4.
1852 Words
Chapter 4
RINI POV
I had the distinct feeling I was being watched. No. No watched. Stalked.
Because of course I was. Why the hell did I even get out of bed today? Oh that’s right, because three assholes forced me to.
Being the only human in a shifter colony I was used to being stared at, but this felt different. The energy in the air was charged…. Angry.
I forced myself to ignore my instinct to run and remain calm. Prey ran and I would not be prey.
To be honest I don’t think I could have run if I tried, my feet were killing me and I was almost certain my shoes were starting to fill with blood.
Let them take me. Put me out of this misery already.
“What in the f**k do you think you’re doing?”
I squealed in fright as I was suddenly stopped solid by Lyall’s face in front of mine.
“I’m walking to school.” I replied, because duh.
“You’re walking to school,” he repeated slowly.
“Um yes?”
“How stupid are you?” He snapped.
“Pitifully,” Rafe answered for me, pulling up in his fancy sports car.
“Pathetically,” Ralph agreed from the passenger seat.
God would the torment of today never end?!
“Look this has been real fun and all,” I said lightly. “But I’ve got 3 miles to go and I don’t want to miss first bell. I’ll see you around.”
I went to step around Lyall but found myself being lifted into his strong arms again.
It was CRAZY how effortlessly he carried me around. At a size 10 and 5 ft 4, I was not the teeny tiny princess that Lyall usually banged.
“Why the f**k would you be walking to school?” He growled.
“Sorry, am I in some alternate universe?” I asked. “How else am I getting to school? There’s no bus that runs through here, I don’t have a car and the wonder twins took the tyres off my bike.”
“You’re bleeding,” Lyall growled.
At first I thought I had gotten my period and he could smell it but then I remembered my throbbing feet and relaxed a little.
“Oh yeah, that happens,” I said waving it away. “I’ll check with the schools nurse if you ever put me down so I can get there.”
Lyall gave a brief glance to his cousins and without needing to do anything further they were in motion, moving into the backseat and leaving the front passenger door open.
Wait… they didn’t mean to DRIVE her to school did they?
“What are you doing?” I asked as Lyall deposited me into the passenger seat. He leant down to belt me in and I swear to god he sniffed me.
“Not too bright are you?” The twins asked.
“I really am dreaming,” I mused as Lyall got in the drivers side.
A sharp pain burst in my ear. “Ow what the hell?”
Ralph leant back again, obviously having been the culprit that pinched me.
“Did that feel real enough?”
“Look, I really would prefer if you just let me out and-“
“No.”
“But this it totally unnecessary, I was making really good time and it only hurts-“
“I said no!”
I shut my mouth at Lyall’s bark and turned to the front, deciding that if they were going to kidnap me then I was not going to acknowledge it or them.
They didn’t care. Conversation between the twins began effortlessly, Lyall sometimes adding a comment or two.
It was like we had done this every day for years with how at ease they were.
By the time we were a block from school I had never been more confused in my life.
“You can just let me out here.” I told Lyall, indicating the empty side street before the school. It was my way of saying thank you for the ride, removing the questions and hassle they would get when the other students saw me arrive with them.
Lyall ignored me and kept driving.
Seriously, what was going on today?
Silently he pulled up to the front of the school where he absolutely didn’t have a right to park.
“Well thanks for the ride.” I said briskly, aiming to get away as fast as I could before too many students gatherer.
Strong hands prevented me from getting out of the car.
I turned to Lyall with a raised brow but he wasn’t even looking at me.
“Come on Rabbit,” cooed Rafe, opening the door carefully door. “Let’s get you to the nurse.”
“I can get me to the nurse,” I replied, brushing his hand aside and pulling myself out of the car.
As soon as my feet hit the hard pavement an involuntary hiss left my lips.
That’s all it took, in the next moment Rafe had me in his arms and Ralph was picking up my book bag.
“Jesus Christ Rabbit, do you keep bricks in this thing?”
I didn’t bother telling him that the lockers were assigned to the elite in the school with the remaining ones available for purchase… I had no money so I brought every book with me.
“Oh my god is that Rini?”
“What do you think is going on?”
“Seems desperate to me, she’s such a loser.”
