CADE
For the very first time in my life, I felt what it was like to literally have the ground pulled out from under my feet. It was a feeling both surprising and unnerving, a feeling that left me breathless.
It started the moment the girl ran into the classroom where I and my brothers were. Or was it the moment she turned those big, frightened, but pretty brown eyes to us?
And her scent... her scent had been the most exquisite I had ever smelled. It had filed my nostrils to the exclusion of everything else. The urge to run my fingers through her long, wavy dark hair had been so overwhelming that it actually felt like I had done it. My wolf had screamed 'MATE'. My brothers- though I hadn't been looking at them- had responded to her in the exact same way I did. I had felt it. At the moment I realized that something truly bizzare- the three of us being mated to the same girl had happened- the door had been pushed open, a guy had barged in and tried to take the girl away.
Said guy was currently all up in my face. His lips thinned when I told him to lay off Hannah.
"Listen to me and listen good," he said. "Maybe you don't know how things are done around here, but I'll educate you. Hannah is my maid. I can to whatever I want with her and no one can interfere."
Behind me, I felt one of my brothers, Jace, stir.
"I got this," I said without turning. I looked the twerp over when I realized who he was. The air of authority that hung around him could only mean he was one person. "You are the Alpha's son."
I could swear the asshole's chest literally puffed up with pride. I would have laughed if I didn't still have Hannah on the brain.
"That's me," he said proudly. "I'm Asher, and just so you know, you messed with the wrong person."
My brothers barked out humourless laughter. Asher's eyes narrowed as he looked over my shoulder at them.
"No," I said, bringing his attention back to me. "I would say I messed with the right person. I have heard all about you, about how you mistreat people because you feel that being the only Alpha's son in the school automatically makes you a god. That ends now."
Asher scoffed. "You must be the Wallace triplets."
"We must be," Jace said mockingly.
I moved half a step closer to him. "I am glad you have heard of us as well and whatever... reputation we might have. Now keep your distance so we don't have to rip you apart limb from fucking limb." I waved a hand dismissively. "Now beat it."
Asher didn't budge. "You are in my business. Hannah is my mate."
Two identical growls came from behind me. I felt like growling myself, or changing and ripping this fucker's throat out. How could someone so vile be Hannah's mate?
"I see," I murmured in a carefully controlled tone. "A mate and a maid... How convenient."
"I won't tell you this again. Mind your damned business."
With that, he turned and stormed out.
"What a douchebag," Jay said. "He hurts her and he gets off on it."
I turned to face my brothers.
"Where is she?" Jace said. "She's gone."
For the first time since Asher entered the room, we all looked around. Hannah was nowhere to be found.
"She must have slipped out immediately he came in," said Ace.
I sighed deeply, shook my head. It was funny how life could sometimes take people on a whole different tangent. My brothers and I had no intentions of finding a mate when we transferred to this school. Ironic that on our very first day, we had found a girl who was not only our mate, but Asher's.
I looked at my brothers and knew we were thinking exactly the same thing.
We were going to find her.
"After school or during our lunch break," Chase suggested.
Jace and I needed no further explanations as to what he was talking about.
"No." Jace frowned as a thought occured to him. "We can't afford to wait that long. We have to find her immediately else we'll risk Asher finding her first and hurting her."
"But she could be anywhere," I said, torn between finding her immediately and waiting for a more reasonable time.
"Lunch break is a good time," Chase insisted.
After a little more deliberation, we finally decided on waiting until lunch break to find Hannah.
Hannah. There was almost no space for anything in my head apart from her name. It reverberated in my mind.
"Hannah," I muttered, loving the way her name rolled off my tongue. "Pretty fucking name."
**********************************************
My decision to wait until lunch break was tested several endless hours later. I could barely focus on anything, not the books I was supposed to be reading, not the lectures I was supposed to be paying attention to. My brothers felt exactly the same way. I didn't have to see the faraway looks in their eyes to know that.
I didn't know the story between Hannah and Asher, or why he got a kick out of hurting her, but I was as sure of one thing as I was of my own name. I would protect Hannah from him with all I had. With two formidable brothers, what I had was quite a lot.
Jace any Chase seemed to have been watching the hands of the clock too because the moment it was lunch time, we all got up at the exact same time.
"Let's go," Chase said, leading the way.
Though my thoughts were entirely of Hannah, it was hard, impossible even, not to notice the flirtatious looks every girl gave us as we passed. I ignored them all and walked on. We searched virtually everywhere but could not find Hannah.
