Collecting the Pieces of the Shandhi Sword (Book 2 of Mark Series)

Chapter 20

Samuel was scowling when I walked into the library with the pieces of the sword, and Carter looked smug. He stood up when he saw me, and I raised an eyebrow because I had never seen this male look so angry. "This is your fault," he seethed, and I raised the eyebrow higher. "Admit it."

"Admit what?" I asked and stopped in the middle of the room. "What am I supposed to admit?" I glanced at Carter when I asked my question because I had a feeling that the other male wouldn't answer me.

"Adele had placed me as the notetaker," Carter said. He folded his arms across his chest and smirked. "And Samuel here is mad because he doesn't want me to take the notes. He thinks my note-taking skills suck." The male pouted and cocked his head, and amusement filled his eyes while he looked at me. "Do you think my notetaking skills suck?" he asked.

I held back an eye roll and looked at Samuel to see him stalking towards me as if he was a predator and not prey. I didn't move from my spot and waited until he was right in front of me, his hair barely reaching my lips. Slowly, I blinked while he lifted his head until he looked me in the eyes, debating on whether or not I should teach him a lesson about walking up to an actual predator.

"Well?" he asked, and I cocked my head. He studied me and narrowed his eyes while he still tried to make me feel intimidated by his small size. "Are you going to admit it?"

"I told Adele that I do not think you should be going on any more trips with us, yes," I replied. I glanced at Carter. "If your notetaking skills sucked, then I don't think Adele would have let you take notes for her about what is happening."

Carter shrugged his shoulder. "True," he replied. "But that wasn't the question that I asked." He winked, and I rolled my eyes.

"W-"

"Because of your stupid actions, my mate is injured, and so was Malena," I snapped and interrupted him while I turned my gaze to him. I growled and bared my teeth, and the male did the right thing and took a step back with wide eyes. "You had one specific order, Samuel, and that was for you to listen to me and obey."

"Well, tech-"

"Shut up, Carter," I snapped and interrupted him. I turned my gaze towards him, and the other male smiled and raised his hands in mock defeat while I growled a warning. "You should have stayed with the group. If you had, then neither one of them would have been injured." I turned my gaze to the male and fought back the urge to hurt him.

Samuel gulped, and his face grew pale. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it before he opened it again. "I-" was the only thing he could get out before he closed his mouth and cleared his throat.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I let out a ferocious growl that made Samuel yelp and move away from me. "For your safety and the safety of the people that are on these missions with me, you will not be going with us on the rest of these trips." I opened my eyes and saw him behind Carter, shaking like a leaf, and Carter had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. "Is that understood?"

Samuel gulped again and nodded his head. He didn't say a word to me while he fixed his glasses and blinked. His heart pounded fast in his chest, and I could smell the fear coming off of him in waves.

Again, I let out a growl, but this one was softer than the others, and I shook my head, annoyed. "I brought the pieces of the sword with me," I said, changing the subject. "I didn't put them together yet so that you can see the process. I have no idea if it is similar or different from the first part."

The nerd's eyes went wide, and he nodded his head in excitement. He was still shaking, but he tried to act brave, even though we all knew he was petrified of me. "O-ok," he stuttered while he moved away from behind Carter. "P-P-Put it on the table, a-a-and let's see what it does."

I set my jaw and walked to the table bristled and ready to attack if I needed to. I turned my gaze to Clarice when she let out a soft woosh and saw that she was pale, if not paler than the nerd.

Clarice noticed me looking at her and smiled sheepishly. "You know you scare me sometimes, right?" she asked and raised an eyebrow in question.

I smirked but didn't reply while I set the sword on the table. I knew that I scared her by how her face looked paler than normal, something that I wondered how she hid while she acted mean.

Carter groaned, and I flicked my gaze towards him to see that he was scowling at Clarice. "Don't tell me that you need to hide behind someone, too," he said, not looking at me. "That would be so annoying."

Clarice shook her head and snorted before she rolled her eyes. "Please," she said, leaning back in her seat before she folded her arms across her chest while she placed one leg across the other. Her gaze was on Carter, but I could see her peeking at me from the corner of her eye. "Her anger isn't directed at me. I don't see the to hide behind someone, especially you, since you have someone hiding behind you already."

Carter raised an eyebrow, and a sly smile started to form on his lips while he studied the other female. "But if it was directed towards you..."

"Then, I would definitely be hiding behind someone, so her wrath couldn't reach me."

I didn't reply and bit a snort, unamused.

No one could stand in the way of my wrath. No one was safe, and I prayed that they would know that before it was too late.