Chapter 14

At the sight of Nicholas, Brian jumped up and moved away from me, knocking my drink over in the process.

Why did he move away from me so quickly? I was baffled by Brian’s reaction. Does he not want Nicholas to see how he feel?

“Get out.” Brian’s gruff tone shocked me and it took me a minute to realize he was talking to me. “W-what?” I asked, confused. “Get the fuck out.” He said louder, not looking at me.

What is happening? Why is he doing this? I asked Wynter, trying to figure out what was going on, but she was just as confused as I was. He wants us, I can feel it. I’m not sure what is happening either.

I stood, my knees shaking. I could feel the milk from the spilled glass running down my pajama pants. It was cold, but not as cold as I was feeling on the inside.

The change in Brian had my head spinning, and I was hurting more than I expected. I walked towards to door, but Nicholas blocked my way.

He grinned at us, menacingly, “Aw, does Brian have a crush on Big Beryl?” He laughed, but there was no humor in his tone. He was angry, but I had no idea why.

I looked back and forth between the brothers, still trying to figure out what was going on. Brian stared at Nicholas for a moment, being sure to keep his gaze away from me, and then rolled his eyes. “There is someone I have my eye on.” He gestured to the drawing on the table.

Nicholas stepped forward to look, pushing me back with him. “Ah, I see. Someone thin and beautiful. Decent work little brother, that’s definitely not Beryl. Too small.” Nicholas sighed, and seemed relieved for a moment, but the moment passed quickly and the snarl returned.

“But how does Nicholas feel about Beryl, huh?” Brian seemed to be talking to both Nicholas and himself, but shrugged his shoulders not expecting an answer. The look on Nicholas’ face when Brian said this shocked me, and I could see it shocked Brian too. The look was unexpected and confusing.

Nicholas’ words say he hates me, but both Brian and I could see that his face was saying something different. The iceberg that is his usual face, melted away, but neither of us say anything about it.

At school the next day, and the days following, things were the same. I kept to myself, trying to block out the whispers and hate that continued to be thrown my way.

Anna and her friends continued to taunt me in the hallways and during lunch. Lily helped by being there for me when she could. We only had a few classes together, but just knowing someone in the school didn’t hate me was helpful.

One morning, after arriving at school, I noticed my name on one of the school forums. Nicholas had taken it upon himself to write a post talking about how shitty I was. It had been viewed by the entire school, the teachers included.

I couldn’t understand why he would make a post like this. Did they all really hate me this much? Why would they want me around, if they despised me so much? The thoughts ran through my mind all the time, and I could never come up with a good answer.

The triplets were leaders within the Werewolf Noble Academy, so the post held weight among the students, and everyone read it. Nicholas was the hockey captain and a star student, so everyone listened to him especially.

Hockey was treasured among the werewolf community, and they worshiped power, which made Nicholas and his brothers that much more significant. They were kings among nobles, and they were treated as such.

I had recently learned that pretty much every pack alpha in history had once also been a hockey captain. As their hockey captain, Nicholas had held the hockey championship for the past several years.

As the future alpha king, there were few who would go against what Nicholas said, and no one who would fight against him. He had incredible influence.

Trying to understand them, I had been watching them from afar, only when they didn’t know I was watching. I had noticed that Brian seemed irritated by his brother, Nicholas. It appeared to me that Brian thought Nicholas’ behavior was childish, which I agreed with.

Although the majority of the school, including Cheney and some teachers, had liked Nicholas’ post berating me, I noticed that Brian had not liked it. He may outwardly avoid me, dislike me even, but inside he cared about me and dislike they way his brothers treated me.

Lily hadn’t liked the post either, which was a relief. Lily had been my saving grace lately. She was my only friend at the academy and the only reason I had any sanity left at all.

Even though everyone else around me shunned me, Lily stood by me and helped me ignore the masses.

One day after class, Lily and I were leaving school, walking passed the gymnasium, when we ran into the triplets leaving hockey practice.

They were surrounded by a group of girls who were excited by the pheromones coming off of the brothers. The boys were sweaty and their adrenaline was flowing due to practice.

I heard Lily suck in her breath beside me. She was even affected by the brothers appearance right now. I sighed, wishing I could be anywhere else.

All I wanted was to get back to the house and hide. I wanted nothing to do with any of them. All they did was frustrate and confuse me.

All I had to do was make it to graduation, and I could be free of this whole school, including the triplets. I was beyond ready to return to my human life, and leave the werewolf world behind.

As the group approached, I could tell that the triplets hadn’t seen me yet, so I tried to sneak towards the side of the gymnasium to hide, and wait until they passed us. I tapped Lily’s shoulder as I moved, hoping she would understand what I was trying to do.

She shook herself, “Oh, yeah.” She understood after a second, and moved with me. We had almost made it to our hiding spot when I heard laughter behind us. I sighed, knowing they’d seen us.

“Hey there Big Beryl. Where you think your going? You running away from us?” Cheney snickered, showing out in front of his brothers and his entourage.