It was our first day of school and we had already earned ourselves a reputation. "Is the uniform really necessary?" Soren complained. Our uniform consisted of a white button-up shirt covered with a blue blazer with the school's logo, a black wolf. As well as a black skirt that you could choose the length of as long as it was not above mid-thigh, black knee-length stockings and black heels or shoes depending on what you preferred.
"It is not like we have enough clothes of our own to wear a different pair every day. Unless you want to wear Samantha's clothes." I smirked. Soren's face scrunched up. "I'd rather not."
"That's what I thought." The cell doors opened and one of the guards appeared. "I will be your escort to school," he said with a stone-cold face. "How is it that we have already been registered in school, but still can't get a decent bed?" The guard ignored her. "Rude," she grumbled and followed the guard out. I followed behind her.
Soren and I wore the same uniform with our skirts being just below mid-thigh and black heels.
We followed the guard in one of their cars and drove the ten minutes to school.
"Will you escort us the entire way or are we finally free?" The sarcasm was evident in her voice.
"You will have somebody watching over you at all times. One of the guards, Laurence, will be watching you, and Stephan will watch Ms. Sakura." Soren rolled her eyes at the title.
"You guards need to get a life." She walked ahead of us into the school.
"I must apologize for how she is acting. She is not used to being around so many people." I gave a nervous chuckle.
"You aren't either and you turned out just fine."
"Are you saying she didn't?" I gave him my hardest glare. He audibly gulped. "No, of course not." It was his turn to chuckle nervously. "I didn't think so." I did not give him a second glance as I made my way into the school.
As I was approaching the entrance, I saw Soren and two other men. The one she was talking to had chestnut-colored hair and hazel eyes. A real beauty to behold. The one beside him was...Seth.
"What is going on here?" I said to nobody in particular. "This is my bodyguard, Laurence. My extremely hot bodyguard." she gave me a wide grin.
While I expected Laurence to look uncomfortable, he looked amused. "He has a mate," Seth growled. "Someone's being a little grumpkins today." I gave a light smile. Soren's face scrunched in disgust. Seth was surprised and Laurence was still amused. "Grumpkins," Soren said, repeating the word. "I'm going to go before I lose my appetite. What is this place doing to you, my dear sister?"
She gave me a look of genuine sympathy before walking away. I mentally slap myself. "Sakura." I walk past Seth and lower my head in embarrassment. Grumpkins? Seriously? "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked Seth. "You didn't honestly think I would let a horny freshman escort you every hour and day of the week?" Oh my god. "You are a senior. You do not have my classes. The fact that you couldn't trust me with a teenager says a lot." I keep walking down the halls despite not knowing exactly where I am going. "It's him I don't trust. I mean look at you." Look at me?
"And how do I look?"
"Freaking gorgeous." I halted. "Don't try to deter me with flattery," I told him over my shoulder. "I'm telling you the truth. Sakura, I hate fighting with you. I want to get to know you. I want to hold you. Touch you. Kiss you. I want you to let me in and it seems that all I am doing is pushing you away. Please talk to me so I know what I can do."
I could hear the sincerity in his voice. His eyes told more truth than anything. Tears pricked at my own. "Okay. In that case, we are going to have to set some rules. First, I want Stephen back."
I saw him tense up at the name. "I want to get to know you, but I don't need you hovering over me. I need you to trust I can handle myself. I did not come this far by doing nothing. I am also going to need you to have a good relationship with my sister. I know she's a lot but she's my family and we won't work if you guys don't."
That was not the complete truth. Soren would want me to be with Seth regardless and I would not give him up. But it would be better if they were not constantly at each other's throats.
"I cannot think of anything else right now, but more will come along the way."
He smiled at me. "Okay but I have some terms too." Of course, he does. I did not expect this to be one-sided at all. "Give it to me."
"You are not allowed to bring your sister to our hangouts." What? I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly spoke before I could. "Before you go off on me, let me explain why. You are too reliant on her. She makes you comfortable, which is not a bad thing but I hate it when she speaks for you. I want to get to know you not her. I want to see how you are without her. The part you cannot seem to show." I understood what he was saying, but when I am around Soren, I am my true self. As if he could read what I was thinking he said, "I am talking about a part of you, you may not know is there. You have gotten so comfortable with Soren that you have not realized that there is another part of you without her."
Understanding where he was coming from, I nodded my head in silent agreement. "Okay, let's go to class then." He kissed my forehead, and we made our way to homeroom. "You never told me how you are in my classes despite you being a senior." He gave me a smirk.
"I may have abused my rank as beta. I told them I needed to escort you for safety reasons, so they are giving me two weeks of excused absences." his toothy grin at the end of that sentence made my heart flutter. We finally arrived at the classroom.
We enter the class to be greeted with a room full of students and a very pissed teacher. An old woman with an exquisite body for her assumed age. She wore a white button-up with a black blazer, a skintight skirt reaching her knees that had me wondering if her circulation had cut off, black stockings, and black heels.
