The Alphas and The Orphan

They are being so weird

ALEXEI

Lunch is in 10 minutes. Thanks to the goddess, both of my brothers had classes with Star this morning. It’s not fair, I have Art and training with her this afternoon, but it’s a long time between this morning and lunch. Come on, stupid bell.

I still can’t believe she punched Charlotte. That was awesome, stupid sl.ut. I bet she would run to daddy, crying and demanding he do something.

That was some punch, though her stance and follow-through were perfect, Charlotte's nose exploded. And there is the bell at last. I shot out of my seat and rushed to the cafeteria; we had decided we would have to find a way to sit with Star at lunch. Our Beta and Gamma, and, of course, their mates, know that Star is our mate, so they will follow our lead and help us out.

I am hiding in the corner waiting for Star to join the queue. As soon as she does, I slot in behind her. She gives me a side-eye, but ignores me. Come on Alexei, start a conversation. Why am I so fu.cking nervous?

She starts putting things on her tray: an apple, a bottle of water, a bread roll and a side salad. She is definitely eating more than that, I pick up a bowl of carbonara and 2 slices of garlic bread and put them on her tray.

"Hey, what are you doing, Alexei Ravenwood?"

Goddess, I love hearing her say my name. "Mum is worried that you have lost weight. She said she had to give you a smaller uniform at our party, so we have to make sure you get enough to eat."

She looked a little sad for a second, before sighing. "That’s all well and good, Alpha, but some of us are on a budget. I can’t afford this, Lex."

I hated the sad look in her eyes, so I added a huge piece of chocolate cake to each of our trays, "Here's the deal Star. If I put the food on, then I will pay for it, so stop your bit.ching, fairy-girl, mum said she can’t get uniforms any smaller, and you are her best server, so if you want to keep her happy, eat the food."

She opens her mouth, then closes it. I can see she is trying to think of an excuse. Then her shoulders drop and she breaks my heart.

"I don’t want people to think I am your next rank bunny. Lex, I don't want to see that disgusted look in their eyes when they look at me."

Fu.ck, what do I say? I have to think, I could really offend her if I got this wrong. And she will reject us. OK, here goes nothing. "Fairy-girl, no one would ever think that you or your friends would ever stoop to being rank bunnies, OK?"

I said it again in my head, making sure I didn’t call her fat or something, no I think I am good. "Then why are you all acting so weird? I mean, Ashton actually spanked my a.ss earlier."

Oh, sh.it, I should have known that would bite me in the a.ss. Sorry bro, but you are going under the bus, both wheels. "You know, Ashton, he has trouble talking to ladies. He only knows how to behave with who.res."

She gives me more side-eye, but thankfully, we are at the register. I point to both trays and pay, and we move away from the counter. My brothers and all of our friends are sitting with a very confused Maxine and Suzie. I sat down, leaving the only seat between me and Ace. I heard Star sigh and sit down. "OK, guys, what the f**k is going on? You have NEVER sat with us; I mean, look at poor Suzie. She is gonna have a heart attack at being so close to the popular kids, and you are seriously damaging Max’s street cred." I grinned as both of her friends flipped her off.

Sophia speaks up, "Well, it’s kind of my fault, I really hated Charlotte as soon as I met her, and thought she might cause a scene, but as you punched the cr.ap out of her, I thought she would stay clear, as I am obviously the most popular person in the group so these losers followed me, perfect punch by the way. I have seen loads of people acting it out."

Ace sends her a withering glance. Oliver, one of our warriors/friends (maybe ex-friend if he is not careful), pipes up. "Actually Star, I was going to catch you later; I got completely lost in math today. I swear, Mr Stevens was speaking a made-up language. How would you feel about tutoring me again this term? I’ll pay, of course, and maybe we could grab some dinner in town?"

Ace growls at him, what the fu.ck is wrong with us. I see Maxine staring at me, then Star, then Ace and Ashton, then back at Star, I see the cogs going around in her head, then her eyes widen in understanding. I shake my head and mind-ink her. "No" she looks at me and smirks.

"She is your mother fu.cking mate, isn’t she?" I gave her a look. "Yes, but we want her to experience it on her birthday. We just need to be close and keep her safe. Another bruise, like today, and someone is dying."

She nods just a touch, then I see anger flair in her eyes "Her fu.cking family is a bunch of as.sholes. I will keep the secret, but you guys need to back off a bit. If I can work it out, so can she. I take it you are accepting her?" I gave her a duh look. "Of course we are. Who would reject Star? A crazy person, that’s who."

She smiles and nods at me. While we were having our conversation, I missed Star’s response to Oliver's invitation to dinner. It must have been a 'no' though, because Ace looks quite relaxed, he and Star are talking about an English assignment they had given them for the term,

"You have a free period after training today, right? Do you want to meet in the library and see what author we can use?" She nods slightly and frowns "But you normally pair up with Oliver, don’t you?" Olly's head pops up, Ace obviously mind-linking him. cause he looks sad and sighs.

"Yeah, but Mrs Thompson said we should try different partners. We barely passed last term’s assignment. And let’s face it, you are top of the class, so you could seriously help. We can’t have one of the Alphas failing English, right?"

She smiles shyly and agrees to meet him later. Sh.it I need an assignment to work on with her.

Lunch is over, and as we all get up, Ace turns to Star. "Wanna walk to history with me?"

"I need to go past my locker first."

"Me too, let’s go."

And he walks out with my girl.