“That wasn’t my call to make—”
“Clearly,” I scoffed, even though tears brimmed. I had to get a grip on myself. I had one near death experience and suddenly I was a big coming of age story.
Aspen took a deep breath. “I didn’t want that to happen. We’ve been over this, Mel. I can’t quite explain it, but my wolf has become protective of you, especially after you almost died. I just want you to feel like you can come to me.”
My heartbeat quickened. That didn’t make any sense. He didn’t even know me. I didn’t say anything and neither did he. Though it shocked the hell out of me when he stayed.
The rest of my time in the infirmary blurred together. Dr. Aspen and Dr. Julien were my only visitors. No one bothered me. No one called me names or tried to bite me. It was quiet and lonely, though I was grateful for the chance to sleep without fear. The smell of antiseptics made me miss Mom. Worry for her intruded into my dreams, tormenting me.
When I was finally released, Dr. Aspen personally escorted me back to my dorm room. He said he didn’t want the hooligans to pick on me. We’d spent a fair amount of time together, casually discussing surface level details. I never mentioned Mom, and he hadn’t pressured me for details. He was very cautious and careful with me.
Dr. Julien had excused me from all of my classes, and Aspen backed him up on it. Back home, I’d be overjoyed to have a day off. Now, my days were filled with loneliness and anguish. For the first day, I didn’t even bother to leave my room. I skipped meals to avoid having to face all the men that witnessed the whipping. On the second day, maybe thirty minutes before dinner, someone knocked on my door. I expected it to be Aspen, or maybe even Julien, but instead, I found Lobo.
He grinned sheepishly. “Mel.”
“Lobo,” I parroted.
“I… It’s good to see you! You look better. Not that you looked bad. I mean...” He turned fiery red and dragged a hand through his hair.
They were all treating me like a fragile butterfly. It pissed me off. I wasn’t some broken thing. “Did you need something?” This was like pulling teeth.
“I know you just got released from the infirmary a couple days ago, but I haven’t seen you leave your room. I thought I’d check on you.”
My stomach twisted. So all it took was me practically dying in front of them for them to treat me like a person? “I’m fine. Thanks.”
He shifted awkwardly. “Are you sure?”
Irritation prickled. I didn’t like people trying to barge in on my business. “Yes.”
“Because you look kind of sick and you probably haven’t eaten in a few days. You’ve shut yourself in. It’s almost like you’re hiding—”
My switch flipped, and I clenched my hands into fists. “I’m not hiding. Has it ever occured to you that maybe I don't want to braid your hair and make friendship bracelets with you?”
He frowned and took a step back. “Hey, sorry. I just wanted to say that you deserve better than the way everyone is treating you.”
His statement threw me off. “I, uh, you’re right. I do.”
“I know you don’t need a friend, let alone protection. I just thought I’d walk you to the Den.”
He sounded so genuine that I almost felt bad for being rude to him. “I guess…”
I didn’t want to leave my room, but I had to eat if I wanted to heal. Just a day of skipping meals had delayed my recovery. And not that I’d ever admit it to him, but I was hesitant to leave my room because I knew that if it came down to it, I might not be able to protect myself right now.
He beamed at me. “Awesome! You might want to grab your jacket. It’s cool out.”
I nodded in acknowledgment. I left the door open and went back in to get ready to leave. He hovered in the doorway until I waved him in. He glanced around the messy room, and his gaze lingered on Ethan’s old text books scattered on the bed.
“Is that all you have to entertain yourself?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, it’s not too bad. I’ve been mostly sleeping.” It didn’t seem that bad to me.
“I’ll grab some of my old books for you after dinner,” he offered.
I frowned, immediately suspicious. “That’s not necessary.” I pulled my boots on, grimacing at the pressure on my sore ankle. It was better, but I sure didn’t want to run on it yet. Because of my healing speed, Dr. Julien didn’t put me in a cast for the hairline fracture, but he did give me a splint and a wrap.
How Ethan managed to break my ankle with his bite was beyond me.
