Lycan's Mate (His Claim) Chapter 13

Fiona's POV

He grabbed a hold of me, igniting sudden sparks that began to emanate between us. His eyes darkened in color, but I no longer felt intimidated by the sudden change. He pulled me closer against him, and I surprisingly found myself not fighting his grip. Instead, I took a small step forward to close any space that was still standing between us. My body molded perfectly against his as I gazed up at the face that seemed to haunt my mind since the second I met him. He leaned his head closer to mine, making it a little bit less difficult to stare at him due to his large size compared to mine. As he leaned closer, my breathing came out in heavy pants and I wouldn't be surprised if I was hyperventilating right about now.

He tilted his head to the right, his lips brushing against my skin, igniting a fire that had me straining back a moan that was desperately fighting its way out of trembling lips. He stopped beside my ear, his breath making my skin tremble at the nape of my neck. Taking in a deep breath, his body relaxed against my own as he whispered softly against my ear, "just know that I'm here to protect you."

I lifted up my eyebrow in question. This guy was just full of riddles today, wasn't he?

Much to my disappointment, he pulled away just then, leaving an unwelcoming cold as he made his way to one of the nearby wooden tables. He sat down, placing the book I had given him earlier in front of him before looking up and motioning with his head for me to join him.

Instead of obeying his command, I was left standing at the end of the aisle with a fast beating heart. I couldn't move. No matter how hard I tried to make myself walk towards him, my body wouldn't oblige. My mind was still racing about our heated encounter. Did he not feel the same sensation I did whenever we touched?

After a few seconds of standing there, motionless, I found myself walking slowly to the seat in front of him. I sat down cautiously, avoiding making any eye contact once I felt his heavy gaze on me. It wasn't annoying, it was simply overbearing. Every time he looked at me that way, I felt self-conscious about myself, which is something I never cared about since I had entered the early stages of puberty. Why the sudden change? Of course, it was all because of him.

I placed my hands on top of the table, intertwining my fingers as I stared down at them. There was a brief moment of silence before I asked quietly,

"Why do you feel the need to protect me?"

He didn't answer immediately, which made me look up at him. His face was expressionless, and much to my disappointment, so were his eyes.

"I can handle myself." My voice was a bit harsher than before.

"I just feel the need to."

"And just because they just 'feel the need to'?" I asked, making quotation marks in the air with my fingers.

"I'm sorry Mr. Popular, but I have been doing pretty well on my own before you entered the picture."

"It doesn't hurt knowing that someone wants to."

"What do you mean?" For some reason, his expression just made me snap.

"Look, I know what you're doing. You may think I haven't seen it before, but I have been a victim countless of times. I don't know what the bet may be, but just tell your little buddies that you took me on a date or something; maybe even slept with me for all I care."

I stood up, nearly making the chair behind me topple over. Turning around, I made my way back to my aisle to retrieve my backpack, hearing his footsteps close behind me.

"Fiona, what are you even talking about?" His voice was laced with confusion and desperation, and I hated the way my body reacted as he said my nickname.

I bit my bottom lip as I felt the tears begin to blur my vision. I didn't need this right now. The one guy I thought could possibly be different was just like the others. This is what I get for wishful thinking.

I turned around, glaring at his large figure that was preventing me from exiting the aisle in peace.

"I get it. Mess with the new girl who is a complete nerd, only to make her feel more humiliated than she's ever been."

His eyes suddenly were filled with anguish. He reached out a hand towards me but I instinctively took a step back.

"Fiona, I wasn't doing anything that-"

"Of course you weren't! Mr. Popular is always the 'innocent' one and he never does anything wrong. For your information, I have enough humiliation and embarrassment from my previous schools to last me a lifetime. I don't need any more of this bull sh*t."

Feeling a tear escape my eye, I took the chance to walk around him, relieved to find that he wasn't about to stop me. No matter how much it pained me to walk away from him now, I just couldn't face it anymore. Just the situation that I'm in made all the memories flood back into my mind. No matter how badly I tried to build a wall up that prevented any of these memories to come back to haunt me, here I was, my body shaking uncontrollably just because of this one guy I met only a week ago. For some reason, just the mere thought of him hurting me was a lot more painful than the others.

As I reached the door, I felt the same electrical charge surge through my body as his hand gripped my arm. I tried to pull away, but I was no match for his strength.

He pulled me back towards him as he reached out his other hand to turn my face so I could look at him; but I didn't dare allow him to do so.

