"Young, but I'm not that bold

And I don't think the world is sold

I'm just doing what we're told

I, feel something so right

Doing the wrong thing

I, feel something so wrong

But doing the right thing."

---

"Fine... I'll tell you..." He whispered.

I nodded my head in encouragement. "Good boy." I said, as I urged him to speak but before he could say anything, the teacher interfered.

"I suppose the world history is more important that your conversation, Ms. Hart." His voice pierced through the class' silence, effectively shutting me up.

No it's not. I thought. Wishing I was brave enough to say it out loud.

I heard Ryder sigh in relief beside me and I glared at him.

Tearing a piece of paper from the corner of my notebook, I quickly scribbled a note for Ryder.

Don't you dare think you're off the hook, Ryder. You're still telling me her name. I promise not to harm her, but I need to talk to her. I can't see you like this. Stop. Protecting. Her.

Ryder read the note with pursed lips and mumbled, "It's my job to protect her."

"And it's my job to protect you." I replied, making his head snap towards me.

I gave him a meaningful glance before I continued to pretend like I was concentrating in class.

I could feel the weight of Ryder's gaze on me throughout the class. Everytime I turned to look at him, he'd look away.

The school bell rang, marking the end of this class and I began to collect my stuff when Ryder's sullen voice stopped me on my tracks.

"Her name's Cindy. Cindy Peige. She joined the school last year, under the alpha's permission to live as a lone wolf. She wasn't exiled from her pack, so she isn't a rogue. But she ran away to become a lone wolf. She's currently pack-less and that makes her a part of a very dangerous situation. Please don't do anything that puts either of you in danger, Livy. I trust you on this..."

With a parting glance at me, Ryder exited the class and I am pretty sure he was going to skip the rest of it.

But what about me?

I just stood there with a gaping face and widened eyes. As the information sanj in, a horrified expression took over my face and chill of disgust and anguish ran down my spine as I realized that Ryder's mate was the very female who had tried to ruin my relationship with Chance.

My hands fisted tightly and my mouth curled into a sneer as I stormed out of the class to search for the she-devil herself.

I was going to find her. I was going to discuss certain matters with her. And I didn't have pure intentions.

Trust me when I say that I am not one of those people who don't see flaws in their mates. I am not fully blaming Cindy for the rocky start of our relationship because she probably didn't even know back then that Chance had a mate.

But I certainly do blame her for planting the idea that I cheated in Chance's head.

Not to mention the fact that she specifically targeted Ryder for this. Andrew, too, had come to the pack house to meet me that day. But she didn't report about him. She chose to make Ryder the centre of controversy and display that I was cheating on Chance with him.

Which was definitely after she had found that Ryder was her mate.

You can't take it as a sign of her jealousy because she never talked to Ryder about it. The poor guy was clueless about such gossips going around in the pack house.

Her intentions were clearly way beyond common mate jealousy. They were malicious and selfish. She was power hungry.

According to my theory, what she wanted to prove was that Ryder and I were infidel to each other's mates and we were cheaters. She wanted the entire pack to shame us to an extent that Reece's dad, the Alpha— would be compelled to throw us out of the pack.

And we would become rogues.

Then, she'd play the damsels in distress and try to lure heartbroken Chance by her seductive advances and ultimately get the Beta female position in the pack.

That's what she always wanted. Power. Status. Money. And rank. Her lewd and vested interests had blinded her to an extent that she was ready to sacrifice the love of her mate for petty things.

I don't know if my theory was right or wrong, but I do know that Cindy Peige had a more lot up her sleeve than I had expected and I needed to give her a piece of mind.

And at the same time, and small, hopeful part of my heart felt that maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to make her understand what she's missing on by doing this to her own soulmate.

Maybe she'll understand how much Ryder loves her and how big of a mistake she's committing.

Now the question was, where do I find her?

Cindy is one of those people who'd come in front of your eyes all the time when you don't want to see them, and then when you do want to talk to them, they'd disappear.

Her disapperance is usually a good news for me. But at the moment, it was pissing me off.

"Dammit! Where are you?" I growled internally, as I searched for her in the entire school. From PE grounds, to library, to the janitors closet (just in case she decided to show her hoe tendencies), the principal's office (just in case she got caught) and various empty classrooms.

But she wasn't found.

Frustrated and tired, I entered the ladies washroom to wash my face. I always do that when I need to calm down.

Standing in front of the faucet, I splashed cold water on my face. Letting the drops go down my neck so that they could cool my body, I reapplied my lip balm. Just when I was about to exit the washroom, a sinister voice stopped me.

"Looking for me?"

I turned around so fast, that I was surprised my neck didn't experience a whiplash.

Then I saw her.

Leaning against a cubicle door in a cool stance, twirling her hair between her finger, stood the she-devil of my life. Cindy Peige.

Hallelujah.

The all-knowing, malicious smirk on her face creeped the hell out of me as she pushed herself off the door and walked towards me with small, predator steps.

Flippinh her strawberry blonde her off her shoulder, she stood in front of me as she obnoxiously chewed her gum.

"Cat caught your tongue?" I noticed her voice was over sweet, yet screechy at the same time.

In other words, fake.

Like her entire personality.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked a simple question that I thought summed up everything I needed to say or ask.

Cocking her head to the side, she smirked at me as her mouth still worked on chewing the gum.

"Not very smart, are we?" She mocked. "Or did your best friend not tell you?"

My fists curled in anger and my nostrils flared as she talked about Ryder with disrespect.

I was only this far from punching her face and breaking her nose.

"I don't mate with wusses. I want high ranks to mate. I am meant to rule." She held her head high as she finished her sentence and placed her hand on my shoulder.

Ew. Grab me a sanitizer real quick. My shoulder has been contaminated.

"So I'd suggest you, sweetheart, to back off. Chance is mine. I'm going to mate with him. You can take that Ryder boy or whoever he is, I don't care. But I am going to become the beta-female. I am meant to. Besides, me and Chance have been so close before. Do you kn—"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence before my fist made contact with her face and she screamed, screechingly before falling behind.

My lips curled into a snarl and a growl escaped my lips as the wolf in me awakened. She was mad. I was mad. We were both mad at the she-devil who had dared to call our mate hers.

We weren't going to tolerate this.

Something foreign consumed and controlled my body as I stepped forward to pull her up by her collar just to throw another punch on her doll-face.

I hope committing homicide isn't a crime in the werewolf world.

And this time I remembered to keep my thumb out.

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(Ryder's gif in the media box) 😭💔