“They’re so good to her, I would have just left her in the gutter.”
The voices drifted over to me and soon they were overlapping as more students arrived.
God kill me now.
“Move.” Lyall barked and just like that the students parted like the Red Sea.
Oh to be that influential.
“You can put me down now,” I murmured to Rafe.
His arms tightened for a moment before a lazy smirk swept his face and he relaxed.
“Blind as well as deaf, huh? I said I would take you to the nurse and this isn’t it.”
“Where’s your locker and what’s the code?” Ralph asked, keeping perfect step with his brother.
I sighed. I bet he just wanted me to admit it out loud.
“I don’t have a locker, I have nothing to pay for it.”
He stared at me in confusion.
“What do you mean? Are you saying you carry this s**t around all day plus the walk each way?”
“That would be correct.”
All three of their jaws tightened but they didn’t comment on it.
Within minutes we were at the nurses station and after Lyall spoke to the administrator, Rafe transferred me into his arms and left with Ralph, neither of them looked back.
A tense silence filled the room.
“Um first bell is going to go soon,” I started. “I really don’t want to be late and get written up so I promise I’ll come back here at lunch.”
Lyall’s hands tightened around me. “No.”
“Lyall you cannot hold me hostage here ok? It’s really not so bad and I need to get all the credits I can so I can graduate and get the f**k out of here as humanly possible.”
A whip of violence coursed through the air at my words and I could swear Lyall’s eyes began to glow a bright amethyst.
He said nothing though and made no move to let go of me.
“God today sucks!” I murmured to myself.
Lyall snorted in reply to me not needing to speak as the nurse came out.
“Oh dear what an eventful morning you’ve had! Come come, let’s get you on the bed and I’ll look at you.”
Lyall refused to put me down, carrying me instead to the examination room and choosing to sit on the bed with me still in his arms.
Caveman much?
If the nurse found his behaviour as unhinged as I did, she showed no sign of it, instead just accommodating Lyall’s size as she examined me.
Weirdly my hand was healing at a way better rate than I thought and Nurse Lyn was confident that it wouldn’t blister and scar too deeply.
My feet on the other hand? Well s**t.
Nurse Lyn gasped in horror when she peeled my VERY bloody socks off to reveal my mangled feet.
“What did you do?” She gasped. “These cuts look infected already and you shouldn’t be walking on them at all! I’ll bet you were trekking though the forest and mud weren’t you?”
I was guilty as charged but didn’t want to give Lyall any satisfaction so I kept quiet.
“You’ll need new dressings, some antibiotics and rest,” she ordered. “We have a wheelchair you can use for the time being but absolutely no weight bearing in your feet for the next week, we can evaluate again after that.”
“A week?” I cried. “How am I meant to get to my room? To class? Back to the lodging?”
“Thank you nurse Lyn,” Lyall said smoothly, completely ignoring my meltdown. “I’ve got it from here.”
He dug into his pocket to grab his phone, casually sent out a text before shoving it back in and rising to his feet, me still in his arms.
I was in such a daze about the mornings events I wasn’t really aware of anything going on until the cool wind caressed my cheek and I realised he had walked us back outside.
An Omega I vaguely recognised from the lodgings was standing by a car, a VERY fancy wheelchair beside him and a small container in his hand.
“Peter,” Lyall said with a nod, gently depositing me into the wheelchair.
God it was actually comfortable. What sorcery was this?
“Open your mouth,” Lyall demanded in such a rough tone that I was mortified when I instantly got wet.
His nostrils flared and I wanted to die on the spot.
Peter cleared his throat, murmured a few words I couldn’t hear and then got back in his car.
“Don’t make me ask twice.”
Why? Are you going to spank me if I disobey?
As soon as the thoughts fluttered into my mind I wanted to reject them as hard as I possibly could. Good Christ what was going on today?
Rather than humiliate myself further I opened my mouth, not questioning how stupid it actually was to accept something from a guy I definitely didn’t trust and didn’t really like.
Lyall hummed deep in his throat as he placed two pills on my tongue.
“Swallow.” He ordered and goddamn me but I did.
“Good girl,” he purred again.
- Writer
