CHAPTER EIGHT

He looked like the sort of boy who played with girls for fun and she was very much inexperienced in a lot of areas concerning the opposite sex, she hadn't even had her first kiss at 17. Her wolf was growling internally but she couldn't decipher if it was a good thing or not. She was sure her mother would warn her off such boys, especially one with a notorious reputation like Logan's. She swiped across the images on her screen and in every picture, he was at a different party with a different girl. She stopped counting when she got to ten. Who was she kidding? Despite her now growing crush on him, she doubted if he would look at her twice. She would take him under her wing and try to brush him up to speed as fast as she could and hope he kept his word and helped her in her bid for class president. It would serve as some sort of consolation over losing the first boy she felt something romantic towards.

She put her phone inside her jean pocket and pushed her chair backward as she stood. She had wasted enough time thinking about a boy already, it was time for serious business but first, she had to eat something. The cafeteria was her next destination. Besides the hunt yesterday with her brothers, she hasn't eaten anything else. That was her favorite part of being a wolf, the hunt in the middle of the night. It was her guilty pleasure, she loved it more than she would have liked to admit. As she stepped out of the classroom, her phone chimed once informing her of an incoming message, she retrieved her phone from her pocket and stared at the content of the message on her screen. Her lips tightened immediately as she felt anger coursing through her. Mother had booked her weekend again without her permission despite her promises that it would never happen again. She hated the way she was being treated like a bargaining chip by her parents, she barely had any time to herself once she stepped into her home.

Since she turned 17, she had lost count of the number of matchmaking dinners she had attended with several eligible and prospective suitors. Her parents were hellbent on finding a suitable young alpha for her to get wedded to strengthen their pack. They laughed at her pleas of allowing her to choose a boy to fall in love with; these dinners were their way of bringing every eligible young alpha wolf her way for her to pick. It was a wonder she hadn't had dinner with Logan and his family yet, he was certainly a qualified candidate and she wouldn't hesitate to pick him over the rest.

***

The lessons weren't going as it was supposed to, at least not anymore. It had started fine, I played his part perfectly and she was diligent with hers. She was starting to smile more often and I was thoroughly enjoying her company. She had repeatedly turned down my offer of going out on a date because things were a little bit tense at home and I understood, her walls were beginning to come down slowly and she was helping me albeit unknowingly to paint a vivid picture of her family.

During the hours we spent together at a cabin I bought specially for this purpose, I would occasionally catch her staring at me longingly and more times than not, my wolf would be elated inside of me. I often struggled to keep myself from howling. The sexual tension between us had been getting thick the more time we spent together. I could smell her want and I was certain she could smell mine too. The air around us was usually so tight that we would barely stay in the same room without wanting to tear each other's clothes off our bodies. It almost came as a relief when she started to miss a few days of our classes and in a way, I felt grateful.

My plans were turning out the way I never envisioned them to go, never in a million years did I ever think my wolf would want to mate in my teenage years but I couldn't do anything about it. I was supposed to make her fall in love with me and not catch feelings myself. The best option was to take a couple of weeks off, we both needed the space to clear our heads before we did something we would both regret in the long run.

I had no other option than to start ignoring her whenever we met outside the cabin. I would pass her in the hallway, cafeteria, and in classes without so much as a second glance. I could always see the hurt on her face but there was little I could do about it. My father was becoming increasingly impatient with how slow I was taking things so I was forced to start taking classes with her again.

She reluctantly agreed but she would always turn up late with barely an hour left of our allocated time, I didn't mind much or ever bothered to ask about her whereabouts.

We didn't speak much aside from discussing academics, and that was that. That was the way it was until one evening when she was running over an hour late, which was unusual. She had never been this late before even as much as she tried to avoid me.

At first, I was annoyed at the fact that I had decided to stay and wait for her. I had been clueless and this frustrated me a great deal. I didn't know if she had any friends, I'd barely paid much attention to her over the past few weeks and I couldn't reach out to her brothers. Slowly, my annoyance turned into concern as the dusk slowly approached. She had never been this late before. What if her father or brothers had gotten wind of our discreet arrangement or worse, what if something bad had happened on her way here? What if she was hurt and needed help?

My mind was conjuring up the most grotesque images of several things that could have happened to her and it left me in a state of worry for a girl I was forbidden to ever have feelings for which only aggravated me further.

I tried calling her but I was directed to voicemail every time I called. By the time, she was two hours late. I had given up on pacing around the cabin and settled down on a wooden chair overlooking the window with a glass of vodka in my hand, partly annoyed at the fact that I was overly concerned about her absence and the fact that I was scared that something had happened to her.

By the time her car appeared on the driveway, I was only a few seconds away from calling a few wolves under me to mobilize a search party for her. I heaved a huge sigh of relief and downed the rest of the vodka before I stood up waiting for her to enter the room. There was a deep scowl etched on my face as the door knob turned and she entered inside.