Soul Mates

Avenging Angel

Thursday afternoon.
September 23, 1999

*Carolina's POV* 

After the first afternoon period, I run to my locker to get my AP Calc book when somebody pushes me from behind and I fall flat on my face. Pain explodes on the right side of my face as soon as I hit the floor. It was so fast I had no time to put my hands up. I don’t have to open my eyes to know who pushed me. “Damn it, Evan!” I say under my breath.

Evan Westminster is the second most popular guy in school, captain of the football team and irrefutable proof that looks are deceiving. Evan looks like a Greek god, with his sandy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a face and body that look like they are carved from marble, but he is the devil. He used to be Logan’s friend until Logan heard him making fun of me. I missed that fight but people talked about it for months. After that day the elite broke into two groups and I earned a permanent tormentor. I try to downplay the bullying for Logan’s sake. I can’t stand to see him fighting, to risk him getting hurt because of me.  Besides, Evan is the Mayor’s kid and he is untouchable. Still, this was the first time Evan ever laid his hands on me.

I touch my eyebrow and come back with a bloody hand. There’s so much blood and it’s so painful, but I won’t let him see me cry. As I’m starting to get up, someone hands me my calc book. I expect it to be Logan but it’s my new neighbor, Max. “You’re bleeding, let me take you to the nurse.”, he says as he helps me up. Students were already gathering around us and I couldn’t see Evan but I could hear his laughter. The coward wouldn’t even show his face.

The nurse takes one look at my face and immediately calls my mom. She then tells me I can wait in her office and goes to attend another student. I turn to Max, using the ice pack the nurse gave me, to cover the worst of my injury, “Thanks for everything, Max. You can go back if you want.” He takes my hand and smiles at me, “I’m not leaving you alone. This is my free period anyway.” He winks at me and my heart flutters. I did not know my heart could do that for any one besides Logan.

This wasn’t the first time I had seen Max, he moved to the house across the street from mine during the summer and our mothers had become instant friends. This was, however, the first time I noticed his dimples, the first time I noticed the gold specks in his brown eyes, the first time I realized how cute he is.

He’s still holding my hand when Logan barges in. He looks like an avenging angel as he kneels in front of me and grabs my face tenderly with both hands. May God help me, but his touch is all the medicine I need. Looking into his eyes, I forget why I'm even sitting there.

*Logan's POV*

I'm trying my hardest to pay attention to the Spanish teacher as she's talking about verbs. This is the only class I really care about. Mia is of Puerto Rican descent and I want to learn her second language as a gift to her. That's why I'm really trying but today my wolf is making it difficult.

Being a werewolf, is the only secret I've ever kept from Mia. It's forbidden by our pack law to tell humans about us. Besides how would that conversation go? 'Hey, Mia, what are we doing this weekend? By the way, I'm a werewolf.' I could never tell her, my Alpha already has me under constant watch. He doesn't like that I'm friendly with a human and he's made it very clear that Mia would be the one to pay the price if I ever told her the truth. As Alpha in line I have to set an example.

Alpha Joseph doesn't understand that even if I wanted to break off my friendship with Mia, which I don't, my wolf would never allow it. He would probably try to claw his way out and never let me go back to human form if I did that. 'Raegor, what's going on? Why are you so restless?' He stops pacing and sniffs the air.

Even though I'm in human form, the wolf is always present and I have heightened senses. I can communicate with it and see it in my mind. We are separate beings but at the same time we are one. I follow suit and sniff the air. The faint scent of Mia's blood is in the air. I stand up and run out of the classroom. My Spanish teacher is an Omega in my pack so she just ignores me and keeps teaching.

I follow Mia's scent all the way to the nurse's office. 'She's hurt, she's hurt' my wolf repeats all the way there. I'm about to go full wolf when I finally see her.

“I came as soon as I could. Good God, woman. You’ll be the death of me. What happened?” I take her all in, she looks okay. 'Calm down, Raegor. She's ok. We're with her and nothing can hurt her, now.' Raegor, my wolf, growls and replies, 'He's touching her. Make it stop, she's mine!' I look down and see that there's a wolf holding Mia's hand. He's the newest pack member and I try to contain the desire to rip his arm off.

Mia looks speechless and the wolf sitting next to her answers the question. “You should take better care of your girlfriend. Some dirtbag pushed her to the ground.” I  narrow my eyes and take a good look at her. I take the ice pack from her hands and off of her face. Then, I push her hair behind her ear, with all the tenderness in the world, so as not to hurt her. I can feel my eyes turn dark and a low growl escapes my lips as I survey the damage. 'Kill. Destroy. Protect.', Raegor chants in my mind. It takes all of my strength to stay in control.

“Who did this to you?” I ask in a tone so low, so dangerous, it raises the hairs on Mia's arms. She's never seen me like this. I must look like I'm capable of killing someone but she doesn't know that I am. I am capable of killing whoever did this to her with my own teeth. Then I feel her hands on my chest, and my wolf instantly calms down.

*Carolina's POV*

“Angel…” I say in a calming tone. “It was Evan, wasn’t it? I’m going to kill him.” He says putting emphasis on every word, like it’s taking everything in him not to yell or punch something. He tries to get up but I hold on to his arm. “Angel, please don’t. I don’t want you to get in trouble for me.”, I plead and start to cry.

Logan kneels back down and makes me look into his eyes. “Don’t you get it? He’s not going to stop. Evan knows what you mean to me, he knows how much I love you and he’s hurting you to get to me.”, he says hugging me and kissing my forehead.

I’ve lost count of how many times Logan’s said he loves me It was exciting the first time, until I realized he meant like a sister. He loves me like a sister, which is exactly what I remind myself as I hug him back.

“Well, since your boyfriend’s here now, I’m gonna head out.”, Max says as he stands to leave. Logan slowly looks at Max and then looks at me, a question look in his eyes. “Oh, this is Max. He helped bring me to the nurse. Max, this is Logan, my best friend.” I say, embarrassed that I had completely forgotten Max was even there. Logan stands and offers his hand to Max as he says, “Thanks for looking out for my girl”.

I cough and say “Again, he’s my best friend, NOT my boyfriend.” Max smiles and Logan narrows his eyes at me. “So, that means I can come by your house after school?”, Max asks, smiling at me. “Sure, I’d like that.” I reply, feeling my cheeks turn red. Is he flirting? Am I flirting? I have zero experience on this. “Cool, see you later, Leena”, and with that Max leaves me alone with Logan.

I’m still smiling when Logan asks “What the hell was that? Who is this Max? And he called you Leena? Ugh!” I roll my eyes, overprotective Logan is the worst. “He’s my neighbor, you’ve seen him before. And I happen to like the way he calls me Leena.” Logan scoffs, “Your name is Carolina, why can’t he call you by your name?” He sounds like a 5 year old and I have to laugh, “Kettle meet pot. You never call me by my name.” He pulls me into his arms, as if to protect me from the world, and then smells my hair. I’m used to the gesture, he’s done it at least a million times since we met, he says it calms him. “That’s because I’m special, Mia.”

"Oh, Dios mio. Carolina, what happened to you? Who did this?", my mother asks as soon as she arrives at the school. I'm about to say that it was nothing but Logan spoke first. "Evan happened. And the only reason he's still breathing is because Mia won't let me kill him." "We're going to talk to the principal right now, hija. We'll get this straightened out."

Two grueling hours later, we are finally home. Evan 'apologized' even though he claimed it was an accident. My mom took his word, she has no reason to believe otherwise since I've always kept the bullying to myself. She even went back to work and left me alone at home. My mom is a single mother so she works hard to provide for all of us.