Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 148

Ashley pov

“Shh, if you want to survive, don't alert them to my presence,” a man whispers from above me. My eyes are wide, I can't understand how he thinks that I could ever let the bears know that he's here if I'm unable to move and talk.

“Don't worry, there's no reason for panic,” he speaks again, the voice getting closer to me. “I won't steal you away from your friends. I am here only to alert you of my presence.”

I'm pretty sure I can see a grin. How that's possible is beyond me, but I'm sure I see it. The banging against the door and the screaming fades into distance as my eyes meet the blood red ones.

All of a sudden, I find my voice again, but I can't say anything louder than a whisper. “I saw you. I saw you outside, hiding in the shadows, watching us from afar. Why? Who are you? Why are you even here?”

There are about a million other questions I'm dying to ask, but for now, I ask only the ones that seem the most important.

The man lowers himself closer to me again and I almost catch some of his facial features, but not quite enough to tell if I've ever met him before. “Aren't you a curious little rabbit? Playing with you would be so fun, too bad I can't do that, right?”

His words catch me off guard. This mysterious stranger is acting like playing with my sanity is more important than it would be to answer a couple of simple questions. I want to roll my eyes at his audacity, but I hold myself back, fully aware that showing any sign of disrespect could cost me greatly.

“Please don't hurt my friends. Please don't hurt Constantine,” a blurt out the plea, hating how weak and desperate my voice sounds.

I want to be strong; I want to be that person who can face their fears and problems without questioning myself, but every time I have to do that, there's always something holding me back. And that something for most part is fear.

“Ah, don't be alarmed. Didn't I make it clear enough that I'm not here to hurt anyone? I told you; I came to alert you of my presence, not to commit violent crimes. Not that I wouldn't want to commit those crimes, but I have a clear sense of priorities, and keeping you alive is one of my top priorities. They told you I'm a monster, didn't they? An abomination of nature. A creature, not this or that. That's what they always say. That's what they call me.”

It takes about a second until a realization hits me. The man, hovering above me, is the same Dominic that Constantine seems to hate so much. But he also is the same man, who was ordered to sniff out the premises by the hunters and lied to their faces. Or at least kept a part of information he already knew hidden, basically saving my life and those of the bears.

“I see you're managing to put the facts together there. Good job, sweetheart, you're far more intelligent than I initially assumed.”

Usually, words like that would offend me, possibly even anger me, but the way Dominic speaks them doesn't only sound like he's praising me, but he also means every single word. Which, in turn, means that he didn't think I'm smart until I proved him otherwise.

“Why do they all hate you so much?” I whisper the question, hoping that he can share as much information with me. I'm not asking for his soul, just one simple answer.

“I don't know,” he trails off and flashes me that wide grin again. “Maybe because there's some sort of history between Constantine and I? Or maybe they hate me because I'm a little bit different? Or quite possibly their hatred is fueled by their fear. It's simple really, everyone who has a little bit of human in them, fears what they don't know. Just like with darkness - nobody really is scared of it; they're scared of what might be hiding in it.”

His words make perfect sense, but they don't answer the basic question I asked. Just like with everyone else in my life, I notice a pattern here. Nobody wants to give me straightforward answers and open my eyes to things I haven't noticed so far. What they want to do, just keep me in the dark as long as possible, acting like I'm some sort of child who couldn't take the truth.

But I'm not. I'm a grown woman, who has gone through hell in her life, experienced many hardships, and seen awful things. Another bump in the road wouldn't faze me.

“Is it really so hard to answer a couple of my questions without beating around the Bush or just simply dodging them?” I ask, eager to convince at least one person in my life to just stop hiding from me.

“Well, it's not hard at all, but it's not fun either.” Dominic grins, lowering himself to come closer to me until we're left looking into each other's eyes face to face. He doesn't look half as scary this close up as he did when I was looking through that peep hole in the door.

For a little while, all we do is just gaze into each other's eyes, as if we're both seeking something, yet neither of us can find that one thing. Seconds can slowly tick by, turning into a minutes, but neither of us looks away. I just stay like this, unmoving, probably both holding our breaths.

“I think it's about time I go, those have I just won't wait any longer to break down the door. But before I go, let me remind you that I'm always there, hidden in the shadows, watching and waiting. As for the rest of your questions, I think it's about time you start questioning Constantine and forget about your bad habit of trusting everyone so blindly.”