“No really, I insist. How long are you out of commission anyways?” Lobo ambled around the room, looking at everything. I tried to not pay him any attention as I continued getting ready.
I shrugged into my jacket. “Until Friday. Why?”
Lobo chuckled. “Don’t tell Hunter that. He was pretty annoyed on fight night when you didn’t show up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tell him I’m sorry I couldn’t kick his ass. I was fighting for my life that night. Maybe next time, I won’t have to reschedule.”
Lobo winced, glancing over me. “How bad was it?”
I looked away, grabbing my keys before heading towards the door. “You coming?”
He nodded and followed me out. I shut and locked the door, then we walked to the elevator. Embarrassingly, I had a decent limp. The pain meds helped take the edge off, but I still struggled to do everyday things. I also had trouble sleeping at night because of the pain, and when I did fall asleep, I was terrorized by nightmares.
We rode down on the elevator in silence, but I could feel his quick, hesitant glances at me. Despite having my nose reset, it healed up kinda crooked. The bites on my neck had also healed up for the most part, but they were still slightly bruised, and the scars were ugly. I wasn’t a pretty sight.
When we made it out of the elevator, we ran into Hunter in the lobby. He looked from me to Lobo. “What the fuck?”
I rolled my eyes, my fingers already twitching for the pepper spray I had slipped into my pocket. “It’s nice to see you too, Shaggy.”
He frowned. “There’s a rumor going around that you died.” His tone was bored and dismissive, but at least he didn’t tack bitch onto the end of it. Definitely an improvement.
“Well, either I did and I’m in hell, or I didn’t and you’re an asshole,” I replied casually as we began to walk towards the Den.
He growled in my direction, but Lobo shot him a dirty look. “Just because you’re roughed up doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass, little girl.”
I laughed. At least this was familiar ground. It was almost a relief to know that some things hadn’t changed. “Yeah, okay. Remind me again how you plan on doing that?”
His eyes glinted as he leaned around Lobo, who was doing his very best to keep us apart. “Well first, I’m going to tackle you to the ground and pin you beneath me—”
“I thought you said it’d be an asskicking, not a romp in the dirt.”
His face turned beet red. “You owe me a Fight Night. When are you allowed to fight?”
I tried to answer as casually as before. “Friday night. You’re in luck.”
He smirked and held out his hand to me. “You’re on, little girl. Unlike Lykos, I don’t fight fair.”
The blood drained from my face, and I pulled my hand back. Lobo shot him another dirty look but said nothing. We continued our walk to the Den, and as we passed by, men gawked at me like I was a ghost.
“Told you so,” Hunter muttered, and Lobo shoved him.
We were early enough to the Den that it wasn’t too crowded yet, but they wouldn’t serve dinner for another ten minutes. Lobo led us over to a couch outside the cafeteria, and I sat down on the edge, careful not to lean back.
“So what exactly happened with everything?” Hunter asked casually, and I looked at the ground. I figured people would be curious, but it still sucked to think about it.
“Hunter—” Lobo began, but I interrupted.
“I didn’t follow alpha�
�s orders.”
They both frowned, but Lobo spoke. “Yeah, but that’s happened before, and no one got fifty lashes for it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jorak doesn’t want me here. He’s looking for the opportunity to get rid of me.”
“By killing you?”
Hunter snorted but kept his voice low so it didn’t carry. “Just because she’s a girl doesn’t mean everyone’s going to hold the door open for her and tip their hats, Emerson. We all saw what happened to Griffin. You’d be an idiot if you thought for one second that Headmaster Jorak would hesitate to do the same thing to her.”
“He didn’t whip Griffin to death though,” Lobo whispered, and I bit my lip at the memory.
“What’s going on between you and Alpha Aspen anyway?” Hunter whispered, changing the subject.
“Nothing’s going on,” I tried to answer casually, but I felt my cheeks heating up with embarrassment. “I think he just feels guilty for getting me whipped is all.” At least, that’s what I’d been telling myself.
“Uh huh,” Hunter drawled out.
We were all so engrossed that I didn’t notice Nyx approaching us until he was right in front of me. “Mel.”