"You are late," she said with crossed arms. Late? I did not hear a single bell. "We are sorry Mrs. Malis. I was showing her around before we arrived." she raised an eyebrow which told me she was not buying it. "That is what school tours are for Mr. Barrington." Barrington? Was that Seth's last name? Sakura Barrington. It has a ring to it. "Take your seats at the back, pull out your book and turn to chapter 11. Ms-" "-Heartfelt" I finished her sentence. "You are joining us mid-year so you will need to catch up with extra tutoring. The lesson we are currently on is about Lycans. Do not interrupt me and do not make a sound. If you have a question, raise your hand. Do not make me repeat myself."
She turned back to the board to finish what she had been saying before we came in and Seth and I
took our seats in the back. Ms. Malis was certainly a... special one. I hope Soren is doing better than I am.
Soren's P.O.V
"Ugh!" son of a bitch. Mr. Avel tossed me around on the ground for the seventh time in the past five minutes. "Could you not throw me around like a rag doll?" I said with aggression but kept my voice at a low level. "I will stop throwing you around once you stop letting me." This man knew I was holding back and would not stop until I did.
"I don't know what you are talking about," I say through gritted teeth.
He goes to kick me in my abdomen, but I easily dodge the attack. If I allowed him to hit me one more time, I might not be able to restrain my wolf. "That's much better. You are putting up a fight now."
Although I did not like being beaten, I knew it was part of the class, so I was not overly bothered. My wolf was beyond pissed.
As a Maga-wolf she refused to be beaten by a lower rank. Holding her back has been hindering me throughout this entire session.
I do not know how I am going to get through this every day without ripping somebody's face off. Mr. Avel lands a blow to my face. Then a kick to my stomach. Then an elbow to my chest. I was biting through my skin to keep my wolf from appearing. *Calm down! * I yell to my wolf, Seren, from my mind. *If you let him land one more blow on us, I am going to make you and everybody around us regret it. * My wolf growled.
*Why are you such a pain?* she sneered. *Us wolves take from our holders.*
*We will go for a run and work out your frustration so please stop. I really do not want to ruin this for Sakura.* I beg her. Seren is the one and only wolf aside from Shiraga that will ever hear me genuinely beg.
*And what are you going to do when we must go through this again? I am not going to remain silent for long.* I scoffed. *Because you are so quiet right now* I mentally rolled my eyes.
I blocked his next hit and punched him lightly in his arm.
"We are done here." He speaks. If I knew all I had to do was give him a light punch to the arm to stop this, I would have done that eleven hits ago. His attacks did not hurt me physically, but my wolf's ego was certainly bruised. I do not know why. We both very well know we let him give us those punches.
I went into the crowd of students that were watching our 'battle'. It was more like me getting my ass handed to me in their eyes.
"Hey, are you okay?" Laurence asked me.
"Do I look okay?" I growled. I did not mean to be a bitch, but I could act no other way with my wolf in this state.
"Woah. Calm down, tiger." He grinned at me. "Don't you have a mate to get back to?" I glared at him. His grin turned into a frown. "I know you are upset about what just happened but keep my mate out of your mouth."
He has some fight in him. I lightly laugh. "C'mon, you laugh, and smile but you don't want to be here with me. You want to be with her or him or whatever. So please just leave me and go."
His frown turned back into a smile. What was wrong with this guy?
"I am waiting for the day you realize you laugh and smile too but you are so sad. That is the difference. I am genuinely happy."
What the fuck? "You don't know me." I glared at him. "No, but I have met people like you, and one day you are going to realize that everyone is moving on, and you are being left behind and suddenly you are not too happy. You realize how alone you feel. Sakura is the only person you have. What do you think will happen when she moves on? I can see you care. A lot. You may not want to admit it, but you care."
"Laurence." I looked him directly in his eyes. "Soren." I smiled.
"Stay the hell out of my business. You are here to make sure I do not kill somebody not act like my therapist. I'll keep your mate out of my mouth as long as you keep my life out of yours." I never once let my smile slip the entire time. It proved to be more intimidating than a glare.
He never let his smile falter either. "Okay." I did not expect him to give up so easily.
"Class is done. You know the drill, go to your second period." Is it possible to hate life this much? "Let's go," I said to Laurence and walked in the direction of the woods. "That's not where the school is."
I rolled my eyes. "No shit Sherlock. We are going to the woods to run because I need to blow off some steam. I doubt you are going to let me go by myself, so instead of playing a game of cat and mouse just join me."
I do not wait for a reply and walk towards the woods. "You are going to make me lose my position." Laurence chuckles.
"And that is funny how?" I am having a tough time understanding this guy.
"I just find you intriguing."
"Why? Nothing is intriguing about me." aside from me being a Maga-wolf, there is not anything that entertaining about me.
"The way you carry yourself, the way you speak towards people, what seems to be constant anger but is slight annoyance and amusement. The determination to do right by Sakura in your eyes, the-" I cut him off.
"You are acting like my therapist again." I huff out. I can practically see his smile from behind me. "What will you do if I keep doing this?" I grind to a halt and abruptly turn around to face him. "Remember when you were talking about annoyance? You are definitely not helping with that. To answer your question, I would tune you out and become a bigger annoyance to you than you are being to me at this moment."
He gives me a curious look.
