two werebeasts pinning each other to the ground," said Matthew. “She's a furry, if you know what that means.”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

“Unfortunately she’s also my sister.”

The girl punched him in the nose. 

"What the fuck?" Matthew groaned. 

"Unfortunately?" the girl rubbed her eyes. “You know you wouldn’t be born if it wasn’t for me.”

“That’s still unproven,” Matthew helped her sit. His nose was all red now. 

The girl finally opened her blue and brown eyes, staring right at Luka's face. His childlike eyes, his prominent cheekbones to his red lips. There was only silence for the next ten seconds.

Luka himself could swear he had seen her somewhere. There was something so familiar about her, although her bell collar choker appeared to be out of place in her entire semblance. It was awkward until Luka realized that they were mind talking. 

"This is Emily," Matthew suddenly spoke up. 

"Hi, Luka," said the girl. See? Neither Luka nor Matthew had mentioned his name, but she already knew it. "Do you happen to know a girl named Ariane?" 

"She's my cousin," answered Luka. 

"I knew it!" Emily smiled. "I knew you must be related. She's my classmate, by the way." 

"You never told me you have a cousin," Matthew raised his eyebrow. 

"You never told me you have a sister," replied Luka. 

"Now that you guys just told each other, can you guys tell me what the fuck was going on?" asked Emily. "What's with the hot beasts I just saw?" 

"I have no idea," answered Luka while handing Emily's books to her. 

"Well, Noe kinda told me the juice," said Matthew. He spilled the beans on what the merman explained him. "And now we're invited to both. We're fucked. Although, with this in my possession, I gotta see Brayden anyway." 

Matthew showed a phone. "It's Brayden's," he said. "It popped out when he tore his clothes while transforming into a werewolf. And he forgot to take it before he jumped into the water." 

"May I look into it?" asked Emily. 

"No," answered Matthew. 

"Are you gonna look into it?" 

"I'm sure when we were conceived, I got all the moral soundness that's supposed to be divided between us. So, no, Emily." 

Emily pouted and crossed her arms on her chest, "So are you finally gonna drop this whole fraternity thing? You're gonna get yourself killed, Matthew. Or worse, pressured to sexually assault a girl. I still can't believe Mom lets you do this." 

"Yeah, she's totally against me rushing for fraternities," Matthew told Luka. 

"Oh, right, you're in on it too, aren't you?" Emily gave a nasty look at Luka. Her bubbly and cheerful image turned 180 degree once she realized he was also rushing like her brother. "I don't understand what you guys look for in those atrocious excuse of toxic cults. Good time? Girls?" 

"Brotherhood, Emily," answered Luka. His tone was calm but firm that it took Emily by surprise. "Connection between like-minded people to help us grow as better men." 

Matthew proudly gestured at Luka as if he was presenting him to Emily. His sister just leaned forward and hissed, "Or maybe you're looking for a lot of people to justify and cover up the stupid mistakes that you're about to make." 

Luka chuckled. "Trust me," he said. "It's the other way around." 

Matthew glanced at Emily then to Luka. "So we're going to both events?" 

"Yes, Matthew," Luka broke eye contact with Emily. "We're going to both events." 

Fueled with passion to prove Emily wrong, Luka and Matthew showed up at Delta's venue that night. They had to take a bus downtown and took a long time to make sure they're heading the right direction, but they made it to Rodgers Raceway just in time. They were going for a go-karting game. 

Brayden welcomed them as if nothing had happened in the afternoon and quickly started the race. The quaint little race track was booked entirely for Delta, freeing them to be as rowdy as they wanted. The actives provoked the rushees to put more effort to win the game. Some guys were triggered, making the game more fun and thrilling. 

While watching Matthew, Moley and Pinky racing, Luka approached Ohini who was screaming at Moley to get ahead of Pinky. 

"Hey," Luka sat next to the second-year student.  

"Hey," Ohini replied. “How’s it going, man?” 

"Cool, cool, everything’s cool," Luka answered. "Um, do you know about what happened earlier today with Brayden and Mohan?" 

"Oh, that, yeah, it happens all the time," answered the guy in white hoodie casually. "At least that's what they told me. I've only been here for a year, Luka. So I know a little of it. But if it's about Brayden and Mohan, it's not something we should worry about. As scary as it looks, Brayden and Mohan have never dragged anyone else into their fights. It’s personal.”

"My cousins never told me about this kind of vicious rivalry," said Luka. 

"Is that right?" asked Ohini. "How old is the youngest Bjornevik brother now?" 

"26, I think." 

"That makes him a senior when Brayden first got here. Seniors don't really involve with the fraternity so he either doesn't know or doesn't care. But honestly, rivalries have always been a part of Greek life. You know, with intramural sports, grades, Greek Week, events, sorority girls. We even fight for rushees and pledges. You have no idea how happy the seniors were when they stole Scones from Phi Delta.

