The Alpha's Protector

Six

I tried staying away from Tyler the best I could, but it wasn't easy considering I had every class with him. I kept my eyes open, always darting from faces I wouldn't remember to hands to see whether or not they had a weapon. It's been two weeks since I told him I couldn't be his mate, and I was still running.

I'd had a few run-ins with the occasional girl that had it in their head that they were his mate, the occasional girl he had made out with. One kept running back, someone named Starla that had an insanely annoying voice. The problem was, I couldn't hate her.

She kept clinging around Tyler, which pissed me off to no end, but she was so kind. She didn't scream or try to punch me, she simply asked me whether I was dating him, and if I wasn't whether or not I could talk to him about her. I didn't obviously, but I kept watching her, and that actually made it worse.

She had beautiful red hair and pale skin, with eyes that tried to match Tyler's, although they never came close. She had the occasional freckle dusted across the bridge of her nose, and had no visible scars on her body nor tattoos; unlike me. She was short compared to my height, and didn't have as big of a bust as me. But everything about her screamed beauty, while everything about me screamed run.

She was smart, and was kind to everyone. Even the nerds that would get picked on or the loners that had no friends, she was kind and always made jokes with them. She helped the elderly and read books to young children.

She was everything I wish I was.

Even with an annoying voice.

I was sitting in the back corner of the cafeteria, watching her laughing at a joke someone made. She sat at the same table with all of them, everyone had eventually migrated back inside when the air outside turned cold. I kept glancing over to the group of wolves sitting there, occasionally meeting the eyes of the Protectors integrated with them.

My eyes met her green ones, holding them for a few seconds before she turned and said something into Tyler's ear, giggling as she spoke. She stuck her tongue out and flicked it across the portion of skin under his ear, sending my skin boiling. I held in a growl, my fingers gripping on the table so hard it began to crack.

But then she turned his face and kissed him.

That's when I blew.

I growled out, whatever I had in the growl caused almost everyone to bow their heads. I had no idea what authority I had, but I was so pissed I was seeing red. Tyler looked confused, while Starla just looked smug as she bowed her head. I saw her finger trailing over the bench connecting them, before settling on his upper thigh.

He flinched, moving a few inches away from her, but that didn't stop her assault. He fingers firmly grasped his thigh, and even from here I could see them digging into his skin as an attempt at keeping him by her. I stood up and left the room as fast as I could, the cold air from outside blasting against my warm skin.

I swung up a branch before screaming in frustration, my fist connecting with the thick bark of the oak tree I climbed. The bark flew away from my hands, but I kept punching until the tree toppled over and my fists were bleeding.

I'd always had weird blood. It was red, like everyone else's, but in the light it shimmered gold. I'd always assumed it was the vampirism and the Protector genes inside of me, but when Ethan got stabbed a year or so back and his blood wasn't the same as mine, I had no clue why the hell it shimmered like that.

It was dripping down my hand right now as I made my way back to the school. As mad as I was, he was still my mission, and I still had to watch him. I ripped the bottom of a shirt I kept in my bag in case of emergencies, wrapping it tightly around my knuckles as I made my way to chemistry.