LOGINOsprey
I glanced at Beanie as he drove a mile down the road on the way to the city.
“Stop the car.”
“Osprey, I’m supposed to take you straight to school.”
“Stop the car, Bernard, or I swear when I’m alpha I’ll throw you out of the sleuth,” I threatened.
He cursed as he pulled over to the side of the road. I got out before leaning down to peer into the car.
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled before taking off.
I looked around before I silently crept through the trees, heading towards Scarlett’s house. I couldn’t walk her to school. Everyone would know I skipped first period if I did, but I wanted to see her. She stepped out onto the porch, and her beauty made my breath catch in my lungs. My eyes helplessly moved over her, lingering on the butterfly clip she wore in her hair. Goddess, she was gorgeous. I took a step toward her when a low growl sounded behind me. I sighed when Elena’s scent surrounded me.
‘What are you doing, brother?’
I leaned against the tree next to me with my arms crossed over my chest. ‘I’ve always walked her to school,’ I linked back.
‘Our parents think you’re gone.’
‘I know they do.’ I cut my eyes at her. ‘And you are not going to tell them otherwise.’
‘This is stupid. Just go over there and walk her to school.’
I bared my teeth at her. ‘Dad will have my ass.’
‘What you need to do is tell her. Fuck your father. Mom will slap him, too.’
I rolled my eyes. Of course she thought I could get away with breaking the rules like she could. All she had to do was bat her eyelashes, shed a tear, and her dad gave in like a marshmallow. Mine would beat my ass until I was a puddle on the ground without even laying a hand on me. I stuck my hands in my pockets. I couldn’t wait until my aura was that strong. Nobody would be able to boss me around. I narrowed my eyes on her.
‘Get to school.’
She shoved my shoulder. ‘You go to school!’
She stomped off while I kept waiting for Scarlett to go. Valerie stepped out and I straightened up as Scarlett looked up at her with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t think he’s coming, honey.”
“But he said he would be here.”
I clenched my jaw. I hated it when she cried. Please, don’t cry. I’m here. Please. I wanted to rush over to her and hug her, but Godric held me back. He knew the repercussions better than I did, since he took the brunt of our punishments. I slowly kept pace with them as I listened to their conversation on the way to her school. My heart swelled when she asked if I was sick and immediately deflated when Valerie told her I went hunting. Fuck.
‘We need to talk to Dad. This isn’t fair. He promised that if we behaved, we could see her. We have listened to everything they said,’ Godric spat, pacing angrily in my head.
‘We should talk to Mom first. If anybody can reason with them, it’s her.’
“NO! I thought he liked me, too. He told me he did! HE DIDN’T LIE!” she screamed, drawing my attention back to them.
I punched a tree in frustration before reaching for Elena’s link.
‘Lena, do me a favor. Please, talk to Letti. Tell her…’ I took a deep breath. ‘Tell her that I’m sorry for missing our walk this morning.’
‘Ok.’
I cursed as I punched the tree again before stripping my clothes off. I let Godric take over, and he picked up my clothes before sprinting toward the city. My mind swirled in a million different directions as his paws carried us rapidly through the forest that shielded our home from the outside world.
‘Hey, Mom? Will you be home when I get there? I really need to talk to you.’
‘Not today. I’m helping your grandmother with surgeries, and then I have to help Valerie. If this is about what Raul told you, you have my permission to ignore it. I will handle it.’
‘But what about Dad?’
I felt her amusement come through our link. ‘He’s not happy either. He really is just trying to protect his little sister, son. Slow down a little and everything will be fine.’
‘I can see her after school.’
‘Yes.’
‘Thanks. I love you.’
‘I love you, too. Now, get to school. Your father is not happy you didn’t ride with Bernard.’
I groaned. ‘He knows?’
‘Of course he does. You may be the future alpha, but your father is the current. Be prepared to have a discussion about threatening our sleuth members.’
‘Yes, Mom.’
She cut the link as Godric slowed to a stop. We shifted back and I quickly got dressed before jogging the last little distance to the school. I got to my first period class as the bell rang to dismiss it. I walked in and my teacher rolled his eyes.
“Is this going to be an everyday thing?”
I massaged the back of my neck. “Probably, sir. That’s why I wanted study hall for first period.”
He sighed. “Alright.”
I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. “I really am sorry.”
“Does your father know why you were late?”
“No, sir.”
“Care to tell me?”
“My mate. I had to make sure she got to school.”
Surprise crossed his face. “You found your mate?”
