apter 4 – Birthday
–ZANE’S POV–
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Warner punched a tree, seething with anger. Ajax, Aaron and Sheila stared at me silently, their gazes questioning.
But none of them dared to say a word. We were all friends, sure, but at the end of the day, I was to be their Alpha soon. I had a certain level of authority over them, and they didn’t question my decisions. It was basic loyalty. Unless I was about to do something downright stupid, something that would endanger my life or the pack, they followed my command like it was fate.
“I know what you’re all thinking,” I stated. “You’re free to voice your concerns.” I leaned against the wall. We were behind. the school now, near the parking lot. This place was mostly secluded, and when we showed up, anyone who was there would leave.
“Why did you stop him?” Sheila was the first one to speak. “Things were getting fun and you stepped in.”
“You’ve never done this before,” Aaron pointed out.
“Since when did you become such a party pooper, Zane?” Ajax added.
“I could take him,” Warner growled, not meeting my eye. His eyes were black with anger, I didn’t need him to look at me to
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know that. So in order to be respectful, he didn’t meet my gaze in that state.
I sighed. “I know you could take him, Warner. You’re a warrior. You’re the warrior wolf of The Twilight Pack.”
“Then why?” Aaron asked.
“Because he’s like us,” I replied, my face straight.
“I knew there was something off with his smell!” Sheila said. “He was wearing too much cologne, but I got a whiff too.”
Aaron let out a low growl at that.
I rolled my eyes.
“Not like that, my Love,” Sheila sighed.
Goddess.
“Even so,” Warner said, not satisfied with my reasoning. “I could take him.”
“It’s not about that,” I replied. “You could kill him if you wanted.”
“Then what?” he asked, and I could tell he was putting in an effort to not snap at me.
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“I don’t know him. I don’t know what pack he’s from or what he’s doing here. So until we know what’s his motive to show up to our town, we cannot start any unnecessary fights,” I explained.
“No offense. Zane, but since when did we start being scared of fights?” Ajax muttered.
I shot him a look, and he quickly looked away.
“We’re not scared of any thing. But we aren’t stupid.” I pushed off the wall I was leaning against. “You guys don’t like humans. And I understand that. This is the only place you get to pick on them and pass it off as harmless fun or immature bullying. But we do not mess with our own kind for no reason. Is that clear?”
Begrudgingly, they all nodded.
“Good.”
“But what about the nerd?” Ajax asked. “She needs to be taught a lesson. She slapped me.”
I raised a brow. “She what?”
“Slapped me,” Ajax repeated. “In the face. If we let her get away with this, everyone will think they can mess with us.”
I held back a snort. “That tiny human slapped you?” I asked, amused.
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“She did,” Ajax rolled his eyes. “I’m not saying it hurt. But it was humiliating.”
“You guys have made it your entire purpose to torture her,
I said, shaking my head. “Find new targets, guys. Keep it interesting. It’s become monotonous at this point.”
“We got our twist today,” Sheila said.
“Yeah,” Aaron agreed. “A werewolf protecting her. You think she’s his mate?”
For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of that.
“No,” I said. “Even if she was, he couldn’t know yet. She hasn’t turned sixteen.”
Aaron frowned. “How do you know?”
“We have the same birthday,” I replied in a bored tone. “She’d brought her own cake too back when we were kids. When she spilled juice on me.”
“Oh right,” Ajax laughed. “The cake we stuffed into her face.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “That one.
“That means….. if she is his mate, he’s gonna find out the day after. Sounds fun,” Sheila smiled.
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That girl was obsessed with mates. She was obsessed with her own and couldn’t get over the whole idea of it. It was stupid.
“Sucks for Blake,” Warner commented. “Imagine having a clueless human mate.”
“Yeah,” Ajax agreed. “He’ll have to go through the whole process of convincing her to love him. How lame.”
“No, I think she already does,” said Aaron. “After he rescued her like a hero, I bet she’s already crazy for him.”
Everyone chuckled, nodding in agreement.
But for an odd reason, I couldn’t find amusement in the idea.
–LIA’S POV–
Blake brought me a cool drink, as well as a chocolate ice cream, hoping to ease the burning. He even pulled the chair for me. when we got to the cafeteria, and I was immensely aware of the
us, most of them dripping with jealousy and contempt for me.
eves on
I… I didn’t know what was up. I didn’t know why this absolutely gorgeous man was giving me so much attention. He looked like a friggin model, he could spend time with any girl he wanted.
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And yet he was here, helping me. Taking care of me.
Why?
He didn’t even know me.
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Not that there was anything interesting to know. I was… a nerd. A plain, boring nerd with no hobbies other than reading and coding. Why would someone like him want my company? I couldn’t even crack a joke to save my life.
“Earth to Lia.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. He dragged his chair closer to mine, and sat facing me, resting his elbows on his knees to lean to my eye level. “What’s up? Still thinking about what happened?”
I grinned, just like I’d been grinning for the last hour. I knew how stupid I looked. I just couldn’t stop.
Yeah, I had a crush on him already.
“I don’t know why you’re helping me,” I said for the tenth time
now.
Blake narrowed his eyes. “Is it so hard to believe I’m doing this. out of the kindness of my heart?”
