The Chronicles of Alpha Academy (bxb)

13: Studying Carefully

Chapter Thirteen: Studying Carefully

Kieran

I said goodnight to my friends. I didn't bother saying anything to James, who was staring fixedly at me from his table with Mina.

He made my stomach hurt. Because I wanted him to kiss me, and he was such a freaking jerk that I also wanted to smack him upside the head. And I was never a violent person. Never. But he brought out a strange side of me.

I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to protect him. I wanted him to hold me. I wanted to find out everything about him. I wanted to ignore him. I wanted to never speak to him again. I wanted to pinch him.

I wanted him to pinch me. Hard.

I wanted to touch him.

Why? I only met him a day ago.

But...was he my mate? Was it his wolfsense reaching out to me? Is that why I couldn't figure out how I felt about him? Why I couldn't seem to ignore him the way I wanted to?

I could tell he knew what I was thinking, because he sat back in his seat, smirking. Arms folded over his chest. Thinking he was such a freaking big shot asshole alpha.

Asshole, Kieran. The important word in that thought was asshole, I tried to remind myself.

I was surprised to see Dylan stand up abruptly and walk over to James. I had good hearing for a wolf, but he must have spoken so low, so few words, that I didn't catch what he said, but whatever it was, it wiped that arrogant look off James' face. Mina's eyebrows raised, and she sat forward, interested for the first time that evening, at least as far as I could tell.

James looked again at me, this time, less like a king gloating over his treasure and more like a guy who regretted something, a guy who wanted to talk to me, to tell me something important. But he didn't even get to try because his friend stood up, nodded at Dylan, and pulled James away from me, towards the kitchen exit. Our eye connection never broke until they left the room.

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James

The huge wolf leaned over the table, bringing his face inches from mine. Strong jaw. Dark eyes. Eyebrows like swords. And yet, he wasn't angry, didn't try to dominate me. Just spoke a few words.

"If you hurt him, I will kill you."

Wow. Message received. I could tell it got Mina's attention. For once she looked worried. We both could smell it. This giant was sincere. He was telling the truth.

In the three years we'd been at this school together, I knew every single wolf. I knew Dylan, everyone did, but we'd never talked to each other. Not even once. Even though we were in the same house, with even the same interests in sports. He was an ice dog, like me. An amazing skier and skater despite his size. There was no need for us to communicate. We had nothing to say.

I guess that changed.

I glanced back at Kieran, wondering what was going on that Dylan decided to stand as his protector. My Kieran. I'd watch over my little messy omega. He kissed me. Not Dylan or Kai or Will. He was MY little puppy.

Dylan's face changed not an iota, but deep from in his chest, he began to growl. It was very very scary, in all honesty.

"We're going," Mina said carefully, standing up, pulling me with her.

"I'm not afraid of him," My words were spoken only after we were out of the room.

"Then you're even a bigger idiot than I thought."