Page 36 of Alpha's Hated Mate

He pounces. A scream escapes my lips. Everything goes black.

I don’t know why I’m here. Habit, maybe? The dean calls an assembly, and we all gather obediently because it’s what we’ve always done. But this time . . . this time, I shouldn’t have come. I knew that the moment Aydan, and I stepped out of my dorm room and saw the mess we’d left in the halls and the lobby.

My memories of last night are fragmented, like still frames flashing before my eyes. Awful things that some other Scarlet wolf did that couldn’t have been me. It just seems like some terrible dream that’s blended into my reality. I’d lost complete control in an instant, and I don’t even know why or how it happened.

On the other hand, the vision I had was as vivid as ever.

I woke up in my bed wearing my nightshirt, half of the things in my room destroyed. Aydan was asleep naked on the couch, bruised and beaten. I only have fragments of memories of what he had to do to stop my rampage. And now the full scope of what’s happened is laid out before me in the faces of the students. As soon as I walk in, eyes turned to me and the din of conversation dies down. Goddess help me, could they be more obvious?

Aydan holds my hand and squeezes it for reassurance. “Let’s sit down,” he says, motioning for one of the chairs in the back.

Assemblies in Shatterstone aren’t often. Most of the time, this is where they throw parties and dinners . . . where last night’s dinner was being held. Everything that was here last night has been moved out, however. The elegant tables and chairs and decorations . . . but not the photos. They’re all still up, including the one of Aydan’s father. It gives me chills just looking at it.

Or maybe the chill is coming from everyone else. Some of them aren’t even hiding the fact that they’re whispering about me.

Dean Fowler is on stage with a good number of the faculty, including Chad. I look around the room for a sign of Yarra’s purple hair, hoping to see one friendly face in the crowd. It takes me a moment, but I spot her sitting up front. I wish I could sit next to her.

“Thank you all for coming this morning,” Dean Fowler says. “I want to discuss the events of last night with you all in an effort to reassure you that Moonhelm has always prided itself on keeping the students and faculty safe at all costs. As you all are already aware, during the chaos of last night’s events I am sorry to report that several Moonhelm students sustained minor injuries and that several more are missing. I can assure you that this travesty is currently being fully investigated by myself and the faculty. I have assigned the head of security to this case.” He nods to his left at Officer Tightass, who looks even tighter than usual. He nods his head, his mouth pinched in a stern pucker.

“And Professor Robertson will be available to counsel any students who may need it. In the meantime, I want to remind everyone that the woods just outside of campus are still very much off-limits to all students until further notice.”

He’s answered by a rumbling in the room. I can’t make out what the discourse is, but I imagine it has to do with this being the second year in a row that something terrible has happened there.

“Also, in an extra measure of safety, I’m instituting a curfew while the investigation is underway,” Dean Fowler continues. “All members of the student body are to stay within their dorms after eight p.m. No exceptions.”

The rumbling grows louder. Someone shouts out, “This is bullshit!”

“I realize that this is inconvenient,” he says, speaking a little louder, “but for the safety of the students—”

“We don’t need to be locked up in our dorms now that the Scarlets are all gone . . . most of them anyway.” The student who’s shouting is near the front, but he makes sure to shoot me a death glare as he speaks. And, of course, he’s met with a swell of agreement all around us. “My roommate is in the infirmary because one of those psychos attacked her before going off into those woods. I say we burn them down and be done with them once and for all!”

“That is completely uncalled for,” the dean replies. “And I won’t have that kind of talk. The Scarlet Wolves are wolves, just like any of us, and they deserve our compassion. We have no proof that any of this is their doing—”

“Compassion?” A female student stands up. She’s only a few rows in front of us. “Last night, every Scarlet in this place went crazy and nearly killed half the student body! And now, you’re trying to tell us that we need to havecompassionfor them? When we know what they are and always have been?!”

The noise is getting louder as people start shouting, and suddenly . . . suddenly, I feel like I’m in the middle of a battlefield. Dean Fowler is trying to quiet them down, but it isn’tworking. Chad stands up and takes the podium, nudging the dean out of the way.

“That’s enough,” he says, his deep Alpha voice booming off the walls. “Believe it or not, but whether Scarlet Wolves were at fault for what happened last night is completely irrelevant. Until we get to the bottom of what happened, we areallin danger. Whatever your feelings are about the Scarlets, they are still our brethren. They are still wolves. And I’m certain that if this situation were reversed, none of you would want to be abandoned in those woods, and that is why we must ask for unity and compassion for everyone. Even the Scarlets.”

He’s managed to quiet them down, but I can still feel their anger. I love Dean Fowler and Chad for trying to foster compassion in a mob of angry wolves, but . . . but can I really blame them for their rage?

My hands start to sweat, and my eyes are burning.

I get up. I can’t stay here. I just can’t. I rush out of the hall.

By the time I’m back in my room, I’m in tears. Sobs erupt from my chest in large gulps of air. Now that I’m here, I don’t know what to do. I start pacing as I sob, the deepest pain from all the rejection and otherness I’ve ever experienced shaking me so hard that I can barely breathe.

The door opens behind me, and Aydan stands there. I want him to leave. I don’t want him to see me like this. I want him to . . .

I can’t talk. The words just won’t come. I see him, and the rest of me just dissolves. I cry even harder. He steps over the threshold and takes me in his arms, holding me close as I bury my face in his chest.

“Did you hear them?” I manage to say. “What did we do, Aydan? What didIdo?”

“Don’t listen to them,” he says softly. “They’re just upset right now.”

“They hate us,” I weep. “They hateme, and they’re right to.” I look up at him. His face is so kind. Those emerald and sapphire eyes search mine to try to comfort me. I don’t deserve his comfort. I push him away. “I hurt you. No, I tried tokillyou. I am one hundred percent the monster they think I am.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing,” he says. “Saffron, you couldn’t have stopped yourself. Something made you do it. It’s not your fault.”

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