The Alpha's Scarlet Heart

Chapter Three

I open my eyes to see Cole crouching down in front of me so he's at my eye level.  His face mixed with concern and another emotion I don't recognize.  I don't understand why he would be concerned about me.  Wasn't he the same guy that Zac told me didn't care about girls feelings, he uses them and leaves them?  Zac has always protected me from bullies and always comforted me, he was like my protective big brother even if he was only a few month older than me.  I take a deep breath but it comes out shaky.  I still can't believe he believed what Brooke accused me of.  I will never forget the look in his eyes, disbelief and what looked like disgust.  My best friend, the guy I've told everything to thinks I'm a slut.  Tears tart to fill my eyes.  Cole reaches up and cups my right cheek with his hand, sparks fill me instantly at his touch.  I don't know why but I instantly relax at his touch.
"What happened?"  Cole whispers.  I blink away my tears, not wanting to let them fall over something so stupid.
"Hey!  Get away from her Steel!"  A familiar voice yells.  Cole tenses up, his hand fallling off my face.  I turn to look at who yelled only to have a strong hand wrap around my arm and stand me up.  I hit someones strong chest, arms wrap around me.  The person hugs me tightly and by how strong they were and how flat there chest was proves it's a guy.  A growl sounds behind us.  What was that?  The guy lets me go of me, he moves back.  It's Zac, his hands rest on my shoulders, he examines me thoroughly accessing if I'm harmed.
"Did he hurt you?"  Zac asks.  I open my mouth to answer but Cole beats me to it.
"I would never hurt Scarlet."  Cole says harshly.  Zac looks sharply behind me at Cole and scoffs.
"Like you would never hurt Brittney, Carly, Kara, Ashley, shall I go on?"  Zac asks.  My heart drops to my stomach at the names of those girls.  I have heard of them, they were all really slutty and slept with half of the guys in school.  
"What did you do to her?"  Cole says, his tone clipped.  Cole steps forward, his hand extending to grab me but Zac moves me behind him.  A fierce growl escapes Cole's lips.  I tare at im, my eyes widening.  I didn't even know it was possible for humans to make a noise like that.  I thought only dogs could make such a sound.  Zac grabs my arm lightly and moves us away from Cole, he grabs my things and we walk back into school.  Zac stops walking and turns to me when we walk into an empty hallway.
"I don't think you're a slut Scar.  That's not what I thought at all.  I was just surprised that you had a guys shirt on and I was searching for another explanation."  Zac says.  He wraps his arms around me, hugging me tightly.  II wrap my arms around him, relaxing.  No matter how hard I try I can never stay mad at Zac.
"It's okay, I might have thought that same thing if I were you guys."  I say.  Zac pulls away, looking into my eyes..
"No you wouldn't have.  You see the best in everyone."  Zac says.  He hugs me again tigtly.  
"I love you Scar.  I never meant to hurt you, I would never hurt you intentionally."  Zac says.  I smile at my amazing best friend.  I hug him back tightly.
"I love you too Zac."  I say.  He pulls away.
"Let's go back inside you need to eat and Brooke wants to apologize."  He says.  I nod and we walk back to our table together.

Cole's POV

Anger is all I feel.  My wolf and I are very angry with that guy. 
'Who does he think he is?!  He hurts our mate and takes her away from us.' James growls inside my head.  I clench my fists together.  I take a deep breath, trying to control my wolf.  I don't want to shift in front of school.  Once I had complete control I storm back into the school.  My wolf is howling inside me to go comfort our mate.  My wolf also wants to rip that punk that took her away from us to shreads.  Jealousy also coursed through me when I saw her hug him.  I follow her amazing scent of roses and coffee into the lunch room.  I see people sitting back at her booth and I instantly realize Brooke Stevens.  I have heard of Brooke from my friends they all found her extremely hot but she didn't even compare to Scarlet.  Brooke was sitting on one side by herself and when I looked at the other side I froze.  There sat my beautiful Scarlet by the mystery guy with his arm around her.  I growl.  No guy should be touching my mate!  The guy catches me glaring at him and glares at me right back.  I need to let out my wolf, James is clawing at the surface.  I rush out of the lunch room and out of school.  There is a small forest not that far away from the school and using my werewolf speed I walked there.  When I got there I strip off my clothes and shift into my midnight black wolf.  I howl in frustration.
'Dude are you alright?'  Jackon's asks trough the pack's mind link.  He probably heard my howl.
"Yeah.  I need you to find out who that guy is that is hanging out with Scarlet right now.  Find out anything you can.'  I say through the mind link.  
'I'm on it.'  Jackson says.  I run around for a little while and shift back and get dressed.  I walk back to school, not caring that I missed a class.  I just enter my last class of the day when Jackson mind links me.
'I found out some stuff about that guy.'  Jackson informs me.  I sigh, ready to hear the worst.  I don't know how I will react if that guy is her boyfriend.  Just the thought of another guy touching what's mine made my fists clench together.
'What did you find?'  I ask. 
'His name is Zachary Reed, he apparently has had some beef with you.  I heard from someone in the that Zac has tried his best to keep Brooke Steven and Scarlet away from all of us, especially you.'  Jackson informs me.  I growl lowly.  This guy kept me away from my mate!  I could have found her sooner if it wasn't for him.  Anger courses throughout me.  I ignore the teacher giving me a weird look and ask the question I was dreading the answer to.
'Are they dating?'  I ask.  My wolf is growling inside of me, wanting to find this Zac guy and hurt him for even touching Scarlet.
'Not that I know of.  All I know is that they have been best friends since middle school and Zac is really protective of Scarlet.'  Jackson answers.  Great, another obstacle to deal with.  Why does it have to be so hard to get my mate?  First there's the face that she's human, my reputation, and now her overprotective best friend.  I don't care how long it takes I will have here even if it takes forever.