FOR YOU

The Alpha's Confusion

EDWARD'S POV

'Why did I do that? What does it matter to me if another guy touches her? Why did I even say that last sentence? I could have just left without saying a word. When did I start meddling in things that don't concern me? I'm so stupid.' The thought burned in my mind like a hot coal as I walked toward the classroom.

​"I don't like you. And even if I did, you're not the one meant for me." Her words echoed in my brain, no matter how hard I tried to shove them into the back of my mind. They just wouldn't stop surfacing.

​I unlocked my phone and fixed my eyes on it, trying to think about something else as I walked to class, but it was no use. There was nothing to watch that would keep me from thinking about my stepsister. I could have chosen to reply to the unread messages, but they were unread for a reason.

​Then, just a few feet from the classroom door, something—or rather, someone—caught my attention. She was tall—and when I say tall, I mean tall, at least 6'0" or 6'1" at most. A redhead, with a pointed nose and slender thighs. Her red hair bounced with every step and every move. I was completely captivated by what I saw. My mind went completely blank, except for the sight before me, and my lips were slightly parted.

​Another werewolf. The redhead had a common werewolf scent. She was a werewolf. And since I was entirely taken with her physical appearance, she might be my mate. But apart from the common scent we all share, I didn't get any other scent from her. That doesn't count, right? She might still be my ma...

​'She is not our mate!' a stark, cold, and slightly forgotten voice said to me inwardly. Ed, my wolf, who had decided not to interfere in my daily life unless it concerned him, interrupted my thoughts. My wolf, who had decided to take my short name on the day I first shifted, startled me with his words. My wolf, whom I knew to be colder and more independent than I am, growled.

​I could go a week without my wolf saying a word to me, and I wouldn't say a word to him, either. But today, he chose to interfere. His words made me stop focusing on the startle his interruption caused and instead focus on the words themselves.

​She is not my mate. 'Then who the hell is my mate?' I said, and he replied with just one word: 'Her'. Ed, with his confusing choice of words. Who the hell is she? Didn't he notice how many ladies were passing by or giggling at me?

​'Ed, for once, can you just speak normally? You can't start with, 'I will use your short name because I want to'. I know you do whatever you want, but please, just this once, behave like a normal wolf and specify who my mate is. I will doubt your answer anyway, because apart from that lady, every other person here is a human,' I muttered back to Ed, still standing in the same spot where I first saw the redhead. He repeated the same word: "Her."

​"For goodness' sake!" I blurted out. A flicker of frustration passed through me. I didn't even realise my elbow had hit the person standing beside me. My left hand brushed through my hair, and as I tried to put my arm back down, my fisted hand caused my elbow to hit the person, who turned out to be Chloe.

​Now, I was back to the thought I had tried so hard to forget. I stared at her without saying a word at first, as she placed her hand on her jaw, which my elbow had hit. Eventually, I found my voice—in fact, I found the right words—until my third sentence or question made everything awkward again. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were that close to me. But what were you doing standing so close behind me?"

​Chloe sent me a scorching glare before she replied with a question instead of an answer: "What were you still doing in the hallway?"

​"You left the car park two minutes ago. I didn't expect you to be here now. Also, who are you cursing at? You're not on a call, and there's no one you're talking to. Or perhaps you're cursing the innocent ladies who, I've recently noticed, have bad taste in men?" she said, her hand still on her jaw, her eyes moving to the ladies who were still giggling and blushing at me.

​And somehow, a very weird thought passed through my mind. A thought that had no reasonable explanation for how it dared to cross my mind. A thought that made me chuckle, and I didn't even realise I was doing it until Chloe pointed it out—or, more accurately, she said it with a hint of disgust.

​"Are you enjoying the fact that ladies are following you like flies? Or are you actually tired of them and you just don't want to hurt their feelings by telling them to stay away from you? Well, if it's the latter, I can help you out."