“It’s just Brayden and Mohan that makes it seem vicious. You can say that they are some kind of icons of their respective fraternities, so it may look like it’s a fraternity thing. It’s not. It’s only Brayden and Mohan.”

Luka recalled how both Noe and Sanzhar didn’t get involved. Sanzhar had only tried to stop Mohan, while Noe had taken Brayden away via Lake Pavlopetri. Neither of the underclassmen took their sides.

“Did you know about this when you were going to pledge before?” asked Luka.

“Oh, yes,” Ohini nodded. “I had the exact same experience as you. Standing between Mohan and Brayden as they ripped into each other. The difference is back then I was going to pledge Beta.”

“What? Why did you choose Delta in the end?”

“Because it was Brayden who got me away from Mohan.”

Werecats were not like werewolves. They didn’t have to worry about full moon. They only worried about their shifting emotion. Once they’re angry or hungry or scared, they would inevitably turn into a werecat and have their big cat counterpart take over. It had not been Mohan who had fought Brayden earlier that day. It had been his tiger.

“I’m only a shaman, my friend, one scratch from Mohan would end my life,” added Ohini. If Sanzhar wasn’t a werecat himself, he would have died too that afternoon. “That is also the reason why Brayden never lets any of us stop them from fighting. Mohan could kill us. I think that’s the biggest difference between the two. Brayden is the clear-headed one. He’s immature sometimes, but he’s always in control of himself, not like Mohan.”

“If I were you, I’d never show up to rush ever again,” Luka chuckled.

“And pass up the chance to hang with these guys?” Ohini gestured at the people around them. “Brayden is not perfect. These guys are not perfect. But I’m perfectly where I belong. Don’t you feel the same way?”

Luka turned to watch the entire raceway that was filled with Delta actives and rushees. They were all having a good time, talking, laughing, pranking each other without even having to get drunk. He wished to say yes, but he worried if it’s a good answer.

His serious face made Ohini smiled. He tapped his shoulder. "You'll be fine," he consoled him. "Brayden won't let you get harmed because of him. If you're worried, remember, life is full of conflict. Don't be a fight or flight kinda guy. Always, always be the fighter. You're a werewolf. Your strength in here," he pointed Luka's muscle, "must equal to your strength in here," he pointed Luka's head, "and in here." He finished with pointing his chest. 

Luka sat in silent, trying to carve those words in his mind. "Wow," he said. "That's very poignant. Is that shaman wisdom or something?" 

"No," Ohini laughed. "I heard somebody once told Gumball about it. Guess who that is." 

"Who?" 

"Brayden."

Luka unconsciously looked up Brayden. He didn't expect such profound advice came from him, considering what he had witnessed earlier that day. With that, another ounce of respect was placed on his name. 

He had only a few hours break from rushing for Delta to rushing for Beta. Matthew still looked tired and sleepy when he waited for him in Olympus Hall's lobby. They headed to Lake Pavlopetri where all the Beta guys were ready with their flyboards. 

The actives who were talking and laughing instantly quiet down when the white haired boy came. Luka just ignored them and went to Tavish, one of the juniors that spoke to him back on house visit. Mohan was busy setting up the flyboard with some other guys, but after he's done, he greeted each and every one of them. 

Flyboarding, if you asked Luka, was a lot more fun than go-karting. Maybe it's because go-karting was basically just driving and flyboarding made you thrusted into the air or helped you dive headlong through the water. Besides, playing with water would make you forget about everything else, especially when you dived and met some merfolks. 

Just like Brayden, Mohan also acted like his anger-driven transformation didn't happen. He just splashed around, making fun of those who failed balancing themselves to get flown above the water. 

"I thought cats hate water," Luka chimed in as he floated beside the topless senior. He realized he had mentioned a sensitive concept when Mohan's flashy grin slowly tightened. "Oh yeah, wait, you're a weretiger. Tigers love swimming, don't they?" 

"I honestly thought you could be the first werewolf to join Beta Alpha on my era," remarked Mohan. “Maybe you should've told me earlier about your cousins and their VIP status in Delta Pi Kappa.”

“Isn't stealing a legacy commong among Greek houses?” 

Mohan chuckled mockingly. "I'm too old and too damaged for that dirty routine," he brushed it off. "If you wanna join me, join me. If you don't, nobody's stopping you." 

Resentment was streaming on Mohan's tone. Could he feel betrayed by Luka's incomplete truth? If only he had known the situation between Mohan and Brayden, he would have made a better move against them. 

"I just want you to know that you are still welcome if you choose us in the end," said Mohan before he swam away. 

Mohan was still showing his good intention after all. How was he supposed to pay it back? Would it be more sensible if he stopped rushing for Beta? Or would it anger Mohan even more? 

Luka excused himself when it was time for him to go to his class. Matthew followed him, but then he realized he forgot his towel. When he ran back to find it, Sanzhar came out of the water and talked to Luka. 

"We're gonna volunteer at the local food drive tomorrow lunch," he informed him. "But I hope you won't come."