"Screw it," I muttered under my breath and made for a group of girls in the hallway who like the others watched our every move.
One of them, a blonde, batted her lashes and tipped me a wink. I completely ignored her come-hither manoeuvres.
"Excuse me," I said.
The girls nudged themselves and giggled. One or two quailed under Chase's steely stare, but the rest of them were undeterred.
"Do any of you know Hannah?" I said.
"There are many Hannah's in the school," said one of them who had somewhat overcome her fit of giggling. "You have to be more specific."
"The one we are looking for is Asher's maid."
"That Hannah?" another girl said in a tone of great surprise. "What could you possibly want with that freak?"
"Sorry, but it's none of your business. Do you know where she is?"
The girl frowned and said, "She should be at the cafeteria or the back of the cafeteria with Asher and his friends."
"Thanks."
My brothers were already moving towards the cafeteria. The girls gave a collective sigh of disappointment as we all moved away. We found Hannah, her arms laden with heavy books, at the back of the cafeteria, standing with her head hung like a penitent before Asher and his friends as they pelted her with toothpicks. Anger rose in us at the sight. I started towards him.
"BACK OFF!" Asher bellowed, rising to his feet the moment he set eyes on us. "You all are in my territory. Leave. Now!"
"We have no interest to be in your... territory as you call it. None of us can stand the sight of you, so we'll leave. But not without Hannah."
Asher's nostrils flared in anger.
"That will never happen," he bit off.
"Oh. We'll see about that."
"Hannah!" Jace called.
Her head snapped up immediately, swivelled towards us. Terror lurked in her eyes.
"Drop those books and come with us," I ordered.
She started to lower her hands when Asher said, "Don't you dare move an inch."
She went very still. Asher's friends guffawed.
"Drop the books, Hannah."
Chase's voice was quiet but laced with authority.
"Don't even think about it or I'll rip your fucking arms off," said Asher. "Stay where you are."
I saw something cross Hannah's face. She bit down on her full bottom lip and absurd as it was in this situation, I found myself imagining taking it between my own, nibbling gently on it.
She dropped the books. Onto the floor no less. The girl was frightened out of her wits but she certainly had guts. My kind of girl!
Jace laughed. I grinned and pushed her away from Asher who looked apoplectic with rage. I made her stay behind me, out of Asher's line of attack.
"You!" Asher said a split second before he lunged at me at my throat.
Before I could react, he was knocked off his feet by my brothers who wrestled him to the ground.
HANNAHI looked on as two of the guys tackled Asher. It was surprising because they did not hesitate before hitting him. For the first time, no one cared about Asher and his fucking status in the pack. They just held him down, and he tried to fight them off. Obviously, it was a lost fight for him. He was no match for one of the brothers, talk more of two of them."Should we help him?" Mace asked, but I shook my head. This was the only moment I had to watch him have a taste of his own medicine. There was a slight chance he would come after me later and punish me for what happened. But at least he would be doing that with bruises.One of the triplets, the one who had picked up my books for me, held my hand and tried to pull me away from the scene. I resisted initially because even though they saved me, I knew nothing about them besides the rumours floating around the school. And for all I knew, they could be even worse than Asher, and I was jumping from a bad situation to a more terribl
HANNAHThe triplets and I continued talking, and I found myself relaxing with them as time progressed. Then, I began to notice their features. While they looked similar, they had noticeable differences that made them stand apart.Cade was the tallest, with long brown hair up in a bun. His dark grey eyes complimented his pale, handsome face. He was quite muscular and had the typical bad-boy demeanour. It would be hard for any girl not to fall for his appearance.Jace, on the other hand, had blond silky hair, and it was obvious he cared a lot about his looks. His greyish-brown eyes shone with mischief, and while he had an easy-going smile, it was obvious that he wasn't one to be messed with.Chase seemed to be the one who talked the least. He was more observant than the two, with his dark greyish-green eyes taking in every detail. His dark curly hair had been cut off, but he had more facial hair than the other two. He also smiled the least, and I sensed people steered clear of him more
HANNAH"I'll train you," Cade said without any hesitation.My jaw dropped. "You mean that, right?""The first time I saw you, you were running from your dickish ex-mate," He slowly looked me over, the same way he did when our eyes met for the first time. "I want you to punch his face the next time."I couldn't help but smile. "That sounds like a good idea."I had never felt so happy in my life as I accepted. It was really ironic how one's life could turn around in a few hours. And that was my case.No guy this handsome had ever paid me the slightest notice. In fact, I wasn't sure there was any other man on earth with Cade's breathtaking masculine beauty.And yet, he was volunteering to do something that could change my life."Would you like to see the rest of the Estate now?" I turned to see him staring at me with a questionable expression and realized that I had been lost in thought."Ye—Yes. I want to."He took my hands and led me to the bigger side of the Estate. He showed me the b