"Fio... .... Fiona look at me."

Reluctantly, I turned back to him. The second my eyes met his own, his eyes seemed to mirror the same pain I was feeling inside. I shook my head, a sob escaping my throat.

"Just leave me alone," I whispered.

With that, he released his grip on me, allowing me to exit the library. As the doors shut closed behind me, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch hour.

As I made my way to my second English class, I couldn't help but fight the tear that escaped my left eye. This had to be the worst day of my life and I didn't even know why.

It was finally the end of the day and I wanted nothing more than to just go home and forget this day had ever happened. As I stepped through the main entrance of the school, I could practically feel all eyes on me, but I immediately ignored them as I made my way through the parking lot. They could stare at me all they want, but it wasn't going to make me feel any better. This was the main reason why I had gotten myself in that advanced program all those years ago, just to be able to graduate school early and live the rest of my life in peace. Even if it did mean some embarrassment here and there.

As I finally exited the parking lot, I couldn't help but let my mind wander back to what happened in the library earlier today. I had to admit, I think I may have overreacted back there, but something inside of me just snapped. The urge to open up and pour my heart out to this complete stranger that captivated me from the very beginning was simply frightening.

I wanted to tell him all the pain I had endured from all the different schools I have gone to and how much I wanted him to take it all away. To simply diminish it into thin air and refuse for any horrid memory to enter back into my subconscious. But just the mere thought of him being the one to cause me the most pain simply killed me inside. It automatically made me shut down and push him away, no matter how difficult it turned out to be. The mere expression he had on his face when I told him to leave me alone nearly killed me. It tore me to pieces, and yet, I managed to walk away from it all.

So here I am now, entering the front entrance to my home and glad that my dad was working late tonight. He hadn't finished some paperwork before the weekend due to the whole party thing and his boss letting everyone out early, so that meant more alone time for me. Which was really needed actually.

I made my way upstairs, fighting the tears that were struggling to break free from my eyes. I took in several breaths, closing the door behind me as I allowed my backpack to fall against the hardwood floor. I took a few steps towards my bed before an overwhelming surge of pain enveloped my chest. My hand instinctively went over my heart, trying hard to dull the pain with little success. For some reason, the pain this time was a lot more difficult to handle than it used to be. It was as if my pain was doubled for some unknown reason.

I clutched at my chest as the tears streamed down my face, a sob escaping my lips but I didn't care. All I wanted was to be alone and cry my heart out. This town was making me feel insane and emotional. I wasn't even on my period for crying out loud!

I buried my face against my soft pillows, allowing my tears to soak them. I needed to wash them anyway, tears wouldn't make a difference.

I don't know for how long I remained lying there, but after a while, my sobs had dwindled and all I could hear was the dead silence of the room. I lifted up my head slowly, feeling a bit lightheaded from the lack of oxygen I had received. Wiping the tears away from my cheeks, I made my way towards the bathroom. Turning on the faucet, I splashed cold water on my face, wincing as the chill of the liquid stung my burning cheeks. As I looked up at the mirror lying before me, I couldn't help but notice how my eyes were bright red and my face was all puffy looking. This is why I hated crying. I just looked plain horrible!

After drying my face, I walked back to my backpack that was lying beside my desk and took out my math notebook. I hated math, but never once found it that difficult to me. The homework was due on Friday, but I had to do something to distract my mind. Even through the silent tears, I still thought about him. He was the cause of my emotional break down and yet he was the only thing on my mind.

I sat on my bed, laying my notebook in front of me before looking at the picture of my mom, dad and I on my night table. I reached out and grabbed it, a smile immediately spreading across my lips at the sight. I had to admit, I really did miss her. It was times like these that she would've been perfect to talk to. Dad on the other hand was just glad that I had had that whole sex education class before he had to speak about the topic personally. Even I was glad I didn't need to hear it from him.

Placing the picture frame back in its place, I grabbed my notebook and sat on the window seat. I had actually discovered that I was able to concentrate a whole lot better there than if I was sitting on my desk. Go figure.

Resting my back against the wall behind me, I peered out at the forest in front of me. Even with the skies becoming a hue of gray, the forest still looked beautiful. Ominous, but beautiful nonetheless

Before looking away, I noticed a dark figure emerge from the trees down below. I gave it a quick glance before looking back down at my notebook. A few seconds passed before my head snapped back at the figure. My eyes widened in surprise as I analyzed the rather large creature. It was staring right at me with its oddly familiar dark eyes.