–LIA’S POV–
4 min left
Zane did not budge. He stepped even closer and grabbed Blake’s wrist, forcing his hand off of me. I stepped away from both of them, rubbing my arm. I was certain Blake’s hold had left a mark. My arm was throbbing with pain.
“Why can’t you just stay away from her?” Blake snapped, giving Zane a shove.
I gasped, covering my mouth.
Zane walked up to him again, staring him down. For a split second, I thought I saw his eyes turn black. Maybe the light was odd.
“You stay away from her, Walker. And I swear by the Goddess, if I see you lay a hand on her ever again, I will rip it off.”
A shiver crawled through me.
Suddenly I realised what an idiot I’d been by asking Zane to announce our meetings to the world. I should’ve let them remain a secret. I should’ve known what would happen if Blake found out. And yet, I acted on my stupid feelings.
“You think I’m the one who’s hurting her?” Blake asked. “It’s you. Not me.”
1/6
11:21
Chapter 22 – Attack–2
“I would never hurt Lia.”
4 min left
“What about your little pack? The Hounds as you call them? They’ve hurt her plenty, Zane, while you’ve watched. You think she’s ever gonna be able to forgive you? You think she can ever move past that?”
“She already has,” he replied. “Haven’t you, Lia?” He glanced at me. “Once I promised you that my friends won’t hurt you ever again, once I apologised to you for all the torment they put you through, did you not forgive it?”
I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it.
“You think she’s stupid enough to fall for this trap, Zane?” Blake laughed. “You think she can’t see through your lies and your drama?”
“I think it’s clear who the dramatic one is, Blake. It’s you who throws hands every chance he gets.”
They weren’t even giving me a chance to speak.
“So you expect me to stand by and watch you manipulate her? Not happening, Adams.”
“That’s how stupid you think Lia is? I’m afraid you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Not your fault, obviously. You have known her for a few days, whilst the two of us have grown up
Chapter 22 – Attack–2
“I would never hurt Lia.”
4 min left
“What about your little pack? The Hounds as you call them? They’ve hurt her plenty, Zane, while you’ve watched. You think she’s ever gonna be able to forgive you? You think she can ever move past that?”
“She already has,” he replied. “Haven’t you, Lia?” He glanced at me. “Once I promised you that my friends won’t hurt you ever again, once I apologised to you for all the torment they put you through, did you not forgive it?”
I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it.
“You think she’s stupid enough to fall for this trap, Zane?” Blake laughed. “You think she can’t see through your lies and your drama?”
“I think it’s clear who the dramatic one is, Blake. It’s you who throws hands every chance he gets.”
They weren’t even giving me a chance to speak.
“So you expect me to stand by and watch you manipulate her? Not happening, Adams.”
“That’s how stupid you think Lia is? I’m afraid you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Not your fault, obviously. You have known her for a few days, whilst the two of us have grown up
11-21
together. Naturally, you’re not able to keep up.”
“You think the amount of time you spend with a person matters?” Blake scoffed.
“It absolutely does, for human beings. Not for animals like you. who do not know how delicate a girl is,” Zane retorted..
I resisted the urge to scream.
“You think Lia is delicate?” Blake asked. “Ask your friend who got punched by her.”
“I’d rather wait for her to punch you and then ask you about it. From how it’s looking, it’s gonna be soon,” Zane mocked, a smirk on his lips.
Blake’s jaw clenched, and he opened his mouth to respond, when the bell went off.
But it wasn’t the normal bell that marked the beginning and end of a period. It was the alarm bell. The warning bell that was only sounded when there was some serious danger in school. We’d been trained for this ever since we were in grade one, told to immediately drop everything and make a run to exit the school. when this bell rang.
Everyone around us froze a moment, registering, glancing at each other. And then there was a ruckus as every student hurried to pick up their things and leave. There was probably a
3/6
11:21
Chapter 22 – Attack–2
4 min left
fire at the labs that got out of contol. Thankfully, it distracted Zane and Blake from their verbal fight. But when both of them glanced at me, I wanted that supposed fire to eat me up.
Blake stepped forward first. “Let’s go,” he said, offering me hist hand. My arm still hurt from where he’d held me, so there no way I was touching him right now.
was
“I’ll take her to safety,” Zane announced, walking forward and standing beside me. “She clearly doesn’t want to be touched by you right now.”
“I’m not leaving her with you, Adams.”
“I’ll be with them,” Christy spoke up. “Let’s just all go out together, alright? Blake, you lead the way.”
Clenching his jaw, Blake obliged, obviously not wanting to waste time arguing. More than half of the cafeteria had emptied by now, and we began to walk towards the door too. But before we’d taken more than a few steps, the room filled with screams, all the people in front of us starting to back away.
I sucked in a breath, as Zane wrapped an arm around me and pulled me to his side, moving me out of peoples‘ way.
“What’s happening?” Christy cried, sticking close to Blake.
Blake turned and glanced at Zane, the two of them sharing an odd, knowing look.
4/6
119,
Chapter 22 – Attack–2
4 min left
And then I heard the growls of an animal, coming from within. the cafeteria, from where everybody was backing away.
There was no fire, but a wild animal that had entered the school
premises.
As the crowd cleared, leaving through the other emergency exit, I managed to catch a glimpse of it.
It was a huge wolf, a large grey one, extremely similar in size and shape to the one that had broken into my house a few nights ago. Its colour was different, so I knew it wasn’t the same one, but it was definitely the same kind. It was the size of a damned bear, so clearly wild and murderous. The sound of its growls was enough to tell how hungry or mad it was.
“Back—back exit,” I cried, as we turned around and hurried. towards it. The crowd was too thick as everyone ran for their lives, pushing and bumping into each other, screaming and crying. My hand slipped from Zane’s and I swept into the crowd, pushed along with the sea of feral students.
“Zane! Blake!” I called out, but my voice was drowned by the panicked yelling. A few students pushed me to the side, cursing and hurrying to leave, sending me towards the edge. I managed to see the wolf again, just as it lunged towards us, amplifying the screams by a thousand times.
A hard push in my side had me thrown out of the crowd, and I
5/6
11:21
Chapter 22 – Attack–2
4 min left
fell to the ground on my knees, successfully earning the full attention of the wolf. The cafeteria had almost emptied by now, just a few people left in there, all of them pushing through to the
exit.
The wolf stared at me with its demonic black eyes, drool dripping from its mouth.
I tried to get up to run, but my ankle had throbbed so hard I fell again. I didn’t even realise when I’d twisted it. With tears blurring my vision, I crawled towards the exit, glancing back at the wolf. It tilted its head to the side, watching me hungrily.
And then it pounced towards me, pulling a loud scream from my lips, the rest of the world silencing.
B
