Taking the Time

ten

Edited: 06/Aug/2024

   People stared at us like they had never even seen us before, and all we had done was walk into class together. Hunter simply smirked, holding my hand in his like the looks given didn't bother him. It was either that or they fueled his ego. Probably the latter, judging by the smirk. 
  "You've gotta ignore them." he whispers to me, sitting in the seat Cova usually did. It was a lot warmer in class than it was usually, and too many pairs of eyes were on me. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I snapped, saying something I couldn't remember but that was definitely meaner than I should have been. Instantly, I felt awful, seeing Hunter's frown grow. 
  "'m sorry. Everyone's looking at me like I've killed someone and it's making me nervous." he didn't even say anything back, just pulled a pen from his pocket. If I had grabbed a purple pen instead of a black one, I'd have been yelled at until I cried and given so many detentions I would drop education altogether. No omega could do half of the things others did and get away with it. We weren't as lucky. 
  "Why are you looking at me like that? I didn't do anything wrong this time, right?"
  "No, you didn't do anything. I'd just be killed with words if I wrote in that color and not blue or black." he smiled, grabbing his notebook and flicking through the pages. 
  "I don't do much writing. Or reading. It's hard, the letters don't make sense and the words mix up. It just gives me a headache and nobody can ever read my writing anyway." I nodded, looking at the pages he showed me. Some had words scribbled down incorrectly and some had notes written by somebody else entirely. He'd drawn in the corners of pages and scribbled a little, but he barely wrote anything more than a few words. 
  "Dyslexia?" he shrugs, struggling to find the page we needed but getting there eventually. 
  "Alex reads for me a lot of the time or I end up stuck reading the same thing over and over and over until I start banging my head on the table. I don't really bother in this class cause nobody wants to help. I'm actually failing it." I didn't get the chance to say anything else, the class starting and Hunter doodling in the corner of his book as I took notes. He was pretty good at it, but I could tell he wasn't enjoying himself. At some point he tried to read from the textbook, whispering something to himself before slamming his pen down and huffing. I hated to see him struggle.
  "Discoloration," I whispered, figuring out where he was reading from and watching him try to read over it again. "What helps you with this?"
  "Nothing. I can't do it. Teachers tried when I was younger but even they gave up trying. I just can't do it." I nodded, reading the text to him so he didn't get too frustrated with himself. He was already clenching his fists and tensing up. 
  "Adam." My neck near snapped at my name, the teacher looking well and truly pissed at me. All I'd done was help someone work, and here I was getting into trouble. "Focus-"
  "Wells is just helping me with the work. I got stuck with the reading and he's helping me," Hunter interrupted, smiling politely and not getting into any trouble for getting involved. The Alpha's son, he could get away with a lot. Mr Wright nodded and scowled at me for a moment before rubbing his hands together and continuing the class like he'd never stopped in the first place. "Sorry."
  "Last time I got into trouble with him I ended up in trouble with the Alpha. Your Dad already doesn't like me, and now that he has to tolerate me I don't wanna give him any issues."

---

   When I realized, I groaned and panicked a little internally. I was stuck outside of my bedroom, locked out and nowhere else to go. Hunter had a game that I couldn't attend because I was still supposed to be helping prepare for his ceremonies, and now I couldn't get into my room and change or fetch any heat suppressants because Cova and Alex had locked the door to have uninterrupted sex. They weren't quiet about it, both very, very loud. Groaning again, I knocked on the door. 
  "Not to interrupt you both, but I'm going to need the suppressants if I'm planning to get through the day," Things went quiet, and I cringed a little. There was fumbling and some groaning, and then the door unlocked. Alex stood behind the door, lower half only just covered up by the door as he held out a strip of suppressants for me to take. He looked like a mess, and I nearly threw up at the sight of it. "Thanks. Maybe quieten down a little, people are starting to get home."
  "Sure thing. You have grass stains on your knees."
  "Fuck you," I mumbled, knowing that he couldn't do anything to me without making Hunter, his own Alpha, angry. Not that he would have anyway. "If I see any stains on my side of the room, I'm gonna kill you."
  There was a harsh tug on my hair, forcing me to look up and see one of the bigger guys behind me. Alex's expression instantly hardened, and he grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist. I didn't even care that it was my towel, he was my only chance to get this guy off of me without much conflict. 
  "Carson it was just a joke, man. Let go of him," he warns, though when the hand tightened in my hair I screamed. Our Alpha heard, coming through the halls to see what was happening. He'd have to do something now that it was known to him that I was his son's mate. Alex bowed his head slightly, and I ducked behind the overgrown man with unresolved anger issues. He seemed to have sensed that something was wrong and backed up slightly, almost squashing me against the wall with his weight. I didn't care, hiding behind him. "Carson grabbed him Alpha, I could see him trying to get his hand in his pants."
  "He blatantly disrespected you and you did nothing.
  "He was joking. I'm in his room a little busy, he was joking about me making a mess." Cova groaned and stepped out of the room, wearing Alex's hoodie and clinging onto his waist. He glared at Carson, and if looks could kill then he would be long gone. Carson started to growl, feeling yet again disrespected. He was ready to fight Alex, but Cova himself near lunged forward to attack him. Alpha turned to face me, hands against my face as if to take a closer look. 
  "Nothing happened, right?"
  "Nothing. Just grabbed my hair and I knew he was going to try. Don't why I started screaming, I just did." He nodded, checking me over to make sure that I really wasn't hurt. If I wasn't his son's mate, he wouldn't have bothered. I would have been left to fend Carson off myself. 
  "Are you sure?" he placed a hand on my neck when I nodded, guiding me to his office. It was like he forgot that I was supposed to be doing something. "You're absolutely sure that he didn't do anything else?"
  "Just grabbed my hair. Then I screamed and you came before anything else happened. I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just joking around with Alex about whatever he's doing with Cova in my room."
  "Carson knows better. Speaking of my son, have you had any other issues with Hunter?" I knew it. I shook my head, and he looked at me like he didn't believe me. 
  "No Sir, he's doing his best."
  "Nothing at all?"
  "Only a few arguments we got over in a few minutes."
  "No violence, though?" I shook my head and smiled, already smelling him before he even entered. "Nobody has called him yet."
  "He's outside the room and smells like sweat."

