Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Ch 22 Worst Day Ever
ALARIC’S POV
Yesterday was amazing. We skipped lunch and made love to Thea. We kept our clothes on, but that’s what it was— making love. We skipped the rest of school, relaxed in the woods, and talked about shifting. It was a fantastic day. Then we went home to find all our stuff moved into Thea’s room. We were officially living together. We finally get to sleep together every night, be together every day. No reason to part. No space between us. She was ours.
Today, we woke up and watched Thea get ready for her day with Misty. She styled her hair and put on makeup. She never wears makeup unless it’s a formal event. She doesn’t need it, she’s perfect without it, but if she put it on, it meant she thought the occasion was special. She wanted to impress someone. It hurt that she was doing it for someone else.
When I saw her in the turquoise dress, hair styled, makeup on, it took my breath away. She was always gorgeous. She was the most beautiful creature on Earth. No one held a candle to her, even though she always dressed in a way to downplay her feminine features. Seeing her in the dress that accentuated those features made me want to reach under it and do things to make her scream my name.
I could tell Kai and Conri were thinking similar thoughts.
She kissed each of us goodbye then left.
“When was the last time we spent an entire day away from each other?” Kai said.
“When we were kids. She went with her parents to visit her uncle’s pack back east,” Conri said. “She was gone a week.”
“We fought each other and everyone else the whole time,” I said, remembering.
“We couldn’t sleep without her. Mom had to drug us,” Kai said.
As soon as she got back, we relaxed, and things went back to normal. Our parents decided Thea couldn’t go anywhere without us. When her parents were sent on out-of-town assignments, we were assigned to keep Thea safe and happy since we were the reason she couldn’t be with them.
“Why does she want to spend the entire day without us?” Kai said.
“She needs to see what else is out there. She’s never had anyone even show an interest in her because we scared them away before they hada chance,” I said.
“Why does she want to spend the day with that she-wolf?” Conri said.
“Misty confessed her love for her. We haven’t even done that,” Kai said.
“Of course Thea will be affected by that,” I said. “ She doesn’t know anything besides us,” I said. I couldn’t help but think we’d been pathetic mates to her.
“Neither do we. We’ve only ever been with her,” Conri said.
“No,” I said.
“We’ve had girls throw themselves at us all our lives. We know we don’t want them.”
“Alpha Valko.”
“Alpha Alaric.”
So many girls had tried to turn me on by saying my name and title in what they thought was a seductive way. If only they knew how repulsive their voices were to me. Kai and Conri had the same problem. Girls would put their hands on our chests and try to trail their fingers up and down our abs. Again, they thought they were being seductive, but we felt like spiders were crawling on our skin.
We had to be careful removing their hands from us. The knee-jerk reaction was to throw them off with our Alpha strength or beat them to a bloody pulp so they wouldn’t think about doing it again, but we were taught not to hurt people weaker than us. Even females that were touching something that belonged to Thea.
Eventually, it got to the point if we saw a girl approaching us, we’d stop her before she got to us. Kai would hold out his hand and say, “No. Don’t even try. I’m not interested.”
That’s all it took for him. He was the most intimidating guy at our school. People didn’t argue with him. Most people were afraid of him. He didn’t take crap from people, and he didn’t let anything go.
Everyone knew he meant business, and no one could change his mind. He won every argument, every fight, everything. The one exception was Thea.
Conri would get angry. “I’m taken,” he’d say. Sometimes the girl would argue. I’d seen it happen.
“No, you’re not. Thea doesn’t have romantic feelings for you. You need to move on. Why not with me? I can make you happy.” Things along those lines. It only angered Conri further.
“Stay away from me,” he’d say. If the girl pressed further or touched him, he’d jump away and get mean. “You disgust me. Your touch is repulsive. I could never want you.” Things like that. «
People knew not to touch us at this point. The only person who got to touch us was Thea.
When a girl approached me, I’d shake my head. If she didn’t get the message, I’d look her dead in the eye—the challenge of an Alpha, where you either submit or we fight to the death.
Of course, she’d submit and bare her neck to me, acknowledging that I was stronger and could kill her easily. She’d have to do whatever I told her after that. I’d say, “Go away. Stay away. It’s never going to happen.”
It wasn’t an Alpha tone command. It was a simple statement letting them know my boundaries. Goddess help the she-wolf that tried to call me Ric. Thea gave me that nickname when we were kids. I loved it when she called me Ric. No one else got to call me that. I was Alpha Alaric or Alpha Valko to anyone else. ‘
Word got around, and some girls made it into a challenge. They’d follow us into the restroom.
We’d be standing there, minding our business as one does while urinating in a public toilet. Then hands wrap around our waist and try to grab our dicks. “Let me give you a blow job.” Their touch would instantly make our dicks soft. Those girls got thrown out of the bathroom and reported. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
Other times girls would ambush us. Wait somewhere they knew we’d go. Naked or in lingerie. Some would wear peach perfume or be holding a peach in their hands. Everyone knew we loved peaches. We walk in, see the girl, then immediately turn around and leave before she jumps us.
