The Red Wolf (1st book Red Series) (Completed)

Chapter 8 (Edited)

"And why is that?" the male, Luke, asked. "You don't have a rank."

"Ah, but I'm the Beta's sister," I replied. "And I'm sure you want to see what a Dud can do, am I correct?" I raised an eyebrow. "I mean, this should be an easy battle for you. You don't have anything to lose."

"But what if you do win?" Luke asked.

"I get to help you out and show you some secrets that I had learnt over the years," I replied. I shrugged my shoulder. "My brother and I both helped out Alpha Cameron starting when we were in middle school. Gamma Trevor did the meetings as well as the work that needed a Wolf. Both of us had done paperwork for them." I shrugged my shoulder, again. "When Rhett turned 16, he took over what Gamma Trevor did, leaving me to help with most of the pack bills and such."

"Basically you're saying that you have experience with pack business," Addy said.

I nodded my head. "I was not allowed at pack meetings or stuff, because of the pack. However, I did behind the scenes stuff. I researched and got information. Most of what I placed together was basically correct."

"But you killed your parents," Luke interjected. "You can't just challenge me. You are not even in this pack."

"I did not kill my parents. The blood on my mouth is classified. I can challenge you. And, I will be in this pack once Alpha Carter asks me to be, which will probably be tonight. I have no ties connecting me that pack, except for my brother and best friend."

"You have your mate though," Liam said. "Don't you want to work it out with him?"

A pained expression appeared on my face when I saw that the six members had a look of shock. "I can't," I said. "I rejected him. I'm surprised that he hadn't accepted my rejection yet."

"You are a fucking bitch," Addy seethed. Her hazel eyes were filled with anger while she looked at me. "You don't know what rejection could do to a person."

"And you do?" I asked, calmly, raising an eyebrow. "I've been rejected my whole live. I was treated really well before I got blamed for the death of my parents. My pack rejected me. They beat and kicked me until the verge of death. They called me names and dumped their food on me. They make Humans tease me. Even the people that get bullied, bully me as well, even though I had saved them." I gritted my teeth together, trying to calm my anger. "He was going to reject me, but I just did it first. Don't talk to me about rejection." With that, I stood and pushed everyone out of my way. I grabbed my bag from off the floor and slung it on my back and walked to the front door.

I took another deep breath, hoping that I wouldn't get rejected by this pack either. That was my biggest fear. It was being rejected. That was the main reason that I had rejected Cooper first. I didn't want to go back to what I had done before.

***

Vulcan was waiting outside, still wearing his same old get up. He had keys in his hands, and it looked like that he was waiting for me.

"Are you driving everyone to school?" I asked. I groaned when he nodded, because I didn't know what I would do if I was stuck in a car with them. "It's nothing," I explained when I saw him cock his head. "It's probably just a slight miscommunication and very complicated." Basically, I didn't want to talk about it.

Vulcan nodded his head and pointed where the SUV was waiting.

I nodded my head and bit my lip. "Question."

Vulcan looked at me and cocked his head. It was as if he was waiting for me to say something.

"Why me?"

He cocked his head further, and I could tell that he was confused.

I huffed and pulled out the necklace, showing the red diamond. "Why me? Why do you want to protect a girl that's rejected by society because she is different from them?"

Vulcan just stared at me. He didn't say a word.

"And you're not going to answer me." I shook my head and sighed. "Never mind." I placed the red diamond back under my shirt. "I'm going to wait in the SUV." With that, I walked to where the SUV was and got into the front seat, dumping my bag in between my legs.

***

After everyone had piled in, Vulcan started the SUV and started the way to school. No one tried to speak to me, but that was probably because that I had placed my headphones in, making it look like that I was listening to something.

The closer we got to the school, the more nervous I became. I drummed my fingers against the armrest, feeling very nervous about going to school. My heart rate started to pick up a slight bit, and my breathing started to become ragged. I wasn't much of a person that had panic attacks, but if I did have them, then they were pretty bad. I closed my eyes and gripped the armrest. I took a deep breath, trying to control my breathing. However, it didn't work. I was still panicking.

"Rylan," a voice said. Warm hands grabbed my face and someone rubbed my cheek. "Rylan," the same voice said. "Open your eyes."

I opened my eyes and saw that Liam was in front of me. My lip quivered, and my whole body was shaking. I had no idea that going to school would be this hard for me. However, I knew that it was because I had a huge fear of being rejected.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

I nodded my head, taking a deep shuddering breath. "Uh, ya. I'm fine." My voice sounded hoarse and unconvincing, even to my ears. "Just give me a minute." I took another deep breath before I started to get out of the SUV.

Vulcan grabbed my wrist, and I looked at him in horror. I saw that he was staring at my arm, which was visible underneath my hoodie. Three long white scars contrasted against my tan skin, and I knew that he had found my secret.

"Let go," I hissed as I tried to move from his grasp.

Vulcan tightened his hold on my arm and pushed my sleeve up to above my elbow. He traced each of the scars before grabbing hold of my other arm and doing the same thing. He looked at Liam, who had seen the same thing and pointed at the cuts at my arm.

"Rylan," Liam said, his voice hard. He waited until I looked up at him. "I need you to tell me everything that had happened to you at your pack."

I blinked back the tears that wanted to spill and nodded my head. Only three people knew that I had cut before Vulcan and Liam had found out. It had only been one for quite a while, because Rhett had caught me cutting myself when I was thirteen and that was the last time that I had cut.