ZEKE
I stand outside the truck and talk to Chris and the others while Hope rests. "Keep your ears up to what everyone is whispering about. I didn't like some comments from the guys in there," I say, growling quietly.
"Yes, Alpha."
Most girls whisper about what I'm doing with Hope and how much better I would be off with someone like them. Even if I wasn't a werewolf and had a mate, I would still pick Hope over anyone of these fake bitches. Hope is the opposite of them, and she's also the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Yes, that can be the mate-bond talking, but she is. Some guys seem to pick up on it now that she's with me, and I sure as fuck don't like it. I heard them in class and in the dining hall.
"She's not that bad looking, though. She's just really weird," one of them said.
"I bet she's fucking hot under those clothes."
"You know, Zack tried to ask her out once?"
"Really, how did that go?"
"He never even got an answer out of her. I wonder how this guy did it?"
"Have you seen him? He's like Hercules on steroids, man. Every girl here is drooling over him and the rest of the bodybuilders. Makes us look like sticks for fucks sake. I haven't got laid since they came here."
That one made me chuckle, though.
I wake Hope up before it's time to head inside. "Are you sure that you can go on for the rest of the day? We can skip the last classes and head home if you'd like."
She yawns and shakes her head. "No, it's okay. Thank you for letting me rest here."
"You don't have to thank me. I've got you," I say, smiling and putting a strand of hair behind her ear.
She blushes a little and looks at me with big eyes, like she's thinking really hard about something. "Why are you doing this?"
"Depends on what you mean by 'this'?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because I like you, Hope."
Her eyes get even bigger.
"Come on, we need to head back inside. Don't overthink it," I say, smiling. I lift her down and take her hand.
She doesn't say much for the rest of the day and seems to have some internal struggle. In the last class, she mostly sits looking out of the window. I so wish that I could read her mind right now.
On the way back home, she sits quiet in the truck, looking out of the window. "You can't like me," she suddenly says quietly.
"Why the hell not?" I say, a little angrier than necessary.
"I-I'm broken and I'm not sure if I'll ever be okay. You deserve someone better," she says, looking down.
That pisses me off.
I pull over and stop the truck. I mind-link Chris, who drives behind us, to keep going. I clench the steering wheel and try to calm down so I don't scare her.
"You're not broken. You've just been treated like shit for way too long. It's everyone around you that's broken and stupid for not treating you right and seeing who you are." I take a deep breath and talk a bit calmer. "You're going to be okay. It might take time, but you will be and I'll make sure that you'll be happy. I want you to be happy," I say, looking into her eyes and grabbing her hands. "And I'm sure as hell not better off with someone else. I like you, Hope, because you're kindhearted, and even if you've been treated like shit and no one has cared for you, you still care about other people. You didn't let them poison your mind."
Her tears start to fall and she's sobbing.
"Come here," I say and wrap my arms around her, letting her cry into my shirt. We stay like that for a while. "Do you trust me?" I ask her, wiping the rest of her tears away.
She nods.
"Then, please believe me when I say that I really like you, and please don't push me away."
She nods and gives me a small smile.
"Good," I say, kissing her head and smile back. "Let's get home before they send a search party out for us."
I hold her hand and rub it with my thumb the rest of the way home.
I help her out of the truck, and for the first time, she looks straight into my eyes while I lift her down. I smile at her and we walk inside hand in hand.
Mom and dad are in the kitchen, preparing dinner, when we step inside.
Dad mind-links me a little worried, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," I say, smiling.
He nods at me. Mom seems a little worried too, but I'll talk to them later.
"Dinner will be ready in an hour," mom says.
We walk up to my room and I throw myself on the bed with my arms behind my head and close my eyes. It takes some energy to constantly be on your guard and listening in on what everyone's saying. I need peace and quiet for a while.
I open my eyes and see Hope standing there uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot.
"Come here," I tell her, motioning for her to lay down next to me.
She hesitates, but comes over slowly and lies down on the edge of the bed. I pull her closer do me, making her squeal a little.
I chuckle at her. "Relax, I just want to hold you."
She relaxes after a while and we lie there resting until dinner is done. I smell her hair discretely and my wolf starts to growl in my head. He's eager to mark her, but I can't do that yet. She needs to know everything first and I need to tell her soon. She needs to be able to walk around in the pack-village without freaking out if someone shifts. I need to be able to hold the fight-training here in the backyard again without having to ship her off to the mall or somewhere else, and most important of all, she needs to know who I am. Who we all are. Her new family. She needs to know that she's my mate and what that means.
We walk down for dinner and dad asks Hope how school was and if the teachers behaved. She nods and tells him that it went well.
"Good. Just tell me if anyone gives you trouble and I'll talk to the principal again," dad tells her.
We eat up and dad says that he wants to talk to me and Chris.
"Don't worry, Hope and I will be in the Media room, gossiping," Evelyn says, smiling. She likes having Hope here. Someone her age to talk to. It's good for Hope too, to finally have a friend. I really just want to go up and hold her in bed again, but I guess it has to wait.
I give her hand a little squeeze. "I'll be right back."
"Okay," she says, blushing a little.
I smile at her and walk off to dad's office. Mom is also there, wanting to know what happened today.
"I want to hear from you how it went today," dad says, sitting at his desk with mom on his lap.
To humans, it might be weird seeing your parents like that, but to us werewolves, it's normal to want to be as close to your mate as possible at all times.
I tell him everything about the teachers sucking-up, the whispers from the students, Evelyn shutting them up, and that I let Hope take a nap in my truck after lunch.
"It seems to be good, then, apart from the students being students," he says, chuckling.
"I've told everyone to keep listening around in case someone thinks about doing something stupid. Especially the boys," I say, growling.
"What happened on the way home? Chris told us that you pulled over," mom says.
"Yeah, when she woke up in my truck on the lunchbreak, she asked me why I do all this for her. I told her that it's because I like her. She didn't say anything after that until on the way home. She said that I can't like her because she's broken and I deserve better," I say, sighing.
Both mom, dad and Chris look sad.
"I told her that she's not broken, she just needs some help getting happy again, and that I'll help her. I also told her that I'm not better off with someone else...because I want her."
"Did she believe you?" Chris asks.
"I hope so. At least she lets me hold her now. I need to tell hersoon, though. I'm going to do it on Saturday after you've been shopping."