“What if she likes being away from us?” Conri said, bringing me back to the present.
“She’s always been fine without us,” Kai said. “ She leads. We follow. She forges ahead without us, and we’re left playing catch-up. What if she likes this she-wolf?”
“We’re going to lose her,” Conri said.
“She’s our mate. We can’t lose her,” I said. “ She’ll come back to us once we shift, and she feels the pull of the matebond.”
“I can’t wait for that!” Conri said. “I can’t watch her be with someone else. I can’t.”
Conri got up and went to his room. He started throwing things, breaking things. It wasn’t long before his old room was in splinters. We always said he was the most in tune with his wolf. It was his strongest Alpha trait. He acted like an animal. Pure instinct. All emotion.
Once there was nothing left to break, Conri returned to Thea’s room and curled up ina ball on her bed, holding onto her pillows, breathing in her scent, and crying.
Neither Kai nor I could get Conri to move. He wouldn’t eat. He got worse the longer Thea was gone. No wonder he constantly held onto Thea’s shirt. He was keeping her within his reach because he can’t be far from her.
Kai watched Conri implode until he couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take it either. Kai left Thea’s room, and I followed. Kai wandered until he saw some people training. They were sparring. He went straight to them.
“Let’s go,” Kai said.
« Alpha?”
“Yeah, we’ll make it a fair fight,” Kai said. “All of you against me.”
The group was nervous, but they couldn’t disobey their future Alpha.
“Come on,” Kai said.
He jumped into the fray and hit a few of them, but he was pulling his punches. He wasn’t trying to put any of them down. The guys tried to psyche themselves up enough to hit their Alpha. One of them threw a punch, and Kai dodged out of the way. He let the next guy hit him. And the next.
That encouraged them to get more aggressive. I watched as Kai let the group pummel him to the ground. He didn’t even try to block the hits. He didn’t want to fight. He wanted to get beat up. He wanted the physical pain to distract him.
This is why my father forbade Thea from leaving us all those years ago. Nothing had changed. We hadn’t grown up. We were destructive without her. I realized the stories of Alphas and their mates were true. If they never found their mate, they went feral. If they lost their mate, they went crazy and died. That’s what happens when the other half of your soul is missing. As Alphas, we’d be worse than everybody.
“Alright, that’s enough,” I said, stepping in. The guys all backed off. I held out my hand to help Kai up. He glared at me, mad that I stopped the pain, but he took my hand, and I pulled him up. He threw a punch at me, and I ducked. He tried again and again and again. He wasn’t going to stop. I threw a punch I knew he could block, and he let my fist connect with his face. He stumbled back a few steps.
“That’s more like it,” Kai said. He came back and threw a punch. I barely dodged it. He was trying to get me to put him down. I knew he wouldn’t stop. He never did when he wanted something. That was his strongest Alpha trait. Never back down. I may as well put an end to this.
I reared back, punched him as hard as I could, and knocked him out. I let him fall to the ground, then
I picked him up, threw him over my shoulder, and carried him to Thea’s room. I tossed him to the floor.
Some things needed to be taken care of, so I left my brothers in their pathetic heaps and went to do my duty. That was my strongest Alpha trait. Duty.
As the day went on, I felt heavier and heavier. Moving took more and more effort. I finished my work and went back to Thea’s room. Kai was awake, leaning against the bed. Conri hadn’t moved. I sat at Thea’s desk and played with her things to feel closer to her. 1
I felt like I was dying inside. Like my heart was breaking. Without Thea, I wasa shell. This is why most people die soon after their mates die.
Without Thea, life wouldn’t be worth living. I don’t know how long I sat there at her desk, staring into space, but eventually, she walked into the room. She took in the scene—all of usa wreck.
We turned and looked at her. Worst-case scenarios played through my mind. She wanted to see other people and see what was out there. She liked the she-wolf and wanted to be with her.
“What happened?” Thea said. I could hear the worry in her voice.
Conri jumped off the bed, ran to her, spilled onto his knees, and hugged her as tight as he could. “ Please don’t leave us,” he sobbed. “Please don’t leave us. I’ll be better.”
“What? I’m not going anywhere. What’s going on?” She tried to comfort him, putting her hands around him.
Kai wouldn’t talk. The fight had left him.
“We didn’t handle today very well,” I said since no one else could answer her coherently.
“What happened today?”
“You left us,” Conri sobbed. She knelt down and held him. “What are you talking about, Con? I’m right here.” I didn’t feel like watching her pay attention to someone else. I stood up and walked to the door.
“im glad you’re back safe,” I said.
“Ric?”
It hurt to hear the nickname. I left.