Feral

Everything happened in slow motion after that. Ariana knew a moment of sheer terror as she looked into the black eyes of Paul and Sam, realising what they intended to do to her, knowing she would never hug her Dad again, or mess up a cheer, or dance at homecoming. Admitting it was cowardly but unable to prevent herself from doing it anyway, Ariana closed her eyes, hoping they would at least knock her out before dragging her up into the woods.

The sound of someone else running through the water sickened Ariana further, and tears fell from her eyes, thinking it was Derek, having recovered from the kick to his balls, so when the brother’s grip on her vanished, it took a few moments for her to open her eyes.

The sight that greeted Ariana was like a scene from a movie. A figure dressed all in black was fighting the two brothers at the same time, making it look like he did it for a living. Muscles bunched up as her hero laid into Paul, turning at the last second as Sam launched himself at the attacker, trying to protect his brother, but he was met with a large fist to his jaw, and he fell to the ground, allowing Ariana to get her first glimpse of who was saving her.

Harsh grey eyes locked with hers over the brutal scene unfolding as Hael held one of the brothers in a headlock, while fisting his meaty hand into the other brother's hair, twisting it further every time the brute tried to move.

Ariana’s next-door neighbour barked something at her as he tightened his hold around Paul, but she didn’t hear him, preoccupied in macabre fascination with the way Paul’s face was turning from a bright red to an almost bluish purple as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“ARIANA!”

This time she registered that Hael was talking to her, as he let go of the man he’d choked unconscious, to turn to his brother, drawing back his fist and slamming it twice into Sam’s bloodied face.

Both of the brothers lay unconscious at Hael’s feet, and Ariana had the sudden urge to laugh. After everything that had happened to her today, all she could do was laugh, and so that’s exactly what she did.

Hael looked at her as if she had completely lost her mind, causing her to laugh harder, on her ass in the rain, being watched by one of the sexiest males in school.

Time stood still as he stayed a safe distance away, giving Ariana the moment she needed as if he could relate to how she felt, and Ariana was grateful. So many well-meaning people who tried comforting others wound up invading personal space and boundaries, offering hugs or non-stop chatter, but not Hael; he just stood there, offering safety while she lost her mind.

Trying to stand up, Ariana’s laughter quickly turned to tears as her ankle buckled again, only this time, before she fell, Hael was there, grabbing onto her arm and holding her steady.

“Do you think you can balance on one foot for a second?” He asked quietly, concern evident in his dark gaze, “I think so.”

After assuring himself that she wasn’t going to fall again, Hael shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. Until that moment, Ariana hadn’t realised how cold she was and admitted she might be going into shock.

Hael, however, looked in complete control of the situation.

A groan interrupted any further attempt at conversation as one of the brothers started regaining consciousness, and Hael’s face contorted with fury. “Stay down!” He commanded, kicking Paul in the face, knocking the larger boy out completely.

Hael stepped closer, in the pouring rain, his grey shirt plastered to his perfect body, and Ariana had a moment where she was in danger of swooning. In this minute, it was just the two of them, the cheerleader with a reputation, and the most dangerous guy in school, looking at each other without their masks on. Slowly, Ariana reached out, offering her hand to her neighbour, the cute boy next door who secretly listened to her Dad’s bedtime stories, and when he clasped it, a small grin bringing out his dimples, something changed, evolved, and in the months ahead, would manifest as the time they fell in love.

HAEL'S POV

I had to physically restrain myself from killing those two filthy cunts, when I got closer to the water and realised it was my woman screaming, and I saw their grubby fucking hands touching her. I damn near lost my goddamn mind. Paul and Sam were predators, but their older brother Derek was usually the instigator and the puppet master of all of their crimes.  They were parasites in the woods and hardly ever crossed my path, but I knew of them. It was my job to know everyone in the area, and I prided myself on doing just that. There would be time to punish the McCann brothers after I’d got Ariana home safely and made time to contact my guys to help with some jungle justice.

Then she held out her hand, and all of a sudden, I felt all fluttery-me, the next in line for the family business, nervous because a woman I would gladly die for wanted the safety of physical contact with me. I grabbed that hand so fast I'm sure I broke some kind of record, and my face lit up like a kid at Christmas. Jesus Christ, I really have got it bad.

“If it hurts too much, let me know, okay?” I’m trying to earn some cool points back by being less creepy, but damned if I could get myself to let go of her hand; if anything, my body was reacting like superglue, wanting to bind itself to Ariana as tightly as possible. To be fair, she didn’t seem to mind. I don’t know how much it had to do with going into shock, which I could see she was trying to hide from me, but a part of me secretly hoped that she continued holding my hand and hobbling along because she craved my touch as much as I craved hers.

This thing growing between us felt like it could be real, and not just a reaction to being saved from a bad situation, but I won’t push. When it comes to Ariana Scott, I was a patient man. I can wait.

It was a slow walk back to my car. I tried not to stare too much at the girl holding onto my hand, but it was hard. Especially when she looked at me like I was some kind of hero, I’ll be damned if I’ll correct her, though, after all, if there was a soul out there that I would do heroic shit for, it was her.