I definitely held a grudge. Nyx had gathered up the entire campus to come watch my punishment, but I was angry at everyone else for watching and doing nothing, too. Just how fucked up were they? Or did their fear of Jorak really run that deep?
“I tried to warn you,” he murmured.
My fingers twitched in my lap. “Wow, thank you so much. I so wanted to hear ‘I told you so’ right now.”
“Fifty lashes and you still don’t know your place.” He didn’t sneer it at me, but he might as well have.
“Fifty lashes won’t stop me from showing you yours.” I snarled, half a second away from popping out of my seat, fists swinging, ripped-up back be damned.
“Your mouth will be the death of you,”
I started to surge to my feet, but Lobo’s hand settled on my knee. Distracted, I immediately swatted his fingers off of me.
“Nyx...” Lobo warned.
Nyx leveled him with a look. “I’m not trying to be an asshole—”
“Wow, coulda fooled me!” I retorted.
He leaned down so he was in my face. “You need to get a grip or Jorak will have your ass dragged back to the Brick. Don’t you get it yet?” He whispered, voice so low that I don’t think Lobo or Hunter heard him. “He has it out for you. Toe the line or he’ll make sure you’re dead. Dead wolves tell no tales.”
Shivering, I didn’t say anything as he pulled back upright. What he said made sense, but I also wanted to throttle him. It was dog-eat-dog here. If I didn’t bite, I’d get bitten. But if I did… Jorak would have me killed. I’d lose either way.
I cleared my throat, quickly switching the topic. “How’s Lykos?”
Lobo winced, and Hunter rumbled beside him. “Why do you care? You tried to kill him.”
“I didn’t mean to. I just… I can’t really explain it, but I couldn’t stop myself.” It sounded lame, even to me. I might be an asskicker, but I wasn’t a killer by any standard.
Nyx and Lobo exchanged a look.
“What?”
“That can happen when your wolf takes control,” Lobo replied slowly, glancing back over to Nyx. “But it usually only happens after you’re able to shift.”
Hunter shook his head. “You know that women don’t shift.”
I was so tired of that.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Maybe we just don’t know because it hasn’t happened in the last generation or two.” Nyx shrugged. “Come on, they’re serving dinner now.”
15
The week passed by a little easier after dinner. I hated how much I enjoyed having company, even if Nyx and Hunter were mostly assholes throughout. I did enjoy arguing and exchanging quips with Hunter. Nyx was fairly aloof and mildly threatening. When he did talk to me, he came off as rude, not that it offended me. Lobo was the only one that was nice, but it still irked me to say the least.
Lobo gave me some of his old books, and they kept me company in between meals. He went out of his way to collect me before each meal and make sure he or one of the other two, much to their dismay, could walk me back. Hunter was still a dick, even when he escorted me back to my dorm. It was a wonder that we didn’t come to blows.
On Wednesday, Lobo showed up at my door before lunch with Lykos in tow. It was awkward, and uncomfortable, considering I had tried to kill him.
“Uhhh, sorry. Really. I didn’t mean to do that.”
His eyes traced over the bite marks on my neck. “I tried to kill you too,” He reminded me, and I shrugged. I had almost succeeded though. “You’re a decent opponent.”
I burst out laughing at the absurdity of our conversation. “Yeah, so are you.”
Lobo grinned at the both of us and ushered us towards the elevator. I’d expected Lykos to be angry, or even aggressive towards me, but he wasn’t. I didn’t know what to expect anymore. The only one that still went out of his way to be an asshole was Hunter. Well, Hunter and all the other men we ran into.
I hadn’t seen Dr. Aspen nor Dr. Julien since I’d been escorted back to my dorm. I almost missed them. It was strange to hold even passing affection for these men, especially after how they’d treated me. They’d left me to die in my own blood. Orders or not, that was cowardice.
Strangely enough though, when I was accompanied by any of them, the other assholes left me alone.
Friday morning, the guys were late to walk me to breakfast. I assumed that the morning run had been especially long. Now that I was back to eating regularly, my stomach didn’t like to delay, so I decided to make the trek on my own. I felt well enough to be able to kick some ass if I had to. It was still fairly dark out, the sun just peaking over the horizon.