"Giving people a taste of your own medicine is equivalent to punishment to you." I was starting to think this guy worked for the government. I rolled my eyes, turned around, and kept walking. "People usually don't like it and in such a situation I don't like that person so it's fairly effective." My previous thought gave me an idea.
"What is the real reason that you are questioning me? Did your alpha want you to see if I would be a future problem for the pack? Or are you trying to figure me out so that you know what makes me tick?" There was a pause.
"You don't trust people. You are always suspicious." I scoffed.
"If that came as a surprise to you then I have obviously given you too much credit." I take a glance at him from behind. He looked...fascinated. "You never answered my question." As if he snapped out of a daze, he immediately responded. "You are not entirely wrong. The alpha does want me to analyze you, but as I have said before, you intrigue me."
"You never told me why."
"It is not often that you get to hear words from a rouge's perspective." It was nice that he wanted to hear both sides of the story about rouge and pack relationships, but if that is what he is looking for then he is asking the wrong person.
"I have also never met anybody like you," I smirk. "If you did not have a mate, I would have thought you were flirting with me. Enough with the small talk, let us run." Once we got far enough from the school, we shifted and ran. I turned into my altered wolf form. It was still bigger than your average shifter, but not enough to raise suspicion, maybe a little since I was considered a rouge, but not enough to worry about.
White wolves were rare, but not unheard of. I know quite a few actually, but to not attract too much attention, my fur was naturally darkened so it would look like a light shade of grey. I was an inch taller than Laurence's wolf.
His wolf was multiple shades of brown. I did not look at him for long and sped up. Laurence appeared at my side. I sped up. He once again appeared at my side, so I sped up.
I did not know if we were racing or not. I think Laurence does not want to have me out of sight. If he went ahead of me, he would risk me going off on my own and if he were behind me then I could speed up and he could lose sight of me.
With that conclusion in mind, I stayed at the pace I was running at which was a little above an average run. Laurence completely surprised me as he ended up dashing ahead of me.
So, he was racing. I easily passed him, and we kept up the competitive behavior with Laurence just on my tail before we reached a clearing with a river. It was not like the same one I and Sakura went to when we ran off. This area we devoid of trees with flowers at every turn. The area Sakura and I were in was surrounded by trees and has a stream. The sound the river produced was peaceful.
I slowed down to inspect my surroundings. Before I could take a longer look, Laurence rammed into me. We both tumbled across the field, crushing many flowers in the process. By the time we halted, flowers and petals were flying all around us.
Laurence was on top of my back. I rolled to the side and pushed him off me. A flower landed on my nose, and I sneezed. I took a better look at Laurence's wolf, and it was astonishing. Mixed with the variety of browns were beautifully intricate designs. They stood out since they were a shade darker than any other brown.
His hazel eyes shone even as a wolf. His wolf was far from scrawny. He was gorgeous. I shifted back into my human form not bothering to hide the fact that when I shift my clothes do not rip.
His eyes slightly bulged, and he tilted his head in curiosity. I walked up to him and laid my hand on his snout. He stuck his tongue out and started to rub on me. He was a playful little thing. I chuckled as he went around me in circles, still rubbing against me. His height reached my neck, so he got quite a bit of hair on me.
"You are so cute. Not to mention beautiful. I have never met a wolf that looks like you." This time I stared at him in wonder. He nuzzled my neck and brushed his fur against my face. I was an animal lover, so this did not bother me in the slightest. Suddenly, he went under my legs and lifted me so that I was on his back. I squealed in excitement.
"Laurence, what are you doing, put me down!" I said in between laughs. With my face angled towards his butt, I could not see where we were going when he started dashing off. "I swear to god Laurence if you do something stupid I will-" I was shut up by the splashing of water and suddenly I was completely drenched.
Eventually, I was submerged in water. I opened my eyes under the water and used my aquatic powers for sharp vision. In response, my eyes turned a clear blue. I saw Laurence playing around in the water as well as the dozens of fish that were scattering from our abrupt entrance. I swam over and joined him under the water. He probably did not notice my change in eye color since he could not see as well. The water was pretty clear though, so I am not sure.
We swam around in circles and played with each other until it was time to come back up for air. For him anyway. I could stay under there forever.
Laurence made an audible gasp. I climbed out of the river, and he followed suit. Once we were settled in the grass I spoke. "You are terrible," I said with a light tone. He slightly pushed me with his nose. "I wonder, what is your name?" I put my head on his.
Without expecting a response, I slowly let my eyes close. "Ethis." my head perked up. I stared at Laurence in shock. Was I imagining that, or did he just talk? Talking in our wolf forms was impossible.
"I am sorry, repeat?" I did not get a response this time. "Ethis," I whispered. His ears perked up and suddenly he was more aware. He started nodding his head furiously. "Ethis. That is your name?" Ethis suddenly stood up, pushing me off him.
He was now above me jumping up and down like a child excited for candy. "I am going to take that as a yes." Was I experiencing a new power? I had no time to think about it since Ethis' attitude abruptly changed. His eyes turned into slits, and he emitted a low growl. He quickly put me on his back and stormed off.
What happened that he was now dashing back as if his life depended on it?