   Hunter shoved the door, rushing to me and tugging me up onto my feet. I nearly pushed him away, but saw the panic in his eyes and let him check me over. He didn't find anything. 
  "What happened? All I could hear was screaming." he said, and the Alpha looked stunned.
  "You heard his scream?" Hunter only nodded, still checking me over carefully, and very much ignoring the fact that his leg was bleeding. A lot. Once he accepted that there was no clear damage, he looked up at his Dad and speaks, still holding onto my arm. 
  "I might need a new car," he sounded sheepish, like this wasn't the first time that his car had needed to be replaced. It didn't shock me. They had the money, the privilege to buy as many cars as they wanted. Alpha still hadn't asked why his son's leg was soaked in blood. "A football went through my windshield and somebody dented all my doors."
  "What did you do?" I whispered, arm finally free of his grip. 
  "Oh. That. When I heard you scream, I ran straight off field and got knocked into something. I wasn't paying attention, I just ran home." I nodded, wincing at the sight of more injuries. He was bloody all the way to his ribs, still panting. Adrenaline wasn't letting him feel whatever he'd done, though. "You smell like Carson."
  "He never got the chance to do anything but grab at me. I screamed." Hunter shooed his Father, who left without a word to deal with Carson. Hunter didn't seem to believe what I was telling him, clearly thinking he must have done something. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd done something like it. "He just grabbed my hair. Alex said that Carson tried slipping his hands down my trousers but I never felt it. You heard me scream, though."
  Hunter huffed, wrapping his jacket around my body. I pull it on properly, zipping it up and hoping that he'd get over the smell soon enough. He didn't have the chance to do anything else before pushing him to sit down, though. The cuts all over his legs looked nasty and bloody. They were deep and obviously painful, but he didn't seem to feel them. 
  "You're not touching them 'til I know for sure he didn't do anything."
  "He didn't and you can't stop me."
  "I'll do whatever I want when it comes to your safety." I scoffed, crossing my arms and glaring at him.
  "Not if you want your balls intact. Leg up." he stared and shook his head. "Fine."

I raised my foot to kick him, and he reluctantly lifted his leg for me to see. 
  
  "I thought so." I smiled, watching him hiss and wince as I cleaned each cut. He really was barely scraped up, and I asked about it but he didn't seem to remember what actually happened. All he was focused on was the fact I had screamed and he had heard it. 
  "Hunter, I'm okay, I swear. He really didn't do anything to me. Ask Alex if you need some more reassurance. Cova attacked Carson too." he shook his head, trying to take another look at me. 
   "I don't like this. Can I kill him?" I shook my head and smiled, letting him pull me close enough to hug me. I didn't want to smell like Carson either any more than Hunter wanted to smell him on me. He pressed his face against my neck, holding my waist and pulling the jacket even tighter. "I want to kill him."
  "That's unfortunately illegal, 'm sorry." he huffed, and I reached into my pocket for my suppressants. Even now that Hunter was here, I didn't need people sniffing me out. "You want to go and sit in your room or something? Alex and Cee were doing the dirty before it happened and I feel like I'm in trouble when I'm in here."
  "Okay. I might kill him if I see him though." There was a yelp from somewhere else in the house, and he chuckled. 
  "Sounds like your Dad's got a handle on things."