Stand or Fall
1149 Words
✓✓✓✓✓✓✓ CHAPTER 4 ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
AIDEN CROWL
I had to do it!
I knew something was wrong the second I walked into school the next morning.
Everyone was too quiet. Too stiff. Whispers flew like paper planes through the halls, and heads kept turning toward me, then quickly looking away.
That’s how I knew.
Something happened last night…
Something bad…
Again!
It wasn't bad to know who to hold responsible.
Holy s**t!
I stormed through the halls, straight toward the locker room, heart racing, fists clenched. And when I found Jace and Tyler sitting on the benches, laughing like they just won a damn lottery, I didn’t even wait.
“You two wanna tell me what the hell you did last night?” I snapped.
Tyler looked up like he hadn’t heard me right. “Good morning, fearless leader. You look so fired up today. What is your wolf up to today?”
“Don’t start with me,” I growled. “Talk now. Don't even lie to me,” I warned.
Jace shrugged. “Just a little… recon.”
“Recon?” I repeated. “Don’t play stupid.”
“We visited the Orans’ holding block. Just paid a friendly visit to build bonds”
“You attacked their men.”
Tyler smirked. “They had it coming.”
“Are you insane?” I snapped. “You think you can just sneak into their base, beat up their guards, and walk away like it’s nothing?”
“We didn’t walk,” Jace said. “We ran. There's a big difference, man.”
I lost it at once.
“You idiots could have started a war!”
Jace stood up, chest puffed. “You keep saying that like we’re not already in one. The only person who doesn’t seem to get it is you.”
“You attacked them without my say,” I said. “You went behind my back. That's betrayal!”
“Betrayal? Come on, Aiden. You should know better. You weren’t gonna do anything,” Tyler muttered. “So we did. That's bravery, not betrayal”
I stared at them. My own pack. My own people. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t recognize them.
Then the double doors slammed open.
And she walked in.
Liora.
Sharp eyes, fire in her voice, and she was not alone… four of her people flanked her, looking silent but dangerous.
I could sense war…
And I wasn't sure if I was ready for it.
I'm never ready when she's around.
“You.” Her voice cut through the room like a blade. “Where are they?”
Her eyes locked on Jace and Tyler.
Neither of them flinched.
“You think you can beat up two of my men and expect it to go unanswered?” she hissed.
Tyler stood. “Go unanswered? What do you have in your locker, girl? What are you gonna do? File a complaint? Or scratch us with those fancy but weak vampire nails?”
Jace laughed. “Better yet, hiss at us.”
Liora stepped forward. Her people moved with her.
And then I did something I didn’t think I’d do.
I stepped in front of my boys.
Not to defend them.
Not because I agreed with them.
But because I was still their Alpha. And I wasn’t going to show weakness. Not here. Not in front of them. Not in front of her.
“Back off,” I said.
Liora stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened… for just a second.
It felt like she didn’t expect that from me…
Like she didn’t expect me to be the one standing in her way.
Her lips parted, but she caught herself. She stood taller, colder, sharper.
“I thought you had sense, Aiden,” she said. “I thought you were different.”
“Guess I’m not,” I said.
She blinked. Just once. Then smiled, but it wasn’t kind.
“Oh, so you’re with them now?”
“I am them. You forget who I am.”
“Good,” she said. “Then I won’t feel bad breaking your jaw.”
My guys chuckled behind me.
Tyler muttered, “She’s got fire. I’ll give her that.”
Jace added, “Let her try.”
Liora’s people tensed.
So did mine.
My heart was thudding in my chest.
“Touch us,” I said, staring at her, “and see what happens.”
She tilted her head. “You sure you want this fight?”
“Are you?”
The silence stretched like a rope about to snap.
Then the door opened again.
“ENOUGH!”
It was Principal Varell.
He looked old, angry, and sick of all of us.
“Outside. Now.” he barked.
Everyone froze.
“VAMPIRES. WOLVES. I don’t care. You bring your nonsense into my school one more time and I’ll have every one of you expelled and locked up for supernatural misconduct. Is that clear?”
No one spoke.
“IS THAT CLEAR?!”
“Yes, sir,” we all muttered.
He looked at me, then at Liora.
“Your men are suspended,” he told me.
“What?” I snapped.
“Two weeks. Fighting. Trespassing. Endangering another faction’s territory.”
“Principal”
“Don’t argue with me, Crowl.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
“And you,” he said to Liora, “you’re lucky. You walk away today.”
“I don’t feel lucky,” she muttered.
“Out. All of you.”
They left first. Liora brushing past me like I wasn’t even there.
I watched her go…
Watched her hair swing like it had something to say.
Watched her people keep formation like a unit ready for war.
Then I looked at Jace and Tyler.
“You’re suspended,” I muttered.
They didn’t even look guilty.
Tyler shrugged. “Worth it.”
Jace leaned closer. “She thinks you’re soft. We had to remind her who you are.”
I didn’t answer.
Because they weren’t wrong.
And that made me angrier than anything.
I found her behind the gym during lunch.
Alone.
She didn’t even flinch when I approached.
“You surprised me back there,” she said without turning around.
“You too,” I said.
She turned.
“Tell me one thing,” she said.
“What?”
“Was it all an act? Everything? All those nights under the tunnel light? All that talk about being different?”
“No,” I said.
“But you stood with them.”
“So did you.”
She nodded. “I see.”
“You want a fight, Liora?” I asked. “Then fight.”
She didn’t back down. “Say that again.”
“I dare you.”
- Writer