​"Help me out?" I repeated, stunned by where her speech was leading. But then I remembered what my elbow had done to her jaw. "Are you okay?" I asked, my face showing all the effort I could muster to indicate that I really cared and meant what I asked. My hand was now on the hand she had placed on her jaw.

​"Let me see," I muttered to her, and she slowly lowered her hand for me to see the extent of the damage my elbow had caused. Luckily, it was only slightly swollen and red, but seeing this made me hiss in anger. I should have been more careful, I said to myself.

​"I'm fine. You shouldn't feel guilty. I'm to blame for this. I shouldn't have been so close to you. But it feels nice to know that you feel an emotion," she said slyly. I guessed my forehead must have creased, which was a surprise to me.

​"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked again. Now I knew this wasn't me. Why was I so concerned about her? She said she was fine; shouldn't I just drop it?

​"Ed, I'm fine. Really."

​She called me Ed. My wolf's name, or the short form of my name. The two letters rolled off her tongue sweetly, her tongue making contact with her upper lip, somehow making her cheek rounded, and her lips curved upward, giving me a smile.

​"So, should I help you out?" she asked, breaking my attention from her face to the girls she was talking about. She really meant what she was saying. But what was it to her? Maybe she wanted to repay the kindness I showed her earlier.

​"Do whatever you want to them," I said as I folded my arms across my chest, waiting patiently to see what she would do. I wanted to know how she would talk to them and what she would say. I could see her smile as she walked towards the ladies, but just a few feet from them, she turned back and increased her pace as she walked toward me.

​"What?" I asked her, my lips curving upward slightly, my eyes amused as to why she was back here instead of in front of those ladies. I unfolded my arms, and she unexpectedly grabbed one of them and pulled it as she walked back to the girls. I could see she was using a lot of force to pull me, but I made it easier for her by not resisting, and she slowly reduced the amount of strength she was using.

​Oh, crap!

​She got to the ladies and released my hand from hers. "Hello, ladies," she said. "I'm here on behalf of my brother. He's a shy guy, so don't mind his body—it's quite deceiving. But he asked me to tell you that he has no interest in you. He already has a girlfriend, and I think it's kind of creepy to look at someone the way you do," she said, and I smiled widely.

​Yes, I smiled, and I knew it. My stepsister was just hilarious. What did she just say? I have a girlfriend? Did I have a girlfriend that I didn't know about? And I'm shy? Shy? The Alpha of an entire pack is shy? Should I just tell her that I could never be shy? Never. But what she did was amazing and funny.

Before anything else could happen, the school bell rang, signalling the start of the class session. The ladies scurried away, leaving Chloe and I as the only people in the hallway who were not running to class. We stood there, looking at each other.

​"Simple, right?" she said as she folded her arms, and I just looked at her. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off her, and I noticed that she didn't mind, either, as she looked into my brown eyes. She liked them. She had shown her interest in my eyes the first time we met, and she was still in love with them. As if her own blue eyes weren't beautiful enough.

​"What are you two still doing in the blasted hallway? Didn't you hear the bell ring?" a teacher's voice called out, and we broke the moment and walked toward the classroom.

​As we entered the classroom, I saw her, the redhead, and now I saw that she had freckles. If guys are still enchanted by seeing the little distinct spot on a lady face, I bet I would also.

​'Ed, are you sure this lady here is not my mate? Our mate?' I asked him, and Ed growled angrily. "What? I'm just asking. You might be more docile than you think. Maybe you can't even identify our mate anymore," I said to him in my mind.

​"I said our mate is her, not her!" he growled aggressively. Who the hell is she? Her? He said 'her' when I didn't know Chloe was behind me before I hit her, and now Chloe is standing beside the redhead. I hoped the 'her' he meant wasn't Chloe. Chloe is a bloody human. How could she be my mate?

​'You do like her. If not, tell me why you interfered when the other guy touched her and why you are still standing there looking at her instead of going to your seat,' Ed said.

​"I did that because she's my stepsister."

​"You touched her because she's your stepsister, too?"

​Now, I was mute.