After finishing my conversation with Lief, I rushed into the nearest bathroom as quickly as possible. If I didn’t, I was not confident about holding back my tears anymore. My heart ached from where my mate had rejected me, however, my pride was the thing that was hurting the most. I turned on one of the taps and hid my crying in the sound of running water. It must be the worst birthday ever, but I didn’t realize it could even get worse before I walked out of the bathroom.
It didn’t take long before I was blocked by a crowd of girls in the corridor. I recognized that they were the ones who surrounded Lief in front of the classroom. They glared at me as if I were their enemy. Well, I indeed am their enemy to some extent. I saw Grace standing in the middle. Grace was really hot, with a sexy figure and long blond hair. She was the cheerleader of the school basketball team. Her gorgeous look made her well-known at school. No one in this school didn’t know her and almost every guy at school loved her. But she was not that approachable as Lief did. You could say she was kind of superior. Even so, it seemed that her popularity never waned.
"Who do you think you are, freak?" Grace stepped forward and glowered at me, whipping her blonde hair.
"What-" I was pushed over on the concrete ground before finishing my words.
“Stop being silly!”Another girl yelled at me. Then I sensed a hard thump on my belly. It was so hurt that I could hardly breathe.
"You are Lief’s mate? How dare you? " I heard the scornful voice of Grace resounded above my head. Now I knew that she heard the conversation between Lief and me. To be frank, it was quite within reason for her to be so mad at me. As it was known to all, Grace was desired to become Lief’s mate and she never concealed her affection at all.
“Yes I am, but I was rejected-” I was trying to explain, but my vision was soon blocked by someone’s jacket throwing onto my head before I could finish my words. Then I could feel that I was surrounded by these girls within a circle. I felt their kicking and punching falling on every part of my body like rainstorms. I rolled up myself as possible as I could, like a baby sleeping in his mother’s warm arms. But all I felt were the stabbing pain and the touch of the cold floor. No one would protect me.
I couldn’t remember how long did this violence last. The only thing I could remember was the taste of blood in my throat. My consciousness began to fade away. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping darkness could take me away from here.
Suddenly all the kicks and punches ceased abruptly. I seized the opportunity to inhale air as much as I could. My chest ached with every breathe I took.
"What are you doing here?" Someone said coldly. All the girls gasped and ceased their beating. Everyone stayed silent all at once. The only thing I could hear was my heavy gasping.
“Brian, we are-” The silence lasted for a moment until Grace’s quivering voice broke the deathly stillness. That was quite weird to see Grace being panic in that way.
"It’s time for class, isn’t it? Are you going to stay here?." The man called Brian said.
As soon as his words were finished, everyone slowly scattered around me. Their footsteps gradually faded away. I didn’t realize what was happening. Why were those girls so obedient to him?
Then the jacket covering my head was taken away by someone. My eyes were dazzled by the sudden sunlight and I could not help closing them.
I opened again my eyes with hesitation. I let out a surprised gasp as my gaze was met by a pair of beautiful black orbs. Now I understood why Grace and other girls would be afraid in that way and ran away.
He was Brian, the strongest but cruelest werewolf of this pack. As I mentioned before, Lief was one of the two Alpha candidates in this pack, and Brian was the other one. In other words, they were rivals. He was as handsome and muscular as Lief, even better than the latter. His frame was broad and you could see the muscle through his shirt. His black hair was soberly cut. He met all the conditions of an ideal mate, but no one was bold enough to approach him. Unlike his competitor Lief, who was kind and approachable, Brian always holds a grim face and tends to be kind of unsociable. He seldom talked to others, actually, even if he was willing to communicate, few people dared keep the conversation going. It was said that his wolf was too dangerous to be under control and he once killed his mate.
“Who are you?” Brian asked without any emotion.
I lifted my face to see ice, cold gray eyes staring into my green ones. I tried my best to contain my fear before I answered “My name is Ethel.”
“You come from another pack, don’t you?”
“Yes. I have been here for one year.”I felt quite surprised that he recognized me.
“What did you do? Why did those girls beat you like that?”I thought Brian would leave me alone as he was said to be the kind of person who didn’t give a shit about things and people irrelevant to them. Unexpectedly, he seemed to be interested in me. But I didn’t think that was good for me.
I was trying to say something. But I was choked by the blood in my throat before I started coughing.
“Stay away from her!”All of sudden, someone appeared and yelled at us.
I recognized that voice at once. I saw my mate walk towards us angrily. It was the first time for me to see his face with anger. First I thought he was angry with me, but then I realized that I was not the target.
“DO NOT TOUCH MY MATE!!”Lief glowered at Brian.
“What if I do?”Brian replied scornfully.
I was confused at Lief calling me a mate as I was quite sure that he was the one who just rejected me. But before I could figure out the reason, a wave of dizziness came over me again and I began to fall. I was ready for the crush of the cold ceramic tile, but it didn’t come as I expected. I was overwhelmed by darkness and my consciousness went blurred. The last thing I could remember was a pair of warm and strong arms holding me.