Fated To My Campus Bully

TALIA~ "Finally, I'm sixteen," I mumbled inwardly with relish, unable to stop the excitement bubbling inside me. I was happy that I had officially reached the age when I could finally find my fated mate. At least, if not for anything else, I would finally stop getting bullied. My fated mate would protect me from my bullies, especially Jasper, the spoiled rich campus kid and future Alpha of the Nightshade Pack. My name is Talia, and I'm from the Silvermane Pack, a pack considered to be the weakest among the werewolf clans when it comes to economy. I came from a very poor family as well. Or should I say, an irresponsible family? My mother was a single mom who raised me alone. According to her, after my father found out about my gender during the pregnancy, he was so disappointed that he asked her to get rid of me, but my mom refused. That eventually caused their separation. To make matters worse, my father had marked her before the rejection. Normally, when a man marks his fated mate before rejecting her, the woman usually finds it difficult to have another mate because the mark scares away everyone interested in her. Because of this, my mom had never been herself. Out of frustration and depression, she started drinking, and that had been her life ever since. Often, she would get so drunk that she would end up sleeping in a gutter. She had also grown to hate me, claiming that my existence had brought bad luck into her life. I was still making my bed when she suddenly swung the door open, immediately drawing my attention. "Are you just waking up?" she asked with a disdainful glare. "You better hurry up and prepare my breakfast." With that, she banged the door shut and left. I took a deep breath, trying my best not to let my emotions weigh me down. Quickly, I left for the kitchen. To my surprise, I was still in the hallway when I caught sight of my mother with a man. He was kissing her and fumbling with her breasts in the sitting room. For a moment, I froze, and a chill ran down my spine. This was also part of the problem. She would always come home with random men and have s*x with them without considering my presence. I simply looked away and proceeded to the kitchen. After preparing her food, I served it at the dining table and left for school. After the school bus dropped me off, I was walking down the hallway when I bumped into my friend, Maya, and her two friends. "Happy birthday, girl!" they screamed at the same time, startling me. "You scared me, Maya," I said, exhaling deeply as I placed a hand over my chest. "We're so sorry," she said, giggling. "We were just excited, just as you should be." "Congratulations on turning sixteen," she added with a bright smile. "I want you to come over today after school. My parents have something special planned for you." Maya's parents were the Alpha and Luna of our pack here in the Silvermane Pack. Here, our school was more like a college campus, with members from four different packs coming to our territory for lessons, including members of the Nightshade Pack. Most of them lived in the dormitories. "What do you have to say about my request?" Maya continued, her eyes filled with expectation. "Well..." I let out a sigh. "I would really love to come, but you know I have so much work to do after school." She swallowed hard. "If you want, I can inform Kellan to come and pick you up after work," she suggested. "Maybe you can even spend the night with us." I let out an exasperated sigh and thought about it for a while. As much as I wanted to accept her invitation, I knew the amount of work waiting for me at home. "Let's leave it until tomorrow. I won't be as busy as I am today." Without arguing further, she simply nodded. "It's fine. Let's go. We're almost late to class," she said, and we began making our way there. Halfway through the passageway, I suddenly felt something wet and stinky hit my face. I froze. What the hell? Slowly, I wiped some of the disgusting substance from my face, my heart pounding as the horrible smell filled my nose. I looked up, and that was when I saw him. Jasper was hanging from the roof above us. Before I could even process what he was doing, he let go and landed on the ground, looking completely pleased with himself. “Just my birthday gift to you,” he said with a satisfied smile. He dusted his hands and continued, “Not that I cared enough about you to count the days until your birthday. I only saw it on the official class group.” He paused for a few seconds before putting on a pitiful expression. “I know you haven't received any birthday gifts yet, not even on your previous birthdays, but I'm ready to break that curse.” “Jasper, you should stop...” Maya tried to intervene, but he quickly cut her off. “I’m not talking to you. You should respect yourself.” He dismissed her with a wave of his hand before turning his attention back to me. “If you kneel down right now and lick my shoes, maybe I’ll consider giving you some money to spoil yourself on your birthday.” His words cut deeper than I wanted to admit. Heat rushed to my face as humiliation burned through me, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me hurt. I tightened my grip on my bag and forced myself to remain calm. “I’m okay with what I have, Jasper.” I knew I had to leave before the situation escalates into something worse. Without waiting for another insult, I walked past him. Maya and her two friends quickly followed me. “I’m really sorry he keeps treating you this way,” Maya said worriedly. “I’ll tell Kellan about this. I know he’ll deal with him.” “No, please don't,” I interrupted quickly. There was no doubt in my mind that Kellan could beat Jasper. Jasper wasn't strong at all. Even some of the girls in our department could probably defeat him without much effort. The only reason everyone tolerates his behavior is because of his family's influence. “Have you forgotten the deal between the Silvermane Pack and the Nightshade Pack?” I asked, glancing at Maya. I didn't want to become the reason the Nightshade Pack would withdraw their support from ours. I was certain even our Alpha wouldn't forgive me for that, no matter how innocent I was. Ten years ago, a war had destroyed our lands and left the soil infertile. Since then, the Nightshade Pack had been our main source of food. Offending their Alpha was the last thing anyone from the Silvermane Pack would dare to do. We eventually walked into the classroom, and shortly after, Ms. Freya entered. Everyone immediately settled down and composed themselves. She walked to the board and began writing after exchanging greetings with us. A few minutes later, Jasper sneaked into the classroom as if he hadn't been causing trouble just moments earlier. We were in the same department, and I had to admit, he was the most unserious student I'd ever met. Unfortunately, he was also annoyingly brilliant. Not long after he settled into his seat, I felt a foot kick the back of my legs. I didn't even need to look. I knew it was Jasper because his seat was directly behind mine. I decided to ignore him and shifted my legs somewhere I thought his feet couldn't reach. But he simply adjusted his position and continued kicking me. I clenched my jaw and tried my best to endure it. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore, and my wolf growled inside me. The sound immediately caught Ms. Freya's attention. She turned around. “Who did that?” Almost instantly, the entire class pointed at me. My heart sank. “What is the problem?” Ms. Freya asked, giving me a stern look. “Nothing, Ma’am. It wasn't intentional,” I replied quietly. I didn't want to start an argument with Jasper in front of everyone. Besides, I knew he would deny everything if I told Ms. Freya what he had been doing. Ms. Freya stared at me for a moment before turning back to the board. I thought it was over, but Jasper started kicking the back of my legs again. I squeezed my hands into fists beneath my desk, trying desperately to control my anger. How could someone be this cruel for no reason? Finally, I couldn't keep quiet anymore. “Ma’am,” I called out, raising my hand. “He’s ...” “Don’t mind her, Ma’am,” Jasper interrupted. I turned around and glared at him in shock. He continued, “She has been disturbing me, telling me she likes me, but I've been avoiding her.” My eyes widened in disbelief. “That’s not true, Ma’am! He was kicking my legs. " I tried to defend myself, but it was already too late. It seemed Ms. Freya had believed her. After all, she was from the same pack with him. Jasper continued. “Everyone heard her growl right inside the class just to show me how desperately her wolf wants me, but I still didn't accept her. Now she's resorted to blackmailing me.” My face burned. Anger and embarrassment twisted painfully inside me. How could he lie so easily? Ms. Freya looked at me with clear annoyance. “Talia, you should leave the class."