Chapter 24
Already planning on doing a u–turn, I’m surprised when my phone rings before I can even get out onto the road. It’s Conrad.
“What is it?” I ask, answering.
“Drop what you are doing and get back here,” Conrad says. In the background, I can hear Sylvia sobbing. “Sylvia told us who is to blame for all this.”
“I’m on my way.”
Ollie’s POV
With the plans finalized, I feel relieved, though Ella is still looking at me with some
concern.
She can’t be upset about me using the cabin we found together, as it was her suggestion to
start with. But if it’s not that… then what?
“Earlier,” she says. “After you fainted and I struggled to carry you, Conrad and the others came over as soon as they say. Conrad even insisted on carrying you to the doctor’s office.”
My heart leaps at hearing my suspicions confirm, though I immediately scold myself for the reaction. I don’t want to feel any excitement in regards to them. They’ve hurt me far too many times. Yet… it’s like I can’t help myself.
“Maybe they subconsciously sensed you are their mate,” she says. “Maybe if you were just honest with them, it would go as badly as you think.”
I shake my head, dismissing the words no matter how much my chest aches. “This is the way things have to be.”
Ella seems no less concerned, but she doesn’t speak out about it again.
I take efforts to avoid Sylvia and the quadruplets that night, and fortunately don’t see them
at all.
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Chapter 24
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However, the next morning at school, I find the four brothers standing inside the school
gate, with Sylvia sobbing into Wes’s arms.
“She’s here,” Declan says, his eyes on me.
I pause, bracing myself for the worst. Am I in for more punishment? More humiliation? What could they possibly have planned for me now?
Sylvia moves away from Wes to approach me. The four brothers follow her closely. I
purposefully avoid looking at Hugh, but my heartrate picks up all the same.
“Careful,” I whisper in my mind to Scarlet. “We can’t risk giving ourselves away.”
3
“I won’t slip,” Scarlet says. I can feel her pressing harder down on our bond and our scent.
“Oh, Ollie, I’m so sorry for what those terrible girls did to you,” Sylvia says. Fat tears fall from her eyes. She wipes at her cheeks with the meat of her palms. “To think that I once
considered them my friends…”
As she covers her face with her hands, Wes steps forward to pull her into a hug again. I look
from him to Conrad for explanation.
“Sylvia told us that her friends were bullying you and her,” Declan says.
“We told her she didn’t need to apologize to you for their actions, not when she’s a victim too,” Conrad says. “But she insisted.”
“Christie, Vikki, and Kimber have been removed from our lives and expelled from the pack,” Wes says. Softly, to Sylvia, he whispers, “They won’t hurt you anymore.”
I’m somewhat stunned. That the brothers would go so far to protect Sylvia, even when they
only had her word – her lies to go on.
–
“Are you trying to distance yourself from this situation, then, Sylvia?” Ella asks bluntly,
her face twisted in annoyance, her hand on her hip. “Everyone knows those girls looked to you like a leader.”
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Chapter 24
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The eyes of the four brothers frosted over, yet their chilly glares only stayed on Ella for a moment before switching to me. They remain quiet, as if they expect me to say something.
This is some kind of test. I just know it.
“Tell them the truth,” Scarlet pleads in my mind. “They might listen this time.”
Doubt makes my stomach churn, but my foolish heart still wants to believe in the quadruplets. If they are truly my mates… If they can sense the bond even subconsciously…
Maybe there’s hope.
Gathering my courage, I say, “What if I told you that Sylvia has been one of the people bullying me all along?”
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