Chapter 3

Dean/Ryder

*****

I couldn’t believe I was actually staring at the clock, excited for class. Well, I couldn’t care less about the class. It was the fact I would see my mate again. I rubbed my cheek where she’d slapped me. For a human, she hit pretty hard. It was no less than what I deserved. In fact, I deserved quite a few more for not stepping in yesterday. That I was trying to bring my uncle to justice was very small consolidation.

There had to be a way to unseat my uncle as alpha while keeping my mate safe. Of course, first I had to prove to her that despite what it looked like yesterday, I wasn’t like Mike. I didn’t get off abusing those weaker than me.

Finally, the bell rang and I hurried to Science. With any luck, we’d have a few minutes to talk before the teacher started. Walking into the classroom, I silently cheered when I saw my mate was already there. I took my seat and looked over at her. Her fingers gripped the edges of the desk so hard her knuckles were white, her whole body stiff.

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” she said then quickly added, “I’m stupid, really stupid. I’m sure Mike’s told you all about it. Nothing like that will happen again. I swear. In fact, if you keep this between us I promise I’ll pay you back. I, uhm, get good grades. How about I do all your homework while you’re here?”

She said it all so quickly it took me a second to process everything. Of course, she’d think I’d be pissed at her for slapping me. I took a breath to tell her she had nothing to worry about when the stupid teacher cleared her throat loudly, shooting a glare at us.

My mate’s head snapped towards the teacher and didn’t look my way during the whole class. I, on the other hand, couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I know it sounds lame, but she was perfect. I loved how her brown hair had a slight red hue to it. I loved the pout of her lips when she frowned at me. She was beautiful, period and I couldn’t wait to get to know her.

When the class was over, I leaned over again to tell her no worries, when with amazing speed she gathered her things and bolted out of the room. Holy crap, she was quick. I hurriedly put my things away. Instead of trying to directly follow her, I pushed through the mass of students in the most direct way to her locker. I had just leaned on the locker next to hers when I saw her emerge from the crowd.

Shock overtook her face and she tried to backpedal, only to fall on her backside and literally slide over to me. I couldn’t help but grin. If that wasn’t a sign of fate then I don’t know what is. “Wow, that was… impressive. Are you okay?” I asked and held out my hand to help her up, the smile still on my face.

She looked up at me with those amazing soft brown eyes of hers and I swear my heart about burst. “What do you want?” she snapped at me then flinched as if she expected to get hit.

The smile fell from my face, but I figured I would still try to keep it light. “You didn’t let me answer your question.”

She opened her locker, but in a way that her back wouldn’t be to me, and asked, “What?”

Putting the smile back on my face. Keep it light, I told myself. Show her you’re not a bad guy. “You asked what you could do to keep me from telling Mike about this morning.”

Her eyes widened then she ducked her head in a nod. “Uhm, yeah. Like I said I can do your homework or whatever while you’re here,” she replied, putting away her books.

“I don’t want you to do my homework.”

She stiffened and glanced over at me. “Okay, so what do you want?”

“How about a late lunch? I heard there are some pretty good places around town,” I told her, again putting on my best smile.

Her eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”

“I know you didn’t eat lunch today, and I can’t stand the stuff they serve here. So let’s go get something to eat,” I explained, my hands itched to reach out and hold her. God, she was so close and smelled so good.

Her eyes narrowed and she gave me an icy glare. “How stupid do you think I am?”

Wait. What?

“Is this Mike’s idea or are you that much of a pig you believe you can…” She looked at me, the disgust she felt was undeniable. She stood straight, her chin high as she continued to glare at me. “You know what, go on, tell Mike. I don’t care if he beats me so bad he puts me in a coma. That would be better than dealing with someone like you.”

I took a breath to defend myself when she grabbed her backpack and marched away from me. I wanted to chase her down, force her to stop so I could explain. Clearly, she got the wrong idea. I literally meant lunch. Nothing more. “Damn it,” I swore and started to head out when I heard Mike. I swore again and ducked down a hall to avoid him. The last thing I needed was to deal with more of my cousin’s crap. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with that one.

Taking the long route out of school, I lifted my nose in the air and sniffed. It was faint, but I caught the scent of my mate. Following it to a small two story house, I knocked on the door, more nervous than I had ever been in my life. When I saw the woman who opened the door I knew I had the right house. With such a strong similarity, she could only be my mate’s mother. “Uh, hi, I came by to see your daughter. We met at school today and I was hoping I could talk to her,” I started to explain when the human woman suddenly opened the door wide with a bright grin.

“Oh, lovely. Come on in,” she said, waving me in. “Hey, Harry. It’s a friend of Brook’s,” she told a man who was sitting on the couch. Brook. Finally! My mate's name was Brook. “Now you wait right here, I’ll go get her.” Brook’s mother headed up a staircase to the second floor.