I gulped. “Well, not officially, but I’m going to mark her as my mate.”
He tilted his head as he studied my face. “Hmmm. Get to second period.”
I hesitated. “Please, don’t tell my father. He told me not to tell anyone who she was.”
He gave me a sharp nod. “Well, go on before you’re late.”
I hurried out of the room and immediately bumped into Vanessa, who grabbed my arm, smiling at me. I jerked my arm away from her.
“Don’t touch me!”
She pouted. “We’re going in the same direction.”
I glared at her. “Doesn’t mean you have to touch me.”
She stayed at my side as we made our way through the packed hallway. As soon as we got to the classroom, I walked away from her to sit at a desk surrounded by other students. She huffed and sat in a chair away from me. Mrs. Taylor called us to order. She handed stacks of papers to the people in the front row who passed it backward. I looked down, sighing when I saw the project instructions in front of me. Day 2 and we already had a project. This was complete bullshit. And then my eyes fell on the bold print. To be completed in pairs. As I quickly glanced around, my eyes fell on Silver, sitting two seats in front of me. I relaxed. I would partner with him and do the whole damn thing by myself.
“We are going to take five minutes for you to find your partner.”
I instantly got up to approach Silver. “Hey, you and me?”
He smirked as he looked at me. “Nope. I’m doing it with William. Aren’t I?” he asked as he turned to the smartest student in the room.
William looked shocked as he stuttered, “y-yes, S-Silver.”
He turned back to me. “Sorry, buddy, but I already have a partner.”
I looked around and saw that most of the other students were already partnered up, leaving only four of us to pair together. Before I could move on to the next unpaired student, Mrs. Taylor told us to take our seats as she turned to me.
“Osprey, who do you want to partner up with?”
“I’ll take Jason.”
Vanessa thrust her hand in the air. “Mrs. Taylor, Osprey and I should be partners. We live in the same area. It would be easier for us to work together.”
“I don’t want-”
“Alright. You two are partners.”
“But Mrs. Taylor, I-”
When she narrowed her eyes, I stopped talking. Well, fuck. Vanessa sauntered over to me and sat at the empty desk next to me, smiling at me.
“So, what should we do the project on?”
I took a deep breath to calm my fury. “Antarctica.”
“That’s just ice,” she whined.
I glared at her. “Just like you. You should be very knowledgeable about it then, yes?”
I got up and walked across the room to check out a laptop from the set of school owned ones that had been rolled into the room. I sat close to the door and started pulling up articles on Antarctica while she moved next to Silver to whisper in his ear. I could feel the glances they threw in my direction throughout the rest of the period. I had never been so happy to hear the bell as I was at the end of class. I put the laptop away and ran from the room.
I went straight down to the weight room to skip the rest of my classes. Not only was I pissed off, but so was Godric, which was deadly. I put us through a rigorous workout until I was ready to collapse from exhaustion. I kept moving from machine to machine until Beanie cleared his throat. I shot him an irritated look.
“What?”
“The bell rang 15 minutes ago. Are you going home… or are you staying?”
I grabbed a towel on my way out of the weight room, grumbling about bullshit school and stupid sluts. We drove silently back through town to my house, where I didn’t wait for him to put the car in park before leaping out of it to storm inside. I bared my teeth at Raul as I passed him, waiting for me in the entryway.
“Osprey-”
“Don’t even try,” I spat. “I don’t care.”
When the doorbell rang, I used that distraction to go upstairs until a sickly sweet voice had me turning back. Raul glanced up at me.
“Ummm, she says you two have a project?”
