Fighting to go on

Chapter 2

**A/N- I wasn't planning on adding more chapters yet, but this story managed to make it onto the What's Hot list already and it made me so happy that i just had to give you guys another one. It's short, but if I get a good response again, I'll add the next one which is longer. Enjoy!**

*Ryan’s POV*

           

            Shit.

            That was the first word that came to mind when I looked into her eyes. I felt the pull that I knew was my wolf, telling me that this was my mate. I know she felt it too, by the look that came into her eyes. But the fear that quickly followed the recognition worried me. She broke her gaze and I heard her sharp intake of breath when she realized who I was.

            I was distracted when I realized that there was a pair of hands on her shoulders. I scowled at the thought of another male touching her. Samantha noticed my glare and turned to look at the guy behind her. She turned back to face me, but my eyes were locked on the guy behind her. My wolf was demanding her to tell us who this person was.

            She must have heard him, because she introduced us quickly. “Um, Charlie, this is Ryan. He’s in my English class. Ryan, this is Charlie, my brother.”

            My tense posture relaxed slightly. Now I remembered her mentioning that she had a brother in English. Plus, there was definitely a resemblance there, with both of them having blonde hair and green eyes. But before I could say anything, her brother spoke up. “You should watch where you’re going.”

            I raised an eyebrow. The young idiot was challenging me? “Your sister is the one who ran into me, not the other way around.”

            “Only because you came barreling around the corner without stopping to look,” he snapped at me. He shifted so that he was beside Samantha and then angled his body in front of her.

            Ah, he was protecting her. I could understand that, but he still needed to be put in his place. “Look kid, I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t want to mess with me.” I said warningly.

            Samantha gripped his arm tightly. “Charlie, come on. It was just an accident. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” There was fear in her eyes and her voice trembled a tiny bit, which I didn’t like. Why was she so scared of me? Oh right, I nearly gave the poor girl a heart attack earlier. And then I made her run into me. My wolf was currently scolding me for possibly hurting her, and it was difficult to focus on the two people on front of me, but I managed it.

            Charlie turned to her and I saw his face soften when he saw her fear. He put his arm around her and squeezed her gently. “Sorry,” he murmured.”

            She gave him a half smile. “It’s okay. Let’s just get to our classes.”

            Charlie nodded and began leading her away. I watched them with a small frown on my face. She turned once to look at me, but then she was gone around the corner.

            I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest. Everyone gave me a wide berth, aside from a few girls who purposely brushed against me, trying to get my attention. But they were wasting their time.. Now that I had met my mate, my wolf wouldn’t let me think of any other female, and I wasn’t complaining. All the girls in my past were nothing to me.

            I thought back to the class I’d had with Samantha. When I’d slammed my fist on the desk, I had terrified her. I’d been able to smell the fear as well as see it. I was used to scaring people, but her reaction had seemed extreme and after this little scene, I was even more curious.

            I came to the conclusion that someone had hurt my little mate at some point, which is why she was like that. My wolf was not at all impressed with that thought and he demanded that I find out who it was that had hurt her. I agreed with him completely, but there was one problem. Well, two, actually. One, I needed her to trust me. And two, I had to get through her brother.

            I wasn’t sure which one was going to be harder to accomplish. If someone had hurt her in the past, then her brother was going to be extremely protective, and I could understand that. But he would have to learn eventually that I was physically incapable of hurting her. As for getting her to trust me, at least I had some ideas on how to accomplish that, and so did my wolf. I would start by trying to be a little friendlier to her, but not enough to worry her. And my wolf was quite sure that he could get her to trust him quickly. He’d never been wrong before, so I believed him now.

            I pushed myself off the wall and headed to my next class. I was deep in thought as I walked, so I didn’t realize there was someone standing in front of me until I almost ran into them. I stopped abruptly and looked down at the female in front of me.

            My lip curled in distaste as I took in her appearance. Short skirt, tube top, tons of makeup. Yup, definite skank alert. My nose wrinkled at her scent. She wore way too much perfume.

            It took me a moment to realize that I actually knew who she was. I sighed when I finally recognized her. “What do you want, Chelsea?”

            She trailed a finger down my arm. “Want to go have some fun, big boy?”

            Yesterday, I may have considered it. I looked her up and down and shook my head. Nope, not even then would I have considered it.. “No, I don’t want to go have some ‘fun’. I want nothing to do with you.”

            Her eyes widened slightly at the mild insult. “But we had such a good time before!” Her voice had become more shrill and I winced.

            “No, we didn’t. It was one night that I dearly wish had never happened, and it will never happen again. Now, leave me the hell alone.” I stepped around her and continued to my class, not giving her a chance to reply.

            As soon as I entered the room, I caught the scent of my mate. My head whipped to the side and I saw her sitting in the back corner of the room. One of the school jocks was sitting beside her and leaning in, obviously trying to talk to her.

            But Samantha was leaning as far away from him as possible, while looking down at the desk in front of her. When the jock reached out a hand to her, I couldn’t prevent myself from growling. Luckily it was low enough that humans couldn’t hear it, but Samantha’s head snapped up. Of course she heard it, because my wolf had wanted to let her know that we were here. I saw a brief pleading look in her eyes before she looked down again.

I swelled with pride that my mate already knew that I could help her, even though she didn’t realize it. I strode over to the jock and stepped between him and Samantha. “Move,” I snapped at him.

            The jock, I think his name was Adam, looked up at me in surprise and I knew it was because I had never spoken to him before. He regarded me with a challenging look, and I let my eyes change slightly. It was nearly imperceptible, but it was enough to make him back down.

            Adam stood up slowly and moved to another seat. I sat down in the now vacant seat, while peeking at my mate out of the corner of my eye. I saw that she was looking at me, so I turned a little bit so she would know she had my attention.

            She bit her bottom lip in nervousness, but her gaze stayed locked with mine for a moment. “Thank you,” she said softly.

            I nodded briefly before turning my attention to the front of the room. I didn’t want to scare her off, and I knew that I would have to take things slow with her. But I was okay with that. I had found my mate, and I was willing to be patient. For now.