𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍: 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐲

TWO: Cruel Night.

"C'mon, don't leave us, beautiful." Greg had insisted with laughter. "We were just joking, come on."

"Yea. Brady man, tell him we were just playing around." Tyler had encouraged, with his own laughter infused in his smoked-out tone.

"Malik." one word, the call of my name from Brady's voice was enough to accelerate my heart and fuel it with hope. So like a damn fool I had pivoted, paused and faced Brady straight in the eye. Excited but afraid that if he asked there wasn't an atom in my body that would have allowed me to refuse him. Not when his blood was blue, not when his heart drummed the beat of a mate, my mate. After a hot second of us staring at each other, Brady's brow cocked, giving my body a once over. Which physically, mentally and emotionally pained me because my mind had gone straight to objectifying his intense appraisal of my body, with the notion of passionate romance and heated sex. His gaze fixed itself back on my eyes as though contemplating a colourful small creature. 

I cleared my throat, prompting him to speak since he'd called my name but he didn't speak right away. His blue eyes perused me, from top to bottom and the way they slowly did so made me all warm, receptive and excruciatingly self-conscious. So because of it I'd moved my hands from the front of the borrowed shorts and crossed them over my exposed torso. That had made Brady chortle an amused laugh, one they may have thought was not at my expense but rather a laugh with me. That idea was trashed to pieces when his best friends took their Alpha's shepherding and clearly laughed at me with no holds barred.  

A few things I have forgotten were said in between the guffawing but I'll never forget how I felt in that moment. They made me feel like such a loser and in effect, it made me even more averse to all of them, including Brady, who was my mate, unfortunately for me.

At that moment I understood the heavy pain of hate sitting on a heart because I hated them more than anything. 

I thought of lectures in pack classes, where they each earned excellent grades in;  Brady was a blue blood, an Alpha, and his three best friends were one strong Zeta, one noble Delta and one cutthroat Beta. They knew better than to make fun of me on this day when I was facing my first full moon after turning sixteen. Taunting me in classes or at the field was one thing, but bringing me this much tease on the day that my soul found a connection. A connection that would change everything for me and my red ribbon family. It was heartless and brought on the absolute worst feeling, I'd ever felt in my entire sixteen-year-old existence. A little compassion would've helped but all they cared about was making fun of me.

I had watched them all intently and saw Tyler snort and wipe beer from his mouth at the same time he pointed to Brady. "Bruh put a shirt on or else Bella Petit here will start thinking you're his mate."

Mindful to keep it under my breath I'd retorted for my ears only, "Like I'd want him."

Our gazes had caught and his was full of a negative look I couldn't name. It made me shiver and want to snap at him. But before I could a strawberry blonde girl wearing a pair of shorts that could have been knickers and a cropped vest, emerged from the darkness of the trees and stumbled on a branch startling all of us. "Oh hey Brady, hide and seek with me and my girls? You too boys" she finished with a nod at the inebriated bunch. And that's when I recognized her, she was the head cheerleader at a neighbouring school and every one our age knew she was sleeping with Brady.

Sharp pain had cut itself through my chest.

Evan had smirked as did Greg.

Tyler looked for approval from Brady with open palms and raised eyebrows.

"Just get her away from here I'll take him to his mother," Brady said it low enough the girl couldn't hear but his voice was clear and thick with bother. "He doesn't look good."