ElenaI took Beanie’s hand as we marched toward Vanessa’s house. The bitch had finally gone too far by telling Scarlett that she had slept with my brother. Osprey would never sleep with that tramp. We all knew that nasty slut slept with everybody. I had even heard her bragging about how she had joined her mother and stepfather in bed a few times. That was just too much for me to process. Even the thought of looking at my fathers in any way but fatherly makes me want to vomit. As much as it disgusted me, it didn’t surprise me. What surprised me was that she didn’t have half a dozen kids already.“Where are we going?”“Beanie, can I ask you something?”“You’re my mate…”“I don’t think he would have, but I also know that if he did, he would tell you and not me.”“Osprey?” I nodded. “What did he supposedly do?”“Slept with Vanessa and is obsessed with her?”Beanie burst out laughing. “Oh, Goddess, baby. You are in rare form today. You should be a comedian with those jokes.”I shoved his s
ScarlettI couldn’t help but smile at my mother as she guided Beanie and Raul into the dining room as they carried my grandmother’s solid oak table while Elena and I carried the boxes from my mother’s car up to my room. She threw herself back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. I hesitated before laying on the other side of the bed with our heads next to each other. She turned her head toward me.“I’m glad you’re back, Scarlett. I’ve missed you.”I closed my eyes as I turned to face her, sighing. “I’m sorry, Elena. I needed space to think.”“It doesn’t matter now. You’re back. We’ll keep you safe.”“I think she lied to me, Lena. Why would she lie to me?”“Because Vanessa is a bitch. She has always been one. It’s not your fault for believing her. Out of curiosity, what did she even say?”I opened my eyes to look into hers. “She said you and Osprey were plotting together because you wanted Beanie, while Osprey wanted to have sex with me, and that he was obsessed with her. She said that
By the time Beanie and I arrived back in town, my parents were all waiting out front for me. I slammed the car door behind me as I glanced at my father. They all fell into step behind me as I made my way to the border between our lands, letting out angry, loud growls as I demanded the Alpha and Luna to meet us. Five minutes after we arrived, a middle-aged couple came walking up, holding hands, and bringing my agitated pacing to a halt. I glared at them.“Silver James is one of your wolves, yes?”“The James family is part of our pack, yes, but Silver has not yet taken the pack oath. We don’t allow it until our teens get their wolves. He has not gotten his yet, so no, he is not an official pack member.”I narrowed my eyes. “I’m only coming to you because they are part of your pack. Silver will be punished for his crimes against our future Alpha Sow.”“What did he do?”“Which crime do you want to hear about? His lying about her being his mate or trying to rape her after he lied to get he
(Present day)I jogged down the stairs into the kitchen, where I could smell eggs and bacon coming from. I strolled in before immediately walking over to wrap my arms around my mother, who stood stirring loaded scrambled eggs. I put my cheek on her shoulder, making her glance at me.“Are you alright, Osprey?”“No.”She patted my hand. “Wanna talk about it?”“Not really.”“Okay.”I continued to hug her from behind while she finished the eggs. I knew she would hear me out, no matter what I was feeling. Except I wasn’t sure exactly how I was feeling. I woke up feeling distraught, like something bad was going to happen. I had walked in intending to pull my father aside, but as soon as I saw my mother, I needed her comfort like I always do. She had always been my rock, even through the past few years when my fathers and I were at each other’s throats. I hadn’t said anything and she hadn't needed me to, but she had held me anyway, knowing I needed her. She was who I needed most of all when
Osprey (3 months prior)My father grabbed my arm as I lunged at Vanessa as she moved behind Scarlett to rub her back as she vomited up the alcohol from the night before.“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH HER!” I yelled as my fathers literally picked me up off the ground.Sebastian and Tony held my legs as my father and Timothy carried my upper half out while I thrashed wildly, yelling threats to them and Vanessa. When we got outside, they set me down, and I immediately swung on my father, giving a triumphant shout when my fist collided with his jaw before I spun on Raul to tackle him to the ground, throwing punch after punch onto every part of his body I could reach.“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU TOLD ME TO STAY AWAY FROM HER! I HATE YOU!”I was yanked off of him, quickly shoving Timothy away from me to dive back at Raul, who barely avoided me as he rolled quickly to the left. I scrambled to my feet to go after him again as Godric’s fur erupted on my arms. My father stepped between us with his arm
Trigger WarningVanessa sank to her knees beside me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.“Oh my God, Scarlett. Are you okay?”I lowered my hands to give her a watery smile. “Congratulations, Vannie. Being someone’s mate is such an honor,” I sniffled sadly.“Aww, Scarlett. Thank you. Why are you sad?” she asked.“I used to want to be someone’s mate,” I whispered defeatedly. “I thought that he would know and call it out just like-”I was pulled to my feet and spun around. My heart started pounding as I looked up at Silver. Vanessa jumped to her feet, smiling as she reached for Silver.“Baby, you finally figured out we’re mates! I’m so happ-”He shrugged her hand off as he stared down at me. “Scarlett’s my mate!” he snapped. “Don’t touch me!”My mouth dropped open. “W-what?”His grip loosened on my arm as he gripped my chin in his hand. “You, Scarlett, are my mate.”Vanessa whimpered. “Are you sure?”Silver smiled widely at me. “Positive.”“Congrats, bestie,” Vanessa whispered before