When the elevator opened, I was met with Jorak’s son. He grinned at me, and a chill ran up my spine. He was sweaty from the morning run, but he made no move to get off the elevator. I wrapped my fingers around the pepper spray in my pocket and stepped onto the lift.
“Going down?” He quirked an eyebrow at me, and I nodded. He pressed the floor button, and the doors glided shut. I stared straight ahead, avoiding acknowledging him, but he edged towards me.
“It’s nice to see you breathing, babydoll,” he purred.
He brushed my shoulder, and my fingers clamped around the pepper spray. But for once, I hesitated. Jorak already had a target painted on my back. I couldn’t attack his son without consequences. I’d surely be tortured to death.
The worst part was that I was sure he knew that, too. “I can’t stop thinking about the way you sounded when you cried, or the way your tits looked when you were gasping for breath.”
I trembled in my boots as he lightly traced his fingers along my shoulder, then skimmed across my collarbone to wrap around my throat. “It’s my turn to show you your place.”
He shoved me against the wall, gripping my throat. I couldn’t keep from crying out when my back slammed against the hard surface. Scabs pulled. Hopefully I wouldn’t start bleeding again.
His knee jammed between my legs, forcing my thighs apart. I panicked, clawing at his hand, trying to get him to let go of me without full-on attacking him. I couldn’t antagonize Jorak again. I wouldn’t survive.
His free hand slid up under my shirt, and he roughly gripped my breast. I whimpered, torn on what to do. When his lips brushed my skin, I lost it. I raked my nails down his face, shoving him away from me. When I kept clawing, he relented and released me.
“You fucking bitch!” He snarled, making sure to spit in my face with each word. “You’re dead. I’ll kill you myself tonight.”
Refusing to answer or react, I stared him down, panting but unwavering. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. He stormed off, wiping blood from the gashes I’d made on his face.
“Mel?” Hunter was standing in front of the elevator, sweaty from the morning run. I hadn’
t realized that I’d started crying because I sniffled and had to wipe my eyes. “What happened?”
I shook my head, wrapping my arms around myself. I stayed in the elevator, and Hunter got on with me. I huddled in the corner, willing the tears to stop. So fucking embarrassing. I should have kicked that asshole’s ass, consequences be damned. I was going to die anyway.
Hunter was smart enough not to come near me. “Tell me what happened.”
I shook my head again. What had I done? Was a few scratches enough to give Jorak an excuse to whip me to death? What choice did I have? I refused to stand there and let him assault me.
When the elevator stopped at my floor, I rushed for my door, fumbling my keys. Hunter was hot on my heels.
“Mel!”
My hands shook so hard I couldn’t unlock my door. I could barely breathe.
When I got the door open, Hunter grabbed my elbow, trying to get my attention, but I panicked. I turned and punched him in the solar plexus, winding him. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
I slammed the door shut and locked it, but I still didn’t feel safe. I’d never feel safe in this horrible place.
When lunch came around, someone knocked on my door again, but I didn’t answer. I’d spent the morning crying in bed. After a few hours of my freak out, I realized I was wasting my last few precious hours I might have crying and hiding.
I was a dead girl walking. Jorak’s son had said it.
If I were executed tonight, I might as well live it up before my death. I couldn’t hide in here like a pussy. I hadn’t come here and endured running five miles carrying bricks, or getting the shit kicked out of me, my back torn up, just to end up crying in my room. I came here to save myself from the wolf inside, and hopefully Mom.
She was probably waiting for me in the hospital, still holding out hope that her Mellie could pull it off and save us both.
Two thoughts crossed my mind, then. If I had to die tonight, I wouldn’t go without exploring every option. I’d scoffed at that woman in the deli, but now, I was terrified that finding some alpha to tame my wolf might be my only choice. If I could find a quick fix, and if Dr. Julien was right about how strong my wolf was, maybe I could get back to Mom before it was too late.
Lone Wolf's Attack Page 9
