Chapter 11
“You sure you’re okay?” Ella asks on the walk to school. “You’ve been acting strangely all morning. Given everything that you’ve been through, I can understand it. But I’m
worried.”
“I’m okay,” I tell her, though I still don’t feel particularly well.
I’m hoping to avoid Sylvia and the quadruplets today, yet as we near the school, they are unfortunately out front. The three girlfriends are with them.
The brothers seem to be talking among themselves, with Sylvia addressing her minions nearby.
There’s only one entrance into the school, so there’s unfortunately no way to avoid them.
“If we keep our heads down, maybe they won’t notice us,” Ella says.
A well–meaning plan, but not a great one. I’m spotted immediately.
“Look, there’s the wolfless now!” Sylvia calls.
“Poor little wolfless,” Kimber says in a put–on baby–voice. “How does it feel to be at the
bottom of the food chain?”
“Careful, Sylvia,” Christie says. “She might try to steal your wolf like she tried to steal your
life.”
“She might want to, but she’d never be able to,” Vikki says. “Wolfless can’t do anything for
themselves.”
I bite my tongue before I can remind her that for the past year, I’m the one that’s been doing her homework.
“It’s a shame how worthless they are,” Sylvia says. “But I guess we’ve known that about
Ollie for a while.”
1/3
Chapter 11
+25 Bonus
Her minions laugh. The brothers do too, which cuts into me despite my best efforts to ignore them.
With my wolf, it seems as if I feel everything so much more now. Even this.
“Let’s just go,” I say to Ella, and we start to walk by.
“Stop,” Declan demands. Almost on instinct, I feel my feet stop. He and the other brothers approach us. Rounding to the front of us, they totally block our path. “You have no right to throw a tantrum. You will hear what Sylvia has to say.”
Conrad crosses his arms. Hugh cruelly smirks. Wes frowns, but his eyes are fiery with
anger.
I don’t care what they say, or how annoyed they look. I’m not going to be late for class.
Once more, I try to move around them.
“He said stop!” Vikki shouts and grabs my arms.
Christie and Kimber both grab Ella.
“Let us go!” I say and start to struggle.
Just then Sylvia starts toward me. Before she even gets to me, she somehow twists around
and falls.
Everyone freezes.
From the ground, Sylvia looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I wanted to help you, Ollie. Why would you push me?”
I was nowhere near her! Vikki and the others must have seen that!
Yet no one says a word to defend me. As the others go to help Sylvia, Wes storms toward
- me.
I back up a step, or try to, but Vikki keeps me steady.
213
+25 Bonus
Wes is the kindest of the brothers, but he can also be fiercest. His protective instincts are bone deep. With that fury turned on me, I don’t know what to expect.
“You are a disgrace, Ollie. How can you continue to disrespect the very person who tries to defend you?”
She wasn’t trying to defend me! I hold the words back, knowing that saying them aloud
would be useless.
“You will stand right here at the school gate all day,” Wes says. “You will not move an inch, or I will withhold your wages for the entire month.”
My stomach drops. Standing is a bad–enough punishment, but to dock my pay? I barely
make enough as it is.
Wes shoves me toward the school gate. I have no choice but to take point. With my back against the gate, I try to stand tall, hoping to maintain my composure despite the humiliation being forced upon me.
“Give me a marker,” Wes says, holding his hand out to Sylvia’s minions.
When Kimber hands one over, he pops off the top. Approaching me, he lowers his gaze
down to my chest.
With a black marker, he writes on my white button–down top, directly over my breasts.
The sensations of the press of the marker into flesh makes my skin tingle. I inhale sharply as he inadvertently drags the felt tip over one of my nipples.