“Yes,” I replied without missing a beat.
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He chuckled. “Why?”
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“Because,” I laughed, “no one is that kind. You don’t even know me. Why would you even want to be my friend?”
“Are you telling me you have absolutely no friends?” he asked, now sounding almost sympathetic.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. I mean, I used to have friends, when we were younger, when the bullying wasn’t so harsh. But ever since, I lost all of them, one by one. Now the only person who talks to me is Chris, and I stay away from her because I don’t want her to get caught up in my problems.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because she’s my friend and I care about her. No one protects me, but I will protect her by staying away from her,” I said with determination.
Blake smiled at me, leaning slightly closer. “Then you’re in luck, Lia. Because your newest friend doesn’t need protection. In fact, he will protect you from anyone who tries to touch you.” He tapped my nose with his index finger, sending waves of warmth through my entire body and soul.
“I get you, I think. You’re one of those, aren’t you?”
“One of what?” he asked, grinning.
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“Those people with a hero complex. Who think they have to save everyone and everything. Who quote movies and say stuff like ‘with power comes responsibility“.”
Blake laughed again, officially being the first person to laugh so much in my company. Usually people laughed at me, not with me. This was a new feeling, and I was all for it.
“I’m not one of those people.” He chuckled. “Do you see me going around helping everyone in sight?”
“I haven’t seen you at all, actually,” I replied. “I didn’t even know you existed until an hour ago.”
“That’s fair,” he said. “Let’s change that. Let’s get to know each other, so that you can believe that we’re friends.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You wanna get to know me?”
“Why not? You seem cool. You must’ve done something for you. to become a target for these people.”
“Well. What I did wasn’t cool at all. You’ll be disappointed.”
His eyebrows knitted together. “Really? Tell me. Why do they hate you?”
“We were kids. Zane and I were turning six that day–” I began, only for him to interrupt me.
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“Zane? Is that your twin brother?”
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“No!” I said immediately, feeling odd at the idea. “Zane is the leader of The Hounds.”
“The Hounds?”
I laughed at the face he made. “The group of people who were bullying me. They call themselves The Hounds.”
Blake raised an unimpressed brow. I laughed harder.
“Anyway, so Zane and I have the same birthday. He’s a popular kid, obviously, because he’s gorgeous and rich. So his family threw a huge party and the whole class was invited. But it was my birthday too, so I took my own cake and dressed up in a fairy dress and everything. I know, I know, it’s lame to try and steal someone’s spotlight, but I was a kid, alright? I was dumb and just wanted to celebrate my birthday with the whole class like he was!”
“Mhm,” Blake nodded, listening intently.
“So when I got there, I got too excited and rushed towards Zane to tell him that we were birthday twins, but I accidentally bumped into Warner really hard, knocking the glass of juice he held onto Zane’s white clothes. It kind of spilled on the bottom of his white dress shirt, making it look like… well, you know, pee. Everyone made fun of him, so in order to direct the
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attention away, Warner smashed my cake into my face. They’ve been bullying me ever since.”
“What?” Blake said incredulously. “That’s the big sin you committed to earn their wrath?”
“Yep.” I shrugged.
“How long has it been to that incident? When are you turning sixteen?”
I opened my mouth to reply, then paused, narrowing my eyes. “How do you know I’m about to turn sixteen?”
“You said it’s been ten years,” he replied.
I frowned. “I… did I?”
“Yes, of course,” he chuckled. “How else would I know?”
“Right,” I smiled.
“So? When is your birthday?”
“You mean Zane’s,” I laughed.
“No,” he scoffed. “I mean yours.”
“The day after tomorrow,” I replied.
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“Oh,” Blake said, smiling. “That’s great. I guess I came here just in time, then. Now there’ll be someone to celebrate your birthday with you.”
My heart skipped a beat once more. “You’d do that?”
“Of course, Lia. Like I said, we’re friends now.” He extended his hand for me to shake.
Heat crept up my cheeks, as I placed mine in his.
“I have a feeling this friendship will last long.” He winked.
“I hope so,” I said, my cheeks hurting from smiling so much. “What are you doing here, by the way? Where did you come
from?”
Blake narrowed his eyes. “I see you wanna find out everything about me, huh?”
My eyes widened. “No, I just—I just thought–”
He burst out laughing, shaking his head. “Goddess, you’re too cute.” He lightly pinched my cheek.
I gave him a playful glare. “You mean ‘God‘.”
“I firmly believe that God is a woman, so she is a Goddess.”
I raised my brows. “Very feminist of you.”
Chapter 4 – Birthday
“Mhm,” he nodded. “That’s a compliment, right?”
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“Of course,” I replied, smiling. “Any female who wouldn’t think of it as one scares me.”
“I know, right?” he said with feigned exasperation.
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Anyway, you wanna show me around here? I am still the new guy. I could use a guide.”
“Of course,” I replied, and then my eyes widened in realisation. “Oh my God,” I whispered, covering my mouth. “I had a test! I missed it in all this drama. Blake, I—I just lost my scholarship. I can’t afford to go here without one.”
My life was about to be ruined. And I’d been sitting here ogling at a boy….
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