Chapter 172

When I go to class the next day, I’m very surprised to be suddenly approached by Debbie. All I did was walk two feet through the door and she’s suddenly at my side.

She whisper yells in my ear, “Is it true that you are challenging the Hayes’s Beta, Wyatt?”

I stop walking, frozen down to my core. “How do you know about that?”

Debbie waves her arm, gesturing to the class. Everyone is looking at me, like I’m some kind of circus display.

“Everyone knows about it,” Debbie says.

I can see that, but I still don’t understand how it’s possible. I look at her again, the question likely all over my face. I feel like a rugs been pulled out from under me.

“I heard from a friend of a friend,” Debbie says, “but that person heard it from Wyatt himself.”

“Wyatt?” That asshole is going around telling people about our challenge? Why? For what purpose? Surely he would look like the jerk in this scenario, accepting a challenge from a girl who doesn’t even have a wolf?

The truth is more complicated, sure, but I doubted people would take the time to see the nuance in it.

“The whole campus is talking about it,” Debbie says.

With heavy legs, I drag myself over to my seat. As I go by, people start whispering behind me. Even the professor is watching me from the front of the room.

“Wyatt says he wants to do the challenge publically,” Debbie says, as we sit. “For fairness.”

I shake my head, trying to clear it. “Fairness? What the hell?”

“He says… he’s worried about you,” she says.

Now I know the grape vine is full of shit, because in no universe would Wyatt actually say he’s worried about me. Except, Debbie is looking at me with worry in her own eyes.

Wait a minute. What kind of bullshit did Wyatt actually spew about this challenge?

“Debbie,” I say, leaning closer to her. “What exactly did Wyatt say about the challenge? He did agree to it.”

Debbie glances sideways like she doesn’t want to answer, but her desire to gossip eventually wins out, because after a moment, she looks right back.

“The way the rumors have it,” Debbie says, “It makes it seem like you’re being reckless. Like you want to prove yourself, and have been hounding him relentlessly until he finally agreed.”

She waits for my reaction. My reaction, of course, is fury. This seems to please her. She almost smiles but catches herself before she continues, “He says he’s not thrilled to have to put you in your place, but he thinks it’s the safest option for you, since you’ve been picking fights with people so obviously stronger than you.”

If I was holding something, I would break it. That’s how tense I am, all at once, from hearing this absolute trash that Wyatt is spreading around.

Wyatt did not accept my challenge out of mercy, or whatever other lies he’s spreading. He accepted it because he wants to try to ‘put me in my place,’ as he called it. He’s hated me forever, apparently.

Gods, he’s trying to frame it in a way that would make him look best, and me look like a total asshole.

He hates me? Well, the feeling is mutual.

“I’m not going to lose to him no matter what he says,” I say.

I can use this hatred. It will help but fire in my veins, push me when I feel like giving up.

I will not back down. I will not let Wyatt win.

As I leave the building with my classroom, I find Archer waiting just outside. His arms are crossed. All of the whispering and rumor-spreading that had been going on inside the building immediately cease in his presence. He glares at anyone who even dares to open their mouths.

I walk right up to him, because the only reason for him to be here would have to do with me.

He glares down at me. I’m used to it now so I glare right back at him.

“I assume you’ve heard the rumors,” I say.

He growls a little. Okay. Yeah. He heard them. And he’s pissed, more than usual.

“You have to back out of the fight,” he says. “To hell with the consequences.”

“Back out? I’m not backing out.”

“The only thing that will be ruined is your reputation,” Archer says. “Which is shit anyways.”

Um, excuse you? My reputation is not all that bad. Any tarnish it has on it is because of Archer and his brothers!

“If I’m going to be the first female warrior, I can’t possibly be known as that girl who backed out of a fight,” I say. “No one will take me seriously.”

“No one takes you seriously now,” Archer growls.

“Well, that’s going to change!” I snap.

He glowers at me. He steps closer. His towering presence is intimidating, and frankly, hot as hell, but I hold onto my anger to give me strength.

“The Academy has heard about the challenge, Chloe. They want to take over and hold it in the gym. They want referees and medical staff,” he says.

He sounds pissed about it, but that’s all good right? We know Wyatt will try to cheat, so having referees seems like a win. And the brothers would likely have medical staff nearby anyway, should the worst happen.

“I don’t see the problem,” I say.

“Everyone will be watching.”

“Okay?”

Archer’s eyes narrow. “I will not be able to step in.”

I blink, surprised. Archer was planning on stepping in? Why? “I don’t need you to step in. I keep telling you guys, this is my fight. Not yours.”

Archer grips his hands into tight fists at his side. His voice pitches even lower somehow. “Wyatt could kill you while we watch, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing we could do about it.”

Firstly, doubt. Wyatt isn’t going to have the chance to kill me because he’s not going to be able to catch me. Secondly, double doubt. Archer and the brothers will really stick to the sidelines and obey the rules if it comes to that?

“Since when to the Hayes brothers obey the rules,” I say, crossing my own arms now.

“Since you started being so fucking reckless,” Archer says.

“Oh, there it is again. Reckless this. Reckless that. Did you know that’s what Wyatt says? He accepted the challenge so that he could teach me a lesson before I get hurt. Like he isn’t the one who wants to hurt me the most.”

“It was wrong to goad him.”

“He’s an asshole,” I say.

“I’m not disputing that,” Archer says. His anger has spiked. The words come out sharp and loud. “I just don’t want to watch you fucking die.”

I’m surprised again. Why does he care? Surely he doesn’t care about me all that much? I’ve only ever been something like a plaything to him, something he likes to probe and prod and then leave behind when we get to close.

But I can see it now, behind the fury in his eyes, and the annoyance, there’s something else. Something that almost looks like… fear.

That can’t be right.

“I’m not going to die,” I tell him. Though I’m admittedly a bit shaken by what I see there in his face. “I’m going to win the fight and everything is going to be fine. I don’t care how many people see. I’m not going to lose, and then everyone can stop underestimating me.”

Archer growls low, but let him think whatever he wants.

The Hayes brothers are the ones I want to prove myself to most of all.