Osprey
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 waved to Stu and Wes. They were some of my favorite sleuth members to mess with. They had gone away for the summer, along with a few other members, to go to another city for a football camp. My brother had just gotten back a little over a week ago, and this was my first time seeing them since they got home. I hugged them both as we immediately slid back into our normal teasing manner. Osprey joined us after a few minutes, and even though I could tell he was not really enjoying himself, he laughed, carrying on like he had no worries in the world.Suddenly, a tantalizing mix of dark soil with pine hit my nose, making me utter a little growl. My legs trembled and my mouth watered. I swallowed hard as Eden purred in my head. I slowly scanned the area, looking for the scent that was driving me crazy, when my eyes locked with Beanie’s. I grabbed Osprey’s arm.“Beanie’s back!” I said excitedly.He gave me a weird look. “Yes. He just got back today.”Beanie walked away from Nenna, who
Junior YearOsprey (A week Later)Elena skipped down the stairs wearing a skintight, short black dress, with her dual-colored eyes glinting excitedly. I groaned. She was too excited for this party tonight. She was determined to come home with a name she had already made for herself. I had no idea why she wanted to be a cheerleader, but it was what it was. She would excel as one. She was bendy and had the nauseating peppy energy that they all had. Raul eyed her outfit.“Go change! You are not going out dressed like that!” he growled.I rolled my eyes as her bottom lip quivered. “But, Daddy,” she whined, “Osprey will be there. He will keep me from getting in trouble. Please.”I bit back a chuckle when her eyes filled with tears, and I knew he would give in. He groaned as he turned to me.“You are to bring your sister home safely. And no fucking drinking, Elena. I mean it!”Her pout turned into a smile as she hugged him. “Thanks, Daddy. Love you, Mom!”Our mother chuckled. “Love you, guy
After the party, I came straight home, tossing and turning in bed for hours. Images of Scarlett and Justin kept me awake, intensifying my anger. I fucking hated it. She was mine and only mine, dammit. Nobody could have her. I didn’t need Godric to tell me that I was in love with her. I already fucking knew it. I’d known since I could walk and talk. Hell, I probably knew before I could even breathe. I rolled onto my back, debating if I really wanted to do what Godric had been begging me to do. He wanted me to be sweet to her. He wanted me to win her back with rainbows, butterflies, and glitter bombs. He was under the impression that she was like Elena, who was still into all the fluffy, girly stuff like make-up, clothes, and celebrity gossip.I got up to pace with my hands clasped behind my back, having given up on sleeping. For someone who claimed to love Scarlett, he pretended to not know anything about her. Our Scarlett was more down-to-earth. She liked the simple things in life, li
Two Months LaterI shifted back just outside of my house. I had left camp almost a week early to come home for Scarlett’s and Elena’s birthday party. I had never missed one before, and I was not about to start now. I quickly pulled basketball shorts over my hips before hurrying inside to put on real clothes. I shouldn’t have left camp, but it was driving me crazy to be there. Between missing Scarlett and Beanie not speaking to me since our meeting with Arianna, I couldn’t stay there anymore. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, and I kind of thought he was being a little bitch about the whole situation. Which made me feel even guiltier about it, because I knew that if someone had alluded to me not being enough for Scarlett, I would have ripped their throats out.‘Hey, Alpha,’ Beanie linked me suddenly, shocking the hell out of me.‘What’s up, bro?’‘Just wanted to remind you about the present for Elena.’I rolled my eyes. ‘I got you.’‘Thank you. I’m sorry for my behavior lately.’I s
“Osprey, how are you? Who is this?” she asked.“I’m okay. Thank you for coming. This is my best friend, Beanie.”She ran her eyes over him before hugging me. “Hmmmm. He’s a little cutie. Has he started dating one of your sisters yet?”I let her go to sit back in my chair as she took hers. Beanie grumpily also took his, making me shoot him a glare. He cleared his throat as he straightened up at my silent order.“No, he isn’t dating any of my sisters. What makes you think he would date one of them?” I inquired curiously.“Well, the best friend always dates a little sister at some point. My bet is he gets with Elena,” she mused.I tensed up as Beanie immediately started to sputter a bunch of nonsense, making her laugh.“I knew it. Your secret is safe with me, Bernard.” She winked at me. “Not that I think Elena would care if he asked her out. She’d jump on him like a beehive in a tree.”I raised an eyebrow at her. “A beehive in a tree?”“Bears. Honey. Goddess, I keep forgetting how young
I leaped over Sage, trusting Wes to keep him off our current quarterback, Stu, to race after Silver, who had intercepted the ball. Godric pushed us faster, and in seconds, we were right behind Silver, diving at his legs. We hit the ground with my arms around his thighs as he desperately tried to wiggle away from me. He pulled his leg out of my hold before kicking back at my face. I was forced to let him go as I rolled away. I jumped up just in time to avoid his next kick, which landed where my head had been seconds before. I bounced lightly on my heels, prepared for a fight that I hoped I could avoid, but if I couldn’t, he would pay for that, too. Assistant Coach Maxwell got between us, and I let out a relieved breath, knowing that I wasn’t going to have to rip his throat out. Silver lunged at me again, only avoiding an ass whooping by Maxwell stopping him.“Walk it off, Silver. NOW!”Silver’s jaw clenched as he started jogging around the field. Maxwell narrowed his eyes on me before