Make Me Beg - BOOK 1 OF THE MATES & MARKS TRILOGY

Chapter 19

The group of subs sat in a wonky circle over various tables and chairs, an awkward silence having descended over the room the moment Cassie had stepped through the door with a tall, muscled woman wearing a tank top and cargo trousers in tow... An alpha. They had been the last to arrive as Cassie had waited outside of Karliah's English classroom (much to Karliah's delight) to show her where they hung out. Cassie felt overwhelmed at the confused staring directed at her and shuffled to a back corner, hopping carefully up onto a table and sitting stiffly. Karliah on the other hand, was much more at ease. As an alpha, she didn't feel nervous when it was subs staring at her, although deep down she did want these ones to like her - since they were her mate's friends, she couldn't help but want their approval. She swanned through the room, weaving between the tables to sit with Cassie at the rear of the classroom. The smaller girl took her chance to introduce her new friend,

"Guys, this is Karliah," the alpha waved with a small smile, "we have lessons together and she's my friend so she's having lunch with us." Cassie rambled the second half, stumbling over her words in her haste. The subs just stared back, unsure of what to do, some in mid-bite.

Karliah pulled out her lunch and Cassie followed suit, letting the alpha lead her as she tried to ignore all the eyes glued to her. Karliah grinned at the cutesy, baby pink, and very sparkly lunch box that Cassie produced from her backpack. And the inside was even more adorable, as she lifted the lid Karliah's eyes scanned her food, inspecting it thoroughly, (there was no way her mate would be left hungry or eating garbage) and got a pleasant surprise. Cassie's lunch consisted of two ham salad sandwiches cut into the shapes of teddy bears, various pieces of cucumber and carrot cut into the shapes of flowers, a handful of strawberries with the stalks cut off and a cookie with a smiley face iced onto it.

"That is the cutest lunch I've ever seen." She announced, "Did you make that yourself?" She looked back at Cassie and watched a blush spread over her cheeks and ears.

"N-No..." She admitted, "It was Sam, he's a great cook!" She added. Karliah turned to the omega and grinned,

"How do you find the time to cut out the shapes?" she asked, her smile was sincere and Cassie's body visibly relaxed at the sight: her shoulders dropped and and her hands loosened their grip on her lunch box. The other subs also seemed less tense, although still untrusting. All eyes had switched to Sam and he fiddled with his own dinosaur-shaped biscuit, his eyes lowered in respect as he has been taught to act in front of alphas.

"I only do it for our lunches... Everyone else's I just make normally." He shrugged awkwardly and nibbled his biscuit, breaking off the t-rex's tail gingerly.

"Could you teach me sometime?" The alpha peeled the lid off the white tupperware container that held her salad of mixed greens, peppers, tomatoes and chicken pieces, and tipped it forward to show Sam, who watched her carefully from under his lashes. "It's kinda boring right now..." She pulled out her fork, "But maybe you could show me how to make it more fun?" She scooped up a cluster of lettuce and shoved it into her mouth. Sam waited a few moments, unsure if she was serious or not. Cassie smiled at him reassuringly.

"I could... Show you how to cut those tomatoes into flowers?" His voice was a whisper but in the silent room it sounded like the loudest noise that had ever left his mouth - at least to him. Karliah smiled and gave him a thumbs up as her mouth was full. Aminali suddenly clicked her fingers and pointed at the alpha's face,

"Oh! I know you!" She announced. The others gave her confused looks, especially Cassie - of course they knew her, they had multiple classes with her and she was soon-to-be Damien's alpha. "She's the one that spanked you in the classroom, right?" She blurted. Cassie blossomed beetroot from the base of her neck to her hairline, having completely forgotten that she had shared that piece of information with her friends just that morning when giving a breakdown in the library of all that had been going on with both Karliah and Brandon (a shorter version than what she had told Sam) while Karliah just chuckled through a mouthful of chicken salad.