Forever My Alpha (Alpha Kane)

Chapter Three

"There you are."

A huge, heavy hulk of a body fell on top of me- weight forcing the breath straight out of my lungs. I screamed, thrust my knee into the bastard's stomach.

"Ow!"

The body rolled away and I scrambled to my feet- only to find a grimacing Ian on the ground, clutching his stomach.

"Shit," I grabbed his arm, peered down at him. "You alive?"

"Barely," he gritted out. "What is wrong with you, woman?"

I helped him sit up, pressed my lips together to stop from laughing. "You shouldn't have snuck up on me like that." I had been staring up at the sky again, beginning to doze off when he'd just landed on me. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear any footsteps. Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

He stopped rubbing his tummy, gave me a smile that screamed mischievous. "What's magic good for if I can't teleport out of class to hang out with my best friend once in a while?"

"You teleported out of class?!" I screeched.

Newbury College was the only school in Seattle with an all supernatural student population so his teacher seeing him use magic wasn't the big deal here. Ian was studying Law, mostly to appease his mother- who more importantly would murder him if she found out he was skipping. She threw fireballs at him the last time he did something stupid. As fate would have it, I was around at the time and ended up being used as a human shield by my loving friend. I'd like to avoid that happening again.

"Learned the spell last week," Ian said, ignoring my obvious panic. He held up a single high-heeled shoe. "Your crazy teacher threw this at me while I was leaving your class."

I frowned. "Ms. Jessica was awake?" I asked.

She normally gave us work, stretched right out on her comfy chair and knocked off for the rest of the class. Said she was going on a journey in search of inner inspiration. Of course, none of us were allowed to find our own inspiration that way.

Ian threw the heel into a bush. "I woke her up. Wanted to know where you were. I also told her she had a bit of drool on her chin."

"You have yourself to blame for the assault then," I said dryly, reaching over to pat down the blonde disarray that was his hair. The mess was a normal thing but it was way worse today. I guess she got him on the head.

His hazel eyes squinted at me, mouth forming a frown. Ian was all grins and jokes, but he could sniff out trouble like a bloodhound could meat. "Why did you skip class?"

"My stomach was hurting. Cramps." The lie came out smooth, a reflex.

Ian knew Kane, his mom occasionally took care of magical business for the pack but I've never told him about the mate thing. Not him, not my mom either. Aster was the only one who knew actually. It was strange telling the people I saw every day that the one person who was supposed to be right for me didn't think I was right for him. Having them know that, the two people who were my entire world, would be another blow I couldn't take. I couldn't let them in on how much of a letdown I truly was.

"You're lying," Ian observed.

My mouth twitched. He took my hand, fingers grazing the red knuckles. They hadn't quite healed from last night.

"Are you still hurting? From last night's fight?"

After my fight with the Giant, all my injuries were thoroughly inspected by a doctor in one of the rooms granted to regular participants. I had a couple broken ribs, a crushed ankle and could barely twitch any of my fingers without crying out. Presently though, ninety percent of those injuries were gone and I knew I'd be as good as new by the afternoon. My healing abilities were the only exceptional werewolf trait I had. The rest, scent, hearing, speed and strength were all pretty much lacking.