Chapter 4

I hear Alice’s muffled from behind Vedant. “Move. She had no right to get in the middle of my fight. She will pay for what she’s done.”

Vedant doesn’t move. “Look around. Training is over. You can’t hurt them.”

Alice steps around Vedant letting out a huff. “They are weak, inferior. They don’t deserve respect. They deserve to be put in their place.”

I gasp as a sense the wave of Alpha Power hit the air. This time though, it isn’t directed at me. My mouth falls open when I realize what’s happening, Vedant is defending me.

Vedant’s voice is low, his face cold. “You will not disrespect pack members this way.”

Alice’s eyes are full of rage as her head lowers, powerless against Vedant’s Alpha power. I can tell by the look in her eye that this won’t be the end of her torment, but for now she has no choice to back down.

I breathe a sigh of relief as Alice turns and stalks off the training field. I look at Vedant in awe. He hadn’t helped me this morning, but it was possible he had a change of heart.

Is it possible that somewhere deep down inside him there’s still the kid who used to be my best friend? I look at him again and allow myself to hope that the boy who had been so kind to me, so gentle, is coming back.

I think about how quickly he moved to get between me and Alice, and how he put his own feelings about me aside, to help Lynn and me. That is the quality of a leader. Maybe Vedant won’t be a horrible Alpha after all.

He turns and begins to walk off the field and I jog to keep up with him. I had lost hope that me and Vedant could ever be friends again, but now I’m not so sure. I should at least show him some gratitude.

“Wait.”

He pauses just inside the entrance to the school, not looking in my direction.

“I just wanted to say thank you for helping me back there. Who knows how far Alice would have taken things if you hadn’t stepped in.”

Vedant turns to look at me and my heart stutters as I take in the cruel look in his eyes. My hope that the boy I used to care for was still somewhere inside him vanishes. There is no kindness in his dark eyes, only hate.

He sneers. “Do you really think I stopped Alice to help you?”

He takes a step into my space. “Don’t flatter yourself. I stopped Alice because she would have killed you and that is a mercy you don’t deserve.”

I can’t help the frightened gasp that escapes my lips. I look around, horrified to see that we are the only two people left in the building.

“I stopped Alice because I want you to spend every day of the rest of your life in living hell for what you did. I will not rest until you have endured every ounce of pain I have felt since the day I lost my brother, and I will make sure that I personally carry out that torture.”

My pulse spikes at the threat, my eyes darting to the side looking for a means of escape. Finding none I look back at Vedant, trying to hide my panic. My eyes meet his and I can tell that he means every word that just left his mouth.

Despite my effort, tears begin to roll down my cheeks. The intensity of the hatred from this boy who I had once cherished so deeply shatters my heart into a million pieces.

Vedant moves forward and the breath is forced out of my lungs as he presses me into the wall of lockers with a growl. “A bitch like you doesn’t get to cry, not after you lured my brother into the woods to die at the hands of that rogue.”

“I-”

He cuts me off. “You are the reason my brother is dead. You are the reason my mother followed him to the grave not long after. Her heart couldn’t take the pain.”

After Owen’s murder, rumors started to circulate saying that I had purposely lured Owen into the woods to be killed by the rogue. I don’t know who started them, or how they were able to convince Vedant that they were true, but it wasn’t long after that that the bullying started.

“Vedant, I’m not. I didn’t-”

“If you didn’t plan his death, then explain why the rogue spared you.”

“I-I can’t.”

Vedant’s grip on my collar tightens, and I flinch. “Vedant please. I swear to you I never lured Owen anywhere. He was the one who invited me to the woods that night.”

“And why would he do that?” Vedant growls.

“To confess his feelings. He told me he l-”

Vedant interrupts me with another growl, a cruel look disfiguring his handsome features. “Liar! Owen would never fall for someone as ugly as you. I feel sorry for whoever your future mate ends up being.”

Tears continue to stream down my face. “Vedant please… let me go.”

Vedant shifts to position me in front of an open locker and then pushes me inside before finally releasing his grip on my shirt. “You shouldn’t have provoked me,” he says before slamming the door shut.

Panic floods my system at the sudden lack of light. I do my best to peak through the small cracks in the locker but all I can see is darkness. I bang on the locker, ignoring the pain that shoots across my knuckles as I do so.

I take a deep breath and then scream as loud as I can. “Vedant! Let me out! Vedant!” I beat harder on the door, but it doesn’t give. “Vedant!”

I hear his cold voice from just outside. “This is what you deserve. I want you to feel every bit of the pain my brother must have felt in the moments before his death.”

I scream again, this time hoping that someone, anyone else will hear me, but it’s hopeless. After a moment, I remember the phone in my pocket. I take it out and tap the screen, sighing with relief at the light it gives.

My relief is temporary though when I see Felix’s last message on my screen. We had planned to both get online to celebrate my birthday together at one. If Vedant wasn’t going to let me out, I would very likely be stuck in this locker until tomorrow morning.

I bang one more time on the door, hard, but when I get no response, I sigh and begin taping out a message.

Iris: Something came up. I’m going to try to make it online for the celebration tonight, but if I’m not online by one don’t wait up.

My finger hesitates for a second over the send button. This had been the one thing I had been looking forward to and now I was going to spend the night stuck in a locker. I take a deep breath, and press send.

The moment I do I hear a chime from outside the locker.