HANNAH"I've never—" My voice trailed off, too embarrassed to admit that no guy had kissed me before Cade did, let alone three. "I think I'm comfortable. Yes."Almost immediately after I answered, I felt the room tense up. Or that was me.Jace was the first to react. He pushed toward me so quickly and pressed his lips to mine with a low groan. One hand tightly tangled in my hair as he deepened the kiss, and the other held me mercilessly to him.Cold chills sizzled against my skin in contrast to the hot and demanding heat pulling me from the inside.When he finally lifted his head, his expression was intense, like he was searching for answers on my face. "You have such an effect on me."My eyes fell on the bulge nearly pushing through his shorts, and I swallowed. He took my hands and slowly made me wrap them against his hardness.At that moment, Chase, who was standing behind me, started to plant kisses on my back. Then his lips trailed to my neck, his breath hot and heavy.While I rub
HANNAH“You led them here?” My mother yelled, her eyes filled with shock when she learned that I returned with bodyguards from Ice Stone Pack. “Asher Dawson will kill us if he finds out!”Although I had slightly expected her reaction and even imagined the scenario during my ride home, a part of me still hoped that she would be optimistic when she learned of the recent development in my life. And maybe a little bit glad that her daughter finally had a chance to be happy.We had always talked about me finding my mate, and when it turned out to be Asher, the sadness lingered between us. Was I too delusional to have thought she would be too excited to learn that I got a second chance?Hell! I expected balloons, a bottle of wine and an excellent toast to true love. Was that too much to ask?“Mum, can you calm down?” I asked, tapping my feet nervously on the ground. It was the only thing I could do in my situation.Sending the bodyguards back to Ice Stone was impossible, and I wasn’t even w
HANNAHI reached for the straps of my backpack strapped securely across my shoulders and clutched it tightly. My gaze was fixed on the ground, scared to look at Asher’s cold yet burning eyes. I needed an escape route. And I needed it fast.Slowly glancing around me, I painfully realized I had two options: beg Asher or sprint. None of them seemed good, especially since he had closed the distance between us, his breath hot and fast. Asher was faster than me, even in his sleep, so running would only end with my face slammed to the ground. That is if I managed to run.Begging him was the most logical choice, but that meant I would be at his mercy. And without any exaggerations, the devil was more merciful than Asher Dawson. I finally managed to look up at him. Asher's eyes seemed to gleam with knowledge as if he knew the very thoughts that ran through my mind. Mace sensed his aura and dominating wolf and immediately backed down. Yes, my wolf abandoned me in my time of distress. Asher
ASHER'S POVI couldn't help but feel a surge of anger wash over me as I sat in the reception area, waiting for the principal. My nose was still bleeding from the fight with Jace, and I could feel the warmth of the blood as it trickled down my face. I wiped the bottom of my nose with a handkerchief, and in no time, it was soaked red.I glared at Jace, my eyes burning with anger and humiliation. How could he have done this to me, the son of the Alpha? I was supposed to be the strongest and the most feared. But ever since these brothers showed up, all I received were bruises and a battered ego.“Jace, are you hurt?” I heard Hannah ask and nearly choked with anger. She touched his face, trying to see if he was bruised. Such a fucking nice attempt to enrage me the more.I wanted revenge. Immediately. But I knew I had to keep my cool. I couldn't let Jace see how much he had gotten to me.But Hannah was watching me with amusement and fear, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Jace.
ASHERI stormed into the pack house, my anger and frustration still boiling. How could that old, stupid man screw me over? Talking about not taking a side, but, he accepted my father’s help to become principal. How ridiculous!I would teach him a lesson and demote him to the lowest rank in school. No, he would be fired and blacklisted from getting any other job in the pack. Next time, he would not mess with me.I strode past the servants, their bows and greetings falling on deaf ears as I made my way to meet my father.“Where is he?” I asked one of the guards standing in front of his room.“He—he is—”“Answer me!”The guard pointed to the meeting room, and I sighed.“Next time, fucking use your mouth.”As I burst into the meeting room, the door swung open with a loud creak, and all eyes turned to me. My father’s advisors were seated around the table, and they exchanged glances with each other. Normally, it was forbidden to interrupt their meeting except under urgent circumstances.Wel