Mine to Protect Chapter 113: I WANT OUT

*Hazel*

The next week passes in a blur; the lessons keep me busy and being among the girls makes me feel younger and carefree. When I am with them, I can forget that I have a mate who hates me, and enemies who want to capture me or destroy me. With them I am just Hazel, the dance teacher, who loves her job and the art of dancing.

Everything is going smoothly, until one afternoon I feel someone watching me during my ballet class, and when I turn around, I see through the glass wall that Derek is standing there in the corridor, staring directly at me with a hard expression on his face.

My heart makes a somersault at the thought that he might be here to talk to me, maybe he is ready to forgive me. I smile at him, but he just turns around and leaves.

His reaction makes me think that I was probably wrong, he’s still angry with me, I shouldn’t have put my hopes up like that, I am an idiot for thinking he could forgive me this easily.

At least he came to find me, which means that he’s not pretending that I don’t exist anymore. I guess it is something. Baby steps.

The following afternoon none of my students came to class, and nor the day after. My first thought was that something had happened, maybe some very infective virus, or something school related. But then, I remembered Derek watching me that day, and magically the next lesson no one shows up, the two things must definitely be connected.

I make my way out of the gymnasium ready to confront my mate on this; it is one thing for him to brood and keep his distance, but it is another thing to actively mining my work and my life, I won’t stand down for this.

I am nearly at the packhouse when the cute blonde girl of my class, the one that asked me to give them lessons, her name is Gina, approaches me from the gardens. She looks a little bit scared and on edge.

“Luna,” she whispers for me to follow her.

I don’t think twice and let her lead me to a secluded spot behind the gymnasium. When she is sure that no one is around, she finally starts talking, “Luna, I am so sorry, Alpha ordered us to stop attending your classes, we can’t defy his order. Please, forgive us.”

Her expression is the epitome of guilt and regret, and it makes me feel sad that she is blaming herself, when the one to blame is really their Alpha.

I give her a tight hug, making her tense a little, then I offer her a smile and tell her calmly, “It’s not your fault, Gina, I really enjoyed our lessons together, and I am sorry that you have being caught up in our fight, it is not fair to any of you. I will try to talk to Derek, to see if I can make him change his mind.”

“No, Luna, don’t do that, Alpha is scary as of lately. He’s always angry and he will punish you harshly if you disrespect him,” Gina says agitatedly, a panicked expression on her face.

It warms my heart that in such a short time we were able to build a connection, so much that she is worried about my wellbeing.

“Don’t worry, Gina, I am a big girl, I can hold my own, Derek won’t be able to hurt me,” I reply with a smile, although in my heart I know that there are so many ways he could hurt me, not necessarily physically.

Now Gina is looking at her feet, and wringing her hands, it is clear that she is feeling nervous about something.

“Luna, it is true that you cheated on the Alpha?” she asks in a small voice, still looking at her feet.

I wasn’t expecting this question, and I swallow hard not knowing how to answer. I could lie, but I’d rather tell her the truth, as a way to atone for my mistake, and to be fair to their Alpha.

“There were certain circumstances, but basically yes, it happened. I regret it deeply, and I wish I could go back in time and change things, but unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of power.”

Gina’s eyes snap up to mine, a look of pure hurt on her face; she shakes her head like she can’t believe it, and then, without another word, she turns on her heels and runs away.

Dang it! I did not expect her to react this way. Just great! Now I don’t even need to ask Derek to lift his order, I bet no one will want to have lessons with Hazel the promiscuous Luna.

I feel so frustrated that I want to destroy something, instead I shift and start running in the forest without any aim, I run and run, the guilt, frustration and anger burning inside of me, fueling me to go faster, to run far away from here.

After some time, I find myself at the border, with its tall wall and its huge gate manned by our warriors.

I only have one thought in mind, I want to get out of here.

I make my way to the gate, stopping just in front of it.

“Open the gate,” I demand.

“I am sorry, Luna, we have strict orders from the Alpha to not let you out,” one of the warriors replies, making his way carefully towards me.

“You know you can’t stop me, even if you wanted to; let me out!”

The warrior stops approaching me, but he still shakes his head.

“We can’t defy Alpha’s orders; you could ask permission to the Alpha.”

Fuck this! Fuck Derek and his stupid orders! I want to burn this gate down to ashes, to show him what I think of his damn orders, but I would leave them undefended, and I don’t want this. So instead, I hope to use my Alpha command, after all, he is not the only one who can give orders here.

“Open the gate, let me out, don’t follow me!” I use my Alpha power while enunciating these orders, and sure enough the warriors start doing what I have asked.

The sound of paws running at top speed in my direction startles me, I turn around and see Derek’s black wolf, followed by Damon’s grey wolf running towards me.

I can’t let him stop me, the gate is nearly open, I run towards the gate, but it starts closing again, warriors flowing to block me. Derek must have overridden my order, damn it!

“Shift!” he tries to order me, but he should know by now that his orders don’t work on me.

I keep running in my wolf form towards the gate, until he reaches me from behind, his jaws clasp tightly around my neck, stopping me from taking another step further.

He lets out a low warning growl, but I won’t submit to him, not this time, I want out of here, I am tired of this situation, I need some time to clear my mind, alone.

I shift back to human form, getting free from his hold, and run towards the gate, like my life depends on it. Obviously, I don’t make it far, Derek grabs me by my arm, spinning me around to face him.

“Stop it! Are you out of your mind?” he yells at me, his face a mask of fury.

“Let me go, Derek, let me go!” I scream at him, struggling to let loose, but to no avail.

From the corner of my eye, I see Derek raise his hand, for a moment I think he is going to slap me, instead his hand strikes me between my neck and shoulder, my vision immediately going dark.