I recognized the man, Harry, from dinner the other night. He wasn’t high on the pack hierarchy. I had a feeling it was mainly due to the fact his mate was human. Dad didn’t care about whether our mates were humans or werewolves, but apparently Uncle Ryan did. Harry had an expression that was warring between confused and suspicious. He took a breath to speak when I heard Brook say, “Hey Dean.” It was a bright, cheery sound like she was happy to see me.

I watched her come down the stairs and tried hard not to smile like a fool. “Hey, I wanted to talk, but you left before we had the chance.”

Her mother laughed with a shake of her head. “Typical. Always on the go, this one,” she said, nodding at Brook with her chin. “Mike tells me all the time how she never seems to stay still.” I stared at her for a moment. Did she really just say what I thought she said? “Dean, is it?” She went on, but didn’t wait for me to answer. “You are the alpha’s guest, right? How are you settling in? How did you meet Brook? Did Mike introduce you? He’s such a sweet boy, taking time out of his day to make sure Brook feels at home.”

My jaw dropped, not even sure where to begin answering her questions. And again with Mike? What the hell was going on? Brook groaned, clearly embarrassed. I decided to just go along. “Uh, yeah, Mike introduced us, and we have Science together.” Harry and my mate gave each other a look, it had an uncomfortable, nervous air to it, and confirmed one thing. Brook’s mom had no idea who Mike really was and how he treated her daughter. The question though was why? I looked at Harry. No doubt he was the answer.

The anger started to set my blood on fire. I clenched my fists from doing something I might regret later when he finally spoke. “Nancy, why don’t we let them talk about whatever it is they have to talk, and we go watch that show you’ve been telling me about all week.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a project already in Science. Can you believe it? This early? It’s why he’s here,” Brook jumped in.

“You get everything ready,” Harry insisted to his mate. “I’ll get us some popcorn and take care of these two.”

He placed one hand on Brook’s shoulder and another one on mine. His grip tightened on my shoulder. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from pushing it off. As an alpha, his act of dominance rubbed me in all the wrong ways. Plus, I really wanted to punch him right in the face for allowing Brook to be hurt.

Once in the kitchen the Brook I was familiar with emerged. Her eyes narrowed at me. “This is against the rules. Tell him, Harry. He’s not supposed to be here.”

Rules? What is she talking about?

Harry glared at me. “Look, son…” He put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. “Mike and Brook agreed on this. He should’ve told you the rules when you joined in. No bruises on her face or where her mother can see them. No broken bones or anything that would get her hospitalized. Also, none of you should bother her in our home.”

Holy crap! This was insane. “Are you for real?”

Brook’s glare got even colder. “Of course, I’m for real. Even if I’m a mistake, I’m still a person.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I told her. How could she think that… well, I knew how she could think that. Hopefully, I could make her see how wrong she was as soon as I could get the chance. I turned to her stepdad. “You let him beat on her as long as he follows the rules, so what? Her mom doesn’t find out?”

He hesitated, glancing over at Brook. I took a step closer to him, my anger getting the better of me. Brook was suddenly in between us and her scent washed over me. The anger leaked from me and all I wanted to do was hold her, especially since I could see tears in her eyes, just waiting to fall. The only thing that stopped me was her furious expression. “Enough,” she demanded. “Just stop it, please! If you have a single decent bone in your body just stop. I don't know what you’re playing at, and I don't care. Go away, leave me and my family alone!”

Exactly like at school, Brook left before I could utter a word. It seemed I'd have to tie her to a chair for us to have an actual conversation.

“Why won’t you leave her alone?” Her stepdad said, his eyes turning a yellow-brown.

He’s angry? Funny. I growled at him, letting my wolf shine through my eyes. “Why aren’t you protecting her? She’s your mate’s daughter!”

“I have no choice. Alpha Ryan ordered me to not take any actions against his son. Like you care. You’re just here to hurt her like the rest so do-"

I had him against the wall, my face inches from his before I’d realized I moved. “I would never hurt her! Don’t you ever say that I would!”

His eyes widened with surprise. “I thought…” He glanced at where Brook had gone then back to me. “Is she…?” Understanding shone in his eyes.

“Yes, she’s mine,” I replied. It felt good to finally say the words. I backed off him.

“Then you do something,” he shot back at me. “You could take her out of here tonight. End this damn nightmare for her once and for all.”

My stomach twisted. I wanted to, God did I want to, but I couldn’t. Not while I pretended to be my younger brother, Dean. The other packs needed more than Mike bullying a human girl as proof the Black Mountain pack needed a new alpha. If I wanted to stop my uncle’s reign of terror I needed everything I could find. With shame, I glanced at the floor. “I can’t. At least, not yet. My pack needs me here and playing nice with my uncle.”

The hope that was in Harry’s eyes died and he shook his head. “Right. Of course, then do her a favor - leave her alone.”

“You can’t keep me from my mate,” I growled at him. The alpha in me couldn’t ignore the challenge in his tone.

“I’m not,” he said more meekly. “But if you can’t claim her then leave her be. She's dealing with enough without adding a power-play between packs. Plus, I don’t think she likes you very much.”

I flinched. That, while potentially true, was below the belt. “Because she doesn’t know me. Between Mike and School, I haven’t had the chance to talk to her. All I want is to talk.”

Harry sighed, taking the popcorn out of the microwave. “Okay, if all you want to do is talk you can go up. But word of advice, reel it in a bit, kid. She doesn’t trust our kind much, for obvious reasons. If you go all possessive on her, it won’t end well for you. She’s upstairs, third door to the right.”

“Thanks,” I said, actually appreciative he was not only giving me a chance to talk to her, but for the advice too. With a deep breath, I went upstairs.

I knocked on the door and a moment later she opened the door. Brook’s eyes widened with shock. “What are you still doing here?”

“We haven’t yet had a chance to have that talk,” I told her, leaning on the door frame.

“But Harry-” She looked confused, even glancing down the hall for something.

“He and I came to an understanding.” I offered her a smile. She looked at me as if I’d grown a second head.

“Understanding? Did you threaten him?”

The smile fell from my face. She might as well have slapped me again. “Of course not! Look, Brook. Please, I just want to talk.”

She bit her lip as she looked up at me with indecision. Thank God, she didn’t refuse outright. After what felt like the world's longest minute, Brook took a step back to let me in. She sat on her bed, crossing her legs. “Why?”

“Why what?” I asked, walking into her room. It wasn’t a large room, but it was nice… for a girl’s room that is. She had stuffed animals everywhere, but also a lot of pictures too.

“Why go through all this trouble to talk to me, Missy Mistake? You werewolves don’t make any sense, I hope you know that.”

I grinned. I guess she had a point there. “There is a method to our chaos.” I stopped my walk around her room to look at one of the pictures. Unable to help myself, I picked it up for a closer look. A younger version of Brook sat with what had to be her dad in front of a huge cake with ten candles. They both had big grins on their faces. Her dad looked like someone my dad would’ve gotten along with.

“Don’t you dare,” Brook said, her voice angry and sharp. I looked over at her confused. “Say what you want about me, but don’t you dare badmouth my dad.”

I dejectedly set down the picture. “I wasn’t. The only thing I would say is you two look a lot alike. He seems pretty cool.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Brook, I know it didn’t look like it yesterday, but I’m not like Mike. I don’t enjoy making a show of how badass I am by picking on those weaker than me.”

“You’re right. It didn’t look like it,” she snapped and it took all I could to not flinch.

I ran my hand through my hair again, disappointed that she was right. “I’m not my own person right now. I have to stay on Mike and his dad’s good side. There is too much riding on my stay here. If I could have done what I wanted then yesterday would’ve gone a lot differently. I promise you.”

Her brows furrowed as she looked at me for a long moment before her posture relaxed and she shrugged. “Okay, well in that case you really shouldn’t be here. Mike doesn’t want anyone talking to me. The dude would seriously have kittens.”

“Some things are worth the risk.”

Again, she looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “And there you go right back into what the hell does that mean territory. Dean, can you not talk in riddles?”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to,” I said with a wince. How could I explain this without freaking her out? “It’s just…” I scratched the back of my head. Damn, this was hard.

Suddenly she got a look of understanding on her face. “Ah, werewolf stuff and it’s none of my business.”

No! Not that at all.

“Look, do what you got to do Dean, just keep me and my family out of it,” she said.

I hated that she called me Dean. I wanted to hear her say my name. Also, she wasn’t understanding me at all. Well, there would be a time to explain all of that. For now, at least we were talking. “So your mom knows nothing about Mike and this whole Missy mistake thing?”

She shook her head.

“Why?”

“Mom took my dad’s death hard and Harry made her happy again. I don’t want that to change,” she explained.

Man, that was… she was amazing! But damn. “Wow, that’s pretty awesome you’re willing to do that for her,” I said “But what about you? I don’t think she would like what her happiness is costing you. ”

She looked down at her hands, the guilt obvious then looked back up at me, now determined. “You don’t understand. She was so broken when Dad died. If she knew… I can’t… she could break again and I know this time I’d lose her for sure. Look, I won’t get in your way of what you have to do. Please don’t get in mine. It’s not your problem.”

“Yes, it is. You’re —” I started to say and she looked at me expectantly. God, I wanted to tell her so badly, but I didn’t think she was ready so instead, I said, “You need to think about yourself, Brook. You can’t live like this forever. One day Mike will go too far. Hell, I’m surprised he hasn’t already.”

Her lips pressed tightly as she looked at me. “Okay,” she said, holding up her hands. “I tried to be nice, now I’ll be blunt. I’m not your friend nor are you mine. I’m not your good deed of the month. I can take care of myself, and have been for a long time. I got a plan so I don’t need your help nor do I want it. What I want is you to leave. I got a lot of homework.”

Man, never in my life had I wanted to scream so much. Why wouldn’t she at least let me help her? Maybe, I just needed to give her some time to see that I was real. “Alright, but this isn't over. What’s happening to you is wrong and I’m going to fix it. I promise.” Before Brook could say anything I left. She needed time, fine. I would give her time, but I wasn’t going to let Mike keep hurting her.