My Love, My Mate, My Alpha

Chapter 8

Ryder walked with me to the locker rooms and I changed into my basketball shorts, then I started for the door. He grabbed my wrist and spun me around, hugging me tightly into his chest. I took a deep breath and smiled, looking up at him. He sighed and buried his face in my neck.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked, mumbling into my neck. I looked down, sighing slightly.

"I was scarred of how you'd react, and I kinda wanted to see him crash and burn today." I said slowly. Ryder straightened up and took a deep breath, then he kissed my forehead and took my hand, leading me toward the door. I bit my lip and looked down, following behind him. I jogged with Ryder, trailing behind, staring at the floor. I could tell Ryder was upset with me, and it was making me more upset than I thought it would. When we finally started playing soccer I kept making mistakes, missing the ball when I kicked or getting hit with the ball instead of dodging it. At the end of class I walked to the locker room slowly and changed, then left and started to my next class, not bothering to wait for Ryder. I was walking with my head down, just staring at the floor. As I was walking I saw a foot come across my path out of nowhere, and I tripped over it, landing on my knees and groaning loudly. I looked up and saw Dustin smiling mischievously and laughing, along with several other students. I growled at him and started to stand, falling back down as I tried to put pressure on my left knee. Another round of laughter broke out and Dustin started to walk away. I took a deep breath and started to stand up again, and someone grabbed my arm to help steady me.

"What happened?" Ryder asked, helping me walk to my next class. I shook my head, limping beside him and sighed.

"I tripped." I mumbled, trying to decide if I should tell him the full truth or not. He looked at me expectantly and I sighed again.

"I wasn't paying attention and Dustin tripped me." I said flatly. He took a deep breath and bit his tongue for a second.

"You can tell me the truth about getting tripped, by one of my pack members... But you can't tell me truth about being attacked by someone in your own pack." He said slowly, nodding his head. I pulled away from him and pushed his hand away from me.

"You know what, fuck you, fuck this, I'm done. You're pissed I didn't tell you the truth, so I try to just start by telling the truth this time, and it's still a problem. I don't need this right now, I'm fucking done." I said walking as fast as I could to the front doors.

"Cam!" Ryder yelled after me, I continued walking, ignoring him as he called my name again. I slammed through the front door and started jogging, ignoring the searing pain in my knee. I jogged back behind the school, past the stream and to the edge of the woods. I finally stopped and sat on a dead tree that had fallen. I took a couple deep breaths and sighed, starting to rub my knee. Getting attacked by William was traumatizing, and terrifying, getting tripped however, was frustrating. Telling the truth about getting tripped was easy because it didn't matter, it wasn't a big deal to talk about. I groaned and threw a nearby branch as hard as I could, not knowing how else to blow of steam.

"If my knee wasn't fucked I could just jog, but no, Dustin has to be an asshole and I have to be the easy target. Fucking damsel in distress, that's what I am anymore." I mumbled to myself, kicking the leaves under my foot with my good leg. I heard twigs snap behind me and turned around, half expecting to see William or Dustin standing there, ready to pounce.

"How are you that fast even with a limp?" Ryder asked, trying to control his breathing. I shrugged and turned back around, rubbing my knee again. He sighed and came over sitting next to me.

"Cam, please talk to me." He said quietly.

"So you can be a dick to me about how I talk too?" I said bitterly. He looked down and sighed.