Torn

Chapter Five

We were doing the most dangerous thing known to mankind. We were going to school. Lottie was dressed already, only putting a few textbooks in her bag. I noticed she slipped her sketching pad in too. It only increased my unease. She only took out that thing when she couldn't bring her painting stuff. Usually when we go to scenic places that she wants to bring to painted relief later. She didn't like to sketch all that much. She preferred color and didn't really like pencils. Yes, she was a peculiar kind of artist but than again, weren't all of them crazy like that in some way? It seems like a requirement to me. I knew why she wanted to bring that thing with her. No, the school wasn't striking in any way but when she was somewhere where she was uncomfortable, she liked to draw. Something. Anything. It was a form of comfort.

Her eyes were at their icy best. She already knew what to expect when we get to school.

“Let's go” she said, grabbing an apple before leaving the house. I followed reluctantly. I did not think this was a good idea.

The parkinglot was full when we got to school. People were talking and laughing. Most of them were surrounding Jacob and Cindy, the celebrity couple. I was sure that the news of Lottie's rejection passed by the pack link by now. It was inevitable. I don't really know what they would do. It was a big deal. No known alpha has ever rejected his mate. It just isn't done. Hasn't been done in decades. In all records where an alpha rejected his mate, the mate always dies. Lottie having survived was a rare thing. The talking died down as soon as we got there and people started to stare at Lottie. She handled it like a pro, holding her chin up high and staring at them in turn with her cold eyes. Cindy walked up to us, sizing Lottie up as if she wanted to fight her and was evaluating her visible weaknesses. Lottie did the same. Cindy was skinnier, was wobbling in stiletto boots, and had on a skirt that would show everything if she were to bend over or fall. I would put my bet on Lottie.

“So. You're the slut my Jake got as a mate” Cindy said.

“Kinda like the pot calling that kettle black, calling me a slut and all. I mean, how many guys have you spread your legs for? I bet you can't even remember them all” Lottie said, tone flat. Cindy's eyes burned.

“Just stay away from Jake, bitch. He belongs to me” Cindy said, not wanting a verbal spar with someone who was smarter than her.

“You can have his STD infested ass, I don't care. He means nothing to me” Lottie said, pushing past Cindy because the bell was about to ring. Cindy's eyes flashed black and she grabbed Lottie by the hair. Lottie turned in a heartbeat, not caring about the pain of getting her hair ripped out. She grabbed Cindy by her hair and yanked it hard, making her head go back. After that she put an extremely sharp, half shifted to wolf, nail to her throat. Cindy had to arch her back a great deal because she was taller than Lottie (because of the boots) and Lottie was yanking her hair hard. It kinda made a funny picture. If this were less serious, I would've laughed.

“Just leave me alone. I already said I don't want anything to do with Jake. Leave it at that” Lottie said in Cindy's ear.

“Fine” Cindy bit out. Lottie let her go and started to walk through the sea of people. They parted as she walked past and I quickly followed.

“Holy shit, Lottie that was frigging awesome” I told her when I caught up. Her eyes were dilated because of the violence and she had a grin on her face

“Yeah, it was wasn't it?” she kept the grin.

Nobody talked to Lottie. They didn't want to piss off the future Luna, Cindy, to try and talk to Lottie. They weren't even allowed to talk about how Cindy got owned; they wouldn't get on Cindy's good side that way. Instead they did the best thing they could do under the circumstances; they completely ignored Lottie. Cindy wanted them to make Lottie's life hell and they couldn't because she was goddess chosen to be the alpha female but they couldn't be nice to her either. Ignoring her was the only middle ground. She was okay with it. 'I never liked to socialize anyway' was the only thing she would say about it. I thought it would be a lot worse so I guess I was okay with this arrangement too. She was working hard to regain the grade she had in each of her classes and I hardly spoke to her all day. Finally, it was time to go home. I looked forward to it. I would only be able to be alone with her for about an hour because I had a date today. Yeah yeah, I know. 'Why would you go out with other chicks and try to get lucky when you're already in love?' 'What does that say about your love to Lottie?'. What do you expect? Wolves thrive on lust and I've been trying to get Lottie to love me back since fourth grade. I've made no progress and I needed pu... (throat clearing and managing to catch myself) to have relations with a lovely young woman. Sure, a lot of wolves save it for their mate but I couldn't. I tried to save my first time for her and failed. Temptation was just too strong. Now, I won't say I'm addicted, but I'm pretty close. Nothing changed with Lottie, she never responds to my come ons so why should I keep banging my head against the same brick wall? It was plain stupid to do that. So I should try to move on right?