Mine to Protect Chapter 30: POLE DANCE

*Hazel*

He seems to relax a little, then places his arms around my waist, holding me tightly in place. I release my hold on his neck, and rest my head on his shoulder, this way I can look at Cindy, who seems shocked by our behavior.

“Explain,” Derek prompts in an icy tone.

“My father is not a good person. After my mom died, he has been selling me, my sisters and other women of the pack to wealthy men for sex, in exchange of rich sums of money. When I turned eighteen, I fled. I stole some money from my father’s office, got a fake ID and enrolled in college. I thought that he would never find me among humans, but well, I was wrong.”

“Was your father the man who kidnapped you at the club you were working at?”

“Yes. He and his scumbag warriors.”

“What happened after they took you?”

“They sent me back to whoring myself to rich men. But during one of these “meetings”, I knocked that filth unconscious, stole his car keys and fled as far as I could. A few days later I came to your pack asking to join. I know I shouldn’t have lied to you, but I was worried you would not accept me, knowing the danger my father could bring. I am really sorry, Alpha.”

Derek doesn’t say anything, the only noise is Cindy’s silent crying. My heart aches for her; how can a father be so cruel and disgusting?

I try to stand up, I want to hug her so badly, let her know that she is not alone in this, but Derek won’t let me. I glare at him and push with my hands on his chest, wanting him to let go. He finally complies, and I run to Cindy, hugging her as tight as I can, telling her that everything will be alright.

I hear Derek exhaling behind me.

“You can stay here, I won’t banish you from this pack, but I don’t want any more lies, so if you are hiding anything else, you better spit it out now. The next time you lie to me, you are out. This time, I am letting you off the hook easily because Hazel cares very much about you, I hope you won’t betray her trust, I won’t tolerate that.” He finishes with a deathly glare, which makes me feel cold all over; I know for certain that he will kill her if she crosses him again.

Then he stands up, crosses the room and goes out into the corridor. I see Damon and Alice have joined him, and they are talking in low tones amongst themselves.

Cindy looks at me with uncertainty, like she wants to ask me something, but she does not know where to start.

“What is it?” I prompted her.

“Hazel, you and the Alpha…?” she trails off, not sure how to phrase it.

“We are fated mates. We have just met one week ago, when I discovered I am a werewolf, an insignificant reality which my parents have deemed right keeping hidden from me for my entire life.” I purposely leave out the part about the white wolf, not wanting to divulge this information to the wrong ears.

“Well, that’s a lot of shit going down in one week! I am so happy that you are our Luna, though. I couldn’t imagine a better person for this role!”

“I am no Luna. Derek hasn’t marked me yet, and I honestly am not sure I want him to. I know nothing about werewolves, how can I be a Luna for these people? Plus, I am not really sure Derek is that much into me; you should have seen that blonde supermodel sweet-talking him in the dining room. I don’t know, I am just very confused.” I say shaking my head, trying somehow to clear up my thoughts.

“Hey, that’s understandable, you got so much change in such a short span, give yourself sometime to mull things over, before you take a decision. Regarding the Alpha, seeing your display of affection and his display of possession just now, I think he is very much invested in you. Although, if you want to test his interest for you, and let him know what he would miss out, I think I have a couple of ideas which could help you.”

Cindy says smirking mischievously. Suddenly, I am afraid of what I am getting myself into.

*Derek*

“Alpha, Hazel said she’ll help me with my next class. Is it ok for you?”

Macy asks me from inside the classroom.

“If she wants to, I don’t see why not. I will be watching the lesson from here.”

I hope these two are not up to something funny. Although Hazel trusts Macy with all her heart, I can’t forget that she has lied to the both of us, she is not trustworthy in my opinion, and I will keep a close eye on her.

Macy grabs some clothes from her bag and hands them to Hazel, gesturing for her to go change in the locker room. She emerges soon after wearing a black seamless bra and a pair of very short black shorts, which are practically knickers. What lesson is this?

By the time she has changed, students have already started gathering in the classroom, there’s a mix of females of all ages, from teenagers to over-forties. Maybe it’s a class of Zumba, although it still does not explain Hazel’s outfit.

The class starts and Cindy presents Hazel to the class.

“This is my friend Hazel, she is an incredible dancer, and today she would give us a demonstration of professional pole dancing. She is the best pole dancer I’ve ever seen, so we are very lucky to have her today.”

Pole dancing? Have I heard that right?

Everybody claps in welcome.

“Thank you everyone. I must admit that Cindy, being the good friend she is, is quite biased, so, please, don’t be too disappointed. I haven’t danced in a while, and I could be a little rusty. Anyway, I will do my best, and hope you’ll enjoy the show.”

Crap, she is seriously going to do that!

She gets into position standing facing the pole, with her eyes closed. Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift starts playing from the speakers, and Hazel starts moving to the rhythm. Her movements are slow at first, she grabs the pole with both hands, then arches her back until her hair are touching the ground, then she loosens one hand, angles herself with her side to the pole, brings one straight leg right up, and does a flip over. She holds again the pole with both hands, only this time her body is facing us, and her back is to the pole. She slides down the pole, spreading her legs wide and arching her back, then she slides right up and flips over, anchoring her legs to the pole. She rearranges her hold, loosens her legs from the pole, and spreads them wide in a split. Following it’s a series of twirling and arching and hanging dangerously from the pole.

She keeps dancing sexily until the music stops, and everyone cheers, apart from me, Damon and Alice, who